How to search your video footage with AI, fully offline
Yes, you can search footage with AI without the cloud. Local tools like Jumper analyze video on your own computer, so visual, speech and face search work without uploading files. With a paid Jumper license, search also works without an internet connection once set up. Before trusting a "local" claim, check where analysis runs, what data leaves the machine, and whether search works with the network off.
Why search offline
Some footage can’t leave the building: unreleased films, client work under NDA, interviews with sources who were promised confidentiality, and footage of minors. Even when uploading is allowed, camera originals take hours to send. Local AI search analyzes footage on your own computer, so nothing is uploaded and search keeps working without a connection.
Local vs cloud
| Local | Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your footage goes | Stays on your storage | Uploaded and processed on the vendor’s servers |
| Before the first search | Analysis on your computer | Upload, then analysis |
| Pricing | Usually a flat price | Often per minute, credit, or gigabyte |
| Network off | Works once set up | Doesn’t work |
For features and prices of specific tools, see the 2026 tool comparison.
How to check if a tool is really local
Use these checks on any tool, including Jumper. If the documentation and your tests disagree, trust the tests.
1. Where does the analysis run?
On a computer you control. During analysis, Activity Monitor on a Mac or Task Manager on Windows should show the app itself using the CPU or GPU.
2. Does anything leave the machine?
Watch the network with a firewall log or a tool like Little Snitch while you analyze a new file. If frames or audio go out, it isn’t local.
3. Does search work with the network off?
Analyze a clip, then turn off Wi-Fi and unplug Ethernet. Run a visual, speech, and person search. If any of them needs a connection, the tool isn’t offline.
4. What has to be downloaded first?
AI models are large and usually download during setup. For an air-gapped machine, ask how to bring them in.
5. How does licensing work offline?
Ask how often the license needs to check in, and what happens if it can’t.
6. What do crash reports and telemetry send?
Ask whether they can include frames or file paths, and whether you can turn them off.
7. What does an AI agent send?
A cloud AI model receives your prompts and some metadata, even when the footage stays local. A local model keeps everything on the machine.
How Jumper works offline
Jumper analyzes picture, speech, and faces on your computer and never uploads your footage. The same local index works in the standalone app and in the Premiere, Final Cut, Resolve, and Avid plugins. Jumper needs a connection to install and download its models. With a paid license, search then works with the network off. The free trial needs a connection while you search. The privacy policy has the details.
Jumper is $169 lifetime for visual and speech search. Jumper Pro adds face recognition and AI agents for $49 a month, $399 a year, or $599 lifetime. See pricing and the system requirements.
AI agents and privacy
Jumper’s MCP server lets AI agents like Claude search your footage without uploading it. A cloud model still receives your prompts plus file paths, timecodes, transcript excerpts, search results, and downsampled thumbnails. To keep everything on your machine, use a local model, for example in LM Studio. More in the AI agents guide.
Offline setups
Freelancer on a laptop
With a paid license, install Jumper and let the models download, analyze your drives, then edit anywhere with the network off. Download Jumper.
Post house with shared storage
Put the analysis folder on shared storage so every bay searches the same index. Shared analysis is part of Jumper Pro. See Enterprise.
Air-gapped suite
Bring the installer and models in through a path your security team trusts, and use a local model if you want AI agents. Ask us how licensing works on a machine that stays offline.
Questions
Can AI video search work without internet?
Yes, with a paid Jumper license. Once Jumper is installed and set up, analysis and search work without an internet connection. The free trial needs a connection while you search.
Does Jumper upload my footage?
No. Picture, speech, and face analysis run on your computer, and your files stay on your drives.
What data, if any, leaves my computer?
Your footage doesn’t. Jumper needs a connection to install and download its models, and the free trial needs one while you search. If you connect a cloud AI model like Claude, it receives your prompts plus file paths, timecodes, transcript excerpts, search results, and downsampled thumbnails, but not the video files.
Is local AI search as accurate as cloud?
Accuracy depends on the model, not on where it runs. In ProVideo Coalition’s February 2026 visual search test, Jumper scored 84 out of 92, the highest of the tools tested. Cloud tools weren’t part of that test, so compare them on your own footage.
Can I use it on NDA or unreleased footage?
Yes, as long as your contract allows processing on your own machines. Jumper doesn’t upload files for analysis. If you connect an AI agent, use a local model to keep everything on the machine.
Does face recognition run locally?
Yes. Detection, grouping, and search run on your device. Face recognition is part of Jumper Pro.
Can AI agents work offline?
Yes, with a local model, for example one running in LM Studio. A cloud model like Claude needs a connection, because your prompts go to the provider.
What hardware do I need?
A supported Mac or Windows computer with enough disk space for your media and the analysis. See the system requirements in the Jumper docs.
Start a free trial to try it on your own footage. The trial needs an internet connection. Fully offline search needs a paid license.