Reverse a Video Online for Free
Reverse a video on your device and save an MP4 that plays backwards. The picture and its recorded soundtrack both run from the end towards the beginning.
How to reverse a video with its sound
- Choose a clip with the movement you want to play backwards.
- Start the export. If the clip has sound, its soundtrack runs backwards too.
- Check that the downloaded video begins with the original ending.
| Source | Result |
|---|---|
| Near 1 second | Near 11 seconds |
| Near 4 seconds | Near 8 seconds |
| Near 10 seconds | Near 2 seconds |
Before you reverse a video, choose its opening frame
Play the final few seconds of your recording. Pause on the frame you want viewers to see first, then trim away anything that follows it. Look for trailing black frames, an end card or a hand reaching towards the camera. Each will appear at the start of the exported MP4 if you leave it in the source.
Consider the beginning of the source in the same way. It will become the last thing the viewer sees. A few seconds spent positioning an object before an action can make an otherwise short reverse appear to trail off. For a single gesture, trim the source so it starts at the earliest position you want to show and ends at the furthest point of movement.
Choose the actual video file stored on your device. A project file that opens in an editor may refer to separate camera clips, titles and a sound mix on its timeline. Export the intended section as a playable video before reversing it. The result will then include the visible edits and the soundtrack that were present in that source export.
What happens to on-screen text when you reverse a video?
The export plays the recorded frames in the opposite order. A ball falling down appears to rise again, and a cursor retraces its route across the screen. The picture keeps its original orientation. A sign in the background remains readable in individual frames even though the action around it runs backwards.
A clock or counter drawn into the picture will count down when its original recording counted up. Titles and other graphics that were already visible are reversed in time along with everything else. An animated title that originally appeared letter by letter will now disappear letter by letter. If the title needs to read normally throughout the reverse, add it to the downloaded version afterwards.
The length of a single reversed pass is approximately the length of the original. A ten-second recording should still last around ten seconds when reversed once. There is no additional forward pass here. If you need the action to go out and come back in one continuous clip, choose the boomerang tool, which combines two passes and produces a silent result.
Decide whether the backwards audio belongs in the edit
When you reverse a video with an audio track, the recorded sound also runs backwards. A spoken sentence will no longer be intelligible in the usual way, and the tail of a ringing sound will come before its attack. Listen for a short, identifiable sound such as a clap. It should occur near the opposite end of the reversed clip from its position in the source.
To reverse a video under a voice-over that still plays forwards, export the backwards picture first. Then replace its soundtrack with the intended recording using the separate audio replacement tool. Decide where the new voice or beat should start relative to the reversed picture. The original soundtrack played in its original order will not automatically line up with actions that now occur in reverse order.
For footage that should be completely silent, remove the audio track from the exported copy. Turning down the speaker or muting the preview does not remove sounds from the MP4. Open the downloaded result in another player to check what the recipient will actually hear when the volume is turned up.
How to reverse a video that is too long to process at once
Reversing requires access to decoded pictures from the end towards the beginning. A small download can still occupy a lot of memory once its frames have been decoded. If you only want to reverse a short movement from a long recording, trim that movement into a separate clip before starting. This also makes it easier to check the exact opening and ending frames.
If a long reverse stops during processing, keep the original and try a shorter section. Close other media-heavy tabs to free memory. To reconstruct a longer reverse from separate parts, reverse each part and also reverse the order of the parts when joining them. Reversing three parts individually and joining them in their original order creates three backwards sections with jumps between them.
Questions about reverse playback
Can I reverse a video without mirroring the image?
Yes. Reversing changes the order of the frames. A horizontal flip instead swaps the left and right sides within each frame. Use the rotate and flip tool when text is backwards but the action already plays in the correct order.
Can I reverse a video and keep a forward copy?
The download is separate from the source. Keep both files and name them by direction before importing them into an editor. This avoids placing the forward clip twice when a thumbnail looks similar at each end.
How do I reverse a video without starting on a freeze frame?
Watch the final seconds of the source. A freeze frame, an end card or time spent holding a pose becomes the opening of the reverse. Trim that pause from the source, then export the reverse again.