How to switch from Descript to Rooster
To switch from Descript to Rooster, download each original recording from the Files list in Descript's Project panel, and export your subtitles or transcript if you want them. In Rooster, choose File > Import Media… and it transcribes the recording on your Mac. Delete words to cut, press C to correct, and use the Improve panel for filler words and pauses. Descript projects themselves do not open in Rooster.
Rooster works the way Descript does - the transcript is the edit, and deleting words cuts the video - so most of what you know carries straight over. What changes is where the work happens: Rooster transcribes, cleans up and exports on your Mac, so there is no upload and no monthly allowance to watch.
This post covers the move in four parts: what to take out of Descript, how to bring it into Rooster, how your Descript habits map, and what does not come with you. The Descript steps were checked against Descript's own help pages on 30 October 2026; if Descript has changed a menu since, its help centre wins. For the two products side by side, see Rooster vs Descript.
Take your files out of Descript first
Do this while your paid Descript plan is still running. Descript keeps your projects and media on its servers, its free plan exports at no more than 720p with a watermark, and its help centre says that deleting a Descript account removes every project, file and transcript in it.
The original recordings
The originals are what you want to edit in Rooster: the full take, before any cut, at the quality it was recorded.
- In a Descript project, open the Project panel from the right-hand sidebar.
- Go to the Files section.
- Click the ... button beside a file and choose Download.
Repeat for each recording you want to keep.
A finished video
If a video is already edited the way you want it, export it as a file rather than a Descript web link.
- Click Export in the upper-right corner of the editor and open the Video tab.
- Choose Local export as the destination.
- Pick a Resolution and click Export. Descript saves an MP4 to your Mac.
For a podcast or other sound-only project, the Audio tab offers .m4a, .wav or .mp3 under Local export.
A finished export has Descript's cuts built in. Rooster can trim it further, but it cannot bring back anything Descript cut: for that, bring the original.
The transcript and subtitles
Rooster transcribes every recording itself, so you only need these if you want them.
- Subtitles: in Export, choose the subtitles export rather than the video one, and set its Format to .srt (or .vtt). That is the file to upload to YouTube beside a video you have already published.
- The transcript: in Export, choose the transcript as a text file and set its Format to .txt. Keep it if you corrected a lot of names by hand; the next section shows how to reuse it.
Bring it into Rooster
Import a recording
- Choose File > Import Media… (⌘I).
- Choose one of your downloaded recordings and press Create Project.
Rooster makes a project named after the file and starts transcribing it on your Mac. To put several files in one project - a recording plus its B-roll, say - add the rest with File > Add Media…. The details are in Import video or audio.
If a download is a WebM file and Rooster will not open it, the free WebM to MP4 converter turns it into an MP4 in your browser, without uploading it.
Fix names and jargon
Rooster's transcript gets the odd name wrong, as any transcript does. Select the wrong words, press the C key - the same key as in Descript - type the right words and press Return. Only the words and the captions change; the video stays as it was. To fix the same word everywhere at once, tick the box the correction offers. See Correct the transcript.
Reuse a transcript you corrected in Descript
If you spent hours on a transcript in Descript, you can give Rooster that text instead of a fresh transcript. Export it from Descript as .txt with timecodes and speaker labels left out, then:
- Before you import, turn off automatic transcription: open the recorder from any project, press its gear button (Recorder settings) and turn off Transcribe when recording ends.
- Import the recording as above. In its script pane, press Start typing, paste the text and press Use as transcript.
- Press Align with audio. Rooster listens to the recording and times each of your words, so you can cut by text again.
Turn automatic transcription back on afterwards. The whole route is in Type or paste a script and align it with the audio.
Captions
Rooster does not read a subtitle file in. It does not need to: open the Captions rail and pick a style under Generate captions, and Rooster builds captions from its transcript, with your corrections in them. To give YouTube a subtitle file, choose File > Export… and pick SRT captions under Format. See Export SRT or VTT subtitles.
