OpenReel Video
The open source CapCut alternative. Professional video editing in your browser. No uploads. No installs. 100% open source.
OpenReel Video is a fully-featured browser-based video editor that runs entirely client-side. Built with React, TypeScript, WebCodecs, and WebGPU for professional-grade video editing without the need for expensive software or cloud processing.
Try it Live | Documentation | Discussions | Twitter
Why OpenReel?
- 100% Client-Side - Your videos never leave your device. No uploads, no cloud processing, complete privacy.
- No Installation - Works in Chrome/Edge. Just open and start editing.
- Professional Features - Multi-track timeline, keyframe animations, color grading, audio effects, and more.
- GPU Accelerated - WebGPU and WebCodecs for smooth 4K editing and fast exports.
- Free Forever - MIT licensed, no subscriptions, no watermarks.
Features
Video Editing
- Multi-track timeline - Unlimited video, audio, image, text, and graphics tracks
- Real-time preview - Smooth playback with GPU acceleration
- Precision editing - Frame-accurate scrubbing, cut, trim, split, ripple delete
- Transitions - Crossfade, dip to black/white, wipe, slide effects
- Video effects - Brightness, contrast, saturation, blur, sharpen, glow, vignette, chroma key
- Blend modes - Multiply, screen, overlay, add, subtract, and more
- Speed control - 0.25x to 4x with audio pitch preservation
- Crop & transform - Position, scale, rotation with 3D perspective
Graphics & Text
- Professional text editor - Rich styling, shadows, outlines, gradients
- 20+ text animations - Typewriter, fade, slide, bounce, pop, elastic, glitch
- Karaoke-style subtitles - Word-by-word highlighting synced to audio
- Shape tools - Rectangle, circle, arrow, polygon, star with fill/stroke
- SVG support - Import SVGs with color tinting and animations
- Stickers & emoji - Built-in library
- Background generator - Solid colors, gradients, mesh gradients, patterns
- Keyframe animations - Animate any property over time with 20+ easing curves
Audio
- Multi-track mixing - Unlimited audio tracks with real-time mixing
- Waveform visualization - Visual audio editing
- Audio effects - EQ, compressor, reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, distortion
- Volume & panning - Per-clip controls with fade in/out
- Beat detection - Auto-generate markers synced to music
- Audio ducking - Auto-reduce music when dialog plays
- Noise reduction - 3-pass noise removal (tonal, broadband, rumble)
Color Grading
- Color wheels - Lift, gamma, gain controls
- HSL adjustments - Hue, saturation, lightness fine-tuning
- Curves editor - RGB and individual channel curves
- LUT support - Import and apply 3D LUTs
- Built-in presets - One-click color grading
Export
- MP4 (H.264/H.265) - Universal compatibility
- WebM (VP8/VP9/AV1) - Web-optimized format
- ProRes - Professional intermediate format (Proxy, LT, Standard, HQ, 4444)
- Quality presets - 4K @ 60fps, 1080p, 720p, 480p
- Custom settings - Bitrate, frame rate, codec options, color depth
- Hardware encoding - WebCodecs for fast exports
- AI upscaling - Enhance resolution with WebGPU shaders
- Audio export - MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG
- Image sequences - JPG, PNG, WebP frame export
- Progress tracking - Real-time progress with cancel support
Professional Tools
- Unlimited undo/redo - Full history with recovery
- Auto-save - Never lose work (IndexedDB storage)
- Keyboard shortcuts - Professional workflow
- Snap to grid - Magnetic alignment
- Track management - Show/hide, lock/unlock, reorder
- Subtitle support - SRT import with customizable styling
- Screen recording - Record screen, camera, or both
- Project sharing - Export/import project files
Performance
- WebGPU rendering - GPU-accelerated compositing
- WebCodecs API - Hardware video decoding/encoding
- Frame caching - LRU cache for smooth playback
- Web Workers - Background processing
- 4K support - Edit and export in 4K resolution
Quick Start
Try Online
Visit openreel.video to start editing immediately.
Run Locally
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Augani/openreel-video.git
cd openreel-video
# Install dependencies (requires Node.js 18+)
pnpm install
# Start development server
pnpm dev
# Open http://localhost:5173Build for Production
pnpm build
pnpm previewBrowser Requirements
| Browser | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 94+ | Full support |
| Edge | 94+ | Full support |
| Firefox | 130+ | Full support |
| Safari | 16.4+ | Full support |
All major browsers now support WebCodecs for hardware-accelerated video encoding/decoding.
