An Auckland man jailed for distributing Islamic State propaganda videos has lost an appeal to cut his sentence short.

Mt Roskill man Imran Patel, 26, was handed a sentence of three years and nine months at the Auckland District Court in June.

The sentence made him the first person in New Zealand to be handed a punishment for possessing footage of extreme violence.

Today the High Court turned down his request to have his jail time cut.

His lawyers argued the punishment was too harsh.

But Justice Graham Lang said the offending implied Patel was trying get other people to join him in showing support for the terrorist group.

He also found Patel's previous convictions for threatening to kill and assault with a weapon in 2014 and 2015 called for a harsher sentence.