Done-for-you YouTube evidence capture
YouTube video evidence for court? We capture the video, the page and the comments.
ProofSnap preserves a YouTube video as court evidence and delivers the sealed package within 2 days: an MP4 of the full video with audio, the watch page with its visible comments, an evidence PDF, an eIDAS qualified timestamp, a Bitcoin anchor, a chain of custody, plus a signed FRE 902(13)/(14) certification for US matters. One video costs $44.99.
A defamation claim, a copyright claim, a doctored clip, a confession in the comments? The uploader controls all of it, and the link in your brief points at nothing the moment the video comes down.
A saved MP4 on your laptop proves nothing about when it was captured or where it came from. Your package carries an eIDAS qualified timestamp (with a legal presumption of accuracy in the EU), a Bitcoin blockchain anchor, an RSA-4096 signature and a certification signed under penalty of perjury, so the material stands on its own when the video is gone.
More than five videos, a whole channel or a filing deadline this week? Describe the situation and we will tell you how to scope it.
No account, no subscription, no install. We record the watch page in an ordinary browser session, with no downloader, and the sealed package is yours to keep forever.
Delivered in 2 days · Comments captured with the page · Verifiable by anyone
482,119 views · published Mar 14, 2026
1,204 Comments
"I was there. He said the same thing to us in the meeting on the 3rd."
Illustrative example. We record the video as it plays and capture the page around it, then seal both so the other side cannot argue the copy was edited after the fact.
Every package can be verified by anyone, for free, in the Trust Verifier, and the issuing provider can be checked on the EU Trusted List.
The signed Fed. R. Evid. 902(13)/(14) certification is written for US proceedings, where it is what makes an electronic record self-authenticating without a live witness. In the EU the operative layer is instead the eIDAS Article 41(2) qualified timestamp, which every package carries as well.
Quick answer
How do I preserve a YouTube video as court-admissible evidence?
Send us the link and pay once, and within 2 days you receive a forensic evidence package. We record the video playing in full with audio, capture the watch page in full-page mode with the comment section expanded, save the page source, the extracted text and the network metadata, hash every file with SHA-256, sign the manifest with RSA-4096, anchor it to the Bitcoin blockchain via OpenTimestamps and add an eIDAS qualified timestamp from Disig a.s. (Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List). Then the person who performed the capture signs a Fed. R. Evid. 902(13)/(14) certification under penalty of perjury. One video is $44.99; five videos are $149.
What it proves: that this video and this page existed in that exact state no later than the timestamp, and that nothing has changed since the package was sealed. What it does not decide: admissibility and weight, which stay with the court, and authorship of the content, which is a separate question. ProofSnap is an evidence tool, not legal advice.
Why a link, and even a downloaded MP4, will not hold up
You may already be looking at the decisive evidence in your case. The problem is the form it is in. A YouTube URL in an exhibit list is a pointer to content someone else controls, and a file you downloaded yourself is a copy with no provable origin and no provable date.
The scale of the disappearing act is not hypothetical: YouTube removed 178.5 million videos, 138.5 million channels and 24.7 billion comments between 2019 and 2024, according to a Video Advertising Bureau analysis of Google's own transparency reports published in September 2025. That count covers platform enforcement only; it does not include the videos and comments the uploader quietly deletes.
The channel owner controls the exhibit
Title, description and thumbnail can be rewritten at any time, the video can be swapped to private or unlisted, and comments can be deleted one by one without a trace. Nothing in a link survives that.
"Where did this file come from?"
An MP4 on your laptop carries no URL, no capture time and no proof that it came from the channel you say it did. The first cross-examination question is the one you cannot answer.
No provable point in time
File dates are trivially editable and mean nothing in court. Without an independent timestamp there is no way to show the video existed in that state before the dispute started.
No certification, no chain of custody
Without a certification signed by the person who made the copy, you are back to subpoenaing a custodian of records at the platform, which is slow, expensive and often out of reach if you are litigating outside the United States.
What each package contains
Every ProofSnap YouTube package is a sealed ZIP of 11 to 15 forensic files, each file hashed with SHA-256, the manifest signed with RSA-4096, anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain via OpenTimestamps and timestamped by a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List. One video, one package. Order five and you get five of these, each standing on its own under a unified chain of custody. A matter that needs more than five is split the same way: one sealed package per URL.
