Behavior · Video Annotation

Behavioral Annotator

A browser-based GUI for efficiently annotating animal behaviors in video recordings, frame by frame, with custom behavior labels, built to power our Animal Behavioral Dataset effort.

Launch Behavioral Annotator Runs 100% locally: your videos stay on your device

Developed by Dr. Can Tao, Senior Research Scientist. See the team page →

What it does

Turning raw behavior videos into labeled data is slow and tedious. The Behavioral Annotator streamlines it: load a video, step through it frame by frame, mark when each behavior starts and stops, and export clean annotations ready for analysis or model training. It runs entirely in your browser, with no installation, and your videos never leave your computer.

Highlights

Runs entirely in the browser Frame-by-frame keyboard navigation Custom behavior labels Zoomable annotation timeline Auto-saves & exports JSON Private: nothing is uploaded

Quick start

Click Launch Behavioral Annotator, load a video, and use the keyboard shortcuts to step through frames and mark behavior segments. We welcome feedback, feature ideas, and contributors. Background in web development, computer vision, or behavioral neuroscience is especially welcome. Reach out at guangwei.zhang@vcuhealth.org.