The short answer
To colorize an old home movie without losing the sound: digitize the tape or film to MP4, upload it to Pixelift’s AI video colorizer, and render in HD. Pixelift’s engine remuxes your original audio track back into the colorized video automatically — most other tools (including open-source DeOldify) rebuild the video from frames and return a silent file. Clips up to 5 minutes render in one pass, and a free colorized preview shows real frames from your footage before you pay anything.
Why colorized videos usually lose their audio
AI colorization works frame by frame: the model splits your video into images, predicts colour for each one, then stitches the frames back into a video. The original audio track is simply not part of that pipeline — unless the tool deliberately copies it back at the end. Few do. If the recording has voices on it — a birthday song, your grandfather telling a story — that soundtrack is often more precious than the colour. Check the audio question before spending money on any colorizer.
Step by step: from tape to colour
1. Digitize the source
8mm / Super 8 film: use a local film-transfer service or a frame-by-frame scanner; ask for at least 1080p and the highest bitrate they offer. VHS / Video8 / MiniDV: a USB capture dongle and the original player work fine at home; capture to MP4 (H.264). One rule matters more than gear: the cleanest transfer wins — colorization amplifies whatever is in the frame.
2. Restore first if the footage is damaged
Heavy scratches, tears and flicker should be fixed before colorizing — see the video restoration tool. Mildly faded or soft footage can go straight to colour.
3. Preview for free, then render in HD
Upload the clip to the colorizer. You get a free colorized preview from your own footage — no watermark, no account tricks. If you like what you see, the HD render costs a few dollars in one-time credits (no subscription needed) and returns the full clip with the original soundtrack intact.
4. Archive properly
Download the result and keep both files — the untouched digitized original and the colorized version. Store copies in two places (cloud + local drive). Future models will only get better; the original transfer is the asset.
What to expect from the result
- Skin, foliage, sky, wood colorize convincingly — the model has seen millions of examples.
- Clothing and cars get plausible, not documented, colours — AI predicts, it does not know that the dress was blue.
- Long takes stay stable: Pixelift smooths colour within each scene and resets at cuts, so the image does not flicker.
- Sound passes through untouched — it is copied, not re-encoded, so there is no quality loss.
Frequently asked questions
Can I colorize a VHS tape directly?
No tool reads tapes — digitize first (USB capture dongle + player, or a transfer service), then upload the MP4.
How long can the clip be?
Pixelift renders clips up to 5 minutes in HD in one pass. For longer material, split it by scene — most family reels are a series of short takes anyway.
Does it really keep the original audio?
Yes. The original track is remuxed into the colorized file bit-for-bit. If your source is silent film (most 8mm is), the result is silent too — nothing is invented.
What does it cost?
The colorized preview is free. A full HD render uses one-time credits — a single family clip costs a few dollars, with no subscription required.
Bring the voices back in colour
Start with the free preview on Pixelift’s AI video colorizer — upload your digitized clip and see your family in colour, with their voices exactly as you remember them.