How to find a song from an Instagram reel or story, even when there is no title

Where the song title appears in a reel and what the audio page shows

Three lines sit at the bottom of a reel: the creator's name, the caption and the audio line. The audio line holds the artist and the song title. Tap it, and the audio page opens. Instagram's launch post from August 5, 2020 explained that videos with a given song gather on a dedicated page.

The audio page brings together everything about the sound:

• The song title and the artist name at the top.
• A grid of videos by other people set to the same audio.
• A Use audio button that opens the camera with this audio already selected.
• A Save audio button that keeps the audio in your saved items.

Once you know the title, the rest is quick. Look it up in a streaming app, a search engine or the Instagram library. Instagram's guide to adding music to reels points to the Audio button at the top of the Reels camera. It opens lists of music and creators' own sounds, plus a search for a specific track.

When the video has scrolled away

A reel with a catchy song is easy to scroll past and lose. Save it with the bookmark icon, and it lands in your saved items. From there, its audio page is one tap away. If the video vanished before you saved it, our guide to finding reels you watched covers that case.

Why a reel says Original audio instead of a title and how to trace the song

This label next to the creator's name means one thing: the sound came with the video, not from the library. Per Instagram's launch post, the platform credits the sound itself to the creator who posted the video. When that account is public, other people can make their own reels with it through the Use audio button.

Anything can hide behind this label. It may be the creator's voice, street noise or a tune from a café speaker. It may also be a song the creator added in another editor and uploaded as a finished video. In each case the credit names the creator, not the artist. That explains the confusion: a famous song shows up under a stranger's name.

Where to look for the title

1. Open the audio page. It collects videos by other people on the same recording, and one of them may name the song in a caption.
2. Read the caption and comments under the reel where you heard the song. Viewers ask what is playing there, and creators often reply.
3. Recall the lyrics. Search a line from the chorus in quotes and add the word lyrics.
4. Check for a remix. A sped-up or slowed version sounds different, so search for both the original and the remix.
5. If nothing worked, move on to recognition by sound, covered below.

How to find a song from a story: the music sticker and what to do without it

In stories, songs come in through a sticker. Instagram's stories guide lists music among the stickers, next to polls, quizzes and countdowns. Instagram's June 28, 2018 post on music in stories says viewers hear the song and see a sticker showing the song title and artist name. The creator picks the sticker style, and the lyrics-only style leaves just the words on screen.

A viewer only needs to glance at the frame, since the title and the artist sit on the sticker itself. If the creator chose the lyrics-only style, search a line of the lyrics in quotes. If the sticker is tiny or hidden, press and hold to pause the story.

A story without a sticker

Sometimes a song plays and no sticker appears. The creator edited the video with audio beforehand or filmed next to a speaker. The title is then written nowhere on screen, and you have three routes:

• Reply to the story and ask the creator about the song. Stories disappear 24 hours after posting, so write right away.
• Check the profile's Highlights. The creator may have saved the story there, and then you can replay it.
• Run recognition on your phone while the story plays, as the next section explains.

Our guide to Instagram stories explains how stickers work and who sees a story.

How to find a song by sound when there is no title anywhere

Song recognition is built into phones. The principle is the same everywhere: the phone takes a few seconds of sound and matches the clip against a database of recordings. You get back the song title and the artist. On iPhone, a Control Center button does it. On Android, recognition runs through Google Search.

On iPhone

Apple Support describes a Recognize Music button in Control Center. You add it once: open Control Center, tap the plus at the top, then Add a Control, and choose Recognize Music. After that, one tap starts listening while the video plays. The iPhone voice assistant also names a song when you ask what is playing.

On Android and in Google Search

Google Search Help describes two routes. Search listens to a song playing near you. It also takes a tune you hum, whistle or sing. The second route helps when the video is gone but the melody is stuck in your head.

How to get a clean sample

On iPhone you do not need a second device. Apple's guide on headphones says the Control Center button also identifies music playing in headphones paired with the phone. It needs an internet connection. For Google Search, play the reel on a laptop and hold your phone near its speaker.

• Pick a moment without the creator's voice over the song. The chorus works best.
• Turn the volume up and cut background noise, since talk and TV confuse recognition.
• If the first try fails, repeat with another part of the song.

Recognition often fails in three cases. The recording is unreleased, the creator wrote the tune, or a remix changed it beyond recognition. Then you still have the comments and a direct message to the creator.

How to save audio and make your own reel with it

Save the sound you found so you can come back to it later. On the audio page, tap Save audio, and it goes to your saved items. Meta's April 2023 update described saving audio straight from the trends section. The same section shows how many times a sound has been used. Our guide to music for Reels explains where to find that list and who can access it.

Filming with the audio you found

1. Open the audio page from the video or from your saved items.
2. Tap Use audio, and the camera opens with the sound selected.
3. Record clips or upload videos and photos from your gallery.
4. Slide the timeline left or right to pick the part of the song you want.
5. Post the reel. It may appear on the same audio page next to other people's videos.

The Use audio button is missing in two cases. First, the recording belongs to a private account, and Instagram's launch post says such sound stays off limits to others. Second, the song is unavailable to your account. The same music guide covers which accounts lack the library.

A reel set to the song you found does not need video footage. You can build it from photos and let the audio carry the cuts. Our guide to making a reel from photos walks through the steps.

Which sounds are trending in your niche: what the report shows

An identified song answers one question: what played in a single video. An account owner needs a different answer: which sounds the platform flags as trending in their niche. The built-in trends list covers all of Instagram, and the trend mark in the feed only shows on the video you happen to see. Our guide to Instagram trends explains how to spot a trending sound early.

The Trending Reels sounds report starts from a topic. Name it: nail art, custom cakes, apartment renovation. The report lists the sounds the platform offers for that topic. You do not sign in to your account, since the report works from what the platform shows publicly.

Each sound in the report comes with its title, artist and duration. Next to it sit the trending flag, where there is one, and the platform's label for how many videos use the sound. For creator recordings labeled with the creator's name, the report adds trend rank and previous rank.

Instagram writes these counts as short labels like 1.2M, meaning 1.2 million. The report keeps the label as is and does not turn it into an exact number.

Common questions