Detect copyrighted music before you upload
Every platform scans uploads for music it can match. The details differ, but the order of events is the same: you post, the platform matches a song, and then the video loses revenue, reach or sound. A copyright detector moves that step to before you post, when fixing it is a matter of moving a clip on your timeline.
This one works on any file you can export: a finished edit, a raw clip from your phone, a podcast episode, a voiceover with a music bed. It doesn't matter where the file is going. You get the same report either way:
- the song, artist and album
- the label or rights holder, and the ISRC when there is one
- links so you can listen and compare
- a risk level: High risk, Check license or No match
What each platform does with a match
- YouTube puts a Content ID claim on the video. The rights holder can monetize it, block it or just track it. The YouTube copyright checker page goes through claims, strikes and Shorts.
- TikTok mutes the audio or removes the video, and says businesses should use its Commercial Music Library for commercial posts. See the TikTok copyright checker.
- Instagram Reels and Facebook follow Meta's music guidelines. Meta says content with music you aren't authorized to use may be blocked, muted or removed. Shorter clips of music are less likely to be limited than full-length tracks, and recorded music shouldn't be the main point of the video. Meta also says commercial or non-personal use of music needs proper permission, and that even licensed music may not be allowed in every country.
On all three, music you pick inside the app is licensed for that app. Music you bring in from outside is judged against the platform's matching system.
How audio fingerprinting works
A copyright detector doesn't listen to music the way you do. It turns the audio into a fingerprint: a compact summary of which frequencies are loudest at each moment and how they change over time. Two copies of the same recording produce nearly the same fingerprint, even if one is quieter, compressed or has people talking over it.
The fingerprint from your clip is compared against fingerprints of a large catalogue of known recordings. When enough of them line up, at the same spacing in time, that's a match. Because the comparison follows timing, the detector also knows where in the song your clip comes from, which is why a report can say a clip matches 0:48 to 1:00 of a track.
Our checker uses ACRCloud, which says its fingerprint database covers more than 150 million tracks. If ACRCloud can't answer, we fall back to AudD. Content ID and the systems on TikTok and Meta are separate, private databases, so a match with us is a strong signal, not a forecast of exactly what a platform will do.
What a copyright detector can't catch
Fingerprinting matches a specific recording. That's what makes it precise, and it's also its limit. Be careful with No match in these cases:
- Covers and live versions. A cover is a new recording of the same song, so its fingerprint is different from the original. A live performance is too, unless that live recording was released and is in the catalogue. The composition is still under copyright, and a platform may still act on it.
- Unreleased or very new music. If a track isn't in the catalogue yet, there is nothing to match against.
- Heavy edits. Speeding a track up, slowing it down or shifting its pitch changes the frequencies and timing a fingerprint relies on. Small changes often still match; large ones can stop a match. We don't know exactly where that line is for every track, so treat sped-up and pitched audio as unchecked if it comes back with no match.
- Music buried under other sound. Loud voiceover, wind or crowd noise leaves less of the music to fingerprint. Very short snippets give less to compare, too.
- Samples inside other songs. A song can be built on a licensed sample. Our checker can match the released song that used the same sample, even when your use of the sample is licensed.
None of this means No match is useless. It means it answers a narrower question: is this a recording we know? The accuracy page shows how often it got that right in our own test and what made it miss.
What the detector doesn't check
It only identifies recorded music. It doesn't check footage, images, fonts, logos or speech, and it doesn't decide whether your use is licensed or fair use. A match tells you what the recording is and who owns it. Whether you're allowed to use it is a separate question: how to tell if a song is copyrighted explains public domain, Creative Commons and stock licences.
Free clip or full scan
The free check takes one 12-second clip: cut from the moment you pick, or the middle of the file if you don't. It's enough to identify one song. If a video has music in several places, or you aren't sure where it plays, a full scan covers the whole soundtrack in 12-second segments with a timestamp for every match. Either way, your video stays on your device. The free check sends only the clip, and a full scan sends the soundtrack as audio and deletes it within about 24 hours.