How the reel maker works

The short version

The maker has six steps, in order. The preview beside them updates as you go, and your reel is kept in this browser, so you can leave and come back. Use Next and Back to move between steps, or tap any step at the top.

1. Pick a format: the chart that fits your story
2. Add your data: type it, paste it, or read published figures
3. Write the words: the title, the opening line, the script
4. Choose style and sound: the look, the music, the effects
5. Add a voice: optional: an AI voice or your own
6. Export: download the video

The quickest way to a finished reel: pick a format, paste your numbers, write a title and an opening line, then press Export MP4. Everything else has a sensible default.

Step 1: Pick a format

Each format is a different way of animating numbers. The one that fits depends on what you want people to notice:

• Who’s on top? Ranked bars or a leaderboard. A podium for exactly three.
• How is something split up? A donut or a waffle.
• How did it change over time? A line or area chart, or a bar race.
• This against that? Versus.
• One number that says it all? Big number.

Choosing a format starts from a finished example, so you can see it working before you change anything. Formats marked Pro can be opened and previewed by anyone; only exporting one needs Pro or a credit.

Prefer to describe it? Type what you want under “Create with AI”, and paste your numbers if you have them. The draft can read World Bank and Our World in Data figures for you. Anything else starts as a placeholder, and the maker tells you so: replace placeholders with real numbers before you share the reel, and check every word and figure in a draft.

Open this step →

Step 2: Add your data

There are three ways to put your numbers in:

• Type them into the table. Add a row puts in a new row you can type over.
• Paste rows copied straight from Excel or Google Sheets, or a CSV. The first line names the columns, for example Country,Population. A list with no heading line, such as Coal,35, works too.
• Use published data: search the World Bank by topic, or paste a chart link from Our World in Data. Keep the credit shown there when you share the reel; the licence asks for it.

If the format you’re on can’t show the rows you pasted, the reel moves to one that can and tells you, with an Undo. Years down the first column become a line chart, with one line for each column of numbers.

Starting from a comparison or a country? On How does your country compare?, press Make a reel of this. The maker opens with those countries’ figures already in, read from the same World Bank file, with the year and the credit, and starts you on the words. Two countries become a head-to-head, three or four a ranking, and Over time a line chart with up to a dozen points. On a country page, Make a reel under a key fact ranks that country among its neighbours, starting from the top of the region with the country ringed; under a measure over time, it draws the country’s own line.

Remixing one of our reels? Under a reel on this site, Remix this reel opens its chart, figures, source and title in the maker, ready for your own words, look and voice. Its voice-over isn’t copied: the maker reads your rows until you write your own, and the reel keeps its own pace, up to 45 seconds. Reels in a Pro format can be remixed only with Pro or with credits you have bought. Reels that ask you to guess their answer can’t be remixed.

Why do my numbers look different on the chart? Donuts and waffles show each row as a share of the total, not the number you typed. If your rows add up to 120, a row of 30 shows as 25%. The Shows as column shows what will appear, and a note tells you when the total isn’t 100. A donut also shows six slices at most, putting the smallest rows together as “Other”, and a podium shows only the top three. The table marks any row that doesn’t get its own place.

Open this step →

Step 3: Write the words

Good words matter more than anything else here. The ones to get right:

• Title: what the reel is about, in a few words.
• Hook: the first card people see. Put a number in the first six words: “1.4 billion people, and one country leads.”
• Source: where your numbers come from. It’s shown at the bottom of the reel.
• Voice-over script: an opening line, a main part and a closing line. Leave any of them empty and the maker writes it from your rows. For your own main part, aim for 30 to 45 words and finish on the big number, written in digits, because the chart’s big moment is timed to that word.

Checks appear as you type, flagging things like a hook with no number. You can also ask AI to change something, such as “make the hook punchier”. Your numbers stay as they are unless you ask about them.

The numbers and claims in your reel are yours: NumberReels doesn’t check them.

