Editing Images and Videos

Orsa has a built-in editor for the photos and videos in your Assets library. Use it for quick fixes without leaving the app: crop a photo to a square, brighten it, add a caption, or trim a video down to its best 15 seconds.

Your original file is never changed. When you click Save to library, the edited version is saved as a new file next to the original, with -edited added to its name. You can also Download the result without saving it.

This guide covers:

• Opening the editor
• The image editor: crop and rotate, resize, adjust, filters, text, draw and objects
• The video editor: trim, speed and volume, crop and rotate, and looks and text
• Saving and downloading

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Open Assets.
2. Hover over a photo, click its menu button, and click Edit Image.
3. Click Crop, then Start crop, then 1:1. Drag the box where you want it and click Apply crop.
4. Click Filters and pick Vivid.
5. Click Save to library. You’ll see Saved edited image to your library, and the new copy appears in the same folder as the original.

Open the editor

1. Find the file on the Assets tab, or in the Files window when you attach files to something.
2. Hover over it and click its menu button.
3. Click Edit Image for a photo or Edit Video for a video.

The editor opens full screen. Tools are on the left, your file is in the middle, and the top bar has undo, redo, zoom and the save buttons.

Only photos and videos can be edited. Audio and text files have no edit option.

Top bar controls

• Undo (Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z or Cmd+Shift+Z).
• Reset to original throws away every change.
• Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit to screen (photos only).
• Close (or press Esc). If you have unsaved changes you’ll be asked Discard your unsaved edits?. Click Discard to close or Cancel to stay.

The image editor

The image editor has seven tools: Adjust, Filters, Crop, Text, Draw, Resize and Objects. Click a tool to see its settings.

Very large photos open at up to 4,096 pixels on their longest side.

Crop, rotate and straighten a photo

Click Crop.

Rotate & Flip: use Rotate left 90°, Rotate right 90°, Flip horizontal and Flip vertical.

Crop

1. Click Start crop.
2. Pick a shape: Free, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16 or 3:2.
3. Drag the box and its corners over the part you want to keep.
4. Use Straighten to tilt the photo up to 45° either way, for a crooked horizon.
5. Click Apply crop, or Cancel to leave it as it was.

Example: for an Instagram feed post, pick 1:1 and centre the box on your product. For a Story or Reel cover, pick 9:16.

Resize a photo

Click Resize.

1. Type a new Width or Height in pixels. The lock keeps the shape the same, so the other number changes with it. Click the lock to unlock it.
2. Or click a preset: Square 1080, Portrait 1080x1350, Story 1080x1920 or Landscape 1920x1080.
3. Click Apply resize.

A preset with a different shape from your photo stretches it. Crop to the right shape first, then resize.

Example: for a 1080x1350 portrait post, first crop with 3:4 (close to the same shape), then click Portrait 1080x1350 and Apply resize.

Adjust light and colour

Click Adjust.

• Light & Color: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Exposure, Temperature and Hue.
• Effects: Blur, Sharpen, Vignette, Grayscale, Sepia and Invert.

Drag the sliders and watch the photo change. Click Apply to lock the changes in, or Reset to put the sliders back.

Example: a dim restaurant photo looks better with Brightness up a little, Temperature warmer and a touch of Vignette.

Apply a filter

Click Filters and click a preset: Vivid, B&W, Warm, Cool, Vintage, Fade, Noir or Chrome. Click Original to remove it.

A filter is a set of Adjust settings, so you can fine-tune it on the Adjust tool afterwards.

Add text

1. Click Text, then + Add text.
2. Type your words in the text box on the photo, and drag it into place.
3. Pick a font (Arial, Georgia, Courier New, Trebuchet MS or Impact), colour, bold, italic and alignment.
4. Set Size, Opacity and Rotation.
5. Switch Highlight to On to put a coloured box behind the text.
6. Click Remove to delete the text box you’re working on.

Add as many text boxes as you like. Click one to select it.

Example: add NEW in Impact, white, with Highlight on in your brand red, in the corner of a product photo.

Need your brand fonts or a full layout? Use a design instead. See Using the Design Editor.

Draw shapes and arrows

Click Draw and pick a Tool: Brush, Eraser, Rect, Ellipse, Line or Arrow. Under Style, choose a Color, Size and Opacity. Then drag on the photo.

Example: circle the free-parking sign with Ellipse and add an Arrow pointing to your entrance.

Edit objects with AI

Click Objects to select one thing in the photo by describing it, then change or remove just that part.

1. Under Find an object, type what to find, like cup, person or shirt.
2. Click Find object. You’ll see how many were found, like 2 objects found.
3. Click an object, or Edit all 2 objects.
4. Change Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Vibrance, Temperature or Blur, then click Apply. Or click Remove to erase the object.
5. Click Back to pick another object, or New search to look for something else.

