I’m shocked at how good the web-based CapCut editor is on a Chromebook

By now, you’ve likely come into contact with CapCut: the video editing phone app that is used by millions to make viral, short-form videos for services like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. I was a late adopter of CapCut, but as I’ve begun to use it more and more, I’m impressed by how many features there are to choose from when entering into an edit. From cutting up videos to adding text, effects, transitions and more, CapCut is all most people need to make that next viral video sensation.

But just the other day, I learned that they also make a fantastic web-based version of their awesome video editor. That’s right! You can actually build your videos right from the desktop without any need of an app at all, and the UI is unbelievably good. So good, in fact, that if you didn’t know better, you’d think CapCut was an online/web editor first, not a native app with a web-based component.

And this isn’t a dumbed-down experience, either. All of CapCut’s fonts, effects, transitions, and layouts are all here, making this a web app that you can quickly use to piece together a solid, well-made video with ease. I’m pretty new to the video editing game, but I’m doing a bit more of it here and there with Proof Golf (our new golf content concept) and without having to spend a ton of time figuring things out, I was able to build and export a video with relative ease.

Again, this isn’t something made to produce feature films, but it is more than enough to make some compelling content for the web. And it runs exceptionally well on the web, meaning it is quite good on your Chromebook. And with CapCut’s cloud services, you can start edits on your phone and finish them on your Chromebook with ease. Or go vice-versa and get a project together on the desktop and share it out from your phone instead.

The only thing really missing in this equation is full-blown template support. CapCut’s templates in their app are pretty great, and though they now have them in the web app, they aren’t searchable and the inclusion of the latest, greatest options don’t seem to be there yet. It seems that templates on the web are a bit new, so that could change. For now, if building videos starts with templates for your work flow, you’ll probably want to stick to the Android or iOS app for the time being.

Altogether, though, this web-based video editor is without doubt my new go-to for making quick video edits. Having access to CapCut’s tools on a larger screen on my Chromebook is a no-brainer and though I can get these kind of videos made on my phone, I’m far more comfortable doing so on a larger screen when possible. Hopefully, for some of you looking for a lightweight video editor on the go, CapCut can be the solution you’ve been searching for.