Location shooting is the practice of filming in an actual setting rather than on a sound stage or back lot . In filmmaking a location is any place where a film crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is not recorded may be considered as a second unit photography site. Often filmmakers choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place, however location shooting is also often motivated by the films budget. Many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior scenes on location.

"Location" shooting does not necessarily imply, as some believe, that a scene is necessarily shot in the actual place in which it is set; very frequently a film about New York City will actually be shot "on location" in Toronto; the same is frequently true with regard to Los Angeles and Vancouver. Francis Ford Coppola famously used the Philippine jungle for his Vietnam of Apocalypse Now.