Terms of use

Last updated 22 October 2026

What Rewind is

Rewind is run by Paul in the United Kingdom. You type a year and, if you like, a place. Rewind searches public film archives and plays what it finds back to back, like a TV channel. It's free to use and you don't need an account.

The films aren't ours

Every film plays through its owner's own player: YouTube (British Pathé, British Movietone, Huntley Film Archives, the Yorkshire & North East Film Archive, AP Archive and others), the Internet Archive, or Wikimedia Commons. We don't download, copy, store or host any film. All rights stay with the people who own them, and each film has a "Watch at source" link.

When a film plays, that service's own terms apply too, for example YouTube's Terms of Service. If you want to reuse footage, for a video, broadcast or anything commercial, you need permission from its owner. Rewind can't give you that.

The "Also in this year" facts come from Wikipedia and are shared under CC BY-SA.

It's gathered automatically

Films are found and dated by a computer reading titles and descriptions. Sometimes a film will be from a different year or place than it says, or a search will miss things. Each film shows the year we think it's from. Please treat it as a fun way to explore, not a historical record.

Old newsreels reflect the attitudes and language of their time, and some may be upsetting. They're shown as the archives published them.

Asking for a film to be removed

If you own a film, or appear in one, and want it left out of Rewind, email pipcan@outlook.com with a link to it. We'll take it out of our running orders quickly. The film itself stays wherever its owner has published it, so contact them about that.

Fair use of the site

Please don't try to break, overload or scrape the site, or use it for anything unlawful. We may block access that does.

No guarantees

Rewind is provided as it is. We can't promise it will always be available, that any film will play, or that the archives will keep their films online. As far as the law allows, we aren't liable for any loss from using the site. Nothing here limits your rights as a consumer under UK law, or any liability that can't legally be limited.

Changes and law

We may update these terms, and the date at the top will change when we do. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Contact

pipcan@outlook.com · see also our Privacy notice.