Editly is a tool and framework for declarative NLE (non-linear video editing) using Node.js and ffmpeg. Editly allows you to easily and programmatically create a video from a set of clips, images, audio and titles, with smooth transitions and music overlaid.

Editly has a simple CLI for quickly assembling a video from a set of clips or images, or you can use its more flexible JavaScript API.

Inspired by ffmpeg-concat, editly is much faster and doesn't require much storage because it uses streaming editing. Editly aims to be very extensible and feature rich with a pluggable interface for adding new dynamic content.

This GIF / YouTube was created with this command: "editly commonFeatures.json5". See more examples here.

Features

Edit videos with code! 🤓
Declarative API with fun defaults
Create colorful videos with random colors generated from aesthetically pleasing palettes and random effects
Supports any input size, e.g. 4K video and DSLR photos
Can output to any dimensions and aspect ratio, e.g. Instagram post (1:1), Instagram story (9:16), YouTube (16:9), or any other dimensions you like.
Content is scaled and letterboxed automatically, even if the input aspect ratio is not the same and the framerate will be converted.
Speed up / slow down videos automatically to match the cutFrom/cutTo segment length with each clip's duration
Overlay text and subtitles on videos, images or backgrounds
Accepts custom HTML5 Canvas / Fabric.js JavaScript code for custom screens or dynamic overlays
Render custom GL shaders (for example from shadertoy)
Can output GIF
Overlay transparent images or even videos with alpha channel
Show different sub-clips for parts of a clips duration (B-roll)
Picture-in-picture
Vignette
Preserve/mix multiple audio sources
Automatic audio crossfading
Automatic audio ducking and normalization

Use cases

Create a slideshow from a set of pictures with text overlay
Create a fast-paced trailer or promo video
Create a tutorial video with help text
Create news stories
Create an animated GIF
Resize video to any size or framerate and with automatic letterboxing/cropping (e.g. if you need to upload a video somewhere but the site complains Video must be 1337x1000 30fps)
Create a podcast with multiple mixed tracks

See examples

Requirements

Windows, MacOS or Linux
Node.js installed (Use of the latest LTS version is recommended, v12.16.2 or newer on MacOS.)
ffmpeg (and ffprobe) installed and available in PATH
(Linux) may require some extra steps. See headless-gl.

Installing

npm i -g editly

Usage: Command line video editor

Run editly --help for usage

Create a simple randomized video edit from videos, images and text with an audio track:

editly \
  title:'My video' \
  clip1.mov \
  clip2.mov \
  title:'My slideshow' \
  img1.jpg \
  img2.jpg \
  title:'THE END' \
  --fast \
  --audio-file-path /path/to/music.mp3

Or create an MP4 (or GIF) from a JSON or JSON5 edit spec (JSON5 is just a more user friendly JSON format):

editly my-spec.json5 --fast --keep-source-audio --out output.gif

For examples of how to make a JSON edit spec, see below or examples.

Without --fast, it will default to using the width, height and frame rate from the first input video. All other clips will be converted to these dimensions. You can of course override any or all of these parameters.

TIP: Use this tool in conjunction with LosslessCut
TIP: If you need catchy music for your video, have a look at this YouTube or the YouTube audio library. Then use youtube-dl to download the video, and then point --audio-file-path at the video file. Be sure to respect their license!

JavaScript library

const editly = require('editly');

// See editSpec documentation
await editly(editSpec)
  .catch(console.error);

Edit spec

Edit specs are JavaScript / JSON objects describing the whole edit operation with the following structure:

{
  outPath,
  width,
  height,
  fps,
  allowRemoteRequests: false,
  defaults: {
    duration: 4,
    transition: {
      duration: 0.5,
      name: 'random',
      audioOutCurve: 'tri',
      audioInCurve: 'tri',
    },
    layer: {
      fontPath,
      // ...more layer defaults
    },
    layerType: {
      'fill-color': {
        color: '#ff6666',
      }
      // ...more per-layer-type defaults
    },
  },
  clips: [
    {
      transition,
      duration,
      layers: [
        {
          type,
          // ...more layer-specific options
        }
        // ...more layers
      ],
    }
    // ...more clips
  ],
  audioFilePath,
  loopAudio: false,
  keepSourceAudio: false,
  clipsAudioVolume: 1,
  outputVolume: 1,
  audio: [
    {
      path,
      mixVolume: 1,
      cutFrom: 0,
      cutTo,
      start: 0,
    },
    // ...more audio tracks
  ],
  audioNorm: {
    enable: false,
    gaussSize: 5,
    maxGain: 30,
  }

