How to make a boomerang video from any clip

A boomerang is a very short clip that plays forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, so the motion bounces back and forth in a seamless loop. Instagram's Boomerang feature popularised the style, but you can make one from any video you already have. The boomerang video maker does it on your device; you pick the moment, the length, the speed and the number of repeats.

What a boomerang is

Four things define the look. It is short, usually one to four seconds of source footage. It is sped up, typically about twice normal speed, which makes the motion snappy. It plays forwards then backwards, so the end of each pass leads straight into the next and there is no jump cut. And it is silent, because audio played backwards and forwards on repeat is just noise. A plain loop jumps from the last frame to the first; a boomerang never does, which is why it loops so smoothly even when the subject has moved.

How the tool builds one

The tool reads the section you picked at 30 frames per second by seeking the video to each frame time, copying each picture to a canvas and storing it as a JPEG. Speed comes from skipping frames: at 2× it uses every second frame, at 3× every third. It then lays out one cycle as those frames forwards followed by the same frames backwards, leaving out the first and last frame on the way back so the turning points don't stutter. The cycle is repeated as many times as you chose and recorded with the browser's MediaRecorder at 30 fps.

With the defaults, two seconds at 2× with three repeats, the tool reads 60 frames, uses 30 of them, builds a cycle of 30 + 28 = 58 frames and repeats it three times: 174 frames, or about 5.8 seconds of video. Recording runs in real time, so keep the tab visible for those seconds.

Filming a moment that works

• Pick motion that reverses well: clinking glasses, a toss and catch, a jump, a hair flip, a splash, a high five, confetti.
• Keep the camera still. Lean on something or use a tripod. Camera shake is doubled by the back-and-forth and quickly looks seasick.
• Use good light. Bright light means short exposures and less motion blur, which matters when footage is sped up.
• Film more than you need. Record a few seconds either side so you can choose the exact start.
• Slow motion helps at 3×. The tool samples 30 frames per second of the clip, so at 3× two of every three are skipped and motion jumps further between frames. A clip already slowed down by your phone's slow-motion mode contains more moments per second of real action, so it stays smooth when sped up.

Choosing length, speed and repeats

In the tool, pause the preview where the moment begins and the start time is filled in, or type it. Length can be 1, 1.5, 2, 3 or 4 seconds; most good boomerangs use one or two. Speed is normal, 2× (the classic look) or 3×. Repeats can be 2, 3, 4 or 6 cycles. More repeats make a longer file, which helps on platforms that don't loop video automatically. Output size can be capped at 480, 720 or 1,080 pixels on the longer side. If your clip is long or in the wrong place, cut it first with the video trimmer.

Sharing the result

The boomerang is saved as MP4 in Safari and recent Chrome and Edge, or WebM in Firefox. If an app won't accept WebM, WebM to MP4 converts it on your device. For email or older chat apps that only animate GIFs, run a single cycle through video to GIF at a small width; a boomerang loops perfectly as a GIF because the GIF itself repeats forever. If you want backwards motion without the bounce, How to reverse a video so it plays backwards covers plain reversing. Nothing is uploaded at any step, and there is no watermark.