The invention discloses a license tag recognizing and vehicle speed measuring method based on videos. With the method, license tags from every frame of a video image are recognized, and the license tag recognizing results are calculated out according to the historical information, a higher recognition rate is realized. Meanwhile, the central position of characters can be positioned and tracked with the method to realize the accurate measurement of the vehicle speed. A vehicle head lower edge line detecting and tracking module positions a vehicle head lower edge line according to prospective motion and prospective edge detecting results, efficiently avoids the interference of shadows, captures the position of the vehicle head lower edge line, and tracks. After a trigger line is reached, the vehicle head lower edge line detecting and tracking module carries out space mapping on the historical tracking position to realize the accurate measurement of the vehicle speed. A vehicle lamp pairdetecting and tracking module eliminates the interference of the circumference and headlamps of the vehicle in a night mode, accurately detects the vehicle lamp pair, and tracks. After the trigger line is reached, the vehicle lamp pair detecting and tracking module carries out space mapping on the historical tracking position to realize the accurate measurement of the vehicle speed.