How to Edit Videos With AI: Examples, Tools, and Best Practices

Removing an object or changing the background in a video might look trivial, but it’s actually a very difficult task. These changes typically require complex masking and frame-by-frame refining. Because of this demanding process, creatives are often forced to sacrifice either their specific visual vision or the project’s velocity.

Integrating AI into your video editing workflows can speed up the process and help you avoid sacrificing your vision. Modern AI video editing tools allow you to remove an unwanted object, replace a subject, or swap out an entire background using simple text commands and reference images.

In this blog, we will walk you through how to use AI for video editing. We will cover what these tools can change within a video, how to structure your editing process, and professional techniques to help you get the best possible results.

What Can AI Edit in a Video

Just as with AI image editing, the possibilities of AI video editing are vast and support a wide variety of creative applications. However, there are a few large categories in which the majority of video editing operations fall. Let’s explore each.

Object Engineering

One of the most practical applications of AI video editing is adding, removing, or replacing specific elements within your footage.

Here are some practical use cases:

1. Replace the garment in a video shoot. You can film a model walking down a street once, and then swap their outfit multiple times to showcase an entire seasonal catalog without needing costume changes on set.
2. Erase unwanted background distractions. If a piece of production equipment is left in the frame, you can ask AI to remove it and automatically reconstruct the missing background behind it.
3. Populate an empty set with specific assets. You can take a video of a blank room and insert a modern glass table or a piece of technology onto a counter to build out the environment without renting physical furniture.

Subject Engineering

Similar to object engineering, you can use AI to add, replace, or remove a person within your video.

Here are some practical use cases:

1. Swap the main actor for localized marketing. You can take an existing advertising campaign and replace the primary subject with a different generated model to appeal to a specific regional demographic, keeping the original lighting and camera movement intact.
2. Remove people from the background. If a person walks unintendedly into your shot, you can use AI to remove them and fill in the space behind them.
3. Add a person to an empty environment. You can take a sweeping drone shot of a landscape and insert a hiker walking along a trail to give the scene scale and a human focal point.

Background Change

Background replacement allows you to completely change the environment surrounding your main subject without needing a physical green screen or complex 3D tracking software.

Here are some common practical use cases:

1. Place subjects in entirely new worlds. You can take footage of an actor walking down a standard street and replace the background with a fantasy landscape or an anime-inspired city to match a specific art style.
2. Create a green screen. This might sound a bit counter-intuitively, but you can replace the entire background with a green screen, then import it into your editing software for more complex edits.
3. Update architectural visualizations. You can take a basic structural video rendering of a house and place it within a fully realized neighborhood or dense forest setting to help clients visualize the final property.

Environmental & Atmospheric Changes

Changing the weather or time of day in a video usually means scheduling difficult, weather-dependent reshoots. AI allows you to recalculate the illumination and atmospheric conditions of your existing footage.

Here are some common practical use cases:

1. Convert a sunny day into a rainy scene. You can take a commercial filmed on a sunny coastal highway and alter the atmospheric haze, add precipitation, and change the ground reflections to create a moody, overcast environment.
2. Adjust the time of day for real estate listings. You can upload standard property footage shot at midday and convert it into a dusk or nighttime scene to help your clients visualize the possibilities.
3. Change the season of a landscape. If you have a video of a location, you can prompt the AI to change the weather to snowy, which can change the mood of the video 180 degrees.

Style Transfer & Color Grading

Style transfer allows you to apply an entirely new aesthetic to your footage by mapping the specific visual characteristics of a reference image (or just your prompt) directly onto your video.

Here are some common practical use cases:

1. Relight a scene with a cinematic color palette. You can edit a video by instructing the AI to apply a dramatic sunset lighting setup with long shadows and a cinematic blue-and-orange color grade.
2. Visualize your video in multiple styles. If you’re a filmmaker looking for the right style for your next film, you can visualize a test scene in multiple AI art styles.
3. Apply material finishes to architectural renders. You can take a basic structural video of a building and switch the materials from brutalist concrete to warm timber, providing multiple aesthetic options without re-rendering the 3D project.

