Free online video editor

Make a short video from the moments you already have

Cutroom is a free online video editor for assembling local videos, photos, and audio into a short story. Use it for a birthday message, a family montage, a wedding memory, or a simple social clip. Start with the sample project to explore the controls, or choose New project from the file menu to begin with an empty timeline. Editing and downloading the result require no account or payment. There is no added watermark. Your browser does the work, so performance depends on your device and the files you choose.

How to edit a video online for free

First, import a video or image from your device. Importing adds it to the media library; tap its thumbnail to append it to the video sequence. Add your other shots in the order you want people to see them. Select a timeline clip to adjust its duration and source start, drag its edges to trim, or split it at the playhead. Drag video clips to reorder them. Preview each cut before moving on, and use Undo if you change your mind.

Choose your frame, words, and sound

Choose a landscape, portrait, square, 4:5, or 4:3 canvas. Fill crops a shot to the frame; Fit preserves the whole image. Add editable titles, import timed SRT or VTT captions, or write captions yourself. Captions appear in the exported picture; automatic transcription is not included. Import music or record a voiceover with microphone permission. Adjust volume and fades, then listen through the whole sequence. Two external audio clips can overlap alongside video sound. Use only media and music you have permission to share.

Export and check the finished file

Open Export, choose 480p, 720p, or up to 1080p-class resolution, and select an available format. The frame rate options are targets of 24 or 30 fps, not a guarantee on every device. Export records the timeline in real time: a longer sequence takes longer to produce. Keep the tab in the foreground and the screen awake; hiding the tab cancels export. When it finishes, download the file and play it back to check the picture, sound, and timing before sharing it.

Supported files and browser limits

Try H.264 MP4 or WebM video, JPEG or PNG images, and MP3 or WAV audio. Other recognized extensions can work only when your browser can decode their contents; a filename alone does not guarantee compatibility. MP4 export is offered when MediaRecorder supports it, with WebM available in supporting browsers. Even MP4 audio can be Opus rather than AAC, so test your destination app. Desktop Chrome, Edge, or Safari is recommended. Mobile editing is available, but large sources and long timelines can exceed device resources.

Local editing, with practical limits

Cutroom does not upload your source files or send editing data over the network. Its editing resources are first-party files; once they have loaded, the editor can keep working without an internet connection while the page stays open. This does not promise that reopening the website offline will work. Edits are saved locally when browser storage is available, and media may be cached in IndexedDB. Clearing browser data can remove both. Download your project and keep the original files: the project JSON stores edits and filenames, not the media.

Keep projects small enough for your device

Each input file is limited to 2 GB, the library to 120 assets, and a project to 500 clips. Exports are held in memory, capped at 200 MB on detected low-memory devices or 512 MB otherwise. A smaller source or shorter edit may be necessary well before these limits. Still images use a working copy up to 1920 pixels, and animated images become a still frame. Lower preview quality can lighten drawing work but does not reduce the source video's decoding cost. There is no bundled universal video converter.

Give your finished video a place in a printed photo

Save a current frame from Cutroom's file menu, or choose an original photo that captures the same memory. Photo96 can link that picture to your finished video as a separate paid service. You upload the photo and video to Photo96 for this step; local editing in Cutroom does not do that automatically. Print the registered picture and share the supplied scanner link or QR code. A viewer opens the scanner on a phone, allows camera access, and points it at the print to watch the video over the photo, with no viewer app.

Frequently asked questions