How to Do a Reverse Video Search? An Ultimate Guide for 2024

Have you recently watched a funny video but couldn’t find it again to show your friends? Or maybe you are a photographer or videomaker? A reverse video search can help you find a video as well as track copyright violations of your videos.

In this article, we’ll show you how to do a reverse search. Read on!

Can You Actually Do a Reverse Video Search?

Yes, it is possible to search for a short segment of a video or a caption from a video to find the original video, whether it be for people search or other purposes. Although it’s a relatively new approach and it doesn’t always give accurate results, you can always use a reverse video search engine for maximum efficiency.

It is similar to searching for something in a browser, but instead of typing words or phrases, you need to upload a video file. It is then analyzed and you’ll be given matches from the database.

How to Do a Reverse Video Search?

There are a few ways to video reverse search and depending on what you are looking for and what information you’ve got, you can search via video screenshot or via video clip.

Reverse Search Videos With Google

Reverse video search using Google works best for finding stolen material. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer the reverse video search option for finding the original source, but there are ways to find a video. Here are the steps:

1. Take several screenshots and crop off all the extra stuff.
2. Go to Google Images and click the camera icon (in the search bar).
3. Click “Upload an image” and choose a good quality screenshot, then click search.
4. A list of images that Google recognized will appear. Browse through them to find your source video.

Other Reverse Search Engines for Video

Let’s take a look at the other tools for reverse video search:

Berify

Berify is an online reverse video finder tool that is best for people who post their own unique content on multiple platforms. Since it’s a paid service (with only 5 free searches), it gives you an email report of your pictures and videos and an intuitive dashboard.

How to use it:

1. Screenshot a video or submit a video file to their page.
2. Choose your plan, which will cost you from $5 to $25 per month or choose to search for free (5 pics).
3. Click on Search and wait for results. Results will be saved on the dashboard and you will be able to retrieve them later.

TinEye

TinEye specializes in image search and recognition. It is best for label matching, color search, image tracking, or searching by objects in the video. A million companies from various sectors use it as it is the oldest tool for image reverse search. You can now also search with video screenshots. It is very easy:

1. Take a snapshot of the video you want to find.
2. Visit the page and upload the picture.
3. If you need certain filters, you can add a specific domain or certain collection. You can also add a specific page if you think it may have the video content you are looking for.

Shutterstock

This is the only engine so far that actually has a reverse search video option for more than 2 years. It is best for bloggers since it boasts about 1 billion images and videos and has over a million user contributions.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Take a snapshot of the video or a part of some footage.
2. Go to their official page.
3. Drag the snapshot/footage or upload an image/footage to the dashboard panel. Use keywords for better search results.
4. Browse the results.

Texcipio

This tool is best for videographers or video editors. They can easily do a reverse video lookup on Texcipio and save time and money. The reverse search API generates digital fingerprints of your videos, then compares the fingerprints and gives you detailed results of your matches.

This is how to use it:

1. Upload your video.
2. Automatized API will generate fingerprints.
3. The digital video fingerprint of the video source is compared to your video’s fingerprint.
4. Browse the results.

Key Takeaways

Reasons for Reverse Searching a Video

This technology is new, but it can be very helpful for many reasons. Most video search platforms are easy to use, and there are many situations where a reverse video lookup can come in handy:

Finding the owner of the video for copyright reasons (rebroadcasting, user permission, etc.)

If you need to use an online video, you should never rebroadcast the video without first making sure that you aren’t committing any copyright violations. It’s always best to run a search by video clip and ask for user permission if the video is not in the public domain. If a video is available online, it does not necessarily mean that you can use it.

Finding stolen material

For many professionals who create online video content, using reverse searches regularly has proven a successful method to prevent their content from being reused without permission. Furthermore, many tools are automated and can be used to reverse search your material regularly at set intervals of time.

Finding more information about the video topic

Another reason to do a video search is if you need to find the source of the video or more information about it. However, you will need a more sophisticated tool than Google Images, as this tool is limited to matching thumbnail video images and their file names and won’t give you the precise results that you may need when searching for more information.

For referencing

If you need to mention or use a video in your academic work or research, referencing the video source may be part of the requirements. Nearly 80% of online video content consists of business videos that are used as a marketing tool. If you want to use a business video for your research, you may need the authors’ permission. By referencing all the content you use, you will make sure that you aren’t violating copyright.

Location recognition

This is an important feature for videographers or video editors. When creating a video about a certain location, you may find that you are missing a few minutes’ worth of footage. A reverse search for videos about the same location could help you find the footage you need. Some tools have a vast database of 4K videos.

Object recognition

Imagine that you’ve recently watched a video and there was a plant, animal, or other objects that you wanted to know more about. A reverse video search engine is capable of analyzing objects in your video. It identifies different colors, shapes, and objects, and then compares them against their video database.

Remixing

You’ve discovered the ultimate meme video, but it’s been ruined by someone else’s cheesy captions? You can try to find video sources for this video and then create new memes. Whatever the purpose, it’s worth knowing how to find the original video source.

Similarities

Another valuable feature for videographers and video editors is finding footage with similar characteristics such as lighting, color, or shot types (long/full shot) to fit their videos.

Alternative Options to Reverse Video Search

There are alternative ways to reverse search a video that can come in handy depending on your goal. For example, if you remember part of the text in a video you’ve watched and would like to find again, try googling some phrases or words:

Search by Video

There are a few options you should know:

Google Videos

Although there is no video search by Google, you can use any kind of info that you remember, and Google will automatically find similar videos to the one you’re looking for. You can narrow down the search by many filters for short/long video, uploaded time, etc.

YouTube

You can do a reverse YouTube video search more efficiently than with Google. Here you can also search by keywords, phrases, or video subtitles. YouTube will automatically give you suggested videos that are similar to what you are searching for.

Bing Video

Bing is a perfect tool that searches Amazon and YouTube for the video you need. It gives you related videos grouped into different categories, and additionally, you can see a short GIF from each video as a preview.

Through Similar Video Suggestions

You could try these tools as well:

YouTube

YouTube has a feature called autoplay, which will give you related matches according to your search history. So if you watch a video about taxes, it will recommend videos with similar topics. This feature can be used to find videos on the topic you are interested in.

Google Advanced Video Search

If you google a certain video, it will possibly give you millions of results. To narrow down the results, you can use the advanced search option that allows you to search a certain domain/site, video duration, video title, and even words that you want to exclude from the search.

Conclusion

Since reverse video searching is still a relatively new technique, its complete capabilities are yet to be made accessible to the average internet user. However, we should definitely expect this sector to develop in the coming years. Try out the options we’ve gathered for you above if you need to find a video!