Find Your Lost Google Videos

Google Video, once a popular platform for hosting and sharing videos, was discontinued by Google in 2011. This left countless videos in digital limbo, inaccessible to their creators and viewers. However, a recent investigation by Reveal has uncovered that many of these videos may still exist in an online archive.

The investigation began with a search for an old short film made by Garrison Hayes, which disappeared when Google Video shut down. During the search, Reveal learned about a group of volunteers who worked to save millions of videos and their metadata from Google Video. The Internet Archive, a digital library, provided storage for this data.

This means that if you thought your old videos were lost forever, they might still be recoverable. Instructions have been provided to help users check if their videos are in the archive. The data, including Internet Archive URLs for downloading videos, can be found in a massive text file at archive.org.

For those familiar with programming, the text file can be parsed using any preferred scripting language. For others, word processors can be used. The process involves copying and pasting a specific line of text from the file into a Google Sheets document to automate the creation of the complete URL. Users should ensure they copy the entire line of text, starting with a negative sign and a series of numbers, to retrieve metadata such as email address, title, and description.

The archive contains approximately 92% of the videos with an associated upload date. Of these, all but two were uploaded between November 11, 2005, and October 26, 2010. The last two videos were reportedly uploaded on October 8, 2012, and February 4, 2011.

Melissa Lewis, a data reporter for Reveal, conducted the investigation. Lewis has worked for several notable publications, including the Oregonian, the Los Angeles Times, and New York Times Magazine. She can be reached at mlewis@revealnews.org or via her website, melissa.news.

Ashley Cleek, a producer for Reveal, assisted in the investigation. Cleek has worked with various news outlets, including VICE News, This American Life, and NPR. Her work has won several awards, including a national Edward R. Murrow Award and a Gracie Award. Cleek is based in New York.