What “Original audio” means
When a creator picks music from Instagram’s library, the Reel shows its title and artist. But if the sound was recorded with the video or added in another editor (CapCut, InShot, VN), Instagram doesn’t know what the music is and labels it “Original audio” with the creator’s handle.
The music inside can still be a well-known song: the creator just didn’t add it through Instagram. So “Original audio” doesn’t mean the creator wrote the music.
How to find the song in original audio
- Paste the link into Tunzy. We recognize music from the sound itself, not from Instagram’s label, so we find songs in “original audio” too. The link box is at the top of this page.
- Open the audio page. Tap “Original audio” at the bottom of the Reel to see other videos with that sound. If many people used it, one of them may have named the track.
- Read the comments. If the sound is trending, someone has almost certainly asked “what song is this” and got an answer.
- Ask the creator. Leave a comment or send a DM: creators are usually happy to name the track.
Why a song might not be found
Sometimes neither we nor Shazam can recognize the music. The main reasons:
- The music is original. If the creator really wrote and recorded it, it isn’t in any music database.
- The track is edited. Sped-up, slowed and TikTok “remix” versions are harder to recognize than the original.
- Speech covers the music. If the creator talks over the song the whole time, there’s nothing for recognition to latch onto.
- The track is too new or rare. Songs by independent artists reach databases with a delay.
Even if the song can’t be identified, you can keep the sound: download it as MP3 or M4A.
How Instagram decides what to show
The label depends only on how the creator added the sound. Music from Instagram’s built-in library is always labeled with its name. Everything else, whether a microphone recording, a gallery video with sound or a clip edited in another app, is labeled “Original audio”. Business accounts have a limited music library, so brands use “original audio” especially often.