What is interlacing, and why does my video look like it has teeth?

Interlaced cameras never recorded whole pictures. They recorded half-pictures called fields — one holding the odd rows, the next holding the even rows, captured a fiftieth or sixtieth of a second apart — and a CRT drew them in sequence fast enough that your eye fused them. A computer screen cannot do that. It shows both fields at once, as one frame, so anything that moved between them appears twice, a row apart, which reads as horizontal comb teeth along every moving edge. Deinterlacing rebuilds whole frames from those fields so the teeth go away.

How do I know whether my footage is interlaced?

The tool checks for you before you run anything. It reads nine frames spread across the clip in your browser, counts the pixels that sit between their vertical neighbours the way comb teeth do, and shows you the worst frame at full resolution so you can confirm with your own eyes. On the test clips, progressive footage scored under 0.01 percent of pixels and the same footage interlaced scored 1.5 to 2.0 percent. Combing only shows up where something moves, so a locked-off shot can read clean even on an interlaced tape — the container is the other clue, since MiniDV, HDV, DVD and broadcast captures are almost always interlaced and phone video essentially never is.

What is the difference between one frame per frame and one frame per field?

They are yadif mode 0 and yadif mode 1. Mode 0 outputs one frame for each frame that went in, so 25i stays 25 fps: it keeps one field and interpolates the rows of the other, which throws away half the motion the camera actually recorded. Mode 1 outputs one frame per field and doubles the frame rate, so 25i becomes 50 fps and 29.97i becomes 59.94: it keeps every half-picture, so motion stays as fluid as the recording was. Mode 1 costs twice as many frames to encode and store — the 720p test clip came out 23 percent larger and took 13.8 seconds instead of 8.2.

Which mode should I pick?

Pick one frame per field if the footage matters for its motion — sport, handheld, anything panning — because that motion is genuinely in the recording and mode 0 discards it. Pick one frame per frame when you need to match an existing 25 or 30 fps timeline, when file size matters, or when the source is mostly static talking heads where nobody will miss the extra frames.

What happens if I deinterlace progressive video?

You lose a little quality for nothing. yadif does not detect interlacing — it rebuilds every row from its neighbours whether or not there was any damage to repair, so a progressive clip comes out slightly softer, and mode 1 additionally doubles the frame rate by inventing frames that hold no new information. Run the combing check first; if it comes back clean and the close-up shows no teeth, there is nothing here for this tool to fix.

How long does it take, and what comes out?

Every frame is re-encoded with libx264 at the veryfast preset into 4:2:0, so this is not a stream copy. Measured in this build: 8 seconds of 720p took 8.2 seconds in mode 0 and 13.8 seconds in mode 1; 8 seconds of 1080p took 14.0 and 22.8 seconds; 4 seconds of 360p took 0.65 and 1.0 seconds. Time scales linearly with duration and roughly with the pixel count, but how hard the picture is to encode moves it by about a third either way, and a phone is several times slower — the tool shows an estimate for your file before you start, except where the browser cannot read the frame size out of the container, as it cannot for MPEG-2, DV and AVCHD. The output is an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio; the audio is re-encoded rather than copied, so it takes one generation of loss.

Do I need to tell it the field order?

No. yadif is left on automatic field-order detection, which reads the order the decoder reports from the file. Getting field order wrong makes motion judder backwards on alternate frames, and it is visible immediately in the result player — if you see that, the file is mislabelled and needs a desktop tool where the parity can be forced.

Remove Interlacing Combs

Old camcorder and broadcast footage shows comb teeth on motion. yadif rebuilds full frames from the fields, locally.

🔒 100% Private — no upload📺 FFmpeg yadif, both modes🔍 Checks first, then acts

🎬

Drag & drop your video here, or click to browse

Max file size: ~2 GB (memory permitting)

How to Use — Remove Interlacing Combs

Load the clip

Drag in an MP4, MOV, AVI or WebM, or the camcorder file itself — .mts, .m2ts, .vob, .dv, .mpg and .wmv go straight in. The file stays on your device — nothing is uploaded.

Check for combing first

Nine frames are read in the browser and scored for comb teeth, and the worst one is shown at full resolution. Progressive footage measured under 0.01% of pixels on the test clips; the same footage interlaced measured 1.5–2.0%. Browsers cannot decode MPEG-2, DV or AVCHD, so for those the check is unavailable and the tool says so — FFmpeg still deinterlaces them.

Decide what happens to the fields

One frame per frame (yadif=0) keeps 25i at 25 fps and drops half the recorded motion. One frame per field (yadif=1) turns 25i into 50 fps and keeps all of it, at twice the frames to encode.

