Free Software To Play A Video In Reverse Order

How to Make a Video Play in Reverse

In my previous article I covered how you can play a video in reverse order using Pinnacle, now this trick is another solution to achieve the same.

Have you wondered how cool it would be if you could make a home movie in which everything is going backwards? This article is going to show you a cute little trick that will not only earn you an extra notch of cool quotient in amateur video-making, but also take you closer to the real thing in movie making.

Typically, most of the common movie-making packages that beginners use – such as Movie Maker, Roxio, etc. – do not have any filter/tool that will change a video such that it is running backwards. However, with the combined power of two very widely used tools – AviSynth and VirtualDub – you can accomplish this trick easily.

Here’s what you have to do.

First, download and install AviSynth and VirtualDub, both of which are free softwares easily available on the web. Now, you have two categories of video reversal procedures depending on whether the video is an AVI file or a non-AVI file.

1. Video reversing for an AVI file
   1. First, you have to make a ‘script’ – which is a simple text file that tells VirtualDub which video is to be reversed. For this, open a blank notepad file, and enter the following text:
      Reverse(AVISource(“C:\yourfile.avi”))
      [Here, you have to give the exact file location in place of C:\yourfile.avi.]
   2. Now, save the text file with a .avs file extension.
   3. Open VirtualDub.
   4. Drag the .avs file you saved in Step 1b into the VirtualDub window.
   5. The reversed video is generated. Save it by going to File -> Save As.
2. Video reversing for a non-AVI file
   1. In this case, the method is exactly the same as the above – only you have to mention the frame rate of the video you want to reverse.
   2. Generate the ‘script’ by opening a blank text file and entering:
      Reverse(DirectShowSource(“C:\yourfile.wmv”, 29.97))
      [Here, 29.97 is an example of frame rate specification. This is the most common frame rate for an NTSC video.]
   3. Save the file with the .avs extension.
   4. Open VirtualDub, drag the .as file onto its window, and save the reversed video using File -> Save As.