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Rooster Help

In closed beta · Not yet on sale

Step-by-step guides to Rooster, the Mac video editor you edit by editing the transcript. Rooster is in closed beta and not on sale yet, so these guides describe the app its testers are using now, and each one says when it was last checked against it. Apply for the closed beta to try it.

  • Get started with Rooster: record, edit, export

    Your first video in Rooster, from the welcome screen to an exported file: record or import, let it transcribe, edit the words, then export.

  • Install Rooster on your Mac

    How closed beta testers install Rooster from its disk image, what the first launch asks for, and how Rooster keeps itself up to date.

  • Create a new project

    Make an empty Rooster project, name it, and add its first recording - or start typing a script and record against it later.

  • Import video or audio

    Bring a video or audio file into Rooster as a new project, add more media to a project you have open, or open a file from Finder.

  • Edit video by editing the script

    Cut words from the script to cut them from the video, put them back, and fix a misheard word without touching the picture - Rooster's text editing.

  • Where Rooster saves recordings and exports

    Find your Rooster recordings, exports and imported files on your Mac, change the recordings folder, and see what Rooster keeps in its own folder.

  • A tour of the Rooster editor

    The parts of Rooster's editor window and what each is for: the sidebar, the script, the canvas, the transport, the timeline and the rail.

  • Transcribe a video on your Mac

    How Rooster transcribes a recording on your Mac, the one-time speech model download, choosing a language or engine, and transcribing again.

  • Correct the transcript without changing the video

    Fix a misheard word or name in a Rooster transcript, correct every place it appears at once, type over the script in Correct mode, and undo a correction.

  • Restore words you cut

    Every cut in Rooster leaves a ¦ mark in the script. Find it, see how long the cut was, and bring the words and video back - or undo a batch of cuts at once.

  • Remove filler words

    Find every um and uh in a Rooster transcript, listen to each one, and cut the ones you approve from the video in one step you can undo.

  • Shorten long pauses

    Find the long gaps between words in a Rooster recording and shorten them all to a length you choose, or trim the silence at the start and end.

  • Teach Rooster to spell names your way

    Add names, brands and jargon to Rooster's transcription glossary so every new transcript spells them your way, and undo a respelling you did not want.

  • Change aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1

    Turn a landscape video into a portrait one for Reels, Shorts and TikTok, or a square one for feed posts, and choose whether the picture fits or fills.

  • Add B-roll over your video

    Cover part of your main recording with other footage or a still in Rooster: over words you select in the script, across a scene, or on the timeline.

  • Add text and titles

    Put a title, subtitle or line of text on the canvas in Rooster, choose its font, size and colour, and set how long it stays on screen. Shapes and images too.

  • Divide a video into scenes

    Split a Rooster video into scenes with the / key, then give each scene its own layout and a transition into it. Merge scenes, and move a boundary.

  • Add captions to a video

    Generate captions from a Rooster transcript in one click, choose how many words sit on each card, fix a word, and rebuild them after editing.

  • Style captions: font, colour, highlight, position

    Change a caption style's font, size, colours, word highlight, outline and position in Rooster, save it as a look, or style one scene differently.

  • Export SRT or VTT subtitles

    Save a Rooster project's captions as an SRT or WebVTT subtitle file for YouTube or any player, with your cuts and corrections applied.

  • Clean up voice audio with Studio Sound

    Remove background noise, room echo and hiss from a recording with Studio Sound, on your Mac, then compare it with the original before you use it.

  • Fix eye contact in a video

    Make it look as if you are looking into the camera while you read from a screen, with Rooster's on-device Eye Contact correction. It is in beta.

  • Remove the background from a video

    Remove the room behind you without a green screen, using Rooster's on-device Green Screen effect, then put a colour or a picture behind you instead.

  • Add background music and duck it under speech

    Add a music track on Rooster's Music lane, loop it to fill the video, set its level under your narration, and have it dip automatically while you speak.

  • Export a video

    Export a finished video from Rooster as an MP4, choose its resolution and frame rate, burn in captions, match loudness, and find the file afterwards.

  • Export audio only, as M4A or WAV

    Export only the sound of a Rooster project: a compressed .m4a for a podcast host, or an uncompressed .wav for mixing, with optional loudness matching.

  • Export the transcript as text or Markdown

    Save a Rooster project's transcript as a plain text file or as Markdown, with your cuts and corrections applied, for show notes, a blog post or a script.

  • What leaves your Mac, and when

    Rooster edits on your Mac, and your recordings are never uploaded. These are the few times it uses the network, what each sends, and how to avoid them.

  • The speech model is a one-time download

    Why Rooster downloads a speech model the first time you transcribe, what it means for your privacy, and what to do if the download fails or you are offline.

  • Allow Screen Recording for Rooster

    Why macOS never asks before Rooster records your screen, how to switch Screen Recording on for Rooster, and what to do when it is on and still refused.

  • Transcription failed or found no speech

    What to do when Rooster says it found no speech, a transcription did not finish, the speech model would not download, or a cloud service refused.

  • Send feedback or contact support

    Send a message to the Rooster team from inside the app, with a screenshot if it helps, or reach support on the web. What each sends, and nothing more.

  • Update Rooster

    Check for a new version of Rooster, let it update itself automatically, and see what changed. Updating keeps your projects, recordings and settings.