What Is B-Roll in a Video?
B-roll is the footage or pictures shown over narration or an interview to illustrate what is being said, as opposed to the main shot of the speaker.
The term comes from film and television editing, where the main footage of a speaker or interview was the A-roll and the cutaway shots were the B-roll. In a faceless video, B-roll is most of what people see: stock clips, generated images or animation that match each sentence of the narration.
B-roll has to come from somewhere you may use. Free stock libraries such as Pexels give their videos under their own licence, free with no credit needed but with rules, for example no identifiable person shown in a bad light. Footage from films, shows or other creators is someone else’s, and on YouTube it can bring a Content ID claim or count as reused content.
For a creator, B-roll that changes with the story keeps attention; the same picture held too long is where viewers scroll away. One new picture every few seconds, each matching the words, is a common rhythm for short videos.
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