The best AI video editing tools

My eyes have been opened by testing the best AI video editing tools for this feature. AI-powered video editing tools are a really exciting application of AI technology because they offer a way to quickly accomplish otherwise time-consuming tasks. Tasks such as masking and tracking an object across multiple frames or removing a background used to be laborious, but now they can be done with just a few clicks.

Some of these new AI video features still have some teething troubles as a recent hotel AI advert showed, others deliver amazing results and will save you loads of time. This is why I've decided to pick the newest AI tools for video editing and test if they work as good as expected. For more AI apps, read our guide to the best AI art generators. Some aspects of AI technology are controversial, and we’ve summarised the main issues in our report on The AI Summit and the big issues facing AI.

Anyone who edits video will find a massive benefit by incorporating AI-powered tools – it could be something as simple as automatically removing silences or as complex as using green screen features to add special visual effects. The following tools will help you to speed up your workflow in some surprising ways. I've chosen new, specialist AI video editing apps to gauge what new tools are coming along, but of course the big players, such as Adobe Firefly, will be including AI established software like Premier Pro.

I test the best AI video editing tools

Below I test and rate some of the best AI tools for video editing. One thing this has taught me is, crucially, the best AI tools shouldn't remove you from the creative process but instead enable you to do more at the same time, or introduce you to new opportunities.

01. Filmora Wondershare

Filmora Wondershare is fast-becoming the most recognised AI video editing app for professionals. It features the kind of top line tools you'd expect from a video editing app needed for real world tasks, such as automated colour correction, motion tracking and noise reduction.

This AI video editing app features the kind of tools usually associated with high-end software, whether that's accurate colour correction, creating custom transitions, titles and graphics as well as audio effects – Wondershare has a library of royalty-free music and sound effects to make use of in your videos.

This high-end AI app can be downloaded and used on desktop, tablet and smartphone, and everything is shared to your secure cloud account to continue working anywhere. Some standout tools I found useful are Audio Stretch for extending audio and overall its ease of use.

What is Filmora Wondershare good for?

All your professional video editing needs; Filmora Wondershare can do end-to-end video creation for all uses and has a simple and approachable interface. It's more in-depth than some on this list and is aiming to replace and not compliment your current editing tools.

What are the limitations of Filmora Wondershare?

While it's great to use, you'll ideally need a good desktop computer as it can slow down on older hardware. Despite plenty of features it's not yet a real Premier Pro replacement.

02. Runway

Runway is a fully-featured video editor that gives you access to a number excellent of AI tools. In addition to editing existing video, Runway can also generate footage from scratch based on a text prompt. In my test, the overall quality was high, it fitted the prompt well, and was definitely a usable clip.

The video editing features enable you to do things such as isolate a subject and remove the background, colour grading, adjusting the depth of field, making a slow motion version of your footage, and 'Inpainting', which means you can easily remove unwanted objects.

Many of these effects rely on successfully masking your subject and this feature works well; it’s easy to create a good mask by clicking just a few points. There’s also a Video to Video feature that enables you to create a stylised version of your footage, for example a claymation or pen and ink style. You even use a reference image to replace the face or whole body of your subject, and it will be animated to match their movements.

What is Runway good for?

Runway is an easy to use, powerful AI video editing tool that’s great for things like background removal, cleaning up your videos, and adding some fun effects. You can also use it to generate custom footage based on a text prompt.

What are the limitations of Runway?

Sometimes your edits will look seamless, other times there’s some tell-tale blurring that makes things look AI-generated. In some cases you'll still need to manually tidy the edit or experiment with new versions and outputs.

03. Windsor

AI-powered tools often make it possible to tailor content to your customers, and Windsor is a great example of that. The landing page immediately shows you how powerful it is: just enter your name and Windsor generates a video in which the company founder addresses you and speaks your name. It’s great – the effect is indistinguishable from the real thing.

Using this technology, Windsor helps you to send personalised videos to your customers. There are a number of template videos within the platform for different purposes such as saying thank you for making a purchase, requesting participation in a survey, or querying an abandoned cart.

You can use a template, record your own, or request that one of the Windsor actors make a custom video for you. Windsor integrates with other services such as Zapier and HubSpot as a means of obtaining your recipient list and sending out the videos.

What is Windsor good for?

AI video tool Windsor helps you to send personalised videos to your customers. The quality is great; it feels as though you’re being personally addressed when you watch these videos.

