What is B-Roll Footage and Why is it Essential?
A-Roll Vs. B-Roll
A-Roll is the primary footage in a video. It includes the main subject, such as interview shots, people talking directly to the camera, or any main content that drives the story. It focuses on delivering the narrative or core message of your video.
B-Roll is the extra footage in a video that includes all the additional clips and shots that provide context and visual interest to complement the A-Roll. It enhances the storytelling by showing what is being talked about, making the video more engaging and visually appealing.
Here’s an example of A-Roll and B-Roll from the video of BIGVU.
Why B-Roll Is Important for Your Videos?
- Improves Storytelling in Your Videos- B-roll takes your video to the next level by adding visual context. It lets your audience see what you’re explaining instead of just hearing it. This makes your video more engaging and easier to understand.
- Retains Audience Engagement- People have short attention spans. B-Roll can help your audience by adding variety to your video and breaking the monotony. It will refresh your viewers’ eyes every few seconds, keeping them hooked.
- Brings Professionalism to Your Videos- Using high-quality B-Roll in your videos can make them look polished and professional. It shows the effort you’ve put into your production, which can help build trust and credibility with your audience.
- Provides Smooth Transitions- Awkward cuts in videos can be disruptive. B-Roll helps smooth out transitions in your video, making it flow seamlessly. It serves as a buffer between different parts of your video.
- Highlights Key Points- They’re useful for highlighting key points in your videos. For example, if you’re talking about a product feature, show a close-up shot of that feature in action. This visually strengthens your message in your videos.
Top 5 AI B-Roll Generators: An In-Depth Comparison
#1 BIGVU
BIGVU is the leading video overlay app that allows you to add B-rolls to your videos, both automatically with AI and manually.
It’s best part…
It automatically scans your entire video script and then inserts relevant images and video clips at the right moments. This helps keep your viewers engaged and reduces your editing time after filming.
If you don't want to feel like this Reddit user, BIGVU is the best choice for adding B-rolls to your videos.
BIGVU stands out from and surpasses other B-roll generators. Why?
While other platforms focus on short clips created by content creators for social media, BIGVU specifically caters to those who use videos to grow their business or build their brand
Our Opinion- What Makes BIGVU Stand Out from Other B-Roll Generators?
When it comes to selecting a B-Roll generator, BIGVU stands out from the competition with its unique features and user-friendly approach.
Here’s why you should choose BIGVU for your video projects:
- Simplifies Your Editing Process
One of the best things about BIGVU is how it makes editing easier. It looks at your video script and figures out the important parts, then automatically adds B-Roll footage that matches your content. This means you don’t have to look for the right moments to include B-Roll or think about how long it should be; the AI does everything for you.
- Saves Time
With BIGVU, you no longer have to spend hours looking for B-Roll clips. This feature saves you a lot of time when editing, so you can focus on making great videos without worrying about searching the right clips.
- Keeps Viewers Engaged
Making quick visual changes is important to keep viewers interested, and BIGVU does just that. By easily adding B-Roll to your videos, you can go beyond just showing someone talking, making your content more lively and engaging.
This improvement helps keep your audience's attention for the whole video.
- Royalty-Free Media
Copyright problems can be a big worry when using images and videos in your videos. With BIGVU, you don’t have to worry because all the images and videos from their platform are royalty-free. This means you can create your content without stressing about copyright rules.
- Super Easy to Customize
BIGVU’s automated selections help improve your videos, but you can always make changes. If you don't like the B-Roll it picked, you can remove it and choose your favorite clips from BIGVU’s large collection of royalty-free videos and images or upload your own.
This gives you the freedom to control how your projects look.
- End-to-End Video Suite
BIGVU is more than just B-Roll; it's a complete AI editing tool.
It has features like magic zooms, removing pauses and filler words, stylish-trendy captions, AI Twin Avatar, AI voiceover, and voice cloning. This all-in-one solution gives you everything you need to create high-quality videos easily.
Who Can Benefit From BIGVU?
BIGVU is great for many types of users, like real estate agents, coaches, marketers, teachers, content creators, and businesses that want to make high-quality videos fast. It's made for anyone who wants to keep their audience interested in videos, without spending a lot of time on editing.
#2 Submagic
Submagic is another excellent tool that enables you to generate B-roll footage for your videos using AI. Like BIGVU, it allows you to add stunning captions to your videos and then create B-rolls for them.
After adding captions to your videos, you can generate B-rolls for them.
