Troubleshooting

Why do I see a black video in the player?

A black frame almost always means one of two things: the source file isn't linked correctly, so the player has nothing to show, or the video is in a format your browser can't decode. Remember that only the audio is uploaded — the picture is played straight from the original file on your disk, so both the link and the format have to be right for you to see anything.

Fix: first, relink the footage and make sure you're pointing at the exact source file — this clears up most black-frame cases. If it's still black after relinking, the format likely can't be decoded in-browser: transcode the source to a standard, widely-supported format (H.264 .mp4), re-import, and relink. For the full details, see Relinking footage and which formats are supported below.

My cut won't play (black frame, or it skips clips)

FirstCut only extracts and uploads the audio from your footage — the video itself never leaves your machine. To preview a cut, your browser has to decode the original video file, and some camera formats can't be decoded in-browser: ProRes .mov, many .mkv files, and some HEVC/H.265 clips. The transcript and edit still work perfectly — only the picture preview is affected.

Fix: transcode the source to H.264 .mp4 (any editor or HandBrake will do it), re-import, and relink. The cut timing is unchanged — you're only swapping in a decodable file.

Clip boundaries look slightly off

The player is a preview, not a frame-accurate NLE. Clip boundaries and switches between two different source files aren't gapless. Your exported EDL/XML carries the exact timecodes — the drift is in the preview only.

Fix: trust the export. Open it in Premiere, Resolve, or Final Cut for frame-accurate cuts.

What the struck-through words mean

A cut-out is a removal inside a clip — a filler word, a repeat, an interviewer's “mhmm”, a silence. The clip stays one editorial moment; what plays is the clip minus its cut-outs. In the clip transcript they show struck through: a solid line means the current pace removes it, a faint dotted line means it is recorded but this pace leaves it in, and a wavy line means you just made it and it hasn't been measured yet.

To make one: select words in the clip transcript and choose Cut out. Select struck words and choose Release to put them back. Editing cut-outs needs the footage's transcript, which is kept for three months after import.

A cut-out I just made didn't change the runtime

It won't until you save. Your browser knows which words you picked, but the exact hole they leave — measured to the millisecond, including the breath around them — is computed on the server. So a new cut-out is struck through straight away and applied once the save completes, usually a second or two.

Fix: hit Save in the top bar. Exporting saves first automatically.

Pace: natural, fast, faster, fastest

Cut-outs are a catalogue of removals; the pace level decides how many of them apply, so you can move between them freely and nothing is thrown away. Natural plays the speaker uncut (cold starts and trailing ends are still trimmed). Fast takes out filler words and the model's own editorial removals. Faster and fastest also take out silences — faster leaves a short breath at each gap, fastest leaves none beyond what the pause itself was measured with. Cut-outs you made by hand always apply — they're an edit, not a pacing preference. Changing the pace doesn't use an AI cut: it's an ordinary edit, and it changes the file you export, not just the preview.

“Pace” in the editor vs “Rhythm” when you create

They are different controls and they both have a setting called fast, so it is worth being clear. Rhythm, on the create page, asks for shorter or longer clips — fast gives a montage of roughly 4-second clips, measured about 6 s, slow around 17 s. It is part of the brief, so it changes the whole cut and only takes effect when the cut is built. Pace, in the editor, changes nothing about which moments are in the cut — only how much is removed inside each one. You can move it whenever you like.

A gap marker instead of struck-through words

A small mark after a word means a pause was removed there — the quiet between two words, with no word taken. That is why the word in front of it isn't struck through: it is still in the cut. Gap markers carry the same three weights as struck words, and they are the removals the faster and fastest pace levels turn on. They can't be released by selecting words, because there are no words in them — the pace dial is the control for those.

I can hear a tiny stutter where something was cut

Removing a hole mid-playback means either muting through it or seeking over it, and neither is free in a browser. Short removals (under ~0.4 s — most filler words) are muted: the sound is exactly right, but the picture keeps rolling for those few hundred milliseconds. Longer ones are seeked, which is exact but can stall briefly on long-GOP camera files. Either way the export is precise — the preview is a preview.

