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Buyer's guide

How to choose an AI video editor that works with your own footage

“AI video editor with my footage” can mean at least four different kinds of tool. Here is how to tell which one you need.

I'm Kyle. I built one of these tools, so I have a stake. The part about mine is marked.

The four kinds

What people mean by that search

First pin down what “my footage” is: the recording you want edited, or the other clips you filmed and never used.

  1. Kind 1

    Tools that clip a long video into shorts

    You give it one long recording, like a podcast or a webinar. It cuts moments from it into short clips. Your footage is the recording.

    One example: OpusClip's page says it turns long videos into shorts, from a link or an uploaded file (read 2026-10-03).

  2. Kind 2

    Tools that add stock or generated B-roll

    You give it a talking-head video or a script. It covers lines with stock clips or generated pictures. The talking head is yours. The B-roll is not.

    One example: Submagic's B-roll page says it reads your transcript and adds royalty-free B-roll, and that you can import your own clips (read 2026-10-03).

  3. Kind 3

    Transcript-based editors

    It turns your recording into text, and you cut the video by deleting words. It is built for tidying what you said.

    One example: Descript's page says you edit your video by editing the text (read 2026-10-03).

  4. Kind 4

    Tools that match your own clips to your words

    You give it a script or a recording, plus a folder of clips you filmed. It looks for a shot of yours that fits each line. It needs you to have filmed more than the talking head.

    One example besides mine: Eddie AI's page says it logs your B-roll and places it in the cut (read 2026-10-03). Nine tools that work with your own clips are listed one by one in AI B-roll from your own footage.

Decision table

Which kind fits what you have

Kind of tool You start with You get back Where your files go You still do
Clips a long video into shorts One long recording Short clips, ready to post Often uploaded, or pulled from a link you paste Choose which clips are worth posting
Adds stock or generated B-roll A talking-head video or a script Your video with stock or generated shots on top It depends. Some are web apps, some are plugins in your editor Swap the shots that look wrong or generic
Transcript-based editor A recording The same recording, cut by editing its text It depends. Some have you upload the recording, some are part of a desktop editor Decide what stays. Ask how it handles B-roll
Matches your own clips to your words A script or a recording, plus a folder of your footage A rough cut or a timeline with your shots placed It depends on the tool. Ask Check each pick and finish the cut

The table shows patterns, not facts about any one product. Some tools do more than one job, and the examples above are what each vendor's own page said on 2026-10-03. Check it again before you choose.

Before you sign up

Five questions to ask any of them

  1. Do my video files leave my computer?

    Find out if it uploads the files, uploads something smaller, or works on your machine. If clients or family appear in your clips, get their consent before those clips go anywhere.

  2. How does it pick a shot?

    By file name, by what is said in the clip, or by what is in the picture? A silent clip named IMG_2657 can only be found the third way.

  3. Can I see why?

    A reason tells you what the tool thought was in the shot, so you can check it against the clip. It does not replace watching the pick. With no reason, watching is all you have.

  4. What does it hand back, and for which editor?

    A finished video is ready to post but hard to change. A timeline can be changed shot by shot, but only in the editors it supports.

  5. What happens when nothing fits?

    Some tools fill the gap with stock or a generated picture. Others leave the line on you. Know which one you are getting.

The tool I built

Where Takehound sits

Takehound is the fourth kind, and it is not the only one. I have a full-time job and I'm not an editor, so I built it to do the logging, finding and placing. The story, the taste and the final cut stay with you.

Its five answers:

Your files
Your video files stay on your computer. Your browser takes small still images from your clips, and those pass through Takehound's server to Anthropic's API to be described. Your script and the names of your clips and folders are sent as text. See privacy.
How it picks
By what is in the picture. It works from the descriptions of your shots and looks for one that fits each line of your script.
The reason
Each shot it places comes with a one-line reason. A reason is not proof, so watch each pick.
What you get
A B-roll timeline (an FCPXML file) for DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut. Your shots are on it. Your talking head is not, so you lay the timeline over your recording there and nudge each shot into place. DaVinci Resolve has a free version (Blackmagic Design's page, read 2026-10-03).
No match
The line stays on you. There is no stock library and nothing is generated.

What that looked like on my own talk

A 50-second talk, cut with the Mac version, the best of three runs. Of its 7 lines, 2 got no shot. Takehound proposed cutaways for the other 5 and I kept 3. One I removed came with a reason about a couple walking by a lake, and the couple never appears in the cutaway. The line-by-line example is in B-roll ideas for coaches.

What it does not do

  • It does not export to Premiere.
  • It does not hand you a finished video. You finish the cut in your editor.
  • The browser version does not read a recording. It starts from a pasted script and estimates the timing from the words. Cutting from a talking-head recording is the Mac version only.
  • It does not clip long videos into shorts.
  • It does not write Windows file paths, so on Windows you relink the media in Resolve after you open the timeline.
  • It does not run on a phone. It needs a desktop browser on the computer that holds your footage.

It is a free, invite-only beta. No card.

See how Takehound works Are you a coach? Start here

Questions

Is there an AI video editor that uses my own clips instead of stock?

Yes, and more than one. Look for the fourth kind on this page, the tools that match your own clips to your words, then ask the five questions. Takehound is one of them, and it only uses footage you filmed.

Do I have to upload my own videos?

It depends on the tool, so ask first. With Takehound, your video files stay on your computer. Small still images from your clips are sent to be described.

Can an AI video editor work from a talking-head recording I already made?

Clipping tools and transcript-based editors start from a recording. The browser version of Takehound starts from a pasted script instead. Cutting from a recording is the Mac version of Takehound only.

Will I get a finished video?

From some kinds of tool, yes. Takehound hands back a B-roll timeline for DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut, not a finished video. It does not export to Premiere.

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