How to view dashcam footage on a PC or Mac

A step-by-step guide to getting footage off any dashcam and watching it on Windows or macOS, with front and rear cameras together and the clips in the right order.

Something happened on the road and you want to see it on a big screen. Here is the quickest way, for any dashcam brand.

Step 1: get the footage onto your computer

Use the memory card. Turn the car off so the camera stops writing, then take out the microSD card. Most laptops have an SD slot: use the full-size adapter that came with the card, or a cheap USB card reader.

Some cameras store footage internally (the 70mai M500, for example). Connect them with a USB data cable and they show up as a drive. Teslas record to a USB drive: see TeslaCam footage.

Avoid copying a whole drive over the camera's Wi-Fi app: it is slow.

Step 2: find your clip

Inside the card you will usually find a DCIM folder, sometimes with subfolders for normal, event and parking recordings. The files have names like 2024_0315_143022_000123F.MP4. These names contain the date and time, but in a form that is hard to scan. See dashcam file names explained.

The quickest way to find a moment is a viewer that reads those names for you.

Step 3: open it in a dashcam viewer

Tripframe is free and runs in the browser on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS.

Open the app in Chrome or Edge (Firefox and Safari also work, through a folder picker).
Click Open your dashcam folder and choose the card.
Pick the day, then the moment.

Front, rear and interior cameras of the same moment play together. Use , and . to step frame by frame and S to save a still.

Step 4: save what matters

The camera will overwrite the card. Copy the clips you need to your computer, including the matching rear file. Read how to save dashcam footage for insurance and police.

Troubleshooting

Black video, sound only, or an error: the camera probably records in H.265. See how to play H.265 dashcam video.
Card not showing up: try another reader. If the camera says the card has errors, replace it: the best SD cards for dashcams.
Clips missing: check that the camera was not still writing when you removed the card, and that parking mode is set up the way you think: parking mode explained.

Brand-specific guides

Viofo · BlackVue · Thinkware · Nextbase · 70mai · Garmin · Vantrue · Rexing · Redtiger