Descript Video Editing: How Does It Work

Descript changed the game when it comes to video editing by making it possible to edit videos through text. 

Instead of the usual method of scrubbing through timelines to find and cut scenes, Descript uses transcripts of your videos, letting you edit your footage much like you would a document. 

Descript text-based video editing

Descript’s text-based video editing simplifies the editing process and makes video editing accessible to a wider audience, including those who might not be familiar with run-of-the-mill editing tools. Here’s how it works.

Creating a transcript

Descript starts by auto-generating a transcript from your video or audio file. This transcript is a word-for-word text version of your video content created using advanced speech recognition technology.

Jump right to the point

Once the transcript is ready, you can click on any word in the transcript to jump to that exact point in the video. This makes finding specific segments much easier compared to scrubbing through a timeline. 

If you remember a keyphrase or specific word, you can locate it right away without playing back large portions of the video.

Edit your video through text

By double-clicking on a word, a range of editing options becomes available. You can delete that word from the video or delete everything else and keep only that segment. 

This text-based editing can be applied to single words, phrases, or even entire passages. It’s as simple as highlighting text in a document and deciding whether to cut, copy, or delete.

Cleaning up fillers and mistakes

A common issue in spoken content is those pesky filler words like “um” and “uh.” Descript automatically spots these words and underlines them for you. With just a click, you can get rid of all these fillers, tidying up your audio and giving it a more polished sound.

Mixing text and timeline edits

Descript lets you easily switch between text-based editing and traditional timeline editing. This flexibility is particularly helpful for more complex edits where you need exact control over both the visuals and the audio.

Keep your transcript in view

The transcript view stays open while you move through different clips. This constant view helps you work more efficiently across parts of your video, making it easier to edit and polish your content without having to switch back and forth between different modes or views.

Descript AI-Powered Text-to-Speech

Descript's text-to-speech feature, powered by AI, lets you turn text into realistic, high-quality audio. This makes editing and production a lot simpler. The AI voices are quite natural, capturing things like pauses and inflections effectively.

You have the option to create your own AI voice clones or use Descript’s pre-made voices. This is great for easily creating voiceovers, filling in gaps, or producing complete narrations without needing to record anything live.

Tella’s take on text-based video editing

Besides Descript, Tella also has a solid text-based video editing feature. It works similarly, offering an intuitive and efficient way to edit videos through text. Here's an overview of how Tella’s text-based editing works: