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What Is B-Roll? The Complete Guide for Filmmakers
By George · October 22, 2026 · 2 min read
Ask an editor what B-roll is and you will get a short answer — “the other footage” — and a long sigh. The short answer is true but useless. B-roll is everything in your film that is not the primary action or interview: the cutaways, establishing shots, inserts and atmosphere that let a story breathe, hide edits and show what words only describe.
Where the term comes from
In the film era, editors worked with an A-roll (the main footage) and a B-roll (the supplementary reel) on separate machines. Digital editing killed the hardware, not the idea: your timeline still has a main thread and the material that supports it.
The five jobs B-roll does
- Establishes place — the wide shot of the city, coast or workspace that tells the audience where they are before anyone speaks.
- Covers edits — a cutaway to hands, a reaction or a detail hides a jump cut in an interview.
- Shows, not tells — the narration mentions rain in Tokyo; the B-roll is the rain in Tokyo.
- Sets pace and mood — slow aerials stretch time; quick inserts accelerate it.
- Bridges scenes — a sound or image that carries the viewer from one place to the next.
The kinds editors reach for most
Establishing wides, detail close-ups (hands, tools, textures), process shots (something being made or done), environment and weather, and transitions (doors, travel, city motion). Browsing by topic — Ocean & Coast, Night Streets, Coffee Culture — mirrors how editors actually think about these needs.
Choosing B-roll that cuts in
Match the main footage on light, colour temperature and lens feel before you match it on subject. A technically perfect clip in the wrong light reads as stock instantly. Our guide to choosing stock footage that doesn't look like stock footage goes deeper, and the help center covers searching by shot type and camera movement.
Licensing, briefly
Every Brollvia download writes a licence record with a certificate — so the B-roll in your finished film is cleared, provably. The details are in Downloading and licence certificates.
b-roll editing filmmaking