Files

To create a video, we need to make media files available to our project by importing files into OpenShot. Most media file types are recognized, such as videos, images, and audio files. Files can be viewed and managed in the Project Files panel.

Note that imported files are not copied anywhere, they remain in the physical location they were before and are simply being made available to your video project. So, they must not be deleted, renamed, or moved after adding them to your project. The “Show All”, “Video”, “Audio”, “Image” filters above the files allows you to only see the file types you are interested in. You can also toggle the view between details and thumbnails view of your files.

Import Files

There are many different ways to import media files into an OpenShot project. When a file is imported successfully, it will be automatically selected and scrolled into view (in the Project Files panel). Also, if the Project Files panel is not currently visible, OpenShot will automatically display the panel.

Import File Method	Description
Drag and Drop	Drag and drop the files from your file manager (file explorer, finder, etc…).
Context menu (File Menu)	Right click anywhere in the Project Files panel and choose Import Files.
Main Menu	In the main menu choose: File→Import Files.
Toolbar button	Click the + toolbar button in the main toolbar.
Keyboard shortcut	Press Ctrl-F (Cmd-F on Mac).
Paste from Clipboard	Press Ctrl-V (Cmd-V on Mac) to paste copied files from your clipboard. See Paste from Clipboard.

Paste from Clipboard

You can paste files and clipboard media straight into OpenShot. If you copied one or more files in your file manager, switch to OpenShot and press Ctrl-V in the Project Files panel to add them, just like importing.

If you copied media data (for example, Copy Image in a web browser, a pasted frame from another app, or other image/audio/video clipboard data), press Ctrl-V in OpenShot to create a file for that clipboard content. OpenShot saves a copy in a temporary folder: .openshot_qt/clipboard/. The new file is then added to your project and appears in Project Files.

File Menu

To view the file menu, right click on a file (in the Project Files panel). Here are the actions you can use from the file menu.

File Context Option	Description
Import Files…	Import files into your project
Create with AI / Enhance with AI (Optional)	AI menu actions for generating or enhancing media files. These options are shown only when AI is enabled and the selected file type supports the workflow. See Advanced AI: ComfyUI.
Details View	Switch the Project Files panel to details view
Preview File	Preview a media file
Split File	Split a file into many smaller files. The new trimmed files appear in the Project Files list.
Export Files	Export selected files (and split segments) to a destination folder
Add to Timeline	Add many files to the timeline in one step, including transitions or alternating tracks.
Choose Profile	Change the current project profile to match the selected file. If the file’s profile does not match a known profile, it will give you the option to create a custom profile.
File Properties	View the properties of a file, such as frame rate, size, etc…
Optimize	Create, link, unlink, or delete optimized preview files for the selected video files.
Remove from Project	Remove a file from the project
Edit Title	Edit an existing title SVG file (shown when an SVG title is selected)
Duplicate Title	Make a copy, and then edit the copied title SVG file (shown when an SVG title is selected)

Preview File

The Preview File action opens the Preview dialog for the selected file from Project Files. Double-click a file, or press Shift+2 or Alt+P while the file list has focus. With the timeline focused, the same shortcut plays the selected clip from its Start point. You can also right-click a timeline clip and choose Preview Clip. Double-clicking a saved split reopens its range editor instead of read-only preview.

• Playback starts automatically when you open a preview or Split File.

• Loop repeats playback and is enabled by default in Preview.

• Click the speaker to mute preview audio without changing the project.

• Click or drag the volume slider to adjust preview audio without affecting your exported video. Save the project to remember this volume for all its previews.

• Use Fit Window to size the video area to the source aspect ratio. Black bars already encoded in the source remain visible.

• Seeking during playback keeps playback running. Dragging to resize, move, or draw a range pauses playback so its boundary frames can be inspected.

• Press Space to toggle play/pause.

• Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/out.

• A Reset Zoom button appears when zoom is not 100%, and resets to 100%.

Resize or maximize the window to suit your workspace. Preview and Split File remember your window size when you save the project.

The colored bar beneath the ruler shows sections already loaded for playback. If playback is choppy, try a smaller window or optimize the file.

