A woman filmed wearing a miniskirt and crop top in Saudi Arabia on social media has been arrested, according to state media.

The woman, whose name was not given, was detained by police in the capital, Riyadh, for wearing "immodest clothes" that contradicted the country's conservative Islamic dress code, state media reported on Tuesday.

The footage, which shows the woman walking around a historic fort in a miniskirt with no-one else around, sparked uproar across the nation after it was uploaded on Snapchat over the weekend.

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The short video, shot in a village in the desert region of Najd, where many of Saudi Arabia's most conservative tribes and families are from, is followed by other shots of her sitting in the desert.

The Office for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said it was taking steps to identify the woman and the camera operator, and had issued warrants for their arrest.

According to the official Twitter account of state-run TV channel al-Ekhbariya, the woman has now been arrested and police have referred her case to the public prosecutor.

The video was shared widely across social media, both by people voicing support for the woman and by others criticising her for flagrantly disobeying Saudi rules, which require all women living in the kingdom, including foreigners, to wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public.

Most Saudi women also wear a headscarf and veil that covers the face.

The video also sparked a Twitter hashtag calling for her arrest — "Model Khulood must be tried" — a reference to what users said was the woman's Snapchat name.

Many shared images of the video with the woman's bare legs and midriff blurred out or painted over, and her image was blurred on Saudi news websites reporting on the case.

Some of those defending her posted images from President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, in which First Lady Melania Trump and his daughter Ivanka, though modestly dressed in higher necklines and longer sleeves, did not cover their heads or wear abayas.

One Twitter user, whose post was shared more than 1,700 times, superimposed an image of Ivanka Trump's face on the Saudi woman's body, writing: "Enough already, the situation has been solved."

Despite moves to modernise, gender segregation persists

Social media is wildly popular in Saudi Arabia as a space to vent frustrations and gauge public opinion.

The outcry against the video and the woman's subsequent arrest has illustrated how powerful and widespread conservative views are in the kingdom, despite recent moves by Saudi Arabia to modernise and loosen some rules.

The country's 31-year-old heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has pushed for greater openings for entertainment in part to appease young people trying to bypass government censors online.

Saudi rules require all women to wear long, loose robes in public and most wear a headscarf and veil. ( Amit Dave: Reuters )

The government announced last week girls would be allowed for the first time to play sports in public school and have access to physical education classes.

The powers of the kingdom's religious police have also been curtailed, and they are officially no longer allowed to arrest people.

Despite these moves, strict gender segregation rules and other restrictions on women remain in place.

Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia and cannot obtain a passport or travel abroad without a male relative's permission.

ABC/wires