How to Edit a Video With AI

To edit a video with AI on Leonardo, start by clicking the Edit Video button on the video you want to edit.

Next, type a prompt that describes the edits you need:

A better workflow, however, is to couple your prompt with a reference image describing precisely what you want to change:

When you are ready, choose your AI video editing model (we’ll learn more about this in a bit) and click Generate:

Note: At this moment, you can only edit generated videos on Leonardo, as uploading your own video is not yet supported.

AI Models for Video Editing

Editing a video requires dedicated AI models because most standard models are built strictly to generate new videos from scratch, not to modify existing footage (see our AI video models guide for the creative applications of each model). On Leonardo, you can choose between two specialized editing models: Kling Omni O1 and Kling Omni O3. 

Kling Omni O1

As the first model in the Omni series, O1 is a highly capable tool for basic video editing. It is efficient and reliable, making it the right choice for simpler editing tasks. Use O1 when you need to replace a single object or subject, apply a new color grade, or execute a straightforward background change.

Kling Omni O3

O3 is the most advanced model in the Omni series and offers the highest level of capability. Because it handles heavier processing, it costs more to use, so you will want to apply it strategically. O3 is the best option for complex video editing tasks, such as replacing multiple objects at once, managing advanced motion editing, or making intricate scene modifications where maintaining strict consistency is required.

Professional Tips for Better AI Video Edits

Use a Reference Image

Relying entirely on prompts is rarely enough to guarantee precise visual consistency across a moving video. By uploading a specific reference image, you provide the AI with more precise context. This locks in place the specific geometry of a product or the unique facial features of a character as the camera moves, giving you far more control over the final edit.

Match the Start Frame

For the most accurate results, your reference image should closely match the first frame of the video you are editing. If you want to change a model’s garment, we recommend the following workflow:

1. Export the start frame from your video (you can do this by taking a screenshot or by using a video editor).
2. Edit the exported start frame using an image editing model like Nano Banana to show the new clothing.
3. Upload that newly edited still frame as your visual reference, giving the video AI a perfect, one-to-one starting point to build the motion from.

Upscale Your Image

Always upscale your reference images before feeding them into the video editing model. Providing a high-resolution starting point gives the AI significantly more pixel data to work with during the motion phases of the video. This simple preparation step helps prevent the blurry textures, morphing glitches, and strange visual artifacts that often occur when the model is forced to interpret low-resolution or heavily compressed source files.

Match Your Resolution

Consistency in your aspect ratios is a small detail that can make a difference in output quality. If you are editing a widescreen 16:9 video, make sure your uploaded reference image is also formatted as 16:9. Aligning the dimensions saves the AI from having to calculate how to crop, stretch, or fill mismatched borders, allowing it to focus all its processing power directly on the edits you requested.

Prompting Tips for AI Video Editing

When using a reference image, your text prompt should be minimal and precise, since the image already handles the visual style. State exactly what action or replacement you want to occur, and always end your command by instructing the model to keep the rest of the scene intact if you only want a targeted edit. For example, here’s a good prompt: “Replace the woman in the video with the woman in the reference image while keeping everything else the same.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A frequent stumbling block for creators is trying to fix a failing edit by endlessly tweaking the text prompt. If the model is struggling to understand your instructions, stop iterating with words and upload a clear reference image to guide it visually. Another common mistake is asking the AI to perform impossible physics. Keeping your requests grounded in realistic physical interactions will reduce the chances of warped limbs or distorted environments.

Less Compromise on Your Vision

You can now partner with AI to handle the tasks that used to slow down production, like erasing a stray bystander from a shot, replacing a placeholder prop with your branded product, or changing the weather to fit a specific mood.

However, AI video editing is not here to replace the creative craft. These new editing capabilities simply give you the flexibility to adapt and refine your work, but your story is ultimately yours to tell.