What goes into a Timeline story video

The story editor combines a cleaned route with a date range, camera movement, animated date and distance text, an opening title, and a final summary card. Travel Film emphasizes long routes and a cinematic overview. Year in Review gives a longer range a brisk annual treatment. Commuter Truth highlights repeated movement without pretending to know why each trip occurred.

Choose 9:16 for Reels, TikTok, or Shorts, 1:1 for a square post, or 16:9 for a landscape video. The editor offers 720p and 1080p output and 24 or 30 frames per second. H.264 MP4 creation depends on WebCodecs support in the browser, so capability is checked before a long render begins.

Create your first Google Timeline video

Start with the fictional sample if you want to learn the controls without exposing a personal route. When you are ready, use the export instructions to obtain a current device JSON file.

  1. Load the export locally. Open the video maker, choose the JSON file, and wait for the parser to report a valid point and date range.
  2. Reduce the story. Select only the trip, month, or year you intend to show. Review outlier warnings instead of including every recorded point automatically.
  3. Protect sensitive endpoints. Add an endpoint privacy zone before previewing when the route begins or ends at a sensitive place. Confirm that the same sanitized route appears in both the preview and final overview.
  4. Choose the presentation. Pick a template, aspect ratio, resolution, frame rate, title, nickname, music, and target duration.
  5. Preview, render, and download. Keep the tab open during encoding. After export, play the MP4 locally before using Download or the Web Share button.

Why the video is private but not fully offline

The Timeline JSON, user text, selected soundtrack, and generated MP4 remain in browser memory or local browser-managed storage. They are not uploaded for server-side rendering, and a shared preset link contains presentation settings rather than coordinates or trip dates.

Map imagery is different: the browser fetches tiles from the named map provider after consent. The provider can observe the IP address and requested tile region. For a more detailed threat boundary, read Privacy and use the home-location privacy guide before loading the map.

If export does not start or the file looks wrong

Use a current Chromium-based desktop browser for the most predictable MP4 export. Safari requires a version with WebCodecs and H.264 encoding support; when encoding is unavailable, the site should clearly keep the route preview available and explain the browser or device change required for MP4.

If the parser reports no usable locations, do not paste the file into a public JSON checker. Follow the local empty or invalid Timeline JSON checklist instead.

Timeline to Video is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google.

Verification

Sources and review notes

Export paths, platform behavior, encoding capability, and map attribution were reviewed against the relevant primary documentation below. Product behavior was also checked with the local automated suite on August 25, 2026.