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Video face search

Search Videos by Face

Show SnapByFace one picture of a person and point it at your video files. It samples frames, finds the person, and reports when they appear — with nothing leaving your computer.

Download SnapByFace Read the docs

What it is

What is video face search?

Video face search locates a person inside video files. Scrubbing two hours of footage by hand is hopeless; searching it by face takes minutes. The app samples frames at a steady interval, detects the faces in them, and compares each against your reference photo.

SnapByFace merges consecutive hits into time ranges — "02:14–02:34" — instead of a raw list of frame numbers, and clicking a hit jumps straight to that moment. Photos and videos share the same index, so one reference photo finds a person across both.

How it works

From footage to timestamps

1

Add a reference photo

One clear picture of the person you are tracking. The same people library you use for photos works for video.

2

Point it at your video files

SnapByFace reads MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, M4V, WebM and TS. It samples about one frame per second by default — adjustable from 0.1 to 30 seconds.

3

Jump to the moments

Hits are grouped into time ranges and sorted by similarity. Click one to jump straight to that moment in the file, then export what you need.

Control the trade-off

Precision versus speed, your choice

Tunable sampling interval

A tighter interval (down to 0.1s) pins the moment more precisely; a looser one (up to 30s) gets through hours of footage faster. You set it per scan.

Time ranges, not frame numbers

Consecutive matching frames are merged into ranges, so a person who stays in shot is one result — not two hundred.

Pausable, resumable scans

Hours of 4K footage takes time. Pause at any point, close the app, and resume where you left off — progress persists.

Footage stays on your disk

Client rushes, interviews, family video — none of it is uploaded. Sampling, detection and matching all happen locally.

Video face search: frequently asked questions

Can it tell me when the person appears?
Yes. Results are merged time ranges (for example 02:14–02:34), and clicking a hit jumps straight to that moment in the file. The precision depends on your sampling interval.
Which video formats are supported?
MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, M4V, WebM and TS. Multiple files and folders are scanned in one pass, alongside your photos if you point it at both.
Does the video get uploaded for processing?
No. Frames are sampled and matched on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no cloud processing step at all.
How fast does it scan video?
It depends on video length, resolution and your sampling interval — a looser interval scans hours of footage much faster. Long scans can be paused and resumed at any time.

Find that moment in your footage

Download SnapByFace and run the free trial against a folder of video you already have. No account, no upload, no waiting on someone else's GPU.

Download SnapByFace Read the docs