Getting Your Footage In
Before you can edit, you need your clips, photos, and music inside CapCut. This is called importing.
Importing media
- Click Create project.
- Click Import (or drag files straight onto the Media panel).
- Choose your video clips, photos, or audio from your computer.
- The files appear as thumbnails in the Media panel.
What CapCut can open
CapCut accepts all the common formats: video (MP4, MOV, and more), images (JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF), and audio (MP3, WAV, M4A). Phone footage and screen recordings work fine.
Adding clips to the timeline
- Drag and drop a clip down onto the timeline.
- Click a clip and press the + button, or right-click and choose Add to timeline.
Clips snap together end to end in the order you add them. Drag them left or right on the timeline to reorder.
Organizing a bigger project
For a longer video, import everything first, then pull clips onto the timeline one at a time in story order. You can also use CapCut’s built-in stock library — the Stock tab in the media panel has free video, images, and music you can use without filming anything.
Try it yourself
Import three clips (or three photos) into a new project, drag all three onto the timeline, and reorder them by dragging.
Course on media.sacaa.org — free for any visitor, no login required. Work through lessons in order.