At the end of every year before we set our resolutions, it's important to look back on the moments that we never want to forget. Keep all of the memories that mean the most to you close with a year-in-review video for you, your employees, and loved ones!
In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a year in review video to share with friends on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube—or to recap your business’s achievements over the past year. We’ll also share some tips from other marketers who has seen success with year-in-review videos and provide you with review video templates so you can start creating today.
TLDR: Here's how to make your year-in-review video with Animoto:
- Sign up for a free Animoto account & grab a template
- Upload key photos and videos from your year.
- For personal videos: Pull photos from birthdays, anniversaries, moves, vacations, and other accomplishments.
- For business videos: Add photos from team events, promotions, product launches, workshops, and more.
- Add text to tell your story, call out major events, key stats, and more.
- Change the look, feel, and sound easily with different colors and animations. Then, tie it all together with an upbeat song and a sign off.
- Share and celebrate a new year!
What is a year-in-review video?
A year-in-review video is a compilation of your most significant personal or professional moments from the past year. It's a visually engaging way to recap highlights, celebrate achievements, and share your journey with an audience.
Here's an example that we made in 2024:
Why create a year-in-review video for your business
Annual review videos are a powerful tool, as many marketers can confirm. They offer significant benefits for your brand, reaching across various departments from marketing and internal communications to recruitment.
We surveyed marketers to understand why they consistently produce these "year in review" videos, and their responses were incredibly diverse. Take a look!
"Year-in-review videos are one of the most powerful ways to turn performance data into brand trust. This shows clients, partners & future leads what happened, not just what we promised. For business owners like us, it's an easy win--repurpose your annual reporting into a high-impact visual asset that builds credibility fast."
- Callum Gracie, Founder, Otto Media
"Year-in-review videos aren't just for social media. For candidates, this can be the deciding factor in understanding what a company stands for, and whether they see themselves as part of it. But the impact doesn't stop there. For current employees, these videos are a major morale booster.
The key is thinking about a year-in-review video as more than just a highlight reel. Create them with an eye towards recruiting, engagement, and retention, and use this tool to better align your internal and external story in a way that's hard to replicate with words alone."
- Linn Atiyeh, CEO, Bemana
"We create year-in-review videos because it's our chance to reflect, celebrate milestones, and show the real impact of what we've built with our clients and team. It's less about the numbers, but the people, the moments, and the progress that made the year meaningful.
From a business standpoint, it's also strategic. These videos help humanize my brand, boost engagement, and remind people of the journey we're on, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, where authenticity wins.
And honestly, they create an emotional connection, too. When people see themselves or their contributions in that bigger story, it resonates. It builds pride, trust, and a sense of belonging."
- Diana Royanto, Writer, Milkwhale
How to make a year-in-review video
Ready to get started? We’ll show you how to make a year-in-review video using Animoto's This Year's Moments video template featured below. It's like a year-in-review holiday card made just for you!
If you’re looking to create a look-back for your business, check out the templates below.
Step 1: Choose your photos
First sign up for free account and choose a template. Then, it's time to collect your photos.
What moments from the year would you like to recap? If it’s for a personal video, you can go back through your social media accounts and camera roll and set aside photos of all your favorite memories from this past year.
For businesses, keep in mind what events, launches, and milestones you’d like to share. If you have any photos of your team, make sure you include those. If not, you can always pull from our stock image library.
Need photos from your clients, colleagues, friends, or family too? Just send them a custom link where they can upload their photos and videos directly to your project.
To upload photos from your phone, just go to your media library, click on the phone icon, scan the QR code, and refresh to see them fill your library.
Step 2: Start your Animoto project
If you’re not already using Animoto, sign up here for free.
Then, select any of the templates below, for individuals or for businesses, to start creating! If you have a more specific vision in mind, you can always start from scratch.
Step 3: Add your photos to the template
Upload your photos to your Animoto project and then just drag and drop to add them into the template. You can use the existing layouts or get creative by adding additional blocks and media frames to share more pictures.
Step 4: Update the text
Change the text in the template to match your story. In this example, we’ve kept a lot of the text the same, but updated a couple of blocks to talk about our specific experiences. You can include key stats, personal messages, and a few jokes to bring viewers into your story.
Step 5: Produce and share!
Change the music, colors, or font if you’d like. Then, produce your video and share your year of memories with your friends on Facebook and Instagram, share via email, or wherever you’d like!
Businesses, these videos are great for email newsletters, social media, and even holiday parties.
Personal year-in-review video templates
Recap your year with a personal highlight video! Here are some of our most popular templates.
My yearly recap
Use this My Yearly Recap to create a short and sweet recap from your photos and videos! All you need to do is upload your favorite photos from throughout the year and share then on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and more.
This year’s moments
This template also makes use of your favorite photos and videos by grouping them around personal milestones. From moves to graduations and reunions, this template makes it easy to highlight your favorite moments from the past year.
Yearly lookback
Look back on the highlights of your year like vacations by sharing collages of your favorite photos! This template helps you piece together your year like a mosaic rather than a flash of photos.
Year-end family highlights
Finally, this highlight template is a fun way to celebrate your entire family’s year! Make it a group project by asking each member of your family what their greatest accomplishment is from a year and compile them all in one family highlight video. Plus, you can use it as a year in review holiday card in place of your usual Christmas card!
Year-in-review video templates for businesses
Make sure that none of your accomplishments get lost – recap them with a video! All of these video template are perfect for celebrating milestones from the past year with your customers and teams.
Our Year in Review video template
Why not celebrate all your accomplishments with the people who made them possible? The Our Year in Review template makes it easy to look over the past year and thank your teams for all that you've done. Fill it with photos of your team throughout the year to make them feel appreciated and seen!
Company Year in Review video template
The Company Year In Review template is designed to make it easy to recap your company's biggest accomplishments of the past 12 months. It's square, ideal for sharing to Facebook and Instagram, but you can always change to a landscape aspect ratio if it better suits your needs.
Business Highlights video template
The Business Highlights template lets you tell your story of the year, month by month. Let your customers know how your team handled the unique challenges that came along with this year.
Annual Recap video template
Are you a realtor? We have a look-back template just for you! Use this video to share key stats about properties sold, families rehomed, and more.
Make a year in review video with Animoto
And there you have it! You now have a way to recap and relive all the best parts of your year and start the new year on the right foot.
Don’t forget to tag us in your recap videos so we can celebrate with you! Happy recapping!
