Traditionally, video editing has relied heavily on timelines and audio waves, which requires listening, pausing, and re-listening to footage to pinpoint exact moments for editing.
This method can be time-consuming and, for many, quite challenging to master.
But what if we could streamline this process and make video editing more intuitive?
This is where AI-driven transcription technology is revolutionizing the video editing landscape.
Building on this, a new breed of tools is emerging, leveraging these technological advancements to offer innovative interfaces for video editing.
Instead of traditional timelines, you can now edit your videos directly from the transcribed text, reducing complexity and saving you significant time.
In this post, we’ve curated a list of the most interesting tools leading the way in this exciting new era of text-based video editing.
Whether you’re a seasoned video editor or a beginner looking to dip your toes into video content creation, these tools promise to transform your editing workflow.
What is text-based video editing, and how does it work? A primer
At its core, text-based video editing involves transcribing the spoken words in a video or audio file into text. Once this is done, editing the video becomes as easy as editing a text document.
Need to cut a part of the video? Simply select the corresponding text and delete it. Want to rearrange certain sections? Cut and paste the text as you would in a Word document. The video adjusts in real-time to match your text edits.
You no longer have to rely on visual cues or repetitive listening to locate the exact points for editing. Instead, you edit the transcribed text, and the video’s changes are reflected simultaneously.
While the technology might seem complex, the user experience is straightforward and intuitive. If you can type, select, cut, and paste text, you can edit a video. It’s a paradigm shift in video editing that promises to make the process more efficient and accessible to a broader range of creators.
What types of videos can benefit the most from text/ transcription-based video editing workflow?
Text-based video editing can be a game-changer if you’re dealing with videos with a significant amount of dialogue or spoken content.
Here are some types of videos that can significantly benefit from a text or transcription-based video editing workflow:
Video podcasts
Video podcasts often involve lengthy discussions or interviews. Text-based editing lets you quickly locate and edit specific parts of the conversation without listening to the entire audio.
Interviews
Like podcasts, interviews can be easily edited by looking at the transcription. This approach makes it easier to remove filler words, long pauses, or off-topic ramblings, keeping the focus on the most insightful parts of the conversation.
Live videos
Whether it’s Facebook Live, YouTube Live, or any other platform, live streams can be significantly improved in post-production using text-based video editing. It makes trimming and rearranging the video content much easier and quicker.
Talking head videos
These types of videos often feature one person speaking directly to the camera. Text-based video editing can easily remove mistakes or retakes and streamline the video for maximum engagement.
Presentations
Whether it’s a product demo, a business presentation, or an educational lecture, you can easily edit out any unnecessary sections and keep the most impactful content intact.
Vlogs
Personal vlogs often involve lots of talking. With a text-based video editing tool, you can quickly refine your story, cutting out rambling or irrelevant parts, and keep your audience engaged.
10 text-based video editing software worth considering
Now that we’ve explored text-based video editing and identified the types of videos that can benefit most, let’s dive into the tools making this innovative approach a reality.
This list includes tools built from the ground up around the text-based editing paradigm and popular video editing platforms that have embraced this new workflow as a core feature. Let’s dive right in.
1. Descript – The most comprehensive text-based video editing tool at the moment
As a pioneer in the world of text-based video editing, Descript has earned its reputation for delivering a comprehensive solution that makes video editing as easy as working with a Word document. This all-in-one platform encompasses every stage of video creation, from writing and recording to transcribing, editing, and sharing videos and podcasts.
Key highlights:
- Delivers automatic and high-accuracy transcriptions in 22 languages with near-instant turnaround.
- Employs AI for speaker labeling and removal of filler words with a single click, reducing podcast length by up to 10%.
- Enhances audio quality with noise removal and speech enhancement tools, ensuring professional sound.
- Enables text-based correction of audio mistakes and creation of text-to-speech voice models with Overdub technology.
- Offers Audiograms feature for creating visually engaging video visualizations of your podcast, optimized for sharing on social media.
G2 rating: 4.6/5 (333 ratings)
- Freemium version available.