  // Testing options:
  enableFfmpegLog: false,
  verbose: false,
  fast: false,
}

Parameters

Parameter	CLI equivalent	Description	Default
`outPath`	`--out`	Output path (mp4, mkv), can also be a `.gif`
`width`	`--width`	Width which all media will be converted to	`640`
`height`	`--height`	Height which all media will be converted to	auto based on `width` and aspect ratio of first video
`fps`	`--fps`	FPS which all videos will be converted to	First video FPS or `25`
`customOutputArgs`		Specify custom output codec/format arguments for ffmpeg (See example)	auto (h264)
`allowRemoteRequests`	`--allow-remote-requests`	Allow remote URLs as paths	`false`
`fast`	`--fast`, `-f`	Fast mode (low resolution and FPS, useful for getting a quick preview ⏩)	`false`
`defaults.layer.fontPath`	`--font-path`	Set default font to a .ttf	System font
`defaults.layer.*`		Set any layer parameter that all layers will inherit
`defaults.duration`	`--clip-duration`	Set default clip duration for clips that don't have an own duration	`4`	sec
`defaults.transition`		An object `{ name, duration }` describing the default transition. Set to null to disable transitions
`defaults.transition.duration`	`--transition-duration`	Default transition duration	`0.5`	sec
`defaults.transition.name`	`--transition-name`	Default transition type. See Transition types	`random`
`defaults.transition.audioOutCurve`		Default fade out curve in audio cross fades	`tri`
`defaults.transition.audioInCurve`		Default fade in curve in audio cross fades	`tri`
`clips[]`		List of clip objects that will be played in sequence. Each clip can have one or more layers.
`clips[].duration`		Clip duration. See `defaults.duration`. If unset, the clip duration will be that of the first video layer.	`defaults.duration`
`clips[].transition`		Specify transition at the end of this clip. See `defaults.transition`	`defaults.transition`
`clips[].layers[]`		List of layers within the current clip that will be overlaid in their natural order (final layer on top)
`clips[].layers[].type`		Layer type, see below
`clips[].layers[].start`		What time into the clip should this layer start		sec
`clips[].layers[].stop`		What time into the clip should this layer stop		sec
`audioTracks[]`		List of arbitrary audio tracks. See audio tracks.	`[]`
`audioFilePath`	`--audio-file-path`	Set an audio track for the whole video. See also audio tracks
`loopAudio`	`--loop-audio`	Loop the audio track if it is shorter than video?	`false`
`keepSourceAudio`	`--keep-source-audio`	Keep source audio from `clips`?	`false`
`clipsAudioVolume`		Volume of audio from `clips` relative to `audioTracks`. See audio tracks.	`1`
`outputVolume`	`--output-volume`	Adjust output volume (final stage). See example	`1`	e.g. `0.5` or `10dB`
`audioNorm.enable`		Enable audio normalization? See audio normalization.	`false`
`audioNorm.gaussSize`		Audio normalization gauss size. See audio normalization.	`5`
`audioNorm.maxGain`		Audio normalization max gain. See audio normalization.	`30`

Transition types

transition.name can be any of gl-transitions, or any of the following: directional-left, directional-right, directional-up, directional-down, random or dummy.

Layer types

See examples and commonFeatures.json5

Layer type 'video'

For video layers, if parent clip.duration is specified, the video will be slowed/sped-up to match clip.duration. If cutFrom/cutTo is set, the resulting segment (cutTo-cutFrom) will be slowed/sped-up to fit clip.duration. If the layer has audio, it will be kept (and mixed with other audio layers if present.)

Parameter	Description	Default
`path`	Path to video file
`resizeMode`	See Resize modes
`cutFrom`	Time value to cut from	`0`	sec
`cutTo`	Time value to cut to	end of video	sec
`width`	Width relative to screen width	`1`	`0` to `1`
`height`	Height relative to screen height	`1`	`0` to `1`
`left`	X-position relative to screen width	`0`	`0` to `1`
`top`	Y-position relative to screen height	`0`	`0` to `1`
`originX`	X anchor	`left`	`left` or `right`
`originY`	Y anchor	`top`	`top` or `bottom`
`mixVolume`	Relative volume when mixing this video's audio track with others	`1`

Layer type 'audio'

Audio layers will be mixed together. If cutFrom/cutTo is set, the resulting segment (cutTo-cutFrom) will be slowed/sped-up to fit clip.duration. The slow down/speed-up operation is limited to values between 0.5x and 100x.

Parameter	Description	Default
`path`	Path to audio file
`cutFrom`	Time value to cut from	`0`	sec
`cutTo`	Time value to cut to	`clip.duration`	sec
`mixVolume`	Relative volume when mixing this audio track with others	`1`

Layer type 'detached-audio'

This is a special case of audioTracks that makes it easier to start the audio relative to clips start times without having to calculate global start times.

detached-audio has the exact same properties as audioTracks, except start time is relative to the clip's start.

