footage

foot (unit of length) +‎ -age

• enPR: fo͝otʹĭj, IPA^(key): /ˈfʊtɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: foot‧age
• Rhymes: -ʊtɪdʒ

footage (countable and uncountable, plural footages)

1. (usually uncountable) An amount of film or tape that has been used to record something.

   The footage we shot at the riot yesterday got ruined.

   • 2009, N. C. Asthana, Anjali Nirmal, Urban Terrorism: Myths and Realities‎, page 126:

     The weaponry at their disposal was said and shown in numerous video footages to be mainly small arms and anti-tank rocket launchers, etc. — the 'classical' arms of the guerilla.

2. A measurement in feet.
   • 1965, The Southern Lumberman‎, volume 211, page 36:

     […] more and more contractors are buying Southern pine in greater footages per order.

   • 1976, John Burder, 16mm Film Cutting‎, CRC Press:

     Starting footages should go above the line at the start of the sound and finishing footages beneath the line at the end of it.

Video footage is so called because movie film and television tape was measured in feet. The same term is still applied by analogy to digital videos which are stored on hard drives or microchips.

• file footage
• found footage
• square footage
• stock footage