- Paid subscription starts from $12/user/month when billed annually.
2. Imvidu
Positioning itself as a “Smart Transcription Based Video Editor,” Imvidu aims to streamline video editing and content repurposing. The platform’s mission is to help content creators and marketers exponentially increase their output, intending to enable users to 10x their content in one-tenth of the time. This ambitious objective is driven by the vision to scale multi-channel content marketing truly.
Key highlights:
- Automates subtitle generation from video with drag-and-drop media file feature, equipped with ready-to-go subtitle styles.
- Provides an entirely online editing experience, with all videos stored and edited through the browser, eliminating the need for installations or downloads.
- Facilitates swift video cutting online using a unique text-based video cutter, compatible with popular video file types, including MP4, MOV, and MPG.
G2 rating: 4.8/5 (6 ratings)
- Free trial available.
- A lucrative lifetime deal for $79 only. Grab it now.
- Paid subscription starts from $9/month.
3. Kapwing
Kapwing is a modern video creation platform designed to help teams accelerate the production of high-quality content.
As part of their commitment to digital storytelling, they continually integrate AI-powered features, such as text-based video editing, into their platform.
Key highlights:
- Enables swift editing by removing parts of your video simply by deleting text from the transcript.
- Facilitates real-time collaboration, with options to leave comments and edit the video transcript.
- Simplifies the cleanup of filler words like “likes” and “ums” by reviewing the text transcript.
- Incorporates AI-powered features such as automatic subtitle generation for creating captions for all your online videos.
G2 rating: 4.4/5 (32 ratings)
- Freemium plan available.
- Paid subscription starts from $16/user/month when billed annually.
4. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading video editing software in Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite. Known for its powerful interface and robust capabilities, professionals widely use it for a vast range of productions, including business marketing, music videos, documentaries, and feature films.
Lately, Adobe has been adding many AI-powered features to its software suite, like the recently added transcription-based editing workflow.
Key highlights:
- Faster to make rough cuts by simply copying and pasting text.
- Dedicated workspace for text-based editing workflow.
- Seamless selection of clips via text and adding to the sequence.
- Search and replace text features work well.
G2 rating: 4.5/5 (1463 ratings)
- 7-day free trial available.
- Paid subscription plans start from $20.99/month when billed annually.
- It can be bought as part of the Creative Cloud subscription package.
5. Vimeo
Vimeo is a widely recognized, all-in-one video hosting and sharing platform tailored to businesses. The ad-free platform operates on a subscription-based model, offering a range of plans for businesses and content creators alike.
As a leader in the industry, Vimeo continues to innovate, integrating AI-powered tools into its platform to enhance user experience.
Key highlights:
- Incorporates a Search Transcript feature, enabling users to pinpoint specific words in voiceovers.
- Includes a tool to automatically identify and bulk-remove all filler words or word gaps based on a set length.
- Facilitates quick video clip creation by allowing users to highlight the desired text and keep only that portion while deleting the rest.
- Offers the ability to show or hide all words deleted from the transcript with the Show/Hide deleted words button.
G2 rating: 4.2/5 (393 ratings)
- A 7-day free trial of the Vimeo Starter plan is available.
- Paid subscription starts from $12/user/month when billed annually.
6. Streamlabs Podcast Editor
Streamlabs, known for its suite of tools and software for live streamers and content creators, launched its text-based Podcast Editor in June 2023. Formerly TypeStudio, this tool is designed to simplify the process of editing video and audio podcast episodes, enabling creators to engage, monetize, and grow their channels more effectively.
Key highlights:
- Specialized in podcast editing, allowing creators to fine-tune their content efficiently.
- Offers features to convert long-form podcasts into bite-sized clips for promotional use across various social media platforms.
- Includes capabilities for repurposing content, enabling creators to maximize their output from a single piece of content.
G2 rating: 4.1/5 (54 ratings)
- 60 mins of free media upload as part of the free plan.
- Additional features are available as part of the upgrade to the Streamlabs Ultra subscription package starting from $19/month.
