# Video editing for beginners: timeline basics in plain words [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/timeline-video-editing) Every video editor, from phone apps to professional suites, is built on the same idea: a timeline. Learn its handful of parts and the order to work in, and any editor will make sense. ## The short version - Video editing for beginners starts with the timeline, where clips sit on tracks from left to right in the order they play. - Trimming shortens a clip from either end, and splitting cuts it in two at the playhead so you can remove the middle. - Edit in a fixed order: rough cut first, then tighten, then sound, then captions and titles, then export. - Keep music well below the voice so speech stays clear, and fade music in and out rather than cutting it. - Export social video as MP4 at the platform's size, such as 1080×1920 for vertical video. **Video editing for beginners** is mostly learning one screen: the timeline. Your clips sit on it from left to right in the order they play, stacked on tracks like layers, with a vertical line called the playhead marking the moment you're looking at. Editing means trimming the ends of clips, splitting them to remove the bits you don't want, putting them in order, levelling the sound and adding captions. Every editor uses the same ideas, so once they click, any app will feel familiar. ## The parts of a video timeline Here is the whole vocabulary you need. Different apps use slightly different names, but the parts are always there. | Term | What it means | | --- | --- | | Clip | One piece of footage, audio or text placed on the timeline | | Track | A row of the timeline. Higher video tracks cover lower ones; audio tracks all play together | | Playhead | The vertical line showing the current moment; the preview shows that frame | | Trim | Shorten a clip by dragging its start or end edge inward | | Split | Cut one clip into two at the playhead | | Fade | A gradual rise or fall in volume or visibility at a clip's edge | | Scene | A section of the video that holds its own clips and layout | | Captions | Timed text of what is said, shown on screen in sync | Eight words cover almost every beginner edit. ```text time 0s 5s 10s 15s 20s | | | ▼ | | TEXT [ Title ] CAPS [ Hi, I'm Sam ][ Today: sourdough ][ Step one ] VIDEO [ intro clip ][ kitchen wide | close up ] AUDIO [ voice .......................................] MUSIC [ music, quiet, fading in ............ fading ] ▲ playhead ``` A simple timeline, top to bottom: titles, captions, video, voice and music. The playhead marks the frame shown in the preview. ## How to edit a video, in order Beginners often polish the first five seconds for an hour and never finish. Work in passes instead, from rough to fine. Each pass only does one thing. 1. **Gather and watch everything** Import all your clips and watch them once. Note the good takes. Don't edit yet. 2. **Rough cut** Drag the good takes onto the timeline in order. Too long and messy is fine at this stage. 3. **Tighten** Trim the start and end of every clip. Split out pauses, false starts and repeated sentences. Most videos get much shorter here. 4. **Sound** Level the voice so it's steady, add music under it, and fade music in and out. 5. **Captions and titles** Add captions, a title at the start and any on screen labels. Check spelling of names and numbers. 6. **Watch it through, then export** Watch once without stopping, on a phone if that's where it will be seen. Fix what jars, then export. ## How to trim and split a video Trimming and splitting are most of editing. To **trim**, select a clip and drag its left edge right to start it later, or its right edge left to end it sooner. Nothing is deleted from your original file; the editor simply plays less of it, so you can drag the edge back if you cut too much. To remove something in the middle of a clip, **split** it. Move the playhead to the start of the bad bit and split, move to the end and split again, then delete the small piece between. Close the gap so the two good halves meet. A cut that jumps on the same shot is called a jump cut; on social video it is normal, and it keeps pace up. > **Cut on the breath** Split just before someone starts a sentence, not mid word. Leave a few frames of silence on each side so speech doesn't sound clipped. ## Audio basics for beginners Viewers put up with a soft picture far longer than with bad sound. Three adjustments solve most problems. - **Voice first.** Set the speech so it's comfortably loud and even across clips; raise quiet takes and lower loud ones. - **Music well under.** Background music should sit clearly below the voice. If you have to strain to hear words, lower it further. - **Fade, never chop.** Fade music in over a second at the start and out over two or three at the end. A sudden stop sounds like a mistake. - **Mute what you don't need.** Turn off the sound of cutaway clips that only add noise. Only use music you have the rights to: tracks you have licensed, or the libraries the platform or your editor provides for that purpose. ## Add captions to a video Captions make a video work with the sound off and for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. You can type them on the timeline, one short line per caption, or import a caption file. The two common formats are **SRT** and **WebVTT** (`.vtt`): plain text files with a start time, an end time and the words for each line. YouTube accepts both, so keeping a caption file saves retyping. ### Hard to read - Three or four lines at once - Thin type, small size - Placed over faces or the platform's buttons - Auto captions left with wrong names ### Easy to read - One or two short lines - Sturdy type, big enough on a phone - Lower middle, clear of faces and buttons - Every name and number checked [Video captions](https://gradiently.design/guide/video-captions-design) goes deeper on styling, and [talking head videos](https://gradiently.design/guide/talking-head-video) shows where captions sit in a vertical frame. ## Export settings that just work | Where it goes | Size | Format | | --- | --- | --- | | Reels, TikTok, Shorts, Stories | 1080×1920 | MP4 | | Instagram and Facebook feed | 1080×1350 | MP4 | | YouTube, website | 1920×1080 | MP4, or WebM for the web | Export at the exact size the platform expects, so it doesn't rescale your video. MP4 plays nearly everywhere. Keep the frame rate you filmed at; [frame rate explained](https://gradiently.design/guide/frame-rate-explained) covers why. For formats, see [MP4 vs WebM](https://gradiently.design/guide/mp4-vs-webm), and for every platform frame, [social media video sizes](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-video-sizes). ## Editing on Gradiently's timeline Gradiently's timeline, part of Pro, is built for exactly this kind of short video. Import MP4, WebM, MP3, M4A, WAV or Ogg files, or record your camera, screen or voice, and they land on video, audio and caption tracks. Drag edges to trim, with nearby edges snapping together, split at the playhead, change speed and volume, fade in and out, and loop a clip. Import or type captions, then download them as SRT or VTT. Your clips sit inside a design, so titles, your Mark and every other element stay editable while you cut. ## FAQ ### What is a timeline in video editing? The timeline is the part of an editor where clips are laid out from left to right in the order they play, on stacked tracks for video, audio and text. ### What is the difference between trimming and splitting? Trimming shortens a clip from its start or end. Splitting cuts a clip into two at the playhead, which lets you remove a section from the middle. ### What order should a beginner edit in? Rough cut, then tighten by trimming and splitting, then sound, then captions and titles, then a full watch through before exporting. ### What format should I export my video in? MP4 at the platform's exact size works almost everywhere, such as 1080×1920 for vertical video and 1920×1080 for YouTube. ### What is an SRT file? A plain text caption file listing each caption's start time, end time and words. Most editors and YouTube can import it.