How to Add Timestamps to Surveillance Video
Timestamps are what turn raw surveillance footage into usable evidence, but adding them by hand in a general video editor is slow and easy to get wrong. This short walkthrough shows how to add accurate, verifiable timestamps to your footage in Investigation Flow in just a few clicks, even when the original recording time is missing from the file.
Step by step
- 1
Import your footage
Open Investigation Flow and drag in the clip, or the whole folder of surveillance video, that you want to timestamp. Investigation Flow reads all common video formats, so there is nothing to convert first.
- 2
Recover the original recording time
Investigation Flow pulls the original date and time from the file's metadata automatically. If a clip has lost its metadata, you can set the correct start time yourself so the timestamp still reflects when the footage was actually recorded.
- 3
Customize how the timestamp looks
Choose the date and time format, then set the position, size, and color so the stamp stays clearly legible without covering the action in frame.
- 4
Apply and review
Add the timestamp and scrub through the clip to confirm it reads correctly from start to finish. You can adjust it at any point before exporting.
- 5
Export and deliver
Export a universally-accepted MP4, complete with an action report that logs every action from import to export, ready to hand to your client or drop into the case file.
Try it on your own footage
Download Investigation Flow and put this workflow to work on a real case. Your first conversions are free.