Open this step →

Step 4: Choose style and sound

• Style sets the opening card, transitions, captions, camera moves and ending together, as one look.
• Music can be generated to a mood, or you can pick a recorded track. Recorded tracks are free to use if you credit them; the maker shows the credit to post with your reel.
• Sound effects and the moment of silence before the big number can each be turned off.
• Your own brand (Pro): your name, website and closing line on the end screen and in the spoken sign-off, in place of ours.

Open this step →

Step 5: Add a voice

This step is optional: without a voice, your reel plays with music and sound effects. Adding a voice needs an account, and the chart is then timed to it, so each number lands as it’s said. If you change the words afterwards, the voice-over is set aside until you make it again.

AI voice: press Make the AI voice-over and a natural voice reads your script. It’s counted in characters; the Voice step shows how many your script uses and how many you have left.

Your own voice: choose My own voice, then press Record beside each part and read it exactly as written. The moving bar shows the microphone can hear you. Listen back, record any part again, then press Sync my voice to the reel. If a part doesn’t match its script closely enough, the maker tells you which one to record again. You can also upload one recording of the whole script. It works for reels in English for now; a part can run up to two minutes and a whole recording up to four. Your recordings are used for the sync and aren’t kept.

For the best result, use a quiet room, keep the microphone close, and read at your normal pace.

Hearing it: once a voice-over is made, press Play the reel with this voice to hear it with the chart from the start, or open Listen to the voice on its own to play each part by itself. If you don’t like it, make it again or remove it.

If the microphone won’t start:

• Mac: click the icon at the left of the address bar and allow the microphone. If it’s still blocked, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, turn on your browser, then quit and reopen it. In Safari, use Safari → Settings for This Website → Microphone.
• iPhone and iPad: go to Settings → Apps → your browser → Microphone. In Safari you can also tap the “aA” button in the address bar → Website Settings → Microphone.
• Android: tap the icon beside the address, then Permissions → Microphone.
• Windows: click the icon at the left of the address bar. If it’s still blocked, go to Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone.
• Opened from inside another app? Apps’ built-in browsers often can’t record. Open the page in Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox.

Open this step →

Step 6: Export

There are two kinds of export:

• Export MP4 makes the video on your own device, with a small watermark. This needs a recent Chrome, Edge or Safari (version 17 or later). Keep the tab open until it finishes.
• Export without watermark makes the video on our server and gives you a private download link that lasts seven days. It needs an account, and uses your Pro allowance or a credit. An export that fails isn’t charged.

Pro can also export other shapes: 9:16 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok, 4:5 or 1:1 for feeds, 16:9 for YouTube and slides. Before you post, the Export step lists any credits to include, such as the music track and published data.

Open this step →

What’s included

The short list is below. Pricing has what each costs, side by side.

• Without an account: 2 watermarked exports and 1 AI draft a day, on the free formats, up to 45 seconds long.
• Free account: 10 watermarked exports, 10 AI drafts and 2,000 characters of AI voice a month, your own voice, reels up to 60 seconds, and your reels saved to your account.
• Pro: every format, 40 exports without the watermark, 100 AI drafts and 60,000 characters of AI voice a month, reels up to 2 minutes, your own brand and every shape.
• Credits are bought once and don’t expire. An export without the watermark uses 1 credit. Past your monthly allowance, an AI draft uses 0.25 and each started 1,000 characters of AI voice uses 0.2.

Common questions

Where is my reel kept? In this browser, as you work. Clearing your browser’s data removes it. If you’re signed in, Save to my reels keeps a copy in your account, which you can open on another device.

“Not shown yet” appeared under the preview. What does it mean? Something you changed can’t be drawn yet, and the note says what. The preview keeps your last working version until it’s fixed, so nothing is lost.

Can I post my reel anywhere? Yes. See the terms for what you can do with your video, and privacy for what is stored and sent where. Please don’t remove the watermark from a free export.