A clip that starts and stops with a hard cut can feel abrupt. A short fade softens both ends: the picture rises out of black at the start and sinks back into black at the end. With this page you can fade video in and out without installing anything.
The sound can fade along with the picture, so the audio does not jump in or stop dead. Everything runs in your browser and your video is never uploaded. Below you will find how the controls work, how long a fade should be, and when to use one.
How to fade a video in and out
You set two lengths, one for the start and one for the end. A length of zero means no fade at that end, so you can use just one of them.
- Drop a video onto the tool, or several. The first frame appears on the stage with a timeline below it.
- Set Fade in and Fade out with the two sliders. You can also drag the ramps at each end of the timeline.
- Leave Fade the sound too ticked if you want the audio to fade with the picture, or untick it to fade only the picture.
- Press Add fades. Save each result, or download them all as a zip.
While you set the fades, a black layer on the stage follows the playhead. Play the clip or drag the playhead along the timeline, and you will see how dark the picture is at any moment.
The sliders show the length in seconds, and Off when a fade is switched off. If you prefer to work by eye, grab the ramp handle at either end of the timeline and drag it until the dark band looks right.
Fade in, fade out and fade to black explained
The three phrases people search for all describe the same two controls. It helps to know which is which.
Fade in video: starting from black
A fade in begins with a black frame and brightens to the full picture over the time you choose. It gives a gentle opening and signals that something is about to start. It suits intros, title cards and the first shot of a montage.
Fade out video: ending on black
A fade out does the reverse. The picture darkens to black across the last seconds of the clip. It gives a clean ending and avoids a sudden stop on a frame that was never meant to be the last one.
Fade to black as a finish
When people talk about a fade to black, they usually mean the fade out at the end. Set Fade out to the length you want and leave Fade in at Off. The final frames end in solid black.
Choose the right fade length
Each slider runs from Off up to half the length of the clip, with a top limit of 5 seconds, in steps of 0.1 second. A 6 second clip, for example, allows up to 3 seconds each. A 10 second clip or longer allows up to 5 seconds each. The two fades together always fit inside the video.
| Length | Feel | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 0.3 to 0.5 s | Quick and subtle | Softening a hard cut at the start or end of a short social clip |
| 1 to 2 s | Smooth and natural | Most videos, intros and closing shots |
| 3 to 5 s | Slow and dramatic | Film-style endings, memorial videos, slideshows with music |
As a rule, short is safer. A long fade eats into the part of the clip people want to see. If your video is only a few seconds long, a fade of around half a second is often plenty.
Think about where the clip will be seen. On a phone feed, people scroll fast, so a long dark opening can lose them before the first real frame. On a presentation screen or at an event, a slower fade gives the room a moment to settle. Match the length to the setting, then check it by playing the clip on the stage before you save.
- Use a fade in only when the clip really begins a scene. If it starts mid-action, leave it Off.
- Use a fade out for endings. For clips that will be joined, leave the joined edges alone and fade only the outer start and end.
- Keep the fades roughly equal if you want a balanced, even feel.
Fade the sound with the picture
A picture that fades while the sound stays at full volume feels wrong. That is why Fade the sound too is on by default when your video has audio. The sound rises from silence as the picture rises from black, and falls away at the end in the same way.
The sound uses the same two lengths as the picture, and both fade in a straight line from start to finish. The preview on the stage shows the picture only, so you will hear the sound fades in the saved file rather than in the preview.
If your video has no sound, the toggle is greyed out and the tool says so. If you want the picture to fade but the sound to stay as it is, untick Fade the sound too.
Need to change loudness as well? Use change video volume to raise, lower or normalise the sound, or add audio to video to put music underneath before you fade it all out.
Several clips, one set of fades
You can drop in more than one video and set the fades once. Each file gets the same settings. If a clip is shorter than the others, its fades are kept inside its own length, so a very short clip simply gets shorter fades instead of failing.
The result is saved as an MP4. If you want to join clips first, try merge videos, then fade the finished film. If you need to remove a rough start or end instead of hiding it, use trim video.
The tool is free, needs no account and adds no watermark. Video tools are not counted in the free daily limit, which applies to document conversions only. The work happens on your own computer, so the video is never uploaded. See the privacy page for details, or browse all video tools.
It works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Most videos have no size limit, though some files, such as certain AVI or WMV videos, take longer and can be up to 2 GB.
Add a clean start and finish
A short fade is one of the simplest ways to make a clip feel finished. Choose a length, decide whether the sound should follow, and save.
Drop your video into the tool at the top of this page and press Add fades to fade video in and out. If the picture also needs correcting, use adjust video colour first. For a blue screen video, key out the backdrop before you add the fades.
