Google opens its SynthID Detector to everyone to check if images, video or audio were made with AI

What launched

Google opened its SynthID Detector to everyone worldwide, in English, on 7 October 2026.¹² The free site at synthid.com lets anyone upload an image, video or audio file to check whether it carries a SynthID watermark, which marks content made with AI from Google or its partners.¹²

An early version had been open only to selected journalists, media professionals and researchers since last year.¹²

Whose watermarks it reads

Google says the detector checks for SynthID marks from Google and from partners OpenAI, Nvidia and Kakao, with Apple listed as coming soon.¹ TechCrunch notes that Google’s Nano Banana, Veo and Lyria models, and apps such as Gemini, Flow and Vids, add SynthID to their output.²

Which files it accepts

TechCrunch lists common formats: images such as JPG, PNG, WEBP and HEIC; videos in MP4, MOV and WEBM; and audio in WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC and M4A.²

How big SynthID is

Google says more than 180 billion images and videos and 240,000 years of audio have been watermarked with SynthID since it launched in 2023.¹ Checks built into Search, the Gemini app and Chrome handle over 1 million requests a day, Google says.¹

What it cannot tell you

The detector looks for SynthID marks only. AI content from tools that do not use SynthID will not show a mark, so a “not found” result does not prove a file is real.² TechCrunch notes that Microsoft and Meta use their own watermarking standards, and that OpenAI also runs its own content-checking site.²

How to use it

Go to synthid.com, upload the file and read the result. For a fuller picture, check where the file came from as well.