The internet is full of amazing and inspiring images, but more often than not, the sources for these images get lost along the way because a lot of people re-post them without providing credit. So, what do you do if you want to look for the original owner of a photo? In this case, you’ll need to use a reverse image search engine to try and find the root source.
In this article, we’ll talk more about what a reverse image search engine is, as well as list down five of the best ones currently available on the internet.
What Are Reverse Image Search Engines?
Basically, reverse image search is a content-based image retrieval query technique that comes in handy when you’re trying to look for images and not keywords like you usually do in a Google search. The CBIR system takes a sample image and uses that to formulate its search. What makes reverse image search stand out as a search engine is that you don’t actually use keywords or search terms, as that’s what the sample image is for. Other than helping you find the source of an image, reverse image search also offers popular relevant images that you may be interested in.
There are various reverse image search engines out there, so much so that you may end up confused about which one to use. But there’s no need to stress yourself any longer because we’ve compiled five of the best ones. Take a look at each of them below:
Yes, believe it or not, Pinterest can be used as an advanced reverse image search engine. What makes this different is that it doesn’t search for the whole image like the other search engines. Instead, there’s a built-in tool that you can use to zoom in on a particular part of the picture. Then, Pinterest will instantly look for a related image or visual similar to the part you zoomed into. Pinterest is also available on both iOS and Android devices, so you can use this handy technique on any device.
TinEye
TinEye is one of the best and oldest reverse image search engines. It was initially founded in 2008, and it’s been able to index more than 8 billion images. Plus, this search engine is not only fast, it also has a very accurate search algorithm, so you’ll definitely find what you’re looking for with this one.
Google Images
Of course, you can’t make a list of the best reverse image search engines without listing down Google Images. It doesn’t come as a surprise that this is one of the biggest reverse image search engines because Google is a massive database, and it’s used by the majority of internet users. To use Google Images, you can either paste the URL of the sample image you want to look for or upload it if the file is already in your computer’s files.
Image Raider
Image Raider is also another reverse image search engine that’s worth checking out. This search engine uses Yandex and Bing, and it’s capable of providing fast yet accurate results. The main feature of Image Raider is that you can search for more than just one image, which allows you to make multiple searches at the same time—up to 20, to be exact.
Yandex
Last but not least, Yandex is another search engine that functions similarly to Google Images. However, this one is more popular in Russia than in other countries, but anyone is free to access this site if they want to. The great thing about Yandex is that it shows you where an image is being used or was uploaded, as well as different image sizes. If Yandex isn’t able to find the right image, you’ll be given a list of relevant images instead.
Conclusion
There are undoubtedly more reverse image search engines out there, but we’ve only listed some of the best ones for you to check out. The next time you want to know the source of an image, don’t hesitate to use any one of these websites. They’re accurate, easy to use, and quite fast in providing results.
