How to reverse a video
- Drop your video into the box or choose it. Clips up to 3 minutes long work; trim longer ones first.
- Choose whether the sound plays backwards too or is removed.
- Watch the reversed video next to the original, then download the MP4.
How reversing works
Video files store most frames as changes from the frames before them, with a full picture (a key frame) every few seconds. That makes them small, but it means a player can only decode forwards. To reverse a clip, the tool starts at the last key frame, decodes up to the end, keeps those frames as pictures, and encodes them last to first. Then it steps back to the key frame before and repeats until it reaches the start. Each stretch is kept small enough to fit comfortably in memory.
The sound is decoded in full, its samples are flipped end to end, and it is added back so it lines up with the reversed picture.
Ideas for reversed clips
- Pouring, splashing and breaking: water jumping back into a glass or a tower of blocks rebuilding itself.
- Walking or driving backwards: a simple trick for short social videos.
- Boomerang style loops: join a clip and its reversed copy with merge videos to make it play forwards and then back.
- Spotting details: watching a fast moment in reverse, especially combined with change video speed at 0.5×, makes it easier to follow.