“Clean up repeats” said there was nothing to remove

That is a real answer, not a failure. It looks for a phrase said twice in a row — “we were, we were three weeks out” — and it can tell there are none before it asks the model anything, so it comes straight back and doesn't spend an AI cut. Your unsaved edits are untouched and still unsaved.

It keeps asking me to relink my footage

Because your videos live only on your disk, FirstCut has to be pointed at the files each time it can't remember them. Within a session, links are held in memory and survive navigation. Across sessions, it can only re-grant access to files you linked before on a supported browser (see below).

Fix: use Link from folder to point at the whole footage folder once — every matching source relinks at once. Or drag a file straight onto the player frame to relink just that clip.

“Restore footage” doesn't work / never appears

Remembering footage between sessions uses the browser's File System Access API, which is Chromium-only (Chrome, Edge, Arc, Brave) and needs a secure context (localhost or an HTTPS site). On Safari, Firefox, and most mobile browsers there's no persistent handle — you relink per session with the file picker. Re-granting also requires a click (browsers won't restore access silently).

Fix: for footage that persists between visits, use a Chromium browser on desktop. Everywhere else, relinking each session is expected — nothing is broken.

A file wouldn't import

FirstCut prepares your audio in the browser, and your video never uploads — so a file works only if its audio can be packed up locally. AAC (MP4/MOV) is copied out as-is; Opus and Vorbis (WebM/MKV) are repackaged; raw or lossless audio, like the PCM in ProRes and many camera masters, is compressed first so a small file uploads instead of a huge one. Files with no audio track, with audio your browser can't read (FLAC, AC-3, DTS), or that can't be parsed at all are refused.

Fix: convert the file to an MP4 with an AAC track and re-import. That is also the format with the most accurate timings — see below.

The cut's timings are slightly off

MP4/MOV with AAC audio gives the most accurate timecodes, because its audio is used exactly as it is. Every other format has to be converted in your browser first, and rewriting a container regenerates its timing information — which shifts things a little. In our testing the difference was about 0.019 seconds, usually less than a single video frame; it depends on the file and can be more.

Note this is separate from the preview player, which advances clips on a browser timer and is never frame-exact regardless of format.

Fix: if exact timing matters, re-export your source as MP4 + AAC before importing — that removes the conversion step entirely. Otherwise treat the export as a starting point and trim in your editor. See Terms §7.

Generation seems stuck

Transcription and the edit run in the background — the page waits on a live update from the server, so a slow model or a large batch of footage can take a while. The progress bar is paced from your own past runs and deliberately never claims it's done early.

Fix: give it a few minutes. If it never advances or shows an error, reload the Sequence — the live document will reattach. Persistent failures usually mean a source never finished transcribing; check its status in Media.

I hit a limit

Each plan allows a number of media hours (footage imported) and AI cuts (generations and AI refinements) per billing period. When one runs out, FirstCut says so before anything uploads or runs — nothing is deleted, and your existing sequences, edits, Save and export all keep working.

Fix: wait for the reset date shown on Account, or move to a larger plan on the plan page — an upgrade applies at once.

My usage meters aren't showing

On the Free plan the meters start counting at your first import; until then Account shows the allowance instead. On a paid plan they appear as soon as the payment is confirmed.

I paid, but my plan hasn't changed

Confirmation from the payment provider normally lands within a minute, and Account updates by itself when it does.

Fix: if it still shows the old plan after a few minutes, email us (below) with the address you paid from — don't pay a second time.

Cancelling, invoices and your card

Go to Account → Subscription → Manage or cancel subscription. That opens the billing portal of Creem, our merchant of record, where you can cancel, update your card and download invoices. Cancelling keeps your plan until the end of the period you paid for.

Switching plans

Use the plan page while signed in. A larger plan (or monthly → annual) applies immediately with the prorated difference charged now; a smaller plan (or annual → monthly) takes effect at your next renewal, and Account shows the date. Refunds are covered in refunds and cancellation.