Reverse Video – Play Any Clip Backwards
Reverse video clips so they play backwards: water flows up, a dive lands back on the board, a dropped glass reassembles. ProMedia rebuilds the clip frame by frame in reverse order on your own device, with the sound reversed too or muted. Pick Boomerang instead and the clip plays forward, then backward, as one continuous back-and-forth clip. Nothing is uploaded and no watermark is added.
- Runs on your device
- WebCodecs · GPU
- FFmpeg
- Works offline
Updated
Drop your videos here
How to reverse a video
Step 1: Drop a clip on the box above. Short clips reverse fastest.
Step 2: Choose Effect: Reverse plays the whole clip backwards, Boomerang plays it forward and then backward.
Step 3: Choose Audio: Reverse it or Mute.
Step 4: Press Apply and download the reversed video.
Good to know
Settings explained
- Quality
- Only used when a stream has to be re-encoded. Compatible streams are copied with no quality loss.
- Faster: Smaller file, quickest export
- Balanced: Good quality at a sensible size
- Best quality: Largest file, slowest export
Formats
Batch-friendly: add many files and they are processed one after another — if one fails, the rest still finish.
How it runs
- Hardware video engine
- Video is decoded and encoded by your device’s media hardware through WebCodecs — usually several times faster than real time.
- FFmpeg (when needed)
- Older formats and a few filters use FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. It downloads once (about 31 MB) the first time it is needed and is cached for offline use.
Reverse, boomerang or loop: which effect you want
All three repeat or rearrange the same footage, but they look different on screen. Reverse runs the clip once, backwards. Boomerang doubles it into a forward-and-back motion. A loop repeats it forwards.
| Effect | What plays | Length of a 6 s clip | Re-encoded? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reverse (this page) | Last frame to first frame | 6 s | Yes, once |
| Boomerang (this page or Boomerang Video Maker) | Forward, then backward, meeting at the last frame | About 12 s | Yes, once |
| Loop video | The clip forward, 2 to 20 times | 12 s to 120 s | No, copied |
What is a reverse video?
A reverse video plays its frames from the last to the first, so every movement runs backwards in time. It is a classic editing trick for magic-style shots (a ball jumping into a hand), satisfying clips (paint un-mixing) and rewind gags. The effect works on any clip you have, from a phone video to a screen recording, and the original file is never changed.
How the video reverser works, and how long a clip can be
Video files are compressed forwards: most frames only store what changed since the previous one, so a player cannot just read them backwards. ProMedia decodes the clip in chunks starting from the end, holds one chunk of frames in memory, writes them out newest-first and releases them before the next chunk. The video is then encoded once (H.264, or VP9 for WebM files) at the Quality set under Advanced settings.
Because only one chunk is held at a time, long clips work, but reversing is far slower than playing. On phones the chunks are kept smaller to save memory. Clips of a few seconds to a few minutes are the sweet spot; screen recordings with very few keyframes get a quick preparation pass first so each chunk decodes faster.
Can you reverse the audio of a video too?
Yes, Reverse it is the default. The soundtrack is reversed along with the picture, so speech turns into the familiar backwards gibberish and music swells in reverse. In Boomerang mode the sound plays forward and then backward, mirroring the picture. Choose Mute for a silent clip, then add a soundtrack later with Add Music to Video.
Reverse a video on iPhone, Android or a computer
The steps above are the same in Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Built-in phone editors mostly lack a reverse option.
iPhone
The Photos app cannot play a video backwards. Open this page in Safari, choose the clip from Photo Library and save the reversed file back to Photos.
Android
Google Photos has no reverse effect. In Chrome on this page, pick the clip from your gallery; the reversed copy goes to Downloads.
Windows and Mac
Drag the file into the browser. Desktop computers have more memory, so longer clips reverse faster than on a phone.
TikTok, Reels and other apps
Many apps hide reverse inside an effects menu. If yours has none, reverse the clip here and upload the finished file like any other video.
Tips & troubleshooting
Reverse only the moment that matters: cut it out with the video trimmer first, so there is less to process.
Make the effect stronger by slowing it down: reverse here, then use the slow motion video maker.
Reversing a GIF? Reverse GIF handles animated GIFs directly.
Only want the soundtrack backwards? Reverse Audio works on MP3, WAV and other audio files.
Reverse Video FAQ
How do I make a video play backwards?
Drop the clip here, keep Effect on Reverse and press Apply. The new file plays from the last frame to the first in any player, with the sound reversed or muted.
How do I make a boomerang from a video?
Choose Boomerang under Effect. The clip plays forward and then backward without showing the turning frame twice. The Boomerang Video Maker has the same effect preset, with the sound muted.
Does reversing a video reduce its quality?
Slightly, because the frames are encoded again in their new order. At Balanced quality the difference is hard to see; choose Best quality under Advanced settings if you will edit the clip further.
Why is reversing slower than other edits?
Compressed video can only be decoded forwards, so every chunk has to be decoded from a keyframe and then written out backwards. Trimming the clip to the part you need is the easiest way to speed it up.
Is your clip uploaded anywhere?
No. Your clip is processed by your own browser on your own device. There is no server that receives files, so nothing is uploaded, stored or shared. You can even switch to airplane mode once the page has loaded.