diff --git a/js/nostr/nip71Mirror.js b/js/nostr/nip71Mirror.js
index ff1c4a5a..7a7faf74 100644
--- a/js/nostr/nip71Mirror.js
+++ b/js/nostr/nip71Mirror.js
@@ -46,6 +46,35 @@ export function deriveVideoMime(url) {
   return VIDEO_MIME_BY_EXT[ext] || "video/mp4";
 }
 
+// Hashtags can live in several places depending on how the video was authored:
+// bitvid's own `hashtags`, the parsed NIP-71 metadata (`nip71.hashtags`), or the
+// raw `t` tags on the 30078 (produced by the upload form's NIP-71 hashtag editor).
+// Source from whichever is present so a shared video stays categorized elsewhere.
+// Drops bitvid's internal "video" topic tag and dedupes (case-insensitive).
+function resolveHashtags(video) {
+  let raw = [];
+  if (Array.isArray(video.hashtags) && video.hashtags.length) {
+    raw = video.hashtags;
+  } else if (Array.isArray(video.nip71?.hashtags) && video.nip71.hashtags.length) {
+    raw = video.nip71.hashtags;
+  } else if (Array.isArray(video.tags)) {
+    raw = video.tags
+      .filter((t) => Array.isArray(t) && t[0] === "t" && typeof t[1] === "string")
+      .map((t) => t[1]);
+  }
+  const out = [];
+  const seen = new Set();
+  for (const value of raw) {
+    const tag = str(value).toLowerCase();
+    if (!tag || tag === "video" || seen.has(tag)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    seen.add(tag);
+    out.push(tag);
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
 function normalizePublishedAt(value) {
   const numeric = Number(value);
   if (!Number.isFinite(numeric) || numeric <= 0) {
@@ -114,9 +143,7 @@ export function buildNip71MirrorEvent(video, options = {}) {
     duration: Number.isFinite(duration) && duration > 0 ? duration : undefined,
   };
 
-  const hashtags = Array.isArray(video.hashtags)
-    ? video.hashtags.map(str).filter(Boolean)
-    : [];
+  const hashtags = resolveHashtags(video);
 
   const metadata = {
     title,
diff --git a/js/nostr/videoPayloadBuilder.js b/js/nostr/videoPayloadBuilder.js
index 430dcb52..db3da3af 100644
--- a/js/nostr/videoPayloadBuilder.js
+++ b/js/nostr/videoPayloadBuilder.js
@@ -474,6 +474,16 @@ export function prepareVideoEditPayload(params) {
     contentObject.xs = finalXs;
   }
 
+  // Prefer edited hashtags, else preserve the base event's so an edit that omits
+  // the field never strips them.
+  const hashtags = sanitizeVideoHashtags(
+    updatedData?.hashtags !== undefined ? updatedData.hashtags : baseEvent.hashtags,
+  );
+  if (hashtags.length) {
+    contentObject.hashtags = hashtags;
+  }
+  const hashtagTags = hashtags.map((tag) => ["t", tag]);
+
   let metadataForTags =
     nip71Metadata && typeof nip71Metadata === "object" ? nip71Metadata : null;
   if (!metadataForTags) {
@@ -489,9 +499,11 @@ export function prepareVideoEditPayload(params) {
 
   const nip71Tags = buildNip71MetadataTags(metadataForTags);
 
-  const additionalTags = storagePointer
-    ? [["s", storagePointer], ...nip71Tags]
-    : nip71Tags;
+  const additionalTags = [
+    ...(storagePointer ? [["s", storagePointer]] : []),
+    ...hashtagTags,
+    ...nip71Tags,
+  ];
 
   // A replaceable event only wins if its created_at is strictly greater than
   // the version it replaces (NIP-01 keeps the highest created_at; ties go to
diff --git a/tests/nip71-mirror.test.mjs b/tests/nip71-mirror.test.mjs
index fb93a57b..2acaea27 100644
--- a/tests/nip71-mirror.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/nip71-mirror.test.mjs
@@ -139,6 +139,24 @@ test("explicit short flag overrides dimension inference", async () => {
   assert.equal(landscapeButShort.event.kind, NIP71_SHORT_VIDEO_KIND);
 });
 
+test("mirror sources hashtags from nip71.hashtags when video.hashtags is absent", async () => {
+  const v = baseVideo({ hashtags: undefined, nip71: { hashtags: ["alpha", "beta"] } });
+  const res = buildNip71MirrorEvent(v);
+  const tTags = res.event.tags.filter((t) => t[0] === "t").map((t) => t[1]).sort();
+  assert.deepEqual(tTags, ["alpha", "beta"]);
+});
+
+test("mirror sources hashtags from raw `t` tags, dropping the internal 'video' topic", async () => {
+  const v = baseVideo({
+    hashtags: undefined,
+    tags: [["t", "video"], ["t", "Gamestr"], ["t", "gamestr"], ["d", "root-123"]],
+  });
+  const res = buildNip71MirrorEvent(v);
+  const tTags = res.event.tags.filter((t) => t[0] === "t").map((t) => t[1]);
+  assert.ok(!tTags.includes("video"), "must not leak the bitvid 'video' topic tag");
+  assert.deepEqual(tTags, ["gamestr"], "deduped + lowercased");
+});
+
 test("deriveVideoMime maps common extensions and defaults to mp4", async () => {
   assert.equal(deriveVideoMime("https://x/y.webm"), "video/webm");
   assert.equal(deriveVideoMime("https://x/y.m3u8?token=1"), "application/x-mpegURL");
diff --git a/tests/video-hashtags.test.mjs b/tests/video-hashtags.test.mjs
index 49fe3241..a28bf1ed 100644
--- a/tests/video-hashtags.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/video-hashtags.test.mjs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import test from "node:test";
 import {
   sanitizeVideoHashtags,
   prepareVideoPublishPayload,
+  prepareVideoEditPayload,
 } from "../js/nostr/videoPayloadBuilder.js";
 import { convertEventToVideo } from "../js/nostr/nip71.js";
 
@@ -57,3 +58,31 @@ test("no hashtags → no content.hashtags", async () => {
   const content = JSON.parse(event.content);
   assert.equal(content.hashtags, undefined);
 });
+
+function edit(baseHashtags, updatedData) {
+  return prepareVideoEditPayload({
+    baseEvent: {
+      id: "e1",
+      videoRootId: "root-9",
+      title: "Old",
+      url: "https://cdn.example.com/v.mp4",
+      hashtags: baseHashtags,
+      created_at: 1000,
+      tags: [],
+    },
+    originalEventStub: { id: "e1" },
+    updatedData,
+    userPubkey: PUBKEY,
+    resolveEventDTag: () => "root-9",
+  });
+}
+
+test("editing WITHOUT a hashtags field preserves the existing hashtags", () => {
+  const { contentObject } = edit(["alpha", "beta"], { title: "New title" });
+  assert.deepEqual(contentObject.hashtags, ["alpha", "beta"], "not stripped on edit");
+});
+
+test("editing WITH hashtags overrides them", () => {
+  const { contentObject } = edit(["alpha"], { hashtags: ["gamma", "delta"] });
+  assert.deepEqual(contentObject.hashtags, ["gamma", "delta"]);
+});