Are you trying to locate the source of a particular video? Well then reverse video search can help you. 

If a compelling video has been on your mind for a while and you wish to search for more such videos without having to type in a search query, the reverse search video can do the needful. This is to say that you can find a video without knowing the video title or video source.

Search engines are evolving more than ever to include features which aim to reduce users’ efforts while looking for information. With a reverse search you can access content safely. In addition, it fosters crediting original video creator/s for their work. If you have little idea about reverse image search, then this would be a cinch for you. If not, then you can learn this skill as we proceed to discuss below how and why to do a video reverse search.

What Is Reverse Video Search?

Usually, we all enter some specific search terms in the search box to draw information. In contrast, reverse search involves using a media file (typically a video or image) to pool out results. When we perform a reverse search for a video, the search engine will return to us the web pages where that video (or specific media file) is posted.

How To Perform A Reverse Video Search On Google?

To perform reverse search for a video on Google, follow these steps:

1. Firstly, play the video that you want to run reverse video search for. Pause the video and save a screenshot.

2. Open a new tab on Google Chrome and click on Images on the top-right corner.

3. Once you see the search box, click on the camera/lens icon. Or click here to directly open Google Images.

4. When you see the box, click on Upload A File.

5. Select the saved screenshot of the video and click Open.

Google will return the relevant search results on the right side. You can click on Find Image Source to see web pages associated with that video screenshot.

How To Perform A Reverse Video Search On Bing?

1. Save the screenshot of the video (as discussed above in Step-1 in How to reverse video search Google).

2. Open Bing Visual Search.

3. Click on the camera or lens icon, and then click on Browse.

4. Then upload the screenshot.

Bing will return relevant results categorized as: (i) Pages with this image (ii) Related Content.

How To Perform A Reverse Video Search On Yandex?

1. Take a screenshot of the video (as suggested earlier in this post).

2.Go to Yandex Image Search and click on Images.

3. Now click the camera icon on the screen.

4. Moving on, click on Select File and upload the screenshot image to see results.

Yandex will show you the details about image including:

• What the image appears to contain
• Available sizes the picture is available in
• Text in the image
• Sites hosting the image
• Relevant results

You can also access the results from separate tabs on the top: About the image, Similar images and Sites.

Advantages Of Reverse Video Search

Here are 5 big favors reverse search for a video can do to you:

• Helps Find Original Video Source

This is the primary benefit of running a reverse search for a video. With this feature, you can get the site results and image results to discover where it originally came from. So now you know where to head to locate a source for citation and other purposes.

• Helps Explore Similar Videos

For times when you want to fetch similar video results, this feature is a boon. Many times we might not know what search terms to enter to get a particular video, this feature can come handy.

• Helps Discover Full Version Of Video

Have you stumbled upon a part of or some interesting short clip and want to discover its full-length video? Then reverse video search will assist you in this task. Make sure to research thoroughly and compare results from various sources for this purpose.

• Helps Find Duplicate Videos

Reverse search for a video is a practically feasible way to ensure that your content isn’t being used without your permission. It retrieves results where the searched video is available or posted.

• Helps Confirm Authenticity

These days anything and everything is being published online. Reverse search for videos provides detailed analysis and relevant results which can assist in:

• confirming the source a video is coming from and
• full version of the video

which helps differentiate between fake and real video clip/s.

How Does Reverse Video Search Work?

Search engines facilitate reverse search for videos by analyzing pixels, colors and contents of a video screenshot. The results search engines return are either same or similar. Now what results you’ll get depend on whether the video is indexed or not:

The process with which search engines retrieve video results for reverse search is called content-based visual information retrieval (CBVIR).  Similarly image-based reverse searches work on Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) and query-based reverse searches work on query by image content (QBIC) systems. Search engines refer to the indexed database and return the results that match to the video screenshot features including:

• Colors
• Pixels
• Audio quality
• Metadata

Based on these factors, search engines fetch results for you. Furthermore, it also depends on the user feedback. 

5 Best Reverse Video Search Tools

Apart from the above discussed search engines, there are online tools that can help run a reverse search for a video.

TinEye

It’s a profoundly used free reverse search tool that returns results for image-based reverse search. You just need to upload the image to run the search and it will fetch relevant results which you can sort.

SmallSEOTools

This tool also comes with a reverse image search feature which facilitates search with an uploaded image. You can also paste the image link and by entering keywords. Then click on Search Similar Images.

Duplichecker

This one works in a similar manner as SmallSEOTools and you can upload the image and click on Search Similar Images.

Berify

It is a paid tool that allows you perform reverse image search once you sign-up for a plan. Like most other reverse search tools/sites Berify requires uploading an image to perform the search.

Shutterstock

It is an amazing image search platform that also allows reverse search for videos. Click on Search By Image > Choose File and select the image screenshot.

Wrapping Up

Reverse video search is an amazing feature which retrieves a collection of same and similar results for searches performed using a screenshot from a video clip. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yandex allow users to perform this search. This feature is supported with content-based visual information retrieval (CBVIR). Other than search engines, some online tools also allow this search.

Gurleen Kaur

Gurleen Kaur is a Content Writer at Mind Mingles. She has presented her work in International Conference On Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Life, Philosophy and Legacy held at Mata Sundri College For Women and was awarded by the title of “Best Paper Presenter” under College Student Category for the same (Dated: 27th and 28th September, 2019) Has a strong grip over creating interesting, unique and informative content pieces for a wide range of niches. Firm believer that words have an impact.