Where date stamps come from
- Home videos: VHS, VHS-C, Hi8 and many digital camcorders could print the date on screen while recording. Digitized tapes keep it.
- Dashcams: date, time, speed and sometimes GPS in a strip along the bottom.
- Doorbell and security cameras: a clock in a corner, often with the camera name.
- Phone timestamp apps and trail cameras: a date added on purpose that you no longer want in a montage.
Check first: is the date really in the picture?
On MiniDV tapes the date is usually stored as data and shown only by the camera's display setting. Capture the tape digitally with the display off and the date may not be in the file at all. Some dashcams and cameras can also turn the stamp off for future recordings in their settings.
If you still see the date when the video plays on a computer, it is burned in and you need to rebuild those pixels.
How to remove it
- Upload the video. MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI and MKV are accepted.
- Draw a box around the whole stamp, with a small margin. Include every part that changes, such as seconds, speed or GPS.
- Keep the box on for the whole video (the default), then press Process. AI fills the box from the surrounding pixels and nearby frames.
- Check the preview and download the clean MP4.
Drawing a box needs a computer or tablet. On a phone, Automatic mode looks for marks that stay in one place across the video; check its preview, and use a computer if the stamp is missed.
What result to expect
Date stamps are a good fit: they are small and stay in one place. Over sky, walls, grass or road the corner usually comes out clean.
- Dashcam strips across the full width are a bigger area. Keep the box tight to the text and check the preview on a stretch where the car moves.
- Old tapes are standard definition. Wipe AI does not upscale them, so the output has the detail of the source.
- A stamp over a face or detailed pattern can leave a slightly soft patch.
Keep the original if the date matters
For an insurance claim, a police report or a court case, the timestamp is part of the record. Keep the untouched original and share that. Use the cleaned copy for family films, montages and social posts.
Long home videos
One credit is one second of video. A 20-minute tape uses 1,200 credits. Creator (1,000 credits a month, $9.99 the first month, then $19.99) covers about 16 minutes; Studio ($30 a month, 3,000 credits) covers about 50 minutes and takes videos up to 2 hours. Starter is $7.99 for 300 credits.