How to Reverse a Video in Kapwing: A Full Guide

Have you ever wanted to create an interesting and creative video? Nowadays, as more and more video bloggers adopt reverse play to add fun to their videos, this approach has also attracted more users. Fortunately, Kapwing, a popular online video editor with video reverse feature, makes it quick and easy, even for beginners. With that in mind, this article aims to provide a detailed guide on how to reverse videos on Kapwing, its features, useful tips, as well as an alternative tool.

Part 1: Why Reverse Your Videos

Unlock Creative Storytelling

Reversing a video can turn common and boring scenes into magical and fascinating puzzles, much like filmmakers often use flashbacks to build suspense.

Fix for Shooting Mistakes

For some tricky shoots like catching thrown objects, filming the action and then reversing the footage can guarantee a one-take success, which is also a well-known method used by professional filmmaker.

Create More Engaging Video Content

Reversing your footage can grab attention instantly. On platforms like TikTok and Instagram, unconventional content tends to perform exceptionally well. For example, spilled drinks magically refill cups, and shattered phone screens repair themselves. The video reversing editing technique often leads to higher view counts and engagement.

Part 2: How to Reverse a Video on Kapwing

Reversing can add creativity, humor or intrigue to your video. If you are willing to try this attractive technique, Kapwing offers a simple and free way to reverse your videos. Here are a few steps to reverse videos on Kapwing.

1. Upload Your Video on Kapwing

Open your browser, search for Kapwing’s website, and then log in to your account. If you don’t have an account,, you can register one with your email first.

On the following interface, select the blue button Create new in the option New Folder. After that, click the click to upload button to import the video you want to reverse. You can also directly drag and drop your video file into the workspace.

2. Clip or Select the Section You Want to Reverse (Optional)

Kapwing can not only reverse the entire video, but also capture a part of the video for reversing.

If you only want to reverse a portion of your video, you should click on the video in the timeline and drag the edges of the clip to trim it down. Alternatively, split the video into several segments by placing the playhead where you want to cut and clicking the Split button.

However, Kapwing, as a reverse video tool, can only reverse the part of the video by dragging the video edges. It cannot directly set the start and end times of a clip that needs to be reversed, which is less convenient.

3. Reverse the Video

After the video is ready, find and click the Reverse video button in the right-side editing pane to enable it. The video will play backward.

4. Preview and Adjust

If needed, you can make additional edits like adding subtitles, cropping video, adding music or adjusting speed.

And then preview the video a few times before exporting to avoid re-operation. If the previewed video is not what you want, you can also check the operations and re-edit the video until you are satisfied.

5. Export and Download the Reversed Video

Finally, choose the Export Project button in the top right corner and select the format and resolution you need and different compression level you want. But it should be noted that this software is limited to four formats (MP4, GIF, PNG, and MP3) and four resolutions (AUTO, 480p, 720p and 4K).

After that, wait for Kapwing to process your video, which may take a few minutes. When finished, click Download to save your reversed video on your device.

Overall, video reversing with Kapwing is relatively easy and quick, but it relies on the Internet to complete the entire video reversing process so that it may be slightly slower.

So, if you want to get rid of such drawbacks, you can use a video reverser tool alternative to Kapwing in part 4.

Part 3: Pro Tips for Using Kapwing's Reverse Video Tool

The reverse video function of Kapwing is simple yet powerful, allowing you to take your video effects to the next level. Here are some pro tips to help you get the most out of it.

Combine Forward and Reverse for Seamless Loops

One of the most wonderful uses of Kapwing is creating seamless loops. You can select a clip with symmetrical motion, such as a jump or hand gesture, and then reverse it. And then put the reverse version after the original version and splice the two videos. Such video editing techniques add some quirky and funny atmosphere and effects to the original video.

This approach works for boomerang looping clips and magical visual effects as well as action sequential shots.

Adjust Speed for Dramatic Effects

While reversing a video online by Kapwing produces fascinating visual effects on its own, combining it with speed adjustments can elevate your creativity to new heights.

Slow reverse creates a surreal atmosphere. When actions are reversed at 0.5x speed or slower, they produce dreamlike effects. For example, the water slowly flows back from the ground into the cup, and the person slowly rises into the air. Fast reverse builds dynamic tension. Fast reverse can strengthen the action tension, for example, in dance videos, it can make the action more powerful, and in some movie explosion special effects shots, it makes the movie more stunning.

However, excessive multiplier speed may distort the picture and possibly confuse the logic of the action.

Part 4: Kapwing Alternative to Reverse a Video

As mentioned above, Kapwing's video reversing feature enhances the creativity of your videos. However, Kapwing has several significant drawbacks. Many users have reported that its browser-based feature often fails to upload or export videos. Additionally, Kapwing only supports four output formats after reversing the video, which significantly increases the inconvenience for users.

If you want to try more diverse options, AnyMP4 offers a reliable way to reverse videos. AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate is another multifunctional software that includes the function of video reversing. It has the same capabilities as Kapwing in terms of video reversing. Additionally, this video reverser is simpler to use for reversing videos compared to Kapwing. Moreover, like Kapwing, it also allows users to add subtitles, adjust the speed, and make other edits to videos that have been reversed. In addition, AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate also supports over 300 video formats for reversing, which provides wider support than Kapwing.

Compared with Kapwing, AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate has more unique advantages.

• • More advanced editing features (e.g., multi-track editing, color grading).
• • Support for 300+ formats (far more than Kapwing).
• • Batch processing for multiple videos simultaneously.
• • More functions to use (e.g., format conversion, video compression)
• • Support offline editing (so reversing is faster and privacy protection is more secure).

So how to reverse a video on AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate? Here are its simple steps:

1. Download and install the software on Windows or Mac.

2. Open the software and click on the Video Reverser button under the section of More Tools that is in the upper part of the interface.

3. On the following interface, click Add a video to Video Reverser to upload the video you want to reverse.

4. Click the video portion you want to reverse by dragging the edges of the video or setting the start and end times.

If you want to reverse the entire video, you can skip this step.

5. Finally, preview the video. Click on the Export button in the lower right corner, if you are satisfied, and the reversed video can be exported.

Conclusion

Kapwing’s reverse video tool makes it incredibly easy to add creativity to your clips even without downloads or specialized knowledge. It only takes a few clicks to turn boring video into appealing material. Whether you're crafting a dramatic effect or a surreal loop, its possibilities are endless. Kapwing excels for quick, web-based editing, while AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate are ideal for offline work, batch processing, or higher-quality exports.

After reading our guide to use Kapwing’s reverse tool, try to get a video backwards with AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate and unlock a new dimension of creativity, if you want a fast and safe way! And we hope you share your experience in the comments down below.