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1
An MP4 recording of the video in full, with audio
The content is preserved even if the video is later edited, made private or taken down. A video of up to 75 minutes fits in a single sealed recording; a longer video is recorded as consecutive sealed segments that together cover the full runtime, with every boundary disclosed rather than hidden.
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2
A full-page screenshot of the watch page
The channel, title, description, publication date, view count and the visible comments, captured as they appeared. The page source and the extracted page text ship alongside it, so every word is searchable and quotable.
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3
A court-ready evidence PDF, written for a judge rather than an engineer
The URL, the NTP-verified capture time in UTC, the evidence ID, the screenshot rendered inline, the network provenance and the SHA-256 hash of every file, in one document you can attach to a filing.
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4
Independent proof of the date and time
An eIDAS qualified timestamp and a Bitcoin blockchain anchor, both verifiable by anyone, including opposing counsel, without our involvement and without requiring our company to still exist.
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5
A complete ISO/IEC 27037-style chain of custody
A tamper-evident hash chain documenting exactly how the capture was made: every operation, in order, with device and extension integrity, the verified time source and any layout change made to fit the whole page into one image.
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6
A Fed. R. Evid. 902(13)/(14) certification, signed
Signed by the person who performed the capture, under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, so your copy is self-authenticating without a foundation witness. It ships as a separate signed PDF, never inside the sealed ZIP whose hashes it certifies.
This layer applies to proceedings in the United States. Rules 902(13) and 902(14) have applied in the federal courts since December 1, 2017. Two practical points: the federal rules remove the need for a foundation witness, they do not make an irrelevant exhibit admissible, and both incorporate the notice requirement of Rule 902(11) notice requirement, so you must give the adverse party reasonable written notice before the hearing and make the record and the certification available for inspection. Elsewhere the certification is still a sworn account of how the copy was made, while the layer that does the legal work in the EU is the eIDAS Article 41(2) qualified timestamp.
To: you@firm.com
Your ProofSnap YouTube evidence packages
Delivered 1 day and 14 hours after payment
packages 4 and 5
Each certification is signed and dated by the person who performed the capture, and kept outside the ZIP it certifies.
Illustrative example of a five-package delivery.
"Certified Data Copied from an Electronic Device, Storage Medium, or File. Data copied from an electronic device, storage medium, or file, if authenticated by a process of digital identification, as shown by a certification of a qualified person that complies with the certification requirements of Rule 902(11) or (12). The proponent also must meet the notice requirements of Rule 902(11)."
Inside the signed evidence ZIP
A package holds 11 to 15 files, depending on what the case needs. The signed 902(13)/(14) certification is delivered next to the ZIP, not inside it, because a document cannot certify a set of hashes that includes its own hash.
Open the ZIP, read the PDF, re-check the hash with any standard tool, or drop it into the free Trust Verifier.
The comments disappear first
A channel owner can delete a single comment, hide a user, turn the whole section off or switch the sort order, and none of it leaves a mark on the page. If a comment is part of your case, it has to be sealed at the same moment as the video, in the same package, under the same timestamp.
Sealed at capture time
2026-08-14 11:03:52 UTCIn the screenshot, in page.html and in domtextcontent.txt, all three hashed into the same manifest as the video.
The same page, three weeks later
liveWithout a sealed capture, all you can tell the court is what you remember seeing.
What we capture on the watch page
Channel name, handle and subscriber count as displayed
Title, full description and any links inside it
Publication date and view count at capture time
The comment count, the sort order in effect and the visible comments, including the pinned one
The video ID and the video ID and the canonical URL the page declared
DNS resolution, TLS certificate and HTTP response headers recorded at capture time
A comment section loads in batches as you scroll, so a capture holds the comments that were loaded and visible at that moment, not necessarily every comment on the video. The evidence PDF states how far the capture went instead of implying completeness. If a specific thread matters, name it in the checkout notes and we will make sure it is on screen.
From "here is the link" to court-ready, in four steps
No sales call, no account, no form to fill out twice. You pay, you send the link, we do the rest.
Pay with card
Pick one video or a pack of five and pay once through Stripe. A card is required at checkout. There is no subscription and no auto-renewal.
Pay $44.99Send the link
You submit the YouTube URL or URLs in the Stripe checkout, plus notes: the runtime, a specific comment thread, a point in the video that matters, and the language you want the evidence PDF in. All 29 ProofSnap languages are available (Hindi is delivered in English).
