Playback for video editors
Build an editing reel from your clients' YouTube videos
Mark the seconds you are proudest of in videos already live on your clients' channels, string them into one Cut, and send one link. Nothing is re-uploaded, so there is no client footage to clear.
YouTube hosts the finished video. Playback lets you point at the part that was yours: the cut, the pacing, the three seconds that make the edit.
- 1
Paste the videos you edited
Any YouTube video you worked on that allows embedding, public or unlisted. A Cut holds 2 to 12 moments from up to six videos.
- 2
Mark your best moments
Set the in and out points to the tenth of a second around the transition, the pacing change or the sequence you want seen, and say what you did in the take.
- 3
Send one link
Share the Cut, embed it on your own site, or pin your three strongest Playbacks to the top of your profile at playback.tv/@you.
No footage to clear
Portfolio sites ask you to upload the finished video, and the finished video is usually your client's. A Playback stores only the video's ID, the start and end, the speed and your words. The moment plays from the client's own YouTube upload, with their title and channel on the page.
Let them see the cut, frame by frame
Anyone with the link can step through a transition one frame at a time (frames assume 30 per second, because YouTube does not share the real frame rate), hold Shift to watch at quarter speed, or loop the three seconds that matter.
Before and after, side by side
Compare holds two moments together under one remote: the rough cut against the final, or your edit against the reference the client sent, as long as both are on YouTube.
Keys worth knowing
- , .
- Previous or next frame
- Shift
- Hold for 0.25×
- O
- Loop on or off
- F
- Theater mode
Press ? on any Playback for the full list.
Questions
- Can I use unlisted videos?
- Yes, if the channel allows embedding. An unlisted video plays in YouTube's embedded player for anyone who has the link. A private video plays nowhere but YouTube, so it cannot be part of a reel.
- What happens if the client takes the video down?
- The moment stops playing here too, because Playback never kept a copy. Your take and the rest of the Cut stay as you left them.
- Is it OK to use someone else's YouTube video?
- Playback never downloads, copies or re-hosts a video. The video plays from YouTube's own player, on YouTube's terms, with YouTube's own ads. What Playback saves is a pointer: the video's ID, a start and end time, a speed, and your words. If the owner removes the video from YouTube, it stops playing here too.