Identify a movie from a clip
To identify a movie from a clip, give the clip itself to Trace: share it from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or X, or paste its link in the box on this page. Trace is a free clip finder.
It answers with the film or show, the moment in it the clip was taken from, the season and episode for TV, and where the title is streaming in your country. You do not describe the scene, name an actor or remember a line. The clip is the whole question.
Free. Share a clip from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or X straight to Trace, or upload one saved on your phone. The box below takes links; uploads need the app.
Free: 3 traces a week on the webUnlimited in the appNo signupUsually under a minute
How to identify a movie from a clip
- 1
Get the clip or its link
Tap Share on the video where you found it and choose Trace, or tap Copy link. A video saved on your phone works in the app too.
- 2
Give it to Trace
Paste the link in the box on this page, or let the app pick it up from the share sheet.
- 3
Read the answer
The title, the moment the clip comes from, the season and episode for a show, and where to watch it near you.
What a clip finder can take
A fifteen second clip, cropped to a phone screen, with a caption over the top and a song that was never in the film. Reposted by an account that posts a different film every day and names none of them.
That is the normal case, not the hard one. Paste the link above and Trace identifies the film from the footage as it is. If the clip cuts between two films, you get the one that takes up most of it, and a second try with a shorter cut usually names the other.
What makes an identification reliable
Length helps more than quality. A few seconds of a real scene is enough; a clip that is mostly a title card, a reaction face or a black screen gives Trace little to work with. If a result looks wrong, try the same clip cut to the part that shows the film, or a different clip of the same scene.
Trace never guesses. When it cannot place a clip it says so, and the app's Wrong movie button sends the clip back so it can be looked at. Both are better than a confident wrong title.
Clips, not descriptions or photos
A clip finder works from the video. A written description of a scene, a poster, or a single screenshot is a different problem, and for those the other guides on this page are the honest answer. For a clip, this page is the fastest route there is.
Questions
How do I identify a movie from a video clip?
Share the clip to Trace from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or X, or paste its link on this page. Trace names the film or show, the moment and where to watch it.
Can it identify a clip with music over it?
Yes. Clips with a song laid over them, with captions, or with no sound at all are the usual case and they work.
Does it identify TV shows and anime?
Yes. For a show you get the season and the episode. About 1 in 3 titles Trace finds is not in English.
What if the clip is not from a film or show?
Trace tells you it could not place it, rather than guessing. A clip from a game, an advert or someone's own video will come back that way.
Is the clip finder free?
Yes. Trace is free on iOS and Android, and you can paste a link on this page without an account.
Get Trace, free
With the app installed, Trace sits in the share sheet of TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X, and keeps everything you find in one library.
More ways to find what you saw
- What movie is this?: The three ways that work, and the fastest one.
- Shazam for movies: What Trace does, and what it cannot.
- Movie finder: Name the film or show behind any video clip.
- From a screenshot: What works when all you have is a still.
- Movie scene finder: Find the film and the exact moment a scene happens.
- Find a TV show from a clip: Name the series, the season and the episode.
- TikTok movie finder: Find the movie behind a TikTok clip or edit.
- Find a movie by a quote: Search the line the right way, then what to do when it fails.
- What scene is this from?: The exact moment in the film, not only the title.
- How to find a movie from a video clip: every way people try, and the quickest.
- Popular films and popular TV shows, with where to watch each.
- Often traced: Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Avengers, Interstellar, Pulp Fiction, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Stranger Things