We record and capture
The video is recorded in real time with tab audio, the watch page is captured in full-page mode with the comments expanded, then the package gets its RSA-4096 signature, its Bitcoin anchor and its eIDAS qualified timestamp.
Email delivery
The sealed package and the signed certification reach your inbox within 2 days. Check the package yourself in the free Trust Verifier.
Why 2 days and not 24 hours
Real-time playback is the floor of a YouTube capture: hashing, signing, the Bitcoin anchor and the eIDAS timestamp together take minutes, while the recording takes exactly as long as the video. A 41-minute video means 41 minutes of playback before any of that can start, and a pack of five can mean half a working day of recording alone. We would rather quote 2 days and deliver early than promise 24 hours and rush the part a court will scrutinize. Against a filing deadline? Write to us before you order and we will tell you honestly what is achievable.
Three layers of proof, and what each one means
All three are included in every YouTube package, and the signed 902(13)/(14) certification is delivered alongside it. Each layer stands on its own, and none of them depends on YouTube, or on our company, still being here.
eIDAS qualified timestamp
Court-grade in the EU
An RFC 3161 qualified electronic timestamp from Disig a.s., a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List. Under eIDAS Article 41(2) it carries a presumption of the accuracy of the date and time it indicates and of the integrity of the data to which they are bound.
Bitcoin blockchain anchor
The manifest hash is anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain via OpenTimestamps: vendor-independent proof of capture time. Even if ProofSnap disappears tomorrow, anyone can verify it with open-source tools at opentimestamps.org.
Chain of custody
A tamper-evident hash chain logs every operation of the capture, in an ISO/IEC 27037-style chain of custody: the recording, the page capture, device and extension integrity, NTP-verified time, an RSA-4096 manifest signature and the public key for independent verification.
"A qualified electronic time stamp shall enjoy the presumption of the accuracy of the date and the time it indicates and the integrity of the data to which the date and time are bound."
What a capture proves, and what it rests on
What it proves
- The video and the watch page existed in that exact state no later than the timestamp.
- Nothing in the package has been altered since it was sealed.
- The package shows which server and which domain served the page at that moment, and which video ID it carried.
- Every layout change made to capture the page is disclosed in the chain of custody, never hidden.
What it rests on
- An MP4 of the video in full with audio, and the watch page with its visible comments.
- An eIDAS qualified timestamp from a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List, plus a Bitcoin OpenTimestamps anchor.
- A SHA-256 hash of every file, an RSA-4096 signature over the manifest and a certification signed under penalty of perjury.
Built to support authentication under FRE 901 and self-authentication under FRE 902(13)/(14) in the US, and the eIDAS Article 41(2) presumption in the EU. Comparable routes for electronic records exist in the national procedural law of the EU Member States. ProofSnap is an evidence tool, not legal advice.
Pricing
Both tiers carry the same forensic features and the same signed certification. The pack is simply a volume discount.
One-time payment, no subscription, no auto-renewal. A card is required at checkout. Prices in USD.
Single Capture
One video · delivered in 2 days
- MP4 of the video in full, with audio
- Full watch-page capture with the visible comments
- eIDAS qualified timestamp (Disig a.s.)
- Bitcoin blockchain anchor (OpenTimestamps)
- Signed FRE 902(13)/(14) certification
Evidence Pack
Up to five videos · delivered in 2 days
$29.80 per video · 34% less than five Single Captures
- Everything in Single Capture, five times over
- A separate chain of custody per video, all five under one order reference
- Built for a channel-wide pattern, not a single clip
- One package per video, each with its own PDF report
More than five videos or a whole channel?
Beyond five URLs a per-matter quote is usually cheaper than stacking packs. Email support@getproofsnap.com with the list and we will price it.
A long video or restricted access?
Multi-hour runtimes, members-only or age-restricted videos and live streams need checking first: email support@getproofsnap.com before checkout and we will tell you whether we can capture it.
Payment is processed by Stripe. After checkout you submit the URL or URLs and your notes, including the language you want the evidence PDF in: all 29 ProofSnap languages are available, with Hindi delivered in English. If a video turns out to be impossible to capture, we issue a credit toward another capture of equal or lesser value.
Who orders a YouTube capture
Four typical buyers, all in the same situation: the video matters to a case, and the person who controls it has every reason to make it disappear.