How your Descript habits map
| In Descript | In Rooster |
|---|---|
| Select words and press Delete to cut them | The same. A ¦ mark stays where the words were; click it and press Restore to bring them back |
| Ignore, which strikes words through so they do not play | No strikethrough. Every cut is already kept: its ¦ mark restores it whenever you like |
| Press C to correct the selection | The same key, or Correct on the bar over the selection |
| Correct mode, to type over the script | Edit > Correct Mode. Outside it, typing in the script changes nothing |
| Ask Underlord to improve the video | The Improve panel, headed Improve this video |
| Studio Sound | Studio Voice |
| Type / in the script to start a scene | The same: the / key starts a new scene at the caret |
| Automatic speaker detection | You label speakers by hand: select what they said, right-click and choose Label the speaker… |
Underlord's improve suggestions and Rooster's Improve panel
In Descript you ask Underlord, the AI co-editor in the right-hand sidebar, for edits in a chat, and every prompt draws on your AI credits. Its improve suggestions come back as a list in the chat, and you reply with the ones you want made.
Rooster's Improve panel, the first section of the rail on the right, is a list rather than a chat. Rooster looks by itself when you open a project and when a transcription finishes, and lists filler words, long pauses, silence at each end, retakes and false starts. Untick anything you want to keep and press Apply: it all lands as one step, one Undo (⌘Z) takes it back, and Rooster then shows each cut so you can keep or restore it. It runs on your Mac and draws on no credits. Retakes and false starts are found in English transcripts only. See Clean up a video in one pass.
Studio Sound and Studio Voice
In Descript, Studio Sound is a switch under Audio Effects in the Properties panel; it needs an internet connection and uses AI credits.
In Rooster, select the main recording, open Adjust and press the + beside Audio effects. Studio Voice runs on your Mac while you keep editing, and its switch compares the cleaned sound with your original. For a choice of strength first, choose Improve > Studio Voice…. Your original recording is never changed. See Clean up voice audio with Studio Voice.
Scenes
The / key starts a scene in both. In Rooster, to give some words their own look, select them and choose Layout on the bar over them, then Camera for the speaker alone, Media for a picture and the speaker together, or Picture with camera inset. That is three layouts, not Descript's gallery of layout packs. To merge two scenes, delete the boundary between them. See Divide a video into scenes.
Keyboard shortcuts
Most of Descript's Mac shortcuts do the same thing in Rooster:
| Action | Descript and Rooster |
|---|---|
| Play or pause | ⌘S |
| Undo, redo | ⌘Z, ⇧⌘Z |
| Find in the script | ⌘F |
| Find next, find previous | ⌘G, ⇧⌘G |
| Next scene, previous scene | ⇧⌘., ⇧⌘, |
| Next marker, previous marker | ⌥⌘., ⌥⌘, |
| Zoom the timeline in, out | ⌘=, ⌘- |
| Search actions | ⌘K |
| Export a file | ⇧⌘E |
| New project | ⌘N |
A few differ:
| Action | Descript | Rooster |
|---|---|---|
| Split at the playhead | S | ⌘B, once you have clicked a clip; before that it starts a scene |
| Add a marker | # | M, with the timeline focused rather than the script |
| Space | Plays and pauses from the script | Plays and pauses when the timeline has focus, not in the script: use ⌘S there |
| Ignore, restore removed media | Command-Delete, Shift-Command-Delete | No shortcut: click the ¦ mark and press Restore |
What does not carry over
Rooster is built for one person editing on their own Mac. Some of Descript does not come with you, and it is better to know now:
- Descript projects. Rooster cannot open a Descript project, a Descript project backup or a timeline export. Your cuts, scenes, layouts, layers and caption styles stay in Descript. Bring the original recordings and edit them again, or bring the finished export.
- Remote guests. Rooster records on your Mac only; it has nothing like Descript Rooms for recording people somewhere else. A recording made in another app imports like any other file.
- Collaboration. There are no shared workspaces, comments, project links or share pages. You export a file and share it however you like.
- AI voices. Rooster has no AI voices, voice clones, Regenerate, translation or dubbing.
- Windows and the web. Rooster runs on Macs with Apple silicon, on macOS 26 or later.
If those are most of what you use Descript for, keep Descript. If you work alone and record yourself on camera, everything else in this guide is the whole move.
When your files are out, how to cancel Descript covers the cancellation itself, refunds and what happens to the projects you leave behind. If Rooster is not the right fit, the best Descript alternatives ranks the rest of the field by the job you need done.