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How to edit TikTok videos, step by step

TikTok's own editor, tap by tap, then the five passes a talking TikTok needs and the order to do them in, shown on one 33-second take with a frame from the export after each pass.

By the UGCLive teamUpdated

Short answer

Edit a TikTok in five passes, in this order: cut the pauses and fluffs, add captions, add B-roll over the lines that describe something, add sound, then pick the cover.

In the TikTok app, tap +, record or upload, tap Edit on the side panel, then drag a clip's ends to trim it or tap Split; Text, Sound and Overlay are along the bottom. Cutting first matters most: our 33.2-second test take came out at 20.8 seconds.

How do you edit a video in the TikTok app?

Open the editor from the camera, then work along the bottom toolbar: TikTok's help center (re-checked October 27, 2026) gives these steps (TikTok).

  1. Tap Add post +

    At the bottom of the TikTok app, then record a video, or tap Upload to pick one from your phone.

  2. Tap Edit on the side panel

    After recording you may need to tap Continue ✓ first; after uploading, tap Next, then Edit.

  3. Trim, split and reorder clips

    Tap a clip or Edit. Drag the arrow on either side to shorten it, place the line and tap Split to cut it in two, hold and drag to reorder, pinch to zoom. Add + brings in more clips.

  4. Change the speed

    Tap Speed, then Normal or Curve. Each clip takes one speed.

  5. Add text

    Tap Text, type, tap ✓, then drag the arrows under the track to set how long it stays on screen.

  6. Add sound or a voiceover

    Sound adds or replaces the track and adds sound effects; Voice on the side panel records a voiceover or applies a voice effect.

  7. Add overlays and transitions

    Overlay layers a photo or video on top (pinch to size it, drag its ends to set the length); the Transition button sits between clips.

TikTok's editor limits

35
photos and videos in one editing session
8
overlays on one post
1
sound per post

TikTok Help: Editing TikTok videos and photos, re-checked October 27, 2026.

The editor also has a Magic tool that applies an editing style, effect templates and AI Create, neither of which is available everywhere. What it doesn't list is a way to find the pauses or fluffed lines for you: every cut is a split you place by eye. That's why the order you work in matters.

What order should you edit a TikTok in?

Cut first, cover last. Every later pass hangs on the timing the cut sets: captions follow the words, B-roll sits over a sentence, music ducks under speech, and the cover is a frame of the finished video. Do them in another order and each cut moves things you already placed.

One take, five passes

  1. 1. CutPauses, ums, the stutter and the retaken line come out: 8 pieces left.33.2 s → 20.8 s
  2. 2. CaptionsTimed to the words that are left, then moved up out of TikTok's bottom bar.18 lines
  3. 3. B-rollOne cutaway over the sentence that describes what it shows.3.3 s
  4. 4. SoundMusic, if any, sits low under the voice.30% under speech
  5. 5. CoverA frame from the hook with its caption, so the grid shows what the video is about.

The finished 20.8 seconds, by beat

  1. 0.055–3.415sHook. "If your desk looks like this every morning, this is for you."
  2. 3.657–7.657sProblem.
  3. 7.907–14.164sProduct. B-roll goes over the second half.
  4. 14.421–17.781sResult.
  5. 18.038–20.598sVerdict.

Sentence times from AI edit's cut of our synthetic test take, October 2026.

How much should you cut from a talking take?

Cut every pause longer than a breath and every false start. We ran a 33.2-second synthetic test take (an AI voice and a made-up product) through the code behind UGCLive's AI edit at its default Cutting setting. The take has the problems real ones have: two long pauses, ums, a stutter and a line said twice.

The take before and after the cut, in seconds

The take before and after the cut, in seconds
Raw take33.2 s
After the cut20.8 s
Removed12.4 s

Our run of AI edit's rules on a synthetic test take, October 2026. The false start was marked by hand, where the app asks an AI model to find it.

AI edit cleans up a talking-head clip: it shortens long pauses, cuts filler sounds like um and uh, removes stutters and keeps only the last good take of a line you repeated. In TikTok's editor the same cut is a split at each end of every pause and fluff, then a delete. If you do it by hand, keep a short beat between sentences; words butted together sound breathless. Once it's cut, every edit point is a jump in the picture, which the next two passes cover. Our silence and pause remover breaks one cut down second by second.

Where should captions go on a TikTok?

Above the bottom third. TikTok's In-Feed safe zone, which our TikTok safe zone checker draws, ends 66% of the way down a 1080×1920 frame; below that sit your handle, the post caption and the sound. We rendered the same caption line twice: once where UGCLive puts captions by default, 74% down, and once moved up to 60%.

The same caption line at two heights

An exported frame under TikTok's interface with the caption 74% down, below the dashed safe zone and close to the handle and post caption
@your_handleCable clips that actually stay put
Default, 74% downOutside the safe zone; the post caption can sit on top of it.
The same frame with the caption moved up to 60% of the height, inside the dashed safe zone
@your_handleCable clips that actually stay put
Moved up, 60% downInside the safe zone, clear of the buttons.

Frames from UGCLive's export renderer, October 2026, under a drawing of TikTok's interface. Synthetic test clip: an AI voice over a title card.

Keep each line to three or four words, timed to the voice, and away from the right edge where the like and share buttons sit. To caption a clip you've already filmed without opening an editor, our free caption generator writes the lines for you to paste. In UGCLive, auto captions time each word to your voice for you.

