Create and edit videos

Create social media videos with Canva’s updated video editor. The media-first timeline gives you control to arrange clips, add transitions, and sync audio.

Canva Video has transformed from a page-based tool to a full video editor that gives you more flexibility and control at your fingertips:

• Multi-track timeline: Layer videos, audio, and graphics on separate tracks
• Direct clip editing: Trim, split, and arrange clips from the timeline
• Visual audio waveforms: See sound patterns to help sync audio and video
• Professional trimming: Zoom into the timeline for accurate trimming

The new timeline gives you more room for creativity, so you can tell stories your way.

The timeline is your video editing workspace at the bottom of the editor. It shows your clips, audio, and elements laid out over time. It’s a visual map of your video, showing what plays when and how everything is layered.

• Playhead: A vertical line that shows your current position. Drag it to move through your video.
• Time ruler: Displays time in seconds and minutes along the top of the timeline.
• Track area: The space where you place and arrange video clips, audio, and elements.
• Play controls: Lets you play, pause, and preview your video during editing.
• Plus button: Where you can add videos, photos, and backgrounds
• Add Audio button: Use this to browse and add music or sound effects.

Tracks help organise your video so each part plays at the right time and in the right order.

• Main track: This is the thick track in the timeline with the plus button beside it. Use this for your main videos, photos or background clips. Clips in this track play one after another with no gaps.
• Upper track: Use this for text, graphics, or other visuals that appear on top of your video. You can also drag anything from the main track into upper tracks to layer your media on the timeline (overlays). Clips here can overlap and play at the same time.
• Audio tracks: This is a separate section for music, sound effects, and voiceovers.

1. From the homepage, select Video. If you don’t see it, select
   Create, then choose Videos.
2. Search or select a video design type.

The editor opens with the timeline visible at the bottom.

Start quickly with ready-made video templates.

1. From the homepage, select
   Templates.
2. Search for a video template (e.g., "Instagram Reels video").
3. Select a template to preview.
4. Select Customise this template. The template opens with all clips visible in the timeline.
5. Replace content while keeping professional timing:
   • Replace clips in the timeline with your media
   • Edit text directly on the canvas
   • Adjust colours and fonts to match your brand

The template's transitions and timing are preserved unless you change them. Learn more about adding and replacing videos on designs.

1. Select
   Add Audio button in the timeline.
2. Choose from:
   • Canva's music library
   • Sound effects
   • Your uploaded audio files
   • Generate AI voice
3. Audio appears in its own track section
4. Add multiple audio tracks for music and sound effects.

You can edit videos, images, text, audio, and graphics directly in the timeline.

You can control when an element appears and how long it stays on screen in your design.

Element timing controls when an item appears in your video timeline. Animation speed and duration (intro/outro) are adjusted in the Animate panel. For select animations, you can choose a speed preset (Slow, Medium, Fast) or set precise intro/outro durations.

1. Select the element in the timeline.
2. To trim the element:
   • Drag the left handle to change when the element starts.
   • Drag the right handle to change when it ends.
3. To adjust the timing of when the element appears, drag the entire element left or right along the timeline.

You’re editing in Page Mode, where element timing controls aren’t available.

Element timing is different from animation duration. To adjust how fast or how long an animation plays (intro/outro), use Animate. Some animation duration controls may not be available for all animations.

1. On the page thumbnail, select the
   pencil icon to switch to Video Timeline.
2. Once the timeline is visible, select the element you want to adjust:
   • To change when the element starts, drag the left handle of the element on the timeline.
   • To change when the element ends, drag the right handle of the element on the timeline.
   • To change when the element appears without changing its length, drag the entire element left or right along the timeline.

Cut a timeline element into separate parts.

You’ll now have two separate segments. Delete any section or edit them individually.

Make your videos flow smoothly by adding transitions between media in your main track.

• Move: Drag an element left or right to change when it appears
• Layer: Drag an element up or down to place it on a different track
• Duplicate: Select the element or multiple elements, then select
  (More) and choose Duplicate, or on desktop, press Ctrl (Windows) or command (Mac) + D.
• Delete: Select the element, then select
  (More) and choose Delete, or for desktop, press the Delete key.

Use these articles to keep editing and fine-tuning your video:

• Adding animations
• Adding audio tracks
• Autoplay, loop, or adjust the speed of a video
• Enabling captions on videos and audio

• Play or pause: Press the spacebar or select the play button
• Scrub: Drag the playhead to preview any moment
• Jump: Select anywhere on the time ruler to move the playhead
• Zoom: Zoom into the timeline for more precise timing control.

1. Select
   Play or press the spacebar.
2. Watch the video in the canvas area.
3. Make edits as needed, then preview again

You can also preview your video in full screen by selecting

Learn more about exporting your video:

• Share on social media and messaging apps
• Downloading or saving designs to your device

If you prefer the previous video editing experience, you can switch back anytime.

1. When you create a new video design in the new video editor (beta) for the first time, you’ll see a message that says “You’re in the new video editor (beta). Switch back anytime in Your profile.”
2. Select the link to Your profile or go directly to the Your profile tab in Settings.
3. Under Video editing, toggle the switch off next to the Use new multi-track video editor (beta).

Updated settings will apply to your new video designs.

The trim tool has been removed from video designs. Trimming is now built into the timeline. Trimming in non-video designs still works the same way as before. Learn more about trimming videos.

Auto-trim is temporarily unavailable in video designs while we update it for the new timeline. You can still trim manually by dragging clip edges. We're working to bring auto-trim back.

Yes! You can resize your video to other video formats. Learn how to resize designs.

You can also resize single pages within static designs to video formats.

Resizing videos to static design types, or resizing static design types with multiple pages to a video is not currently supported.

To resize videos to static design types:

1. Download the video design
2. Create a new design in your preferred design type
3. Upload the video

Magic Resize will return in full to video designs soon.

Duration mode has been removed in the updated timeline.

In video designs, you can change timing by dragging the edges of any element in the timeline.

In designs that do not have the timeline, you can still edit the timing of elements using element timing. Learn more about editing element timing in your designs.

Older video designs created before October 2025 still use the page-based structure. These aren't automatically converted to the new timeline to preserve your work.

All new video designs use the updated timeline with multi-track editing.

The (+) button now adds media directly to the timeline instead of creating new pages.

The new timeline is now the standard for all new video projects. The timeline gives you more control and matches standard video editing workflows.

Existing designs keep their original structure and can be duplicated and edited if you wish to continue using the old timeline.

To attach or detach a video as a background, drag your video clip between tracks in the timeline.

• Attach as background: Drag the video to the main track, or you can select the video, then select
  (More) and choose Set video as background
• Detach from background: Drag the video to the upper track, then resize or position it as needed. You can also select the video, then select
  (More) and choose Detach video from background