Shazam and videos
Is there a Shazam for videos?
Yes, and you don’t need a second phone. iPhones, Android phones and computers can all recognize the music they are playing themselves. And when the video has several songs, or you missed the moment, the video’s link does the listening for you.
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In short
- iPhone: add Music Recognition to Control Center once, then start the video, swipe down and tap the Shazam icon. It hears the phone’s own audio, headphones or not.
- Android: turn on “Pop-up Shazam” in the Shazam app for a floating button over TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. Computer: the Shazam extension for Chrome names what plays in a tab.
- Each of those hears only the moment you trigger it. A pasted link gets the entire video analyzed, with a timestamp for each track.
iPhone
Control Center listens to the iPhone itself
Shazam has been built into the iPhone for several iOS versions. Add the Music Recognition button to Control Center (in Settings, or by editing Control Center directly on recent versions). Start the video in TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, swipe down to open Control Center and tap the Shazam icon.
What matters for video: that button recognizes music played by an app on the iPhone, even when you’re wearing headphones or earbuds. No need to turn the volume up or keep the room quiet. The title appears as a notification after a few seconds, and your matches are saved in the Shazam app.
- Add the button onceSettings → Control Center → Music Recognition
- Play the videoTikTok, Instagram, YouTube or any app, headphones allowed
- Open Control Centerswipe down from the top right corner
- Tap the Shazam iconthe title shows up as a notification
Android
Pop-up Shazam and Auto Shazam
On Android, the Shazam app has a “Pop-up Shazam” setting: a small floating button stays on top of other apps. Play the video, tap the button, and Shazam listens to what the phone is playing. Depending on the version, it can also sit in a persistent notification.
Auto Shazam (a long press on the big button in the app) keeps listening and saves everything it recognizes: handy for a video that chains several songs, as long as you let it play. Menus vary by phone brand, and Google’s own “Now Playing” on Pixel phones only listens to music around you, not to the phone’s own audio.
- Pop-up ShazamA floating button over any app: one tap, one song.
- Auto ShazamContinuous listening: every match is kept in your history.
- Timestamp in the videoShazam doesn’t tell you when in the video the song plays.
- Music under a voiceWorks if the music is loud enough at the moment you tap.
Computer
Shazam a YouTube video on a computer
On a Mac, the same Music Recognition button can be added to Control Center or the menu bar, and it listens to the Mac’s own audio. In Chrome, on Mac or Windows, the official Shazam extension identifies music playing in the current tab: click its icon while the video plays.
For a YouTube video, a computer has one more option: the page address itself, pasted here. You get every song in the video at once, each with the minute it starts, without sitting through the video and clicking at the right time. Our YouTube video song finder page explains how long videos are scanned.
- Mac: Music RecognitionIn Control Center or the menu bar; listens to the Mac’s own audio.
- Chrome: Shazam extensionClick its icon while the video plays in the tab, on Mac or Windows.
- Any browser: paste the linkEvery song in the video, each with the minute it starts.
- Holding your phone to the speakersWorks for loud music, rarely for music under a voice.
The old way
Why holding up a second phone often fails
The classic method, one phone playing and the other listening, adds two obstacles: the small speaker, which distorts the bass, and the noise of the room. If the music plays under a voice, the microphone hears the voice first.
You also have to catch the right moment. Shazam listens for a few seconds and starts from scratch every time the song changes. For a TikTok with one song, fine; for a twenty-minute vlog with fifteen tracks, it’s a chore, and you never know which ones you missed.
What the microphone hears: the voice
The music, underneath
How it works
What “Shazam” actually does, and why a link works too
Shazam doesn’t listen to a song the way you do. It turns a few seconds of audio into a spectrogram, keeps the loudest peaks, and pairs them into a compact fingerprint that it looks up in its database. Any service built on the same principle can recognize a recording, whatever device it plays on.
That’s why a video link works: instead of fingerprinting sound captured by a microphone, the engine fingerprints the video’s own audio track. The catch is the same for everyone: a song that isn’t in the catalog, like an unreleased original sound, can’t be named by Shazam or by us.
Time →
- Sound intensity
- Peaks kept for the fingerprint
Identify the music in a video without a second phone
One song, video playing
iPhone: Control Center. Android: Pop-up Shazam. Computer: the Shazam extension.
Several songs, or a long video
Copy the video link and paste it here for the full, timestamped list.
A video saved on your phone
Play it and use the phone’s Shazam button; if it was posted online, its link works too.
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Can you Shazam a video on the same phone?
Yes. iPhones do it from Control Center, Android phones through the Pop-up Shazam floating button; neither needs a second device.
Does Shazam work with headphones on?
On an iPhone, yes: Control Center recognition reads the audio the iPhone is playing, so headphones don’t matter. Through a microphone, it can’t hear what plays in your headphones.
Can Shazam identify every song in a long video?
Only one at a time, at the moment you trigger it, or continuously with Auto Shazam on Android while the video plays. For the full list with timestamps, paste the video link here.
Can I Shazam a YouTube video on my computer?
Yes, with the Music Recognition button on a Mac or the Shazam extension in Chrome. Or paste the YouTube link here to get all the songs at once.
Can I Shazam a video from my camera roll?
Play it on your phone and use the Shazam button in Control Center or Pop-up Shazam. Shazam can’t open the file directly. If the video was posted on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, paste that link here.
Why doesn’t Shazam find the song in a video?
Usually a voice over the music, a sped-up or edited version, or an original sound that was never released. A full listen from the link helps with the first one, not with the last.
Is VideoSongFinder made by Shazam?
No. VideoSongFinder is an independent site. It uses a commercial recognition engine (ACRCloud) based on the same fingerprinting principle, applied to the video’s own audio.
Is there a Shazam for TikTok videos?
The phone methods above work while the TikTok plays. Pasting the TikTok link here also works when the app shows “original sound”, see the TikTok song finder.
Skip the timing: paste the link
No need to tap at the right second: the full video is analyzed and you get the time each song starts.
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