Example of detached audio tracks

Layer type 'image'

Full screen image

Parameter	Description	Default
`path`	Path to image file
`resizeMode`	See Resize modes

Layer type 'image-overlay'

Image overlay with a custom position and size on the screen. NOTE: If you want to use animated GIFs use video instead.

Parameter	Description	Default
`path`	Path to image file
`position`	See Position parameter
`width`	Width (from 0 to 1) where 1 is screen width
`height`	Height (from 0 to 1) where 1 is screen height

Layer type 'title'

fontPath - See defaults.layer.fontPath
text - Title text to show, keep it short
textColor - default #ffffff
position - See Position parameter

Layer type 'subtitle'

fontPath - See defaults.layer.fontPath
text - Subtitle text to show
textColor - default #ffffff

Layer type 'title-background'

Title with background

text - See type title
textColor - See type title
background - { type, ... } - See type radial-gradient, linear-gradient or fill-color
fontPath - See type title

Layer type 'news-title'

fontPath - See defaults.layer.fontPath
text
textColor - default #ffffff
backgroundColor - default #d02a42
position - See Position parameter

Layer type 'slide-in-text'

fontPath - See defaults.layer.fontPath
text
fontSize
charSpacing
color
position - See Position parameter

Layer type 'fill-color', 'pause'

color - Color to fill background, default: randomize

Layer type 'radial-gradient'

colors - Array of two colors, default: randomize

Layer type 'linear-gradient'

colors - Array of two colors, default: randomize

Layer type 'rainbow-colors'

🌈🌈🌈

Layer type 'canvas'

See customCanvas.js

func - Custom JavaScript function

Layer type 'fabric'

See customFabric.js

func - Custom JavaScript function

Layer type 'gl'

Loads a GLSL shader. See gl.json5 and rainbow-colors.frag

fragmentPath
vertexPath (optional)

Arbitrary audio tracks

audioTracks property can optionally contain a list of objects which specify audio tracks that can be started at arbitrary times in the final video. These tracks will be mixed together (mixVolume specifying a relative number for how loud each track is compared to the other tracks). Because audio from clips will be mixed separately from audioTracks, clipsAudioVolume specifies the volume of the combined audio from clips relative to the volume of each of the audio tracks from audioTracks.

Parameter	Description	Default
`audioTracks[].path`	File path for this track
`audioTracks[].mixVolume`	Relative volume for this track	`1`
`audioTracks[].cutFrom`	Time value to cut source file from	`0`	sec
`audioTracks[].cutTo`	Time value to cut source file to		sec
`audioTracks[].start`	How many seconds into video to start this audio track	`0`	sec

The difference between audioTracks and Layer type 'audio' is that audioTracks will continue to play across multiple clips and can start and stop whenever needed.

See audioTracks example

See also Layer type 'detached-audio'.

Audio normalization

You can enable audio normalization of the final output audio. This is useful if you want to achieve Audio Ducking (e.g. automatically lower volume of all other tracks when voice-over speaks).

audioNorm parameters are documented here.

Example of audio ducking

Resize modes

resizeMode - How to fit image to screen. Can be one of:

contain - All the video will be contained within the frame and letterboxed
contain-blur - Like contain, but with a blurred copy as the letterbox
cover - Video be cropped to cover the whole screen (aspect ratio preserved)
stretch - Video will be stretched to cover the whole screen (aspect ratio ignored).

Default contain-blur.

See:

image.json5
videos.json5

Position parameter

Certain layers support the position parameter

position can be one of either:

top, bottom center, top-left, top-right, center-left, center-right, bottom-left, bottom-right
An object { x, y, originX = 'left', originY = 'top' }, where { x: 0, y: 0 } is the upper left corner of the screen, and { x: 1, y: 1 } is the lower right corner, x is relative to video width, y to video height. originX and originY are optional, and specify the position's origin (anchor position) of the object.

See position.json5

Ken Burns parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
`zoomDirection`	Zoom direction for Ken Burns effect: `in`, `out` or `null` to disable
`zoomAmount`	Zoom amount for Ken Burns effect	`0.1`

Docker

This should help you use editly as a containerized CLI, without worrying about getting all the right versions of dependencies on your system.

docker-compose up
docker-compose run editly bash -c "cd examples && editly audio1.json5 --out /outputs/audio1.mp4"
docker cp editly:/outputs/audio1.mp4

Troubleshooting

If you get Error: The specified module could not be found., try: npm un -g editly && npm i -g --build-from-source editly (see #15)
If you get an error about gl returning null, see Requirements.
If you get an error /bin/sh: pkg-config: command not found, try to use newest Node.js LTS version

Donate 🙏

This project is maintained by me alone. The project will always remain free and open source, but if it's useful for you, consider supporting me. :) It will give me extra motivation to improve it.

Paypal

Videos made by you

Submit a PR if you want to share your videos or project created with editly here.

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