Cloud API

A developer-friendly API for automating video creation and editing at scale.

Editing videos in the cloud has never been easier! Simple RESTful interface, pay-as-you-go pricing, and industry leading video editing capabilities. Easily create video templates in OpenShot Video Editor, our award-winning free, open-source desktop video editor, and modify them using our Cloud API. Fast, easy, and affordable cloud video editing.

100% in the Cloud

Automate your video editing pipeline and easily generate your own custom videos! Supports user-uploaded content, templates, AI transcriptions, captions, and more!

Powerful Video Editing

No compromises needed with OpenShot Cloud API. Full video editing feature set, including transitions, effects, key frame animations, compositing, watermarking, audio mixing, and more!

AWS | Azure | GCP

With OpenShot Cloud API, you control your own instances on Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Pay-as-you-go pricing, and easily scale. Start with a single instance and scale up as needed!

Starter App

A free, open-source demo app

Try simple-editor, a free demo app powered by the API — a practical starting point you can explore, customize, and build on for your own video applications, and a clear reference implementation of the workflow. Get the MIT-licensed source-code.

Simple Editor demo app for OpenShot Cloud API

Try the Demo API (cURL) create → upload → clip → export • Explore full schema 

# Create a new demo project and return its project URL/ID.
curl -XPOST \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -d '{
    "name": "Example Project",
    "width": 1920, "height": 1080,
    "fps_num": 30, "fps_den": 1,
    "sample_rate": 44100, "channels": 2,
    "json": {}
  }' \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/projects/'
# Upload media by URL and attach it to the project you just created.
curl -XPOST \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -d '{
    "media": null,
    "project": "https://cloud.openshot.org/projects/INSERT-PROJECT-ID/",
    "json": { "url": "https://www.openshot.org/static/img/logos/logo.png" }
  }' \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/files/'
# Add the uploaded media as a clip on the timeline for the project.
curl -XPOST \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -d '{
    "file": "https://cloud.openshot.org/files/INSERT-FILE-ID/",
    "position": 0, "start": 0, "end": 10, "layer": 1,
    "project": "https://cloud.openshot.org/projects/INSERT-PROJECT-ID/",
    "json": {}
  }' \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/clips/'
# Apply a preset animation to an existing clip by its clip ID.
curl -XPOST \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -d '{
    "preset": "Zoom In",
    "length_in_seconds": "3.0",
    "curve": "Ease In"
  }' \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/clips/INSERT-CLIP-ID/presets/'
# Start a video export job for the project using the chosen settings.
curl -XPOST \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -d '{
    "export_type": "video",
    "video_format": "mp4", "video_codec": "libx264", "video_bitrate": 8000000,
    "audio_codec": "aac", "audio_bitrate": 1920000,
    "start_frame": 1, "end_frame": 0,
    "project": "https://cloud.openshot.org/projects/INSERT-PROJECT-ID/",
    "webhook": "", "json": {}, "status": "pending"
  }' \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/exports/'
# Check the status (and result URLs) of a specific export job.
curl -XGET \
  -H "Content-type: application/json" \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/exports/INSERT-EXPORT-ID/'
# Download the rendered video file for a completed export job.
curl -L -XGET \
  --user demo-cloud:demo-password \
  -o generated-video.mp4 \
  'https://cloud.openshot.org/exports/INSERT-EXPORT-ID/download/'

Feature list

AWS

OpenShot Cloud API is designed to run on your own cloud, by creating instances on your own Amazon EC2 account. Create a single instance, or load balance dozens of servers to meet your unique project requirements. Scaling is easy, and fully in your own control.

Azure

OpenShot Cloud API can also be run on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, including Azure specific features such as Blob Storage (for files and exports) and Queue Storage (for load balancing and scaling).

Google Cloud

OpenShot Cloud API can also be run on the Google Cloud Platform, including Google specific features such as Google Cloud Storage buckets (for files and exports) and Google Pub/Sub (for queue based load balancing and scaling).

API Workflow

Seamlessly integrate video editing capabilities into your own website or mobile application. Upload your videos to an OpenShot Cloud API instance, create your own templates or manually edit the video project using the RESTful API, render your video, and download the results back to your website or application.

Cross-Platform Templates

OpenShot Video Editor (desktop version) supports the following operating systems: Linux (most distributions are supported), Windows (version 7, 8, and 10+), and OS X (version 10.15+). Project files are also cross-platform, meaning you can save a video project in one OS, and open it on another, including OpenShot Cloud API. All OpenShot features are available on all platforms.

