Can my friends upload their clips to birthday.video?
No. There are no accounts or shared links, and nothing is uploaded to us. Friends send their clips to you by message, email or a shared album, and you add them on your own device.
Free · made on your device
Make a birthday montage from everyone’s clips
A short clip from each friend and relative, put together into one surprise video with a title card, their name and a message at the end.
Free · no sign-up · no watermark
A birthday montage is a set of short clips from different people, put together into one video with a title at the start and a message at the end: the surprise tribute that gets played at the party or sent on the morning of the big day. One person asks everyone for a clip, saves them as they arrive, then adds them all here with Add photos and clips and exports a single MP4.
To be clear about how it works: birthday.video has no shared link, no accounts and no server, so friends don’t upload anything to it. You gather the clips the way you already share videos (WhatsApp, email, a shared album), and the video is made on your own device. Nobody’s clip is stored anywhere but with you.
This page opens the group designs in Landscape 16:9, which suits a screen at the party. For tips on what each person should actually say, send them the birthday video message guide.
Start from one of these
How to make a birthday montage from lots of people
Ask for clips
Message everyone with a deadline a few days before the birthday and the brief below. Ask them to send clips to you, not to a group the birthday person is in.
Save the clips in one place
Save each clip to your phone’s gallery or a folder on your computer as it arrives.
Start the video
Press Make a group birthday video, pick a design from Templates, and type their Name and a closing Message.
Add everyone’s clips
Press Add photos and clips and choose the clips in the order they should play. Add a calm tune with Add music if you want one.
Export and keep it secret
Press Export video and Download video (or Share on a phone). Watch it through once before the day.
The message to send your friends
Clear instructions save you hours. Copy something like this into your messages:
- Record a clip of 10 to 20 seconds saying happy birthday, plus a memory or a wish.
- Hold your phone sideways and film somewhere quiet and bright, facing a window rather than with one behind you.
- Say your name at the start if they might not recognise you.
- Send it to me, not to them, by Friday. Please keep it secret.
Asking everyone to hold the phone the same way matters more than it sounds. If most people will film upright, choose Story 9:16 under Format instead.
Gathering clips without spoiling the surprise
- Make a separate group for the video that leaves the birthday person out, or message people one by one.
- Use a shared photo album if lots of people are taking part, then save the clips from it to your device.
- Mind the file sizes. Chat apps compress clips a little, which is fine; email often refuses very large files, so ask for short clips.
- Chase gently. One reminder the day before the deadline. Someone will still send theirs at midnight.
Relatives who find filming hard can send a photo and a line of text instead. Add the photo among the clips and fold their words into your closing Message.
Putting the montage in a good order
Open strong, end stronger
Start with someone lively, keep the clips from far away or from people they haven’t seen in years for the second half, and end with the closest person: a partner, a best friend, a parent.
Keep it watchable
Twenty clips of fifteen seconds is five minutes, about the most a room will watch. With more, pick the best and send the full set separately.
Play it on the day
Landscape 16:9 fills a TV or projector. Phone clips are quiet next to music, so keep any tune low or leave it out and let the voices carry it. Milestones such as a 40th or 60th are when montages get made most.
Birthday montages: questions
How is this different from paid group-video services?
Paid services usually give everyone an upload link and edit the video on their servers, which is handy for very large groups. Here one person collects the clips, the video is made on that person’s device, and it is free, with no account for anyone.
How long should each person’s clip be?
Ten to twenty seconds: long enough for a wish and one memory, short enough that twenty people still makes a watchable video.
Can I mix videos and photos from different people?
Yes. Add photos and clips takes both, in any mix, so someone who can’t film can send a photo instead.
What if some clips are sideways and some upright?
They will still play. Choose the Format most clips match, and ask people to film the same way next time.
Is there a limit on the number of clips?
There is no set number, but every clip is held in your browser while you edit, so a computer copes with big montages better than an older phone.