When should you cut to B-roll?

Over a sentence that describes something the viewer could see: the product, the problem, the result. The B-roll tool watches your product and lifestyle footage, skips the blurry and shaky parts, and lays the best moments over the matching captions, or builds a montage from them. Its placement rules, set out on our AI B-roll page, are a sensible default for any editor:

  • Keep the first 1.5 seconds on your faceThe hook is you talking; a cutaway there hides who's speaking.
  • 1.2 to 4.0 seconds per cutawayLong enough to see, short enough to get back to you.
  • Back on your face for 0.5 s between cutawaysTwo cutaways in a row read as a slideshow.
  • No more than 55% of the video coveredIt's still your face that sells it.

The cutaway in the finished edit

An exported frame where a full-screen stand-in B-roll card reading cables snapping into clips under a desk covers the talking shot, with the caption on top
@your_handle
10.9 s in, for 3.3 sOver "They stick under the desk, and the cables just snap in."

Film these for a product video

  • Yes: The product in your hand, close
  • Yes: It in use, the step you describe
  • Yes: The result or the before
  • No: Shaky or blurry clips (skip them)

Frame from UGCLive's export renderer, October 2026. The B-roll is a drawn stand-in card, not real footage; the B-roll rules placed it, the sentence was picked by us.

How loud should music be under your voice?

Low enough that every word is clear: UGCLive drops music to 30% of its volume while you talk, fading in and out over 250 ms. On a talking video that's nearly the whole time; in our take, speech covered 20.5 of 20.8 seconds once the pauses were cut.

30%
music volume under speech
20.5 s
of 20.8 s with someone talking
1
sound a TikTok post can have

UGCLive's mixing code run on our cut, October 2026; TikTok's limit from its help center.

So pick a quiet track without vocals, or none. TikTok allows one sound per post, and its help notes that business accounts can only use templates with music licensed for commercial use. If you add a trending sound in TikTok after exporting from another app, it becomes that one sound, so tap the sound clip in TikTok's editor to adjust it against your voice.

Should you edit in TikTok or in another app?

  • TikTok's editorInside the app, free
    • Check: Cutting pausesBy hand: split, split, delete
    • Yes: SoundsTikTok's sound library, searchable in the editor
    • Partly: Where it goesYour TikTok post
    • Yes: OverlaysUp to 8
  • UGCLiveFor talking videosOur app for talking videos, in beta on iPhone
    • Yes: Cutting pausesAI edit, one tap, with a Cutting slider
    • Check: SoundsMusic, sound effects and your voice; no TikTok library
    • Yes: Your editA 1080×1920 MP4 you can post anywhere
    • Yes: CaptionsTimed word by word, movable as one
VerdictOur pick: cut and caption in an editor that reads your words, export one clean MP4, then upload it to TikTok and add a trending sound there if you want one. That keeps the long work in one file you can also post to Reels and Shorts.

TikTok's help center, re-checked October 27, 2026; UGCLive from the app.

For CapCut and the other phone editors, see our CapCut alternatives. Export at 9:16, 1080×1920, the size our TikTok video size guide lists.

What didn't we check?

Limits of this test

  • Check: TikTok's editor itself. Its steps and limits come from its help center, read October 16 and re-checked October 27, 2026; we didn't run it on this take or time it.
  • Check: Real footage. The take is synthetic and the B-roll is a drawn card. Real B-roll is picked by the B-roll tool from your clips.
  • Check: Music. We worked out where music would duck from the mixing code; we didn't render a track.
  • Check: What performs. Nothing here measures views or watch time.

Edit TikTok videos questions

How do you edit a TikTok video after recording?

After recording, tap Continue if it appears, then tap Edit on the side panel. From there you can trim or split clips, change speed, and add text, sounds, a voiceover and overlays.

How do you cut out part of a TikTok video?

In the editor, tap the clip, place the line where the unwanted part starts and tap Split, then split again where it ends and delete the piece in between. To shorten only the start or end, drag the arrow at either side of the clip.

How many clips can you edit in one TikTok?

TikTok's help center says you can upload up to 35 photos and videos in one editing session, add up to 8 overlays and use one sound per post.

Should you add captions in TikTok or before uploading?

Either works. Captions burned in before upload show on every platform you post to and keep the style you chose; keep them above the bottom third so TikTok's caption and buttons don't cover them.

Does TikTok's editor cut pauses for you?

Its help center doesn't list a tool that finds pauses or fluffed lines; you split and delete them by hand. Its Magic tool applies an editing style with effects, which is a different job.

Still have questions?Email us

How we made this

TikTok's help center article on editing videos and photos was read on October 16, 2026 and re-checked on October 27, 2026, and its steps and limits are reported as written; we didn't run TikTok's editor for this page. The edited take is our own run of UGCLive's code on a 33.2-second synthetic test clip (an AI voice): AI edit's cut at the default Cutting setting with the false start marked by hand, its captions rendered at two heights, one drawn stand-in shot placed by the B-roll rules, and the music ducking worked out by the mixing code. Every frame shown came out of the export renderer.

What counts as a source for us, and how corrections work: how we research and test.

Sources

  1. TikTok Help: Editing TikTok videos and photos (checked October 27, 2026)

Related

From the UGCLive app

Do the cut and the captions in one tap.

UGCLive cuts pauses, ums and retakes, times captions to every word and exports a clean 1080×1920 MP4 for TikTok.

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