Defamation and reputation counsel
A video accuses your client, and the comment section piles on. You need the statement, the reach at capture time and the comments preserved before your first letter prompts the uploader to edit the title, disable comments or take the video private. Firms that preserve regularly usually start from our evidence workflow for law firms.
IP, copyright and brand protection
Infringing uploads, counterfeit promotion, a competitor demonstrating your product under their own brand. A takedown removes the video and your proof of it with the same click, so the exhibit has to be sealed before the notice goes out.
Litigators facing a preservation duty
Once litigation is reasonably anticipated, a public video that is relevant needs to be preserved in a defensible form, not bookmarked. A signed 902(13)/(14) certification keeps the exhibit off the authentication battlefield. Non-video URLs in the same matter go through the standard web evidence capture service, delivered in 24 hours.
Investigative journalists and OSINT researchers
You are about to publish about a channel. The moment you ask for comment, the material starts disappearing. Capture first, ask second, and keep a record your editor and your lawyer can both check independently.
Compared with a downloader, an enterprise vendor or a do-it-yourself capture
Page Vault, the best-known done-for-you vendor in this space, publishes an On Demand starting price of $299 for a video project and $349 for a social media profile, and quotes its subscriptions on request under an annual contract (page-vault.com/pricing, August 2026).
| Feature | ProofSnap service from $44.99 |
Downloader tool free |
Enterprise vendor from $299 per project |
ProofSnap extension from $24.99 per video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per video | $44.99 | Free, no proof | $299 and up | $24.99, you operate it |
| Five videos | $149 | Free, no proof | Quoted per project | From $17.00 per video |
| Watch page and comments preserved | Video file only | Usually separate projects | ||
| eIDAS qualified timestamp | No | Not published | Higher plans or pay per use | |
| Bitcoin blockchain anchor | No | Rarely | ||
| Signed 902(13)/(14) certification | Signed for you | No | Quoted separately | Template, you sign it |
| Sales call or account required | Neither | Neither | Both, annual contract | Account needed |
| Turnaround | 2 days | Minutes, no proof | Days, after the quote | Runtime of the video |
The extension column is ProofSnap in your own hands: the same forensic engine, operated by you, with the 902(13)/(14) certification left blank for you to sign. See video evidence capture with the extension.
Frequently asked questions about YouTube video evidence
Same engine, in your own hands
Prefer to capture it yourself?
This service runs the same forensic engine as the ProofSnap Chrome extension. If you expect to preserve pages regularly, capture them yourself and keep the operator role in-house.
The side panel you would be operating
One click captures the page, hashes every file, signs the manifest, anchors it to the Bitcoin blockchain and, on the eligible plans, adds an eIDAS qualified timestamp. It is the same evidence ZIP of 11 to 15 files you get from us, produced on your own machine.
- Full page, visible area or multi-tab session capture
- Video recording with audio, for anything that moves
- File Certification for documents you already hold
- The built-in Trust Verifier, and a free public one on the web
- Interface in 29 languages, evidence PDF in 28 of them
Free to install · also available for Microsoft Edge.
Standard SnapPack
10 captures · no expiration · one-time purchase
Pay as you go, no subscription and no auto-renewal. Full capture features, evidence PDF and Bitcoin blockchain timestamp.
eIDAS SnapPack
EU qualified timestamps (Disig a.s.)
$5.00 per stamp · also 1 for $6.99 or 10 for $49.99
Adds an eIDAS qualified timestamp per capture, with a legal presumption of accuracy across the EU, plus white-label branding on the evidence PDF.
Video SnapPack
75-minute recording with audio, plus bundled credits
Just under $20 per video · save 20% · also 1× $24.99 or 10× $169.99
Includes three regular captures and three eIDAS stamps. White-label branding included.
Subscription
Essential · Professional · Enterprise
Annual plans save 20%
For regular use: monthly capture allowances, File Certification and eIDAS stamps on the higher tiers. Includes a 7-day trial (a credit card is required to start).
Prefer no subscription and no auto-renewal? The Standard SnapPack at $4.99 is a one-time purchase, bought inside the extension after you install it. See the full ProofSnap pricing and features.
Capture it before the video comes down
Videos disappear. Once the upload is deleted, switched to private or quietly re-edited and the comments are turned off, all you have left is a dead link and your memory of what the video said. Send us the link and keep the sealed copy instead.
Questions before you buy? Email support@getproofsnap.com.