What are the limitations of Windsor?

Windsor does one thing very well – I can’t fault it. How effective this is as a customer engagement tool will depend on how much people like receiving personalisation that feels real, but they know is fake.

04. TimeBolt

TimeBolt is the new AI video editing tool that podcasters and YouTubers will love as it automatically removes pauses to make your output more listenable. TimeBolt can process an hour of footage in well under a minute, delivering a jump cut video with all the silences taken out.

That pausing removing jump cut feature alone makes this TimeBolt a massive, well, timesaver. But this AI video editing tool can do a lot more than just that one thing, for example slow speakers can be sped up to a more engaging pace and the Umcheck feature will remove filler words – this is brilliant.

You can also use it to cut Zoom recordings and TimeBolt has a feature that helps you to speed things up by only previewing what you cut. This way, you can make sure that nothing important is removed, but save time by listening only to the unwanted material, which is shorter than the video you want to keep.

What is TimeBolt good for?

TimeBolt is great for automatically removing silences and filler words from your videos. It’s also great for correcting a slow speaker. Fundamentally TimeBolt enables you to improve your work, rather than creating for you.

What are the limitations of TimeBolt?

TimeBolt can’t make a boring speaker interesting, but it can do everything possible to adjust their speech to a lively pace. Sorry folks, you're still going to need some core video and interviewing skills.

05. Vidyo.ai

Vidyo.ai is the AI video editing tool to make your social media easier. Creating short extracts from your videos and placing them on social media is a great way to draw people in, but it’s time-consuming, which is where Vidyo.ai is here to help.

You simply upload a video or paste in a URL of your work that is already on YouTube, and Vidyo.ai will work out what it thinks are the most interesting bits and create some shorts for you to post and share. You can select different aspect ratios and formats for the output and it will create multiple videos, so you can post to all the platforms you need. Vidyo.ai automatically adds subtitles, which increases engagement as it allows them to be watched without sound.

On top of this, Vidyo.ai also has some powerful video editing capabilities, such as CutMagic Scene Detection that adds a flag every time there’s a cut. It’s really useful for editing with a multicam setup and Vidyo.ai takes a lot of stress out of creating engaging video.

What is Vidyo.ai good for?

Vidyoai is great for creating teaser videos for long format content; just tell it the formats you want and it will resize and add subtitles. The automatic cut detection is also really useful.

What are the limitations of Vidyo.ai?

It’s not always going to select what you think are the best bits, so you may have to employ some workarounds to get the results you want. It can speed things up but you're still the taste-maker, which is important.

06. Reface

Reface uses AI to apply face swaps and stylistic effects to your images and videos. Unlike the other tools on this list it’s more for fun than serious creativity, but you could use it to generate avatars for your social channels.

The face swap feature enables you to put people’s faces onto a character in a video, and can be used to amusing effect. Probably more useful for creative purposes is the Restyle feature that transforms your videos to make them look like stylised animations. There are many different styles, including a stop-motion one that makes your characters look like wool puppets and a low-poly style that looks like a computer game.

If you want to play around with these video effects, Reface has a huge library of styles to experiment with. Restyle is more casual and fun than some of the AI tools for video editing on my list, but it's used on iPhone and Android devices so signals a future where we can edit video on the go with polished, professional results.

What is Reface good for?

Reface is a face swap and restyling tool for creating fun videos. There is a large library of high quality video styles to experiment with.

What are the limitations of Reface?

Reface is one of those AI tools you’ll want to use judiciously, as not everyone is going to be amused to see their face appear in an unexpected context.

What can an AI video editor do?

The most popular AI video editing tools are currently designed to enhance your work by automating many tasks, such as creating subtitles from audio, reducing noise, extending audio and generating text from video or video from text.

Is there an AI that will edit video automatically?

There are, such as Descript that generates a script from your video and then by editing the text you can affect the video. Runway, which I test above, can do something similar to Descript and Wondershare Filmora, also tested above, has some video editing functions. They all have free demos and free editions that are worth trying.

Is Adobe working on a AI video editing tool?

Yes, there are AI tools being developed by Adobe under the Firefly umbrella that also include video capabilities. You can, for example, change the weather in a video using a text prompt. Adobe has also teased AI for Premier Pro that can generate scripts from video and automatically edit video from audio descriptions.