Preview File shows playback and scrubbing controls only. Preview Clip and Split File add range editing below the shared preview. The source ruler and filmstrip show the full recording, with the selected range highlighted. Drag either grip to adjust the range and move the playhead with it. Drag on the ruler above the filmstrip to scrub without changing the range. Edit the Start and End timecodes for precise boundaries, or click the adjacent clock button to use the current playhead position (I / O). End is the last included frame; a one-frame range is valid. Duration shows the length of the selected range and can be edited to move End while keeping Start fixed. Duration is limited to at least one frame and at most the remaining source length. The buttons beside Play jump to Start and End.

When editing a timeline clip, Update Clip updates only that clip. Its position stays fixed and its duration changes; neighboring clips do not move. Locked or retimed clips can be previewed, but range application is disabled. Reset reloads the saved range. Each update is one undo step.

Split File provides Start, End, Duration, and an optional Name beside Create. Each click creates one Project Files entry and leaves the window open to create another. Pressing Enter in Name or outside the time fields saves and closes the editor. In Start, End, or Duration, Enter commits the value and keeps the editor open. Tab moves through Start, End, Duration, and Name; Shift+Tab reverses the order. Each creation is one undo step. Opening an existing split lets you update its range and name without changing existing timeline clips. Update saves the split and closes its editor, refreshing the file and dependent clip thumbnails. Update Clip saves and closes clip preview. Use the window close control or Esc to close without applying changes.

Drag a filmstrip handle to trim, drag inside the selection to move it, or drag outside it to draw a new range. Click to seek, or drag on the ruler to scrub without changing the range.

If a modified range changes elsewhere in the project, discard its local changes and reload it before saving. The dialog remains attached to its original source or timeline clip when the main-window selection changes.

Optimize

Optimized preview files are lower-resolution copies of your source video files (sometimes referred to as proxy files), used to improve editing responsiveness without changing the original media. They are especially helpful with large formats such as 4K, high frame rate, or high bitrate footage.

Automatic optimization

When OpenShot creates a video’s first thumbnail, it records how long the first frame takes to produce. This uses work already needed to display the video in Project Files; there is no separate decoding test. Videos whose thumbnail frame takes longer than the Auto-Optimize Threshold may benefit from smaller preview copies.

With the default Ask preference, a banner appears when OpenShot finds a qualifying video in a project that does not yet have a saved choice:

Optimize videos for smoother playback? Originals and export quality stay unchanged.

Click Optimize Automatically to enable automatic optimization for the current project. The banner disappears immediately, and qualifying videos are added to the optimization queue. Videos you import later also join the queue when they qualify, even if another video is already being optimized. You are not asked again for each file.

You can continue editing while optimization runs. There is no progress banner; progress appears on the files in Project Files instead.

Click Not Now or close the banner to decline. OpenShot remembers your choice when you save the project, so reopening it or importing more videos does not repeat the suggestion. To change your choice, check or uncheck File ‣ Auto-Optimize or press Ctrl+Alt+O (Command+Alt+O on macOS). Customize this shortcut in Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Keyboard. Turning it off stops new automatic work; jobs already started can be canceled through the file’s Optimize submenu. Existing optimized copies remain available.

In Edit ‣ Preferences, open the Optimize tab (see Optimize):

• Auto-Optimize: Ask shows the banner and is the default. Always optimizes qualifying videos without a banner. Never disables suggestions and automatic processing. These defaults apply to projects without a saved choice; a project’s own setting takes precedence.

• Auto-Optimize Threshold: defaults to 200 ms. Lower values include more videos; higher values include fewer. This measures producing the first thumbnail frame, not opening the file, saving the thumbnail, or waiting in a queue.

• Optimized Preview Resolution and Concurrent Optimize Jobs control the preview copies and how many videos can be processed at once.

Thumbnail timing is saved with each file in the project. OpenShot reuses a valid timing when you reopen the project on the same computer. A changed source file or a different computer needs a new measurement. When opening older projects, OpenShot refreshes missing timings in the background, one small thumbnail at a time, checking videos used on the timeline first. New checks pause during playback. Slow videos trigger the same banner; accepting it also checks and queues the remaining videos. Enabling File → Auto-Optimize starts these checks too. Choosing Never or dismissing the banner stops further checks for that project. Save the project to keep its timings for next time. You can always optimize videos manually.

