Reverse Video

Drag & Drop or Click to Select a Video

MP4, MOV, WebM, or MKV to play backwards

Tip: paste a video file from clipboard (Ctrl/⌘+V).

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Settings are written to the URL as you change them. Nothing differs from the defaults yet.

Play a clip backwards and save it as a new file. The picture and the soundtrack are both reversed, and the export keeps the source container family.

How the clip is reversed

Compressed video can only be decoded forward, because most frames are stored as changes from the frames before them. So the export works backward in windows:

Take the last window of the clip, decode it forward into memory.
Encode those frames last one first.
Move one window earlier and repeat until the start.

Each window is a fixed amount of memory rather than a fixed number of seconds. At 1080p that is 24 frames, at 720p 54. The rail shows the window for the loaded file.

Audio

The soundtrack is reversed with the same windowed method the audio reverser uses, decoded with a short run-up before each window so the seams are sample accurate. Reversed speech is unintelligible by nature; reversed music and ambient sound often work as a transition.

Speed

Reversing costs more than a normal re-encode because every window starts decoding at the key frame before it. Phone and camera footage has a key frame every second or two, so the overhead is small. Screen recordings can go ten seconds between key frames, and there every window repeats part of that decoding. Exporting them at 720p doubles the window length against 1080p, which halves the number of windows.

Preview

The preview plays the source forward, with sound. Browsers cannot play a compressed file backwards smoothly, which is the same reason the export needs windows.

Trim the clip first if you only need a few seconds reversed; a shorter source reverses proportionally faster. For a slow motion rewind, reverse the clip and then run it through the video speed changer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the sound play backwards too?

Yes, by default. The soundtrack is reversed in the same windows as the picture, so it stays in sync. Choose Remove audio for a silent clip.

Why does reversing take longer than other exports?

A decoder can only run forward. The file is walked from the end in windows, and each window has to be decoded from the key frame before it. On files with few key frames, such as screen recordings, part of each window is decoded twice.

Is there a length limit?

Not a fixed one. Memory holds one window of decoded frames, about 200 MB, whatever the duration. The output streams to browser storage, so a long file needs free disk space rather than memory.

Why is the default resolution 1080p?

Smaller frames fit more of them in a window, which means fewer seeks back to a key frame. A 4K source reversed at 1080p exports several times faster than at full size.

Can I make a boomerang loop?

Reverse the clip here, then join the original and the reversed copy in a video editor. The reversed file starts on the source's last frame, so the two meet without a jump.

Explore Our Tools

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Video Speed Changer

Speed a video up or slow it down from 0.25× to 4×, with the soundtrack stretched to match. Keep the voice at its normal pitch or let it rise and fall like tape, and preview the result at the new speed.

Video Trimmer

Cut the start and end off a video by dragging in and out handles on the timeline. Cut on the exact frame with a re-encode, or copy the kept part without re-encoding by cutting at key frames.

Audio Reverser

Play an audio file backwards and export it in the format it arrived in, either the whole file or a range dragged across the waveform.

Blur Video

Blur every frame of a video with a Gaussian blur, and mix the blurred frame back over the sharp one to soften rather than erase detail. The blur scales with the output size, so the preview matches the export. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Crosshatch Video Effect

Redraw every frame of a video as pen-and-ink crosshatching, with darker areas taking more passes at crossing angles and the hand wobble redrawn on every frame. Set line spacing, nib weight, wobble, and contour line. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

CRT Video Effect

Make a video look like it is playing on a CRT television: barrel curvature, scanlines, a phosphor mask, color bleed, and glow, with fresh static on every frame. The soundtrack is copied into the MP4 or WebM export.

Edge Detection Video

Run a Sobel, Prewitt, Scharr, or Laplacian edge detector over every frame of a video and export the gradient as light lines on black. Set pre-blur, sensitivity, and a binary threshold. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Emboss Video Effect

Turn every frame of a video into a lit relief, as if pressed into metal or paper. Set depth, light angle, blend, and whether color is kept; depth scales with the output size. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Film Stock Video Emulator

Grade a video to one of seventeen named film stocks, including Portra 400, Kodachrome 64, Velvia 50, CineStill 800T, and Tri-X 400, with grain that moves on every frame and trims for exposure, contrast, grain, and halation. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Sparkle Video Effect

Add starburst sparkles to the brightest points in every frame of a video, twinkling as they change from frame to frame. Set highlight threshold, sparkle density, ray size, and ray count. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

VHS Video Effect

Make video look like a worn VHS tape: shifted color, a soft picture, scanlines, tracking errors, dropouts, and head-switching noise at the bottom of the frame, all moving from frame to frame. Exports MP4 or WebM with the soundtrack.

Black Mist Video Filter

Add the look of a black pro-mist diffusion filter to a video: light sources bloom into a soft veil and blacks lift slightly. Set diffusion strength, veil spread, black lift, highlight bias, and warmth. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.