Video Data

A number of datasets are available for use in TRECVID 2026 and are described below.

• Once you know which tasks you will be participating in, you can determine which data sets you need.
• Then for each needed dataset, see below for information on how you get permission to use the data and how it will be distributed.
• Please request only for the test data (and optional development data) required for the task(s) you apply to participate in and intend to complete.

TV_VTT Training dataset

The training dataset for the previous Video-to-Text (VTT) task is available. It contains short videos (ranging from 3 seconds to 15 seconds) from TRECVID VTT task run from 2016 to 2024. There are 16,627 videos with captions. Each video has between 2 and 5 captions, which have been written by dedicated annotators. The dataset is available from here after submitting the data agreement form (see below).

Data use agreements and Distribution: See Data use agreements for download instructions for active participants from NIST.

VQA Training dataset

In 2026, VQA will use at least the same training dataset of 500 videos as in 2025. Each data sample comes with youTube video ID, question generated by human annotator, the correct answer, and a set of 3 possible plausible answers considered wrong options. Participating teams can also make use of available external datasets for development of their models.

Training dataset is now available (Please use your TREC active participants username and password): VQA Training Dataset with a readme file

Data use agreements handled by NIST

In order to be eligible to receive the data, you must have applied for participation in TREC/TRECVID. Your application will be acknowledged by NIST with a team ID, active participant's password, and information about how to obtain the data.

• If you need access to the TV_VTT training dataset, you will need to complete the relevant permission form ( for Vimeo creative commons dataset) and email the scanned page as Adobe Acrobat pdf to George Awad. NOTE: If you already filled this V3C data agreement form before, you don't need to submit another form.



In your email include the following:

As Subject: "TRECVID data request"
In the body: your name
             your short team ID (given when you applied to participate)
             the name of the dataset you will be using - one or more of the following:
             TV_VTT, VQA

You will receive instructions on how to download the data.

Requests are handled in the order they are received. Please allow 5 business days for NIST to respond to your request.