The threshold is a guide, not a guarantee of playback performance. Other applications can affect timing, and effects or overlapping clips can slow playback independently of the source video. Optimized copies use additional disk space in the project’s assets folder; original files and export quality stay unchanged. Canceled or failed automatic jobs are not automatically retried during the current project session.

Closing OpenShot cancels queued and running optimization jobs. Active jobs finish their current processing step before closing, and unfinished preview files are removed.

Optimization status

Hover over a file in Project Files to see its filename followed by a brief status:

Tooltip status	Meaning
Queued for optimization	Waiting for an available optimization job slot.
Optimizing for smoother playback — 35%	Creating a preview copy. The percentage shows progress.
Optimized for smoother playback	The preview copy is ready to use.
Canceling optimization	Stopping the current job and cleaning up the unfinished copy.
Optimized preview missing	The linked preview copy cannot be found. Recreate it with Optimize Video or link an existing copy.

To stop a queued or running job, right-click the file and choose Optimize ‣ Cancel. Canceling a job does not turn off File ‣ Auto-Optimize for later imports.

Manual optimization

For video files, the file context menu includes an Optimize submenu. This feature creates or links smaller preview copies of your source clips, which can improve playback and scrubbing on slower systems or with high-resolution footage. Optimizing also pre-loads thumbnails to further improve the editing smoothness when zooming into the timeline.

The Optimize submenu contains these actions:

Action	Description
Optimize Video	Create an optimized preview file for each selected video file. OpenShot stores these files in the project’s optimized assets folder.
Link to Existing…	Choose a folder containing already-created optimized files and link the best matching files to the selected source clips. This supports common proxy naming styles, known proxy suffixes, file ID suffixes, and extension changes.
Unlink	Remove the optimized preview link from the selected file without deleting the optimized file from disk.
Delete & Unlink	Delete the linked optimized file from disk, then remove the link from the selected file.

When optimization is in progress, the submenu changes to a single Cancel action for the selected file(s). Optimized preview files are used only for editing and preview playback. Your final export still uses the original source files.

When you use Link to Existing…, OpenShot tries to match each selected source clip to an existing optimized file in a safe order. It first looks for the same base filename with a different video extension, then for common proxy-style names such as _proxy, _preview, _optimized, _lowres, resolution tags such as _720p or _1080p, and camera/editor-style variants such as _p. It also supports names that add the OpenShot file ID after a known proxy suffix, such as clip001_proxy_F1.mp4, and it can still match files named only by file ID, such as F1.mp4.

Best practice when bringing your own optimized files is to keep the same base filename as the source clip and add a clear proxy-style suffix, for example clip001_proxy.mp4 or clip001_proxy.mov. If you need to avoid filename collisions, append the OpenShot file ID after the proxy suffix, for example clip001_proxy_F1.mp4. Avoid unrelated suffixes such as _final or _reviewcopy, because OpenShot does not treat those as safe proxy naming patterns.

Split File

Use Split File to choose the parts of a longer recording you want to work with. Right click a file in Project Files and choose Split File. Select the start and end of a segment, give it an optional name, and click Create. Adjust the markers and repeat to prepare as many segments as you need.

Each segment appears in Project Files and can be added to the timeline like any other file. The segments all use the original media on disk, so you can prepare them without making extra copies of the recording.

When you add a segment to the timeline, OpenShot gives its properties starting keyframes at the segment’s beginning. For example, with Auto Keyframes on, you can move to the end and change the rotation to make it turn over the length of that segment. The animation starts from the part you chose to use.

If you have already animated a timeline clip, slicing it preserves that animation through the cut. Split File is useful for choosing your segments before you begin that work.

Preview an existing split-file entry to adjust its saved IN/OUT range. The ruler includes the surrounding footage, allowing you to extend the range again without reimporting the source.

