What does beat sync mean in video editing?
Cutting from one shot to the next exactly on the beats of the music, so the picture seems to move with the song. It works because viewers feel the beat and expect change to happen on it.
Free · runs in your browser
Beat sync: cut your clips to the music
Add a song and a handful of clips or photos. The beats are found, the cuts land on them, and you export a video for Reels, Shorts, TikTok or a big screen.
To beat sync a video, open your song and your clips together: the tool finds the tempo and every beat, cuts from one clip to the next exactly on the beat, and lets you choose how often it cuts. Press Export video and you have an edit that moves with the music, without dragging a single clip by hand.
Under the hood it listens for the moments the music hits (drums, plucked notes, chord changes), works out the tempo from how regularly those hits repeat, and lays a grid of beats and bars over the song. You can check the grid by ear with Hear the beats, tap along with Tap tempo if it has picked half or double the speed, and slide the whole grid Earlier or Later until the clicks sit on the kick drum.
Everything happens in your browser, so your song and footage stay on your device. If you only need the number, the BPM finder reads it from any song or video and tap tempo counts it as you tap. For holiday pictures there is a slideshow maker that changes photos on the beat, and if the music isn’t on your video yet, add audio to a video first.
Beat sync
Everything in beat sync
Find the tempo
- BPM finder for songs and videos The tempo of any music file, even one inside a video, with a beat grid to check.
- Tap tempo BPM counter Tap along to any song and read its BPM, with half, double and a check metronome.
Make a beat video
- Photo slideshow with music, on the beat Photos that change on the beats of your song, with slow zooms, in three shapes.
- Say the word on beat maker Your own on-beat picture challenge: eight pictures lighting up one per beat.
In other apps
How to beat sync a video
Add the song and the clips
Drop everything onto Drop a song and your clips, or press Choose files. One song (MP3, M4A, WAV or even a video with music) and as many clips or photos as you like; Add song and Add clips add more later.
Let it find the beat
Press Make the beat video. The tempo appears in Beat grid. Turn on Hear the beats (B) and press Play: if the clicks wander off, use Half time, Double time or Tap tempo (T), and move the grid with Earlier and Later ([ and ]).
Choose the pace and the shape
Pick a Cut style: Every beat, Every 2 beats, Every bar, Follow the energy or Build to the drop (keys 1–5). Set the Shape to 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9 and choose the Song part to use.
Tidy the clips
Select a clip to set where it Starts from, slide its Position, or press Move earlier, Move later or Remove. Transitions offers Auto, Cut, Flash, Zoom, Fade or Slide on every change.
Export video
Press Export video (Ctrl/⌘+Enter), then Download video. Change the edit takes you back; New beat video starts again.
How the beats are found
A beat is easy to feel and surprisingly hard to measure. The tool starts by tracking how the song’s spectrum changes from one moment to the next: a sudden rise in energy across many frequencies is an onset, the start of a note or a hit. It then looks at how regularly those onsets repeat, favouring tempos near the middle of the range most music lives in, and checks whether half or double that speed fits better.
With a tempo in hand, it walks through the song choosing beat positions that sit on strong onsets while keeping the gaps even, a method called dynamic programming. Bar starts come from the beats with the strongest accents, and each beat gets an energy reading, which is how Follow the energy and Build to the drop know where the loud parts and the quiet parts are.
Where it struggles
- Songs that speed up or slow down, or are played freely without a click, have no single tempo; the grid follows the average, so nudge it in the parts that matter.
- Long quiet intros and ambient tracks give few onsets to lock on to. Start the Song part where the rhythm begins.
- Swing and syncopation can tempt any detector onto the off-beats. Earlier and Later move the whole grid by a fraction of a beat to fix that.
Choosing a cut style
| Cut style | What you get | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Every beat | A new shot on each beat | Short, punchy reels at moderate tempos |
| Every 2 beats | A steady change every other beat | Most songs; the default |
| Every bar | One shot per bar of music | Slower songs, scenery, longer clips |
| Follow the energy | Quick cuts in loud parts, longer shots in quiet ones | Songs with verses and choruses |
| Build to the drop | Cuts that speed up through a build and land on the drop | Dance tracks and trailers |
At 120 BPM a beat lasts half a second, so Every beat shows each clip for just 0.5 s. That is lively for a 15-second reel and tiring over three minutes; switch to Every 2 beats or Every bar for longer pieces. Beats per bar under More options handles songs in three (waltz time), and Move bar start shifts which beat counts as the first of the bar.
Shapes, sound and the exported file
- 9:16 exports at 1080×1920 for Reels, Shorts and TikTok; 1:1 at 1080×1080; 16:9 at 1920×1080 for YouTube and screens. All at 30 frames per second.
- Fit chooses Fill the frame (cropping clips to the shape) or Whole picture (keeping all of each clip with bars around it).
- The song is the soundtrack. Fade out the music eases the last moments down; the clips’ own sound isn’t used.
- Files are MP4 (H.264 with AAC) by default; Format under More options switches to WebM where your browser can encode it.
Because the edit is planned on the beat grid, every cut lands on a frame boundary within a few milliseconds of the beat, which at 30 frames per second is as close as a video can get.
Using the beats in another editor
If you prefer to cut in a desktop editor, the beat grid can go with you. Under More options, Beat markers downloads the beats as a CSV, an EDL for DaVinci Resolve or an XML for Premiere Pro, with Bar starts only for a lighter set. The steps for each app are on beat markers in Premiere Pro, and the phone route is covered in beat syncing in CapCut.
- Find the tempo with the BPM finder, or by ear with tap tempo.
- Download the markers and import them on the editor’s timeline.
- Snap your cuts to the markers.
Questions about beat syncing
Can I use my own song?
Yes, any song file you have: MP3, M4A, WAV and others, or a video whose soundtrack you want to use. Using a song in a video you publish is a copyright question, though: make sure you have the rights, or use music that allows it.
How is this different from Canva’s Beat Sync?
Canva’s Beat Sync lines up clips inside a Canva design with a song’s beats. This tool works on your own files in the browser with no account, shows you the detected tempo, lets you edit the beat grid and choose a cut style, and exports a file directly. Check Canva’s own help pages for what its plans include.
Why are the cuts slightly off the beat?
The grid is probably shifted, often onto the off-beats. Turn on Hear the beats, then press Earlier or Later until the clicks sit on the kick drum, or use Nudge earlier and Nudge later for finer steps.
It says 75 BPM but the song feels like 150. What now?
Tempo detectors sometimes pick half or double the speed you feel. Press Double time (or Half time the other way), or tap along with Tap tempo to set it.
How do I beat sync in CapCut?
CapCut has its own beat markers on the audio track; the steps are in beat syncing in CapCut. This tool is the browser route when you’d rather not install an app.
Can I use photos instead of video clips?
Yes. Photos are treated like short clips, with an optional Slow zoom on photos; the slideshow maker opens with photo-friendly settings.