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How to use the video and GIF editor

Trim a clip to the good part, cut out the middle, add a caption that shows up at the right moment, and pick the thumbnail. Your edit saves as a new copy; the original stays as it was.

The video editor comes with the Professional plan and up.

The pictures show a phone. On a computer the tools sit down the left side with their names, and the rest works the same way.

On this page

Open a video or GIF

Open it the same way as a picture: Edit in the full-screen viewer's menu, the round Edit button in its details, or Choose a file on Editor. The image editor guide shows all three.

A GIF or an animated WebP takes a moment to get ready, then opens like a video. At the top of the editor, GIF, WebP and MP4 pick what you save. It starts on the kind you opened.

In depth: Make your own GIFs
A GIF open in the video editor, ready to trim

Trim the start and the end

  1. The editor opens on Trim, with your video as a strip of pictures.
  2. Drag the handle at the left edge of the strip to where the video should start.
  3. Drag the handle at the right edge to where it should end.
  4. Tap Play to watch what is left.
In depth: Trim, split and sound

Cut a part out of the middle

  1. Drag the line with the time on it to where the part you want to lose begins.
  2. Tap Split. The video is now two parts.
  3. Move the time line to where the unwanted part ends and tap Split again.
  4. Tap the part in the middle and tap Remove. Merge joins a part with the next one again.
In depth: Trim, split and sound
A video split into two parts, with Remove circled

Crop, colour and size

Crop, Finetune, Filter and Resize work just as they do for pictures, and change the whole video. The image editor guide shows how.

In depth: Crop, rotate and resize

Text, memes and stickers on a video

Annotate and Sticker work as they do for pictures, including Meme text. The player under the video lets you move through it while you work.

  1. Tap a sticker or text you added.
  2. Tap the Animation button above it (the little wave) and pick one, such as Wiggle.
In depth: Draw and write
The Animation list open over a heart sticker, with Wiggle circled

Make a caption appear and disappear

Anything you add shows for the whole video until you say otherwise. For example, a caption from 0:03 to 0:06:

  1. Tap the caption so it is selected.
  2. Move the player to 0:03. Tap the clock button above the caption and choose Show from here.
  3. Move the player to 0:06, tap the clock button again and choose Hide from here.
  4. The times show on the button, and a band on the player marks when the caption is on screen. Whole video puts it back on for the whole video.
In depth: Moving stickers and captions

Put a video or GIF inside your video

In Sticker, tap From device and pick a video or an animated GIF. It plays inside your video, in a box you can move and resize, like picture-in-picture.

In depth: Stickers
A sunset clip playing in a box over a timelapse video

Sound

Videos open with the sound off so nothing blares out. Tap the speaker button next to the player to hear it. A saved video keeps its sound either way; a GIF or WebP has none.

In depth: Trim, split and sound

Choose the thumbnail

  1. Open the video's details (the three dots on its card) and find Thumbnail.
  2. Tap Capture from video and play or drag to the moment you want.
  3. Tap Edit this frame. The frame opens in the editor, so you can crop it or add words before you tap Done .
A video's details with Edit this frame circled in the Thumbnail section

Save your video

Tap Done . The editor puts the new copy together on your device (a video, or a GIF or WebP if you picked one), then uploads it next to the original.

The editor saving a video, with the note to keep the screen open

Older iPhones and iPads

Everything on this page works in current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. On an iPhone or iPad it needs iOS 16.4 or later (on a Mac, Safari 16.4 or later).

Before that, videos open in a simpler editor. Trimming, cropping, drawing, text and stickers work, but stickers can't be animated, captions can't be timed to appear and disappear, a video or GIF you add stays still, and GIFs can't be opened.

On iOS 16.4 to 18 (Safari 16.4 to 18 on a Mac), a video whose sound was recorded in a less common format (some cameras and recorders do this) also opens in the simpler editor. From iOS 26 on, every video opens in the full editor.

Three quick recipes

A caption that shows up at 0:03

Annotate, then Meme text. Drag a box, type, move the player to 0:03 and choose Show from here on the clock button.

A reaction GIF over a clip

Sticker, then From device and pick the GIF. Drag it into a corner and tap Done .

Only the good part of a long recording

In Trim, drag the start and end handles in to the good part, tap Play to check, then Done .

Related guides

Image editor

Crop, brighten, add text and stickers, make a meme, or hide something private before you share a photo.

Make your own GIFs

Turn a short video into a GIF or WebP with a caption or a sticker, keep it small, and share it or give it to the GIF library.

Trim, split and sound

Shorten a video, cut parts out of the middle, play it back, and what happens to the sound and to GIFs.

Moving stickers and captions

Every animation, captions that come and go on time, and GIFs or videos playing inside your video.

Hide and finish

Blur private details, pick and adjust a frame, and put a colour behind a see-through picture.

Draw and write

Freehand, arrows, boxes, text and meme text in any colour, and how to change or remove them.

Still stuck? When something goes wrong explains the common error messages, and Get help shows how to reach the team.

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