Video editor overview
The video editor is a multi-track editor for the video parts of your project. It runs entirely in your browser: arranging clips, grading color, mixing audio, and rendering the final file all happen on your machine.
Quick overview
- Open a video part in your project, or add a new one.
- Add clips to the timeline: drag files in, or pull them from the media browser.
- Arrange, trim, and split clips across video, audio, and subtitle tracks.
- Apply transitions, color grading, and other effects to individual clips.
- Mix your audio, clean it up, and add subtitles.
- Export the part to a video file. MP4 (H.264) is the format that renders end to end today; the dialog's other options are on the roadmap.
Detailed reference
Layout
| Area | Location | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Preview canvas | Center | Shows the current frame; text, images, and shapes you add here become timed overlay clips automatically |
| Timeline | Bottom | Tracks, clips, the playhead, markers, and zoom controls |
| Toolbar | Top of the timeline | Play controls, razor, edit mode, add track, and export |
| Inspector | Right panel | Every setting for the selected clip: transform, filters, speed, transitions, audio, and color grading |
Multi-track editing
Stack as many video, audio, and subtitle tracks as your project needs. Where clips overlap in time, the editor composites them together in the preview, so keep unrelated elements, a lower third, a music bed, a voiceover, on their own tracks and reorder or move clips between tracks as your edit evolves.
What it can do
- Cut, trim, and arrange clips across video, audio, and subtitle tracks, with markers, snapping, and named speed ramps.
- Apply dozens of transitions, color grading presets and levels, LUTs, chroma key, AI background removal, style filters, and blend modes, per clip.
- Mix tracks on the audio mixer, reshape a voice or sound with presets, clean up noise with AI denoise, capture new footage by recording, and generate subtitles automatically.
- Export the part to MP4 (H.264), rendered in your browser with a hardware-accelerated encoder where the browser supports one.
A video is a part
A video sits alongside your pages, scenes, and slide decks in the same project, and it exports on its own rather than as part of one project-wide export. See Video pages and Projects and parts.
Rendering stays local
The AI-assisted steps, background removal, denoise, face tracking, and auto-subtitles, all run on-device using models loaded into your browser (MediaPipe for background removal and face tracking, Whisper for subtitles). Your footage is not uploaded anywhere to preview or render it. The trade-off is that the first time you use one of these in a session, it needs to fetch its model over the network before it can run; after that it's cached for the rest of the session.
Where to go next
| Task | Page |
|---|---|
| Arrange clips, tracks, markers, speed ramps | Timeline and tracks |
| Transitions, color grading, chroma key, filters | Effects, transitions, and color |
| Mixing, voice presets, denoise, recording, subtitles | Audio, recording, and subtitles |
| Formats, resolution, and rendering | Video export |
Step by step
1. Set up your first edit
- Open a video part, or add a new one to your project.
- The bottom of the screen docks into the timeline and toolbar; the center canvas becomes the preview for the current playhead position.
- Bring in footage: drag a file straight onto a track, press
Ctrl + Ito open a file picker, or pressAlt + 8to open the media browser and pull in something you already imported. - Arrange, trim, and split the clips on the timeline until the rough cut feels right.
2. Reach every tool from one place
The toolbar's Tools menu (the button with the gear icon, top-right of the timeline) is the fastest way to find a feature without hunting through the inspector, grouped into four sections:
| Section | Tools |
|---|---|
| Editing | Add Marker, Speed Curve, Keyframe Graph, Adjustment Layer, Scene Detection, Stabilize |
| Effects & Color | Effects & Filters (opens the inspector), Effects Library, Transitions, LUT Browser, Video Scopes |
| Media & Audio | Media Browser, Audio Mixer, Audio FX |
| Advanced | Multi-Cam, Multi-Cam Monitor, Plugins |
Most of these open as a small floating panel you can leave open while you keep working elsewhere in the timeline; close it from its own header or click the Tools menu item again.
3. Style, mix, and export
- Select a clip and use the inspector (right panel) for transform, filters, transitions, and color grading, or right-click the clip for a shortcut menu with the same options plus quick speed presets, flip, rotate, and background controls.
- Balance sound and add captions in the audio and subtitles tools.
- Open export with
Ctrl + Shift + E, choose your settings, and render.
Common tasks
| Task | Steps |
|---|---|
| Turn a canvas object into a timed clip | Add text, an image, or a shape directly on the preview canvas; it becomes its own overlay clip on the timeline automatically, ready to trim and time like any other clip. |
| Keep working while something renders | Start an export, then click the minimize button in the export dialog to shrink it to a small progress popup; switch pages or keep editing while it finishes in the background. |
| Find a tool you can't locate | Open the Tools menu in the toolbar; it groups every panel (effects, color, audio, multicam, plugins) in one place instead of scattering buttons across the UI. |
| Check whether your on-device AI steps will work | Background removal, denoise, auto-subtitles, and face tracking all load a model into the browser on first use in a session; give it a moment the first time you trigger one. |
Troubleshooting
- A tool panel does nothing when clicked. A handful of Tools-menu actions (Effects & Filters, Stabilize) need a clip selected first; select a clip, then reopen the tool.
- Export renders nothing, or the button does nothing. The video editor's export pipeline needs the WebCodecs API and a muxer library that ships with the app; on an unsupported or very old browser it reports that no encoder is available rather than silently failing. See Video export for the exact requirement and what to do about it.
- Looking for a "export the whole project" button. There isn't one, by design: a video is one part among your pages, scenes, and slide decks, and each part exports on its own. Open the specific video part and export from inside it.
- Worried about losing work. Beyond normal project saving, the video editor keeps a local autosave of your timeline (and same-browser media) roughly every 30 seconds as a safety net, independent of manual saves.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space | Play / pause |
S | Split the clip at the playhead |
Delete | Remove the selected clip |
Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y | Undo / redo |
+ / - | Zoom the timeline in / out |
Home / End | Jump to the start / end |
Alt + 8 | Toggle the media browser |
Ctrl + Shift + E | Open the export dialog |
Tips
Start with the cut
Get your clips trimmed and arranged before you touch effects or color. It is easier to apply a consistent look once the edit itself is locked.
Everything lives in the inspector
Select a clip and open the inspector panel on the right: it is the single place to reach transform, filters, speed, transitions, color grading, and audio for that clip.
Keep related content on its own track
A dedicated track for music, one for voiceover, one for captions, makes it far easier to mute, solo, or re-time a single layer without disturbing the rest of the edit.
Related
- Timeline and tracks for arranging and trimming clips
- Effects, transitions, and color for styling a clip
- Audio, recording, and subtitles for sound and captions
- Video export for rendering the final file
- Video pages for how a video fits into a project
- Projects and parts for the project model