Please refer to the section Trimming & Slicing for more ways to cut and slice clips directly in the timeline.

Export Files

If you want your split file segments available outside of your OpenShot project, or want to copy all your video assets to one place, you can do this with the Export Files dialog. Simply Ctrl+Click to select all the files you like, then Right Click and choose Export Files. In the dialog that appears, choose a destination folder, and click Export.

NOTE: This will export each file or file segment using its original video profile (width, height, framerate, aspect ratio, etc…). It also supports any Split File (described above). For example, if you have split a long video file into many different segments (and named them), you can now export all the segments as separate video files (using the original file’s video profile).

Add to Timeline

In certain cases, you might need to add many files to the timeline at the same time. For example, a photo slideshow, or a large number of short video clips. The Add to Timeline dialog can automate this task for you. First, select all files you need to add, right click, and choose Add to Timeline.

#	Name	Description
1	Selected Files	The list of selected files that need to be added to the timeline
2	Order of Files	Use these buttons to reorder the list of files (move up, move down, randomize, remove)
3	Timeline Position	Choose the starting position and track where these files need to be inserted on the timeline
4	Fade Options	Fade in, fade out, both, or none (only affects the image, and not audio)
5	Zoom Options	Zoom in, zoom out, or none
6	Transitions	Choose a specific transition to use between files, random, or none (only affects the image, and not the audio)

Properties

To view the properties of any imported file in your video project, right click on the file, and choose File Properties. This will launch the file properties dialog, which displays information about your media file. For certain types of images (i.e. image sequences), you can adjust the frame rate on this dialog also.

#	Name	Description
1	File Properties	Select an image sequence in the Project Files panel, right click and choose File Properties
2	Frame Rate	For image sequences, you can also adjust the frame rate of the animation

Remove from Project

Removing an entry from Project Files does not delete the source media from disk.

You can import the file again whenever you need it. For example, after preparing several Split File segments and removing the original from Project Files, you might want to use a different part of the recording. Import it again to work with the whole recording; your existing segments stay as they are. If the original is already in Project Files, importing it again selects it.

Project Assets Folder

OpenShot creates and uses a few temporary working folders while you edit. These live under .openshot_qt/ in your user profile and hold project-specific files that OpenShot generates for you:

• .openshot_qt/blender/ - Blender animation renders created by the Animated Title dialog

• .openshot_qt/title/ - SVG title files created by the Title dialog

• .openshot_qt/thumbnail/ - Thumbnails generated for Project Files and Timeline

• .openshot_qt/clipboard/ - Media created from clipboard pastes (images, audio, or video that must be saved to disk first)

• .openshot_qt/optimized/ - Optimized preview files created for smoother editing

• .openshot_qt/protobuf_data - Tracking and object detection data

When you choose File→Save As, OpenShot copies these folders into your project directory, inside a single folder named PROJECTNAME_Assets. For example: MyProject_Assets/clipboard will contain any media you pasted from the clipboard, and MyProject_Assets/optimized will contain any optimized preview files linked to the project.

As part of this process, all paths inside your *.osp project file are updated to be relative to your project folder.

Missing Files

When you create and save a project in OpenShot, any files imported into the software (such as videos, audio, and images) must remain accessible throughout the project’s duration. This means that these imported files should not be renamed, deleted, or moved to different folders. Additionally, the full path where these files are located should not be renamed either. This principle applies to other video editing software as well.

For example, users might move or delete folders, unplug their USB devices, or move or delete their project files. Any of these examples cause a Missing File message, in which OpenShot prompts you to locate the folder of the missing file(s). Depending on the number of files you added to your project, OpenShot could prompt you many times to find the missing files.

When OpenShot saves a project, all file paths are converted to relative file paths. As long as you keep all assets organized in the same parent folder (including the *.osp project file), you will be able to move your project folder without triggering any missing file(s) prompts. You can even move a self-contained project folder to another computer without any issues.

Everyone has their unique way of organizing files, and it’s crucial to remember not to make changes to file paths, rename files, or delete files when working with video editors, as it can lead to missing file issues. For a detailed guide on missing file(s), see The Case of “Missing Files”!