7. Riverside
Founded by two brothers in 2020 and now headquartered in Tel Aviv, Riverside aims to revolutionize how remote podcasts and video interviews are recorded. The platform strives to deliver the look and feel of a high-end studio recording, regardless of location. In March 2023, Riverside broadened its capabilities, introducing text-based editing to its suite of tools.
Key highlights:
- Features an AI system that automatically transcribes audio and video recordings immediately after the session, offering fast, reliable transcriptions in over 100 languages.
- Includes transcript timeline navigation, speeding up post-production by allowing users to jump to any section of the timeline by clicking on a word or phrase in the transcript.
- Offers automated multi-track sync, ensuring all audio and video remain in sync, regardless of edits made to individual tracks.
- Provides speaker detection, with separate tracks for each participant for quick skim search results, enabling faster identification of shareable moments.
G2 rating: 4.8/5 (371 ratings)
- Freemium plan is available.
- Paid plans start from $15/month when billed annually.
8. Gling AI
Designed with YouTubers in mind, Gling AI is a video editing tool powered by advanced artificial intelligence. The software automates the process of cutting out silences and bad takes, streamlining the editing workflow and letting content creators focus more on the creative aspects of their work.
Key highlights:
- Gling AI automatically transcribes selected video files, intelligently recognizing and eliminating silences and disfluencies in just a few minutes.
- Supports various languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Italian, Dutch, and Hebrew, offering a broad spectrum of multilingual editing capabilities.
- Allows easy export to popular editors such as Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Premiere. Also provides direct export to MP4 or MP3 media files and SRT caption files.
G2 rating: Not available
- Free trial: Each new user in Gling is entitled to upload and export one video for free. Try now
- Paid subscription plan starts from $15/user/month.
- Special benefits for YouTube creators. Learn more.
9. Reduct
Reduct is a versatile video transcription and editing platform that serves hundreds of businesses, including major players like Spotify, Facebook, Autodesk, and Superhuman. Its all-in-one platform transforms raw video recordings into concise and compelling narratives, simplifying the editing process while maintaining high-quality output.
Key highlights:
- Supports transcription in over 30 different languages, accommodating a broad range of international users.
- Features integrations with popular platforms such as Zoom, Youtube, Vimeo, and Google Drive, facilitating direct imports of cloud recordings or other video content.
- Provides Live Capture capability, allowing Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams calls to be directly brought into Reduct.
- Includes a tagging system for easy categorization of highlights and retrieval of key themes across recordings.
G2 rating: Not available
- 14-day trial available without all advanced features.
- Paid subscription starts from $25/editor/month.
10. Wisecut
Wisecut, an online automatic video editing software, leverages AI and voice recognition to simplify and enhance the editing process. Aimed at streamlining video content production, Wisecut automates various editing tasks such as creating jump cuts, generating subtitles, and more, enabling you to craft engaging videos in mere minutes.
Key highlights:
- With the help of AI and Facial Recognition, Wisecut intelligently performs “punch in” and “punch out” actions, ensuring smooth and organic flow in single-camera setups.
- Wisecut, too can automatically generate a transcribed storyboard based on your speech, allowing you to edit the video by conveniently rearranging the text and scenes.
G2 rating: 4.7/5 (39 ratings)
- Freemium plan available. Try now
- Paid subscription plans start from $10/month when billed annually.
Conclusion: Text-based video editing is a game-changer for creators
Text-based video editing has swiftly evolved from a novel concept to an industry-altering force.
The likes of Adobe Premiere Pro embracing this feature proves this point.
By leveraging the power of AI and transcription technology, it has made the video editing process remarkably intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly.
Its benefits are hard to ignore, particularly for dialogue-heavy video formats like podcasts, interviews, live streams, talking head videos, presentations, or vlogs.
With most of these tools offering free trials or freemium plans, there’s no reason not to try this groundbreaking workflow for yourself.
Choose one or more from our curated list of text-based video editing tools, apply them to your next video project, and witness firsthand how manipulating a video through transcription can feel much more natural.