Language-Agnostic

Just about every programming language and operating system is compatible with OpenShot Cloud API, due to our RESTful API. All you need is the ability to POST and GET a webpage, and you can start integrating video editing into your app. JavaScript, Python, Java, Ruby, C#, Bash, Android, iOS, and just about everything else!

Timeline & Tracks

Tracks are used to layer images, videos, and audio in a project. You can create as many layers as needed, such as watermarks, background audio tracks, background videos, etc... Any transparency will show through the layer below it. Tracks can also be moved up, down, or locked.

Clip Controls

Clips on the timeline can be adjusted in many ways, including scaling, trimming, rotation, alpha, snapping, and adjusting X,Y location. These properties can also be animated over time with just a few clicks! You can also use our transform tool to interactively resize clips.

Compositing & Overlays

When arranging clips in a video project, images on the higher tracks/layers will be displayed on top, and the lower tracks will be displayed behind them. Much like a stack of paper, items on top cover up items below them. And if you cut any holes out (i.e. transparency) the lower images will show though.

Titles

Over 40 vector title templates are included with OpenShot, which makes adding titles to your project fun and easy. You can also create your own SVG vector titles, and use those as templates instead. Quickly adjust the font, color, and text of your titles in our built-in title editor.

Audio Mixing

OpenShot has many great audio editing features built-in, such as displaying waveforms on the timeline, or even rendering the waveform as part of your video. You can also split the audio from your video clip, and adjust each audio channel individually.

Visual Effects

OpenShot includes many video effects (with more on the way). Drag a video effect onto your clip, and adjust it's properties (many which can be animated). Adjust brightness, gamma, hue, greyscale, chroma key, and much more! Combined with transitions, animation, and time control, OpenShot is an extremely powerful video editor.

Keyframes

OpenShot comes with a powerful key frame animation framework, capable of an unlimited number of key frames and animation possibilities. Key frames interpolation mode can be quadratic bezier curves, linear, or constant, which determines how the animated values are calculated.

Video Transitions

Over 400 transitions are included in OpenShot, which lets you gradually fade from one clip to another. The quickness and sharpness of the transitions can also be adjusted using keyframes (if needed). Overlapping two clips will create a new transition automatically.

Time Control

Control the power of time with OpenShot! Speed up and slow down clips. Reverse the direction of a video. Or manually animate the speed and direction of your clip as you wish, using our powerful key frame animation system.

Formats

Based on the powerful FFmpeg library, OpenShot can read and write most video and image formats. For a full list of supported formats, see the FFmpeg project. OpenShot's export dialog defaults to some of the more common formats, but with the advanced tab, you can use any FFmpeg format.

Pay-As-You-Go

OpenShot Cloud API is priced using a SAAS model, very similar to how Amazon prices server instances. Pay just for the hours you are running the instance. Stop at anytime, with no contracts. Billing is handled automatically by Amazon at the end of the month... based on your instance hours used. Most of our competitors charge for each minute of rendered video, but that model is very expensive and difficult to reasonably scale. With OpenShot Cloud API, you have a low, flat-rate per hour, regardless of how many thousands of minutes you are rendering.

At-a-Glance

Prices start at $0.15 / instance hour (around $108/month USD if continuously running), not including Amazon EC2 server fees.

Supports Open Source

Funds from the OpenShot Cloud API are used by OpenShot Studios, LLC to develop OpenShot Video Editor, our award-winning open-source video editor. So, not only will you be editing awesome videos in the cloud, you will also be supporting an open-source project, used by people all over the world!

Cloud API overview video Explainer | What is OpenShot Cloud Video API?
Cloud API tutorials playlist Getting Started | OpenShot Cloud API Tutorial

Get Started today

It's easy to get started! All you need is a cloud provider (AWS, Azure, Google) and a little bit or REST-based HTTP programming knowledge. Prices start at $0.15 / instance hour (around $108/month USD per instance, if continuously running), and scale up depending on the instance type. To launch your first instance of OpenShot Cloud API, choose your current cloud provider:

Support and consulting

Not a programmer? Don't have the time to program your own implementation of OpenShot Cloud API? No problem! Just send us an email, and describe what your are trying to accomplish. We are always happy to brainstorm with you, and if needed, we offer competitive consulting services.