Objects always starts from the saved file in your library, not from the edits you’ve made so far in this session. If you’ve already cropped, adjusted or drawn, Find object is switched off until you undo or reset those edits. Use Objects first, then crop, adjust and add text.

The same object tools are in the design editor. For more detail, see AI Image Tools.

The video editor

The video editor has six tools: Trim, Crop, Adjust, Filters, Text and Resize. The video plays in the middle, with a timeline under it. Press the space bar or click play to watch your edit.

Trim a video

Click Trim.

1. Drag the handles on the timeline below the video to set where it starts and ends. The panel shows In, Out and Length.
2. Under Speed, pick 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x or 2x.
3. Under Volume, drag Level, or click the speaker to mute the sound.

Example: a 2-minute walkthrough of a new studio. Set In at 0:40 and Out at 0:55 for a 15-second Reel, and pick 1.5x to make it snappier.

Crop, rotate and flip a video

Click Crop.

• Rotate & Flip: Rotate left 90°, Rotate right 90°, Flip horizontal and Flip vertical. Handy for a phone video filmed sideways.
• Crop: click Start crop, pick a shape like 9:16 or 1:1, drag the box, then click Done. Click Clear to remove the crop.

Adjust, filter and add text to a video

These work like the image editor:

• Adjust: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Exposure, Temperature, Hue, Blur, Grayscale, Sepia and Invert.
• Filters: the same presets as photos, like Vivid or B&W.
• Text: click + Add text and style it the same way as on a photo. The text shows for the whole video.
• Resize: set a new size or pick a preset, then click Apply resize.

Save or download your edit

Both editors have two buttons at the top right:

• Save to library: saves the result as a new file in the same folder as the original, named like storefront-edited.png. The original stays as it was.
• Download: saves the result to your computer only.

Photos: pick PNG, JPEG or WebP next to the buttons. For JPEG and WebP, a slider sets the quality. PNG gives the sharpest result; JPEG and WebP make smaller files.

Videos: saving or downloading plays your edited video through once to record it, so it takes about as long as the edited video, or longer at slow speeds. You see Rendering video… or Rendering & saving video… with a progress bar. Click Cancel to stop.

When it’s done you’ll see Saved edited image to your library, Saved edited video to your library or Video downloaded.

Ideas for editing

One photo, every size. Make a square, a portrait and a story version of the same shot.

Example: a florist opens peony-bouquet.jpg, crops 1:1 and saves. Then crops 9:16 and saves again. The library now has the original and two edited copies.

A sale badge on a product photo. Add Text with Highlight on.

Example: 20% OFF in white Impact on a red highlight, top-left of a sneaker photo, saved as JPEG.

A short clip from a long video. Trim to the best moment and mute background noise.

Example: a gym trims a 3-minute class recording to the 12-second finale, clicks the speaker to mute it, and adds music later in a design.

Tidy up a photo. Use Objects to remove a distraction.

Example: a café types napkin, clicks Find object, picks it, and clicks Remove. Then crops and brightens the clean photo.

Tips for the best results

• Use Objects before anything else. Its results start from the saved photo, so do your crops, adjustments and text afterwards.
• Crop to the right shape before resizing. Resizing to a different shape stretches the picture.
• Save PNG for the best quality, and JPEG when you want a small file for social posts.
• Keep the tab in front while a video renders. The video plays through to record, so stay on the page until the progress bar finishes.
• Use Chrome, Edge or Safari for video edits. They can save MP4 files, which work everywhere in Orsa.
• Name your copies. Saved copies end in -edited. If you make several, check the thumbnails before using one.

Common questions

Did editing change my original file? No. Save to library always adds a new file. The original stays in your library, unchanged.

Where is my saved copy? In the same folder as the original, with -edited at the end of its name.

I don’t see Edit Image or Edit Video. Only photos and videos can be edited. Audio and text files don’t have the option.

The Download and Save to library buttons are greyed out in the video editor. Your browser can’t record video. You’ll see Video export is not supported in this browser when you point at the buttons. Try Chrome, Edge or Safari.

My saved video doesn’t show up in my library. Some browsers, like Firefox, can only save WebM video, and WebM files don’t show on the Assets tab. Edit the video in Chrome, Edge or Safari instead.

Video saving takes a long time. The editor plays the edited video through once to record it. A 60-second edit takes about a minute, and four minutes at 0.25x.

Find object is greyed out. Objects starts from the saved photo, so it’s off while you have other edits. Undo or reset them, use Objects, then make your other edits.

I get “No object matching “cup” was found.“ Try a simpler or different word, like mug instead of coffee cup, or a word for the whole thing, like person.

I closed the editor after saving and it asked “Discard your unsaved edits?”. Your saved copy is safe in the library. Click Discard to close.

My edited photo is smaller than my original. The editor works from the optimized copy Orsa keeps for each photo, which can be smaller than the file you uploaded.

The fonts I want aren’t in the text tool. The editor has five standard fonts. For your brand fonts, make a design instead. See Using the Design Editor.