October 20, 2026

How to Swap a Face in a Video: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

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The short answer

Open Video FaceSwap Online, upload the video, add a clear photo of the face you want, click the person to replace, and start. Only that person changes: everyone else, the background and the original sound stay as filmed. You do not draw masks or edit frame by frame.

What you need

A video: with a person in it, up to 1080p. The original sound is kept.

A reference photo: a sharp, front-facing picture of the face you want in the video, with the whole face visible. The sharper and more frontal it is, the closer the match.

A free NanoPocket account.: New accounts start with free credits.

The right to use that face.: The studio asks you to confirm it before it starts.

The three steps

Upload the video. The video is analysed and every face in it is found and followed.

Add the reference face. You confirm you have the right to use it.

Choose who, then get the result. Click the person to replace. Only that person changes, and detail is restored and upscaled to the size you pick. If several people are equally prominent in the clip, it shows you the candidates and waits for your choice; it never guesses.

Face swap or head swap?

	Face swap	Head swap
Replaces	The face	The whole head: face, hair and head shape
Keeps	Hair, head shape, expression	Body, clothes, background, everyone else
Speed	Seconds for the swap, then restore and upscale	Minutes for a few seconds of video
Best for	Dialogue, interviews and longer clips	Short clips, up to 12 seconds, and new looks

If you are unsure, start with face swap: it is faster and cheaper, and it keeps the person's own expression.

What it costs

Each video is paid for in credits (100 credits = US$1). The studio works out the price from the mode, the output size, the length of the clip and how many people are swapped, and shows it before you start. A 10-second 1080p clip in Fast mode is about 20 credits, roughly US$0.20.

If a video fails, is cancelled, or you leave the line, the credits are returned. Requests are queued on a GPU, so a clip may wait for its turn.

Videos made on an account that has never topped up credits carry a slowly moving NanoPocket mark. Topping up once removes it from the videos you make afterwards; free sign-up credits do not count.

How to get a clean result

Use a reference photo that is sharp and front-facing, not a screenshot of a screenshot.

Make sure the face in the video is large enough to see clearly.

Even light helps. In heavy lens flare or strong backlight the face can be lost for a moment, and those frames stay as filmed.

Hands, microphones and props over the face are the hardest case. Version 1.1.0 added five examples of exactly that, but a clear view of the face still gives the best result.

What it will and will not do

It will not start without your confirmation that you may use the reference face.

When two people are equally prominent it asks you to choose.

Frames where a head turns beyond the usable angle stay as filmed, and are counted in the report you get.

In the published test of 74 public clips, about 1 in 20 had no usable face and was reported that way rather than producing a bad result. Those figures are a first look, not a benchmark: no crowds, sports, masks or night footage beyond the clips shown.

Before you publish anything

Only swap a face you have permission to use, and do not publish swaps of real people without their consent. The examples on the page use stock-footage models and are labelled as test renders.

Frequently asked questions

Can I swap a face in a video for free? New accounts start with free credits, which may cover a first short video. After that each video is paid in credits, and videos from an account that has never topped up carry a moving watermark. If you want no watermark and no payment at all, the free desktop apps run on your own PC; see local versus online face swap.

Does the original sound stay? Yes. The audio is put back untouched.

What if there are several people in the clip? You choose who changes. The others are left alone.

Which resolution do I get? The result is delivered at the size you pick, up to 1080p or 4K.

Best video face swap tools in 2026: how to choose

Why face swaps break on hands, profile turns and low light

Local versus online face swap