elemoid EDITBRAIN
EDITBRAIN

The film editor built for
the weight of cinema.

A free, open-source non-linear editor built from the ground up for the demands of feature film and long-form documentary — offline-first, automation-first, distributed by nature, and radically customisable.

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Why we're building this

Less friction.
More craft.

editbrain is designed to remove the friction between you and the cut. Automate anything repetitive. Let the tool understand your rushes — transcripts, metadata, content — so you spend your time on the decisions that actually matter.

Every workflow is scriptable. Conforms, batch operations, complex reorganisations — describe it once, run it forever. The architecture understands your footage at a deep level, so the tool can work with you instead of waiting for you. Open source, and ready for whatever comes next.

The next evolution of filmmaking is a tool that knows what's in your footage before you've watched it all. That's what we're building towards.
Built for the work

Story first.
Everything else follows.

The best part of editing is disappearing into the story. Everything in editbrain is designed to keep you there — fast enough to think with, smart enough to work with, open enough to make yours.

Fast enough to disappear

Offline editing, first. The timeline responds before you've finished thinking — full functionality on your own hardware, no internet required. But it doesn't stop there. Run entirely in the cloud. Work across two sets of proxies on opposite sides of the world, sharing one timeline. Or anything in between. The architecture scales from a single laptop to a distributed facility — but always fast enough that the tool disappears and you stay inside the cut.

Never do the same thing twice

If you can describe a task, you can automate it. Conform an entire project. Batch-rename by metadata. Move every clip matching a condition onto a new track. Every action is scriptable — write it once, share it with your team, and never think about it again.

Your director watches from their desk

Mixers, controls and monitors on different machines, all connected to the same brain. Share your session with a director or producer — locked bins so they can review without disrupting your edit. Distributed projects, without distributing the media.

Sound that's ready for delivery

Proper mixing inside the editor. Live LUFS metering, automated levelling, mic-type detection, real-time monitoring and time-stretch that actually works. Scopes built in. A signal path designed for broadcast deliverables, not an afterthought.

Change every title at once

Instanced effects mean one change updates everywhere. A real-time titling engine built in. Extremely fast playouts. Deep integration points for SFX libraries, image generation, and your existing production services.

Make it yours

Want to control the brain with your foot? Go for it. Every input, every surface, every workflow is yours to rewire. Open pipe architecture — if you can imagine a workflow, you can build it.

Colour that just works

ACES and OpenColorIO from day one. Proper display management, scopes on every output. Full grading tools when you need them, completely out of the way when you don't.

It knows what's in your rushes

Transcription that lives inside your timeline — but search goes far beyond keywords. Semantic understanding of what was said, what was meant, and what was shown. Visual descriptions of every shot. Smart selects that surface what you need before you knew you needed it. This is the start of an AI future built to help you — not replace you. The architecture is wide open, ready for what comes next.

Under the hood

Nine modules.
One open system.

editbrain is built as nine purpose-built modules, each scriptable and extensible. Nothing is legacy. Everything talks to everything else through an open pipe — which means you can reshape any part of it.

CORTEX
timeline / editor
OPTIC
colour / grading
RECALL
media / bins / search
COCHLEA
audio / mix
STEM
ingest / capture / i/o
LOBE
effects / titles / vfx
REFLEX
ai / auto-assembly
SYNAPSE
collaboration / share
SIGNAL
delivery / encode
Founder's mission

Built with love, because
it's what we love doing.

editbrain exists because I've sat in the cutting room at 2am and thought: this could be so much better. I know what it feels like when the tool disappears and you're just in the story — and I know how rare that feeling is. I want to make it the default.

I'm building the editor I've always wanted to use. One that treats long-form professionals as first-class citizens. One that's fast enough to disappear, so you can stay inside the story — not inside a colour page, not inside a settings dialog, not waiting for a render. Inside the story. Open source, free to use, and built by someone who still stays up in the middle of the night because the cut isn't right yet.

Stephen Ellis ACE
Founder · elemoid Foundation
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