Property video glossary: 30 terms estate agents should know

Property video borrows its vocabulary from film production, social media, artificial intelligence and property law. Knowing the terms makes it easier to brief a videographer, compare software and spot marketing that could mislead. The 30 definitions below are grouped by theme and written so they can be quoted as they stand.

Video formats and tours

These terms describe the kind of video or interactive media a listing uses. The main split is between films, which the viewer watches, and tours, which the viewer explores.

Listing film: A short, edited marketing film about one property, usually with narration or on-screen text, music and the agency's branding. It can be filmed on site or generated from the listing photos.

Walkthrough video: A video that follows the route a visitor would take through a property, room by room, usually filmed on site in one continuous or near-continuous take.

Teaser: A short cut, often under 30 seconds, that shows a few of the best shots to create interest on social media, usually with music and no narration.

Virtual tour: An interactive presentation, often built from 360-degree photos, in which the viewer chooses where to look and which room to enter next.

3D tour: A virtual tour built from a 3D scan of the property, letting the viewer move freely through a digital model and often see a "dollhouse" view of the whole home.

Drone shot: Aerial footage filmed by a camera on an unmanned aircraft flying above the property. It shows the real roof, plot and surroundings, and flights are subject to local aviation rules.

For when each format earns its place, see listing video vs virtual tour vs 3D tour vs photos.

AI production terms

These terms describe how AI tools generate or alter property imagery and narration. Anything generated is an interpretation, so it should be checked against the real property.

Image-to-video: A type of generative AI model that turns a still image into a short video clip by predicting new frames, typically adding camera movement. Because the frames are generated, details can drift from the original photo.

Outpainting: Using AI to extend an image beyond its original edges, for example adding ceiling and floor so a landscape photo fills a vertical 9:16 frame. The added areas are generated, not photographed.

AI aerial orbit: A circling, elevated view of a house generated by AI from ground-level photos rather than filmed by a drone. It is a new viewpoint, so it should be labelled and not relied on for boundaries, land or surroundings.

Virtual staging: Digitally adding furniture and decor to photos of empty or dated rooms, using AI or 3D software. Staged images should be labelled so buyers know the furniture is not real.

Narrator archetype: A defined voice personality used to match narration to a type of property, such as measured and understated for prime homes or warm and friendly for family houses. Echoflicks, for example, offers six archetypes, each with a female and a male voice.

The accuracy questions these tools raise are covered in can AI animate listing photos without changing the property?

Editing, sound and subtitles

These terms come from post-production: how shots, voice, music and captions are put together. They matter most when you brief an editor or compare revision options.

B-roll: Supporting footage cut between the main shots, such as close-up details, exteriors or neighbourhood scenes, used to add texture and cover edits.

Voiceover: Narration recorded or synthesised separately from the pictures and laid over them, as opposed to a presenter speaking on camera.

Score: Music composed specifically for a film, timed to its pace and mood, as opposed to a pre-existing track.

Stock music licence: Permission to use a pre-recorded track from a music library under set terms, which usually specify where the video may be published, for how long and whether paid adverts are covered.

Burned-in subtitles: Captions rendered permanently into the video image, so they show on every platform and with the sound off, but cannot be switched off or edited without re-exporting. They are also called open captions.

SRT: A SubRip subtitle file: plain text containing numbered, timed caption lines that a player or platform displays over the video, which viewers can usually switch on or off.

Re-cut: A revised version of an existing film that changes specific elements, such as a shot, a title or a narration line, without starting again. In Echoflicks, re-cuts are free, up to 10 per listing.

The soundtrack side is covered in more depth in music for real estate videos.

Framing and social distribution

These terms describe the shape of the frame and how a video competes for attention in a social feed. They decide whether one film can be reused across portals and social platforms.

Aspect ratio: The ratio of a frame's width to its height. 16:9 is widescreen landscape, 4:3 is squarer, 1:1 is square and 9:16 is vertical.

9:16: A vertical frame, taller than it is wide, used by Reels, Shorts, TikTok and Stories; Meta recommends 9:16 at 1080 x 1920 for Reels. YouTube Help says that since 15 October 2024, square or vertical videos up to 3 minutes long count as Shorts.

Safe zone: The central area of a vertical frame that platform buttons, captions and profile details do not cover. Text, logos and key details belong inside it.

Hook: The opening seconds of a video, designed to stop a viewer scrolling past, often the strongest exterior or the most striking room.

CTA: Call to action: the specific next step a video asks the viewer to take, such as booking a viewing or sending a message.

For choosing between them, see 16:9, 4:3 or 9:16?

Branding and on-screen text

These terms describe how an agency's identity appears in a film. Consistency across every agent's videos depends on them.

Brand kit: A stored set of brand assets (logo, colours, fonts, tagline and often a default voice) that a video tool applies automatically so every film matches.

Lower third: A text graphic in the lower part of the frame that names a place, person or fact, such as the address, the price or the number of bedrooms.

Outro: The closing seconds of a film, usually a branded end card with the agency's logo and a call to action.

Compliance and trust

These terms describe the rules and standards that keep property marketing honest. They are general information, not legal advice; check how they apply to you with a qualified adviser.

Material information: Information a buyer needs to make an informed decision about a property. The now-withdrawn National Trading Standards guidance listed items such as price, tenure, council tax, utilities, parking and flood risk; Propertymark notes that since 6 April 2025, omitting material information is automatically an unfair commercial practice under the DMCC Act 2024.

AI Act Article 50: The transparency article of the EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, which applies from 2 August 2026. According to the European Commission's FAQ, providers of generative AI must mark outputs as AI-generated in a machine-readable way, and deployers must clearly disclose deep fakes at the latest on first exposure.

Deep fake: Under the AI Act, AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video content that resembles real people, objects, places or events and would falsely appear to a person to be authentic or truthful.

C2PA and Content Credentials: C2PA (the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) publishes an open technical standard for attaching tamper-evident provenance information to images, video and audio. Content Credentials are the readable record it produces, showing how a file was made and whether AI was involved.

For what these rules mean in practice, see the EU AI Act and AI-generated property videos and material information and listing videos.

Which terms are most often confused?

Seven pairs cause most of the confusion. The difference usually comes down to who controls the view, or whether a camera actually captured the image.

If you want the whole process in one place, what an AI property video is walks through how these pieces combine into a finished film.