Run it, then look at the motion

Scrub the result to a moment with movement. The teeth should be gone and the movement should be smooth in one direction — juddering back and forth means the file reports its field order wrongly.

Who uses the Deinterlacer

Content creators preparing footage for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or X who need a quick fix without installing software.
Teachers, marketers, and students who want a no-learning-curve way to handle everyday video tasks.
Developers and editors who need a predictable FFmpeg-backed result on any machine.

Supported formats & limits

Input containers	MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI, FLV, WMV, M4V
Input codecs	H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9, MPEG-4, MJPEG. Not AV1 — this WebAssembly build has no software AV1 decoder.
Output container	MP4 (default) — interoperable with iOS, Android, YouTube, Instagram, X
Output codec	H.264 video + AAC audio
Max file size	Up to ~2 GB (limited by browser memory)
Max duration	No hard limit — depends on file size
Cost	Free for any use. No signup. No watermark.

Deinterlacer vs. the usual alternatives

Feature	This tool	VEED (free)	Kapwing (free)	CapCut Online
Processing model	Runs locally in your browser	Upload-based project editor	Upload-based project editor	Upload-based online editor
File limits	No upload cap; practical limit is browser memory	Plan-specific upload limits	Plan-specific upload and export limits	Feature- and account-specific limits
Watermark on output	No watermark added	Free exports include a VEED watermark	Free exports include a Kapwing watermark	Standard edits can be watermark-free; templates/assets may add branding
Signup / account	No account for tools	Workspace/account flow	Workspace/account flow	CapCut account flow
Works offline	Yes after cache, subject to browser support	No	No	No
Best for	Private one-step file operations	Full editor, templates, AI tools	Collaboration, templates, AI tools	Social templates and timeline editing

Vendor plan limits were checked on April 29, 2026 and can change by region, account state, and export option. Verify critical limits on the vendor pricing/help page before relying on them.

Why choose this deinterlacer

100% private — your files never leave your browser, so nothing is uploaded to our servers.
No watermark, no signup, no hidden limits. Completely free to use, for any purpose.
Runs on top of FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, giving you the same results professionals get in the terminal.
Works on desktop and mobile, on any OS — only a modern browser is required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my old footage have comb teeth?

Interlaced cameras recorded half-pictures, not frames: odd rows, then even rows, a fiftieth or sixtieth of a second apart. A CRT drew them in turn and your eye fused them; a computer shows both at once, so anything that moved appears twice, one row apart. That is the combing.

How do I know if my clip is interlaced?

Use the check built into the tool. It scores nine frames for comb teeth and shows you the worst one at full resolution. Progressive footage measured under 0.01% of pixels on the test clips; the same footage interlaced measured 1.5–2.0%. Combing only appears where something moves, so a static shot reads clean either way.

One frame per frame or one frame per field?

yadif=0 keeps the frame rate and discards half the motion the camera recorded. yadif=1 outputs a frame per field, so 25i becomes 50 fps and the motion survives intact — at twice the frames. Pick per-field for sport, handheld or anything panning; pick per-frame to match a 25 or 30 fps timeline or to keep the file small.

What if I deinterlace progressive video?

It costs quality and buys nothing. yadif rebuilds rows whether or not they needed it, so the picture comes out slightly softer, and mode 1 doubles the frame rate with frames that hold no new information. Run the check first.

How long does it take?

Measured in this build: 8 s of 720p took 8.2 s at yadif=0 and 13.8 s at yadif=1; 8 s of 1080p took 14.0 s and 22.8 s; 4 s of 360p took 0.65 s and 1.0 s. Linear in duration, roughly proportional to the pixel count, give or take a third for how hard the picture is to encode, and several times slower on a phone. The tool estimates it for your file before you start, unless your browser cannot read the container — MPEG-2, DV and AVCHD give it no frame size to work from, though FFmpeg still deinterlaces them.

What comes out?

An MP4 with H.264 video in 4:2:0 and AAC audio. The 4:2:0 matters for DV and broadcast sources, which are 4:1:1 or 4:2:2: left alone, libx264 would keep that and produce a file no browser can play. The audio is re-encoded rather than copied — that keeps WebM and MKV sources working, at one generation of loss, and there is no setting that avoids it.

Do I need to set the field order?

No — yadif reads it from the file automatically. If the result judders backwards and forwards on alternate frames, the file has its field order labelled wrong and you need a desktop tool that lets you force the parity.

Related Tools

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