Recommended:
- 8GB+ RAM
- Dedicated GPU for 4K editing
- Modern multi-core CPU
Architecture
Monorepo Structure
openreel/
├── apps/web/ # React frontend (~66k lines)
│ └── src/
│ ├── components/ # UI components
│ │ └── editor/ # Editor panels (Timeline, Preview, Inspector)
│ ├── stores/ # Zustand state management
│ ├── services/ # Auto-save, shortcuts, screen recording
│ └── bridges/ # Engine coordination
│
└── packages/core/ # Core engines (~59k lines)
└── src/
├── video/ # Video processing, WebGPU rendering
├── audio/ # Web Audio API, effects, beat detection
├── graphics/ # Canvas/THREE.js, shapes, SVG
├── text/ # Text rendering, animations
├── export/ # MP4/WebM encoding
└── storage/ # IndexedDB, serialization
Key Technologies
- React 18 + TypeScript - Type-safe UI
- Zustand - Lightweight state management
- MediaBunny - Video/audio processing
- WebCodecs - Hardware encoding/decoding
- WebGPU - GPU-accelerated rendering
- Web Audio API - Professional audio processing
- THREE.js - 3D transforms and effects
- IndexedDB - Local project storage
Design Principles
- Action-based editing - Every edit is an undoable action
- Immutable state - Predictable updates with Zustand
- Engine separation - Video, audio, graphics engines are independent
- Progressive enhancement - Graceful fallbacks (WebGPU → Canvas2D)
AI-Managed Development
OpenReel is an experiment in AI-assisted open source development. Claude AI helps manage:
- Issue triage - Reviews and responds to issues
- Code implementation - Writes features and fixes bugs
- Code review - Maintains quality standards
- Documentation - Keeps docs up to date
Human oversight from Augustus ensures strategic direction and final approval on major changes. All code is public, tested, and follows best practices.
What this means for contributors:
- Issues get reviewed quickly (usually within 24 hours)
- Bug fixes ship fast
- Clear, detailed responses to questions
- High code quality standards
Contributing
We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Ways to contribute:
- Report bugs with reproduction steps
- Suggest features in Discussions
- Submit PRs for bugs or features
- Improve documentation
- Write tests
- Share effect presets
Development workflow:
# Fork and clone
git clone https://github.com/Augani/openreel-video.git
# Create feature branch
git checkout -b feat/your-feature
# Make changes, then test
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm lint
# Commit with conventional commits
git commit -m "feat: add your feature"
# Push and open PR
git push origin feat/your-featureRoadmap
Completed
- Multi-track timeline with drag-and-drop
- Real-time video preview with GPU acceleration
- Full editing suite (cut, trim, split, transitions)
- Text editor with 20+ animations
- Graphics (shapes, SVG, stickers, backgrounds)
- Audio mixing with effects and beat detection
- Color grading with LUT support
- Keyframe animation system
- Export to MP4/WebM (4K supported)
- Screen recording
- AI upscaling
- Undo/redo with auto-save
In Progress
- Nested sequences (timeline in timeline)
- Motion tracking
- More export formats (ProRes, GIF)
- Plugin system
Planned
- Adjustment layers
- Advanced masking
- Audio spectral editing
- Collaborative editing
- Mobile optimization
License
MIT License - Use freely for personal and commercial projects.
See LICENSE for details.
Acknowledgments
Built with:
- MediaBunny - Media processing
- React - UI framework
- Zustand - State management
- THREE.js - 3D rendering
- TailwindCSS - Styling
Inspired by:
- DaVinci Resolve - Professional tools done right
- CapCut - Accessible editing for everyone
- Figma - Browser-based professional software
Support
- GitHub Issues - Bug reports and feature requests
- GitHub Discussions - Questions and community chat
- Twitter/X - @python_xi
$OPENREEL Token
CA: B7wDnfrdtvdG7SCkRjSMJ6LkVwGWvdWrQ75iV8G9pump
Built with care by @python_xi and AI working together.
Making professional video editing accessible to everyone. Forever free. Forever open source.
