Google Drive’s video player just got a huge upgrade: direct editing with Google Vids

Google Drive has been on a roll lately with a string of fantastic updates to its video player, including thumbnail previews, automatic captioning, and time-stamped transcripts. Now, Google is rolling out the logical—and most powerful—next step: you can now edit your Google Drive videos directly in your browser using Google Vids. This is a huge quality-of-life improvement that turns Drive into a more active hub for your video files, not just a place to store them.

From preview to project in one click

The new workflow is designed to be seamless. Before this update, if you wanted to make a quick edit to a video stored in Drive, you’d have to download the file, import it into a separate video editor, make your changes, and then re-upload it.

Now, that entire process has been reduced to a single click. When you’re previewing a video file in Google Drive, you’ll see a new purple “Open” button with the Google Vids icon in the upper-right corner. Clicking that button will instantly open your video in the Vids editor, ready for you to trim, add music, place text overlays, and much more.

Current limitations to be aware of

As with any new feature, there are a few limitations to be aware of at launch.

• It’s desktop only for now, and works best in Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
• It works with common video file types like MP4, Quicktime, OGG, and WebM.
• Your video files must be shorter than 35 minutes and less than 4GB in size.
• When you edit, a new Vids project file is created, so you’ll need to remember to save or export your final creation from Vids when you’re done.

This new integration is currently in an extended rollout that began on August 21st and is available to a wide range of Workspace, Education, and Google AI Pro/Ultra subscribers. It’s a fantastic update that makes simple, browser-based video editing more accessible than ever, right from the place you already store your files.