What we liked about Submagic is that it lets you decide the percentage of B-rolls you want for your videos. It also adds an auto-zoom effect, similar to BIGVU.
Additionally, if you’re not satisfied with specific footage, you can choose from their library or upload your own. However, unlike BIGVU, their video library isn't extensive as they lack Pixabay integration.
Our Opinion- Should You Choose Submagic to Add B-rolls to Your Videos?
Submagic does a decent job of adding video overlays (B-rolls) to your videos.
We think it's suitable for content creators who enjoy making TikTok videos or Reels for fun or to entertain their audience. However, most of the time, the footage it selects doesn't match the overall vibe of your video. Additionally, its video library is limited.
If you want to create videos to grow your business or brand, you might need a more professional tool with a comprehensive video library, like BIGVU.
Its plan starts at $14/month, billed annually, and allows you to upload videos of up to 2 minutes only. To access premium features like AI clean audio or AI remove silences, you'll need to upgrade your plan.
#3 Opus Clips
Opus Clips is a great tool that helps you add B-rolls using AI and stock videos.
You can start generating B-roll for your videos by clicking the 'B-roll' option on the left-hand side. You have two options to generate B-rolls:
- Auto generate AI B-roll- Here, AI will generate relevant B-roll images.
- Auto generate Stock B-roll- Here, AI will find suitable photos for you.
Keep in mind that the option to choose from their stock library is not available at the moment.
We wanted to try the 'AI B-roll' option, but it repeatedly gave us errors during testing. So, we tried the second option, and it worked decently. It added a few stock videos as B-roll to our main video.
Our Opinion- Should You Prefer Opus Clips to Add B-rolls to Your Videos?
In our opinion, their major drawback is the lack of a stock library that lets you choose footage yourself.
Yes, it can auto-generate B-rolls with AI, but in our testing, most were not relevant to our main video. However, the feature we liked most is the ability to replace any footage you don’t like with another similar type of video.
It comes with a free plan that gives you 60 credits per month, but remember, you cannot generate B-rolls with this plan.
You have to purchase their Pro plan, which starts at $29 per month, billed annually.
#4 Kapwing
Kapwing is a popular video editing tool known for its AI captioning and AI B-Roll generation features. Like BIGVU, it also helps you add B-rolls specifically for your video.
Kapwing allows you to add B-rolls in two ways:
- 1. AI Images: Enter a prompt to create images with AI.
- 2. Smart B-Roll: Automatically add B-roll to your videos.
The major drawback of Kapwing is that it can only add images as B-rolls, not videos. However, it offers royalty-free images from its library.
Our Opinion- Should You Choose Kapwing to Add B-rolls to Your Videos?
We believe Kapwing is an excellent choice for adding B-rolls if you're creating fun, entertaining videos for TikTok or Instagram Reels.
Besides adding B-rolls, it offers many features to enhance your videos. You can add captions, transitions, clone your voice, and much more.
However, keep in mind that most of these features are available in its paid plan, which starts at $16 per month, billed annually.
#5 Jupitrr AI
Jupitrr is the fastest and easiest platform to add engaging B-roll visuals to content marketing videos.
Upload your video to Jupitrr and wait for a while until it transcribes your video. Then, highlight the subtitle part where you want to add B-roll.
Yes, that's what makes Jupitrr unique in adding B-roll. It doesn't analyze the entire video to add it. Instead, it asks you to choose the part you want to generate and then highlight that part.
You can add videos, images, and GIFs as B-rolls.
Our Opinion- Should You Prefer Jupitrr to Add B-rolls to Your Videos?
We believe Jupitrr is ideal for beginners who are just starting to create content.
Its user interface is simple and easy to use, especially for newcomers. However, keep in mind that this app is primarily for adding B-rolls.
Unlike BIGVU and Kapwing, it lacks advanced AI editing tools beyond adding B-rolls and captions.
It offers a free version limited to 5 minutes of AI video and 720p export. The paid plan starts at $14 per month, billed annually, which allows you to edit 10 minutes of video with 1080p export.
Conclusion- Which AI B-Roll Generator Should You Choose?
Choosing the right AI B-Roll generator can really improve your videos.
We looked at five tools: BIGVU, Submagic, Opus Clips, Kapwing, and Jupitrr AI. Each tool has its own strengths, fitting different needs.
The best tool for you depends on what you need.
Whether it's ease of use, advanced features, or creative control, try them out to see which one fits your projects best.
If you're looking for the best value for money, we recommend trying BIGVU.
The choice is yours!
