Learn / Glossary
The editing glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms and slang the editing community actually uses. New to a word you keep seeing? Find it here, then follow the link to the full guide.
- AMV
- Anime Music Video. An edit set to music using anime footage. One of the oldest and biggest edit styles. Read the guide →
- Beat sync
- Cutting and landing effects exactly on the beats of the song. Tight sync is most of what makes an edit feel clean and pro. Read the guide →
- CC
- Color correction, often used loosely to mean the coloring or color grade of an edit. A "CC" can also refer to a shared coloring preset editors pass around.
- Color grade / coloring
- The overall color treatment of an edit: contrast, saturation, and tone. A consistent grade across all clips is what ties an edit together and makes it look intentional.
- Completion
- The share of viewers who watch your edit to the end. The single biggest signal short-form platforms use to decide how far to push it. Read the guide →
- FYP
- For You Page. The algorithmic feed on TikTok (and the equivalent on Reels and Shorts) where edits get discovered. "Reaching the FYP" means the platform is pushing your edit beyond your followers. Read the guide →
- Hard cut
- A plain cut from one clip straight to the next with no transition. Most cuts in a good edit are hard cuts on the beat. Transitions are the exception, not the rule.
- Hook
- The first second or two of an edit: the moment that decides whether someone keeps watching or scrolls. The highest-leverage part of any edit. Read the guide →
- Interpolation / smoothing
- Generating extra frames so slowed-down footage stays smooth instead of stuttering. In CapCut this is the "smooth slow motion" option; it is essential for clean velocity edits. Read the guide →
- Keyframe
- A point where you set a value (position, scale, opacity, speed) so it animates from one keyframe to the next. The core tool behind manual zooms, shakes, and movement.
- Mask
- Hiding or revealing part of a clip using a shape or outline. Used for reveal transitions and for layering one clip inside another.
- Montage
- An edit that strings together many short clips (often gameplay or highlights) to a song. Common in game edits. Read the guide →
- Motion blur
- Blur added to fast-moving footage or transitions so motion looks smooth and natural instead of choppy. Helps sell speed in velocity edits.
- Overlay
- A texture, light leak, grain, or graphic layered over the footage at low opacity to add depth and style. An "overlay edit" leans heavily on these.
- Pacing
- The rhythm of an edit: how fast you cut and when you speed up or slow down. Good pacing is contrast, not constant speed. Read the guide →
- Pattern interrupt
- Anything that breaks the rhythm and resets a viewer’s attention mid-edit (a style change, a beat switch, a reveal). What keeps people watching past the middle. Read the guide →
- Phonk
- A genre of music with heavy, distorted beats that is a staple for hype, car, gym, and high-energy edits because it is easy to sync and hits hard. Read the guide →
- PSD
- A coloring preset (a Photoshop file or pack) editors apply to get a specific look. A "PSD edit" uses these for its color. In editing, PSD usually means the coloring, not the file format.
- Rarity tier
- Inkroy’s rating of how strong an edit is, expressed as a tier (Rare, Uncommon, or Common) alongside the score out of 100, so you instantly know where it lands. Read the guide →
- Raw clips
- Unedited source footage (anime scenes, gameplay, etc.) before any cutting or coloring. The quality of your raw clips caps how good the edit can look.
- Retention
- How well an edit holds viewers over its length, shown as the retention graph in your analytics. A cliff at the start is a hook problem; a steady slide is a pacing problem. Read the guide →
- Shake / camera shake
- A quick jitter of the frame on a beat to add impact, especially on a drop. Keep it short and land the peak on the beat. Read the guide →
- Sped up
- A faster version of a song, hugely popular for edits because the higher tempo packs more energy into a short clip.
- Transition
- The move between two clips: a blur, zoom, flash, whip, or mask. A more elaborate cut. Like any cut, it should land on the beat and stay short. Read the guide →
- Twixtor
- A plugin (used in After Effects and Alight Motion-style workflows) that creates ultra-smooth slow motion by generating frames. "Smooth twixtor" is the clean slow-mo look in many velocity edits.
- Velocity edit
- An edit built on speed ramping: footage that slows down, snaps fast through filler, and slams back on the beat for a smooth, punchy flow. Read the guide →
- Video spec
- The technical quality of the export: resolution, frame rate, and bitrate. Low video spec is why edits come out blurry, no matter how good the editing is. Read the guide →