Best AI video editors for recorded footage

The best AI video editor for footage you recorded yourself is ClipsPal if you film talking-head video on a Mac: one click cuts failed takes, silences and filler, and the footage never leaves the Mac. ClipsPal is our product. Four other editors follow, described from their own pages in October 2026.

Best AI video editors compared

Every tool here edits video you already shot. They differ in what they cut on their own, how you review the cut and where the video goes.

How we picked

• Only editors that work on recorded footage. Tools that only generate video from a prompt are left out.
• Five things are compared: automatic cleanup, transcript editing, review controls, enrichment such as captions and zoom, and exports.
• Every fact about another product comes from its own page, linked in its section. Where a page does not state something, the table says so.
• ClipsPal is first because this site makes it and because raw talking-head takes on a Mac are the job it was built for. For Windows, shows and clipping, another pick is first, and each section says which.

1. ClipsPal

Best for: creators who record several takes of a talking-head video on a Mac and want the first cut made for them.

1. Drop the recorded clips into ClipsPal. It transcribes them on the Mac.
2. One click cuts failed takes, silences and filler and adds zoom-ins, subtitles, visuals and sound effects.
3. The result opens in a multi-track timeline. Change it by hand or type a request to Director.
4. Turn the finished video into shorts and an article.

• Cleanup: failed takes, silences and filler, in one click.
• Enrichment: zoom-ins, subtitles, visuals and sound effects in the same pass.
• Review: every cut can be changed in the timeline, by hand or through Director.
• Processing: the footage never leaves the Mac. Only the transcript goes to the AI account you already have (Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode) or to a free local model.
• Left for you: watch the cut and change what you disagree with.

It is a one-time lifetime purchase with a free download. See it edit a recording on the ClipsPal homepage, or read how it works as a video editor for Mac and a YouTube video editor.

ClipsPal needs macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon and has no browser editor. To trim dead air from one file in the browser, use the free silence remover.

2. Descript

Best for: creators who want to edit by deleting text, on Mac or Windows.

Descript edits video by editing a doc, with Underlord as its AI co-editor. Its pricing page lists Remove Retakes, Remove Filler Words, Shorten Word Gaps, Edit for Clarity, Studio Sound and dynamic captions. Plans meter media hours and AI credits per month. The desktop app needs macOS 14 or Windows 11 and newer.

3. Gling

Best for: YouTube creators who want an automatic rough cut and finish it elsewhere.

Per its homepage, Gling is built for desktop. It transcribes a raw recording, removes bad takes, silences and filler words, and adds AI captions, automatic zoom and noise removal. You refine by text or on the timeline, then export MP4, MP3 and SRT captions, or send the cut to Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere. It also writes YouTube titles and chapters.

4. Riverside

Best for: podcasts and interview shows that record and edit in one place.

Riverside is a recording studio with an editor. According to its pricing page, Pro records up to 4K and adds text-based editing, an AI editing and repurposing agent, AI B-roll, removal of silences and filler words, and Magic Clips. It publishes to YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram and LinkedIn. The free plan exports up to 720p with a watermark.

5. OpusClip

Best for: turning a finished long video into shorts.

OpusClip takes a video link or an uploaded file, returns short clips and publishes them to social platforms. Its homepage lists AI clipping, captioning, reframe, B-roll, audio enhance and voice-over, plus an AI editor for manual control. It does not mention cutting failed takes, so edit a raw recording first.

Which AI video editor to pick

Pick ClipsPal when the job is raw takes of yourself talking, recorded on a Mac, with footage that stays on your computer. Pick Descript on Windows or for text editing, Gling to finish in Final Cut Pro, Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, Riverside to record a show, and OpusClip when the long video is already done.