9-11 WTC Videos

Video Evidence of the Destruction of the World Trade Center Skyscrapers

The collapses of the Twin Towers and Building 7 were captured in numerous videos. This page includes excerpts from both professional news footage and amateur video recordings.

• Videos of the South Tower destruction
• Videos of the North Tower destruction
• Videos of Building 7's destruction
• Videos of eyewitness recollections of destruction

The Tower Destruction Timelines use these videos.

Videos of the South Tower Destruction

	video	frames	duration	description
	mpeg	sequence matrix	00:05:23	South Tower collapse from the east This 15-second NBC video shows the upper 40 stories of both towers, starting just as the top of the South Tower begins to lean. The video was aired by NBC approximately seven minutes after the event.
	mpeg	sequence	00:03:01	South Tower collapse from east, nearby This 3-second video shows 2.5 seconds of the demolition wave racing down South Tower's southeast and northeast faces.
	avi	sequence	00:39:29	South Tower dust This is a longer version of the previous clip. After the videographer turns around and starts to run, he points the camera backward, recording the encroachment of the monster dust cloud. The clip runs right up to the point that it overtakes him.
	mpeg	sequence	00:21:23	Close-up of start of South Tower collapse from south nearby This shows the first few seconds of the South Tower collapse from a nearby location to the south. The top of the South Tower starts to lean at about 11 seconds.
	mpeg	sequence	00:06:28	South Tower collapse from east This 6.7-second video shows about 5 seconds of the destruction of the South Tower.
	mpeg	sequence	00:21:00	South Tower collapse from northeast This video shows a close-up view of the northeast corner of the South Tower from the onset of the Tower's collapse.
	avi		00:12:13	South Tower destruction from northeast This shows a truncated version of the previous clip, with an added EuroNews banner.
	mpeg	sequence	00:08:00	Onset of South Tower collapse from northwest This 8-second video shows the South Tower, from a nearby location on West Street less than 800 feet to the northwest of the Tower.
	mpeg	sequence	00:16:00	Onset of South Tower collapse from east This video shows the destruction of the South Tower from about two seconds after its start, from the east.
	mpeg	sequence	00:19:25	South Tower destruction from southwest This video begins at about the time the South Tower starts to fall. The videographer looks up to capture the explosion about two seconds later.
	mpeg	sequence	00:14:12	South Tower destruction from south This video shows the South Tower starting about 3 seconds into its collapse. The video is apparently from helicopter flying at about 1000 feet to the southwest of the Towers.
	wmv	sequence	00:05:23	South Tower collapse This video is apparently from the same source as the previous one. It may not play in real time.
	wmv	sequence	00:22:23	South Tower collapse This video shows the South Tower collapse from the south-southwest, and is apparently from the same source as the previous two. It is brighter, starts later, and plays through the end of the event.
	mpeg		01:14:07	Multiple views of the South Tower collapse This 80-second composite from ABCnews.com shows portions of the South Tower collapse from five different viewpoints, including three videos listed above.
	mpeg			Afterglow of South Tower from north This CNN video shows the afterglow of the South Tower collapse, then cuts to the North Tower collapse, showing the dust cloud advancing to the Hudson.
	mp4	sequence	00:04:27	View of South Tower from Trinity Street This video shows a close-up of the South Tower's southeast wall as the destruction begins. The photographer is standing on Trinity Street, south of the World Trade Center.

Videos of the North Tower Destruction

	video	frames	duration	description
	mpeg	sequence	00:09:15	North Tower collapse from north This video, taken from within 2000 feet of the base of the North Tower, shows the top of the North Tower from about a second after the beginning of the collapse.
	mov	sequence	00:22:14	Distant view of North Tower collapse showing squibs This video shows the North Tower from the distant northeast. It shows the first and second sets of dust ejections.
	mpeg	sequence matrix	01:33:12	Distant view of North Tower collapse from north-northeast This 94-second CNN clip shows the North Tower collapse, with the collapse starting about 30 seconds into the video. It shows the afterglow, and the dust cloud advancing to the Hudson. Since this video shows the complete collapse, and has a real-time clock, it is especially valuable for documenting the the timeline of the collapse.
	mp4	sequence	00:15:24	Distant view of North Tower collapse from north-northeast This clip has the same footage as the second part of the previous one. Because it doesn't start with the zoomed-in view, it shows details early in the event, such as jets of dust, that the zoomed-in view doesn't show.
	mpeg	sequence	00:10:15	View of Noth Tower from distant east This clip was apparantly taken from the same camera as the first clip of the South Tower above. It starts about two seconds into the North Tower's destruction.
	mpeg	sequence	00:07:27	North Tower collapse from distant northeast This 8-second KTLA5 video shows the North Tower as it starts to collapse. It shows squibs and streamers ahead of the mushrooming top.
	mpeg	sequence	00:29:18	North Tower collapse from northeast This 29-second video shows the top of the North Tower from the northeast, with the collapse staring about 16 seconds into the video. It shows that the radio tower starts to descend about a second before the facade stards to move. The clip is from WTC: The First 24 Hours
	wmv	sequence	00:23:02	North Tower from northeast This 20-second video shows the North Tower from about 2 seconds into its collapse through the end.
	mov	sequence	00:15:00	North Tower collapse from east This 15-second video shows the collapse of the North Tower from the northeast, from about three seconds after its start through its completion.
	wmv			North Tower collapse from east This is the same video as the previous clip, in a WMV format.
	wmv		00:22:27	North Tower collapse from east This is apparently extracted from the same original video as the previous clip, but is a closer view, and plays at a fraction of real-time speed.
	mpg	sequence	00:10:02	North Tower collapse from west This clip is from the documentary Anatomy of the Collapse.
	mov	sequence	00:05:00	North Tower destruction from north This clip shows the destruction of the North Tower from the northeast.

Videos of Building 7's Destruction

	video	frames	duration	description
	mpeg	sequence	00:06:28	Building 7 collapse This 9.6-second video shows the Building 7 collapse from a vantage point only about 1000 feet to the north.
	mpeg	sequence	00:08:29	Building 7 collapse from northeast This video shows the Building 7 collapse from a vantage point a mile or so to the northeast on Greenwich Street. The view shows the building from top to near street level.
	mpeg	sequence	00:35:13	CBS video of Building 7 collapse This video provides a distant view of Building 7's collapse from the north.
	animated gif		00:05:00	Building 7 collapse This video shows the Building 7 collapse from the north. It plays at a fraction of real-time speed on some systems.
	RealMedia			Building 7 collapse

Videos of Eyewitness Recollections of Destruction

	video	frames	duration	description
	mpeg		00:29:06	Firemen recall 'detonations' in South Tower
	mpeg		00:26:06	Fireman recalls that everything had 'collapsed to dust'

Videos of Other Controlled Demolitions

	video	frames	duration	description
	mov	sequence	00:26:29	Botched demolition fails to fell Zip Feeds Mill tower Demolition charges at the base of this 202-foot concrete structure start the collapse, but the structure halts the collapse.

The footage excerpted by many of these videos can be found in the September 11 Television Archive on Archive.org.

Some additional videos found online are listed on the WTC webcasts page.