Video Editor gives you a structured interface for planning video edits inside WordPress. Users can bring in video files, define trim points, and arrange clips into a sequence — producing a complete edit plan that your chosen processing backend can act on. The plugin handles the editorial workflow; the actual transcoding is yours to wire up however you like.
How It Works
Video Editor separates two concerns that are often bundled together: planning the edit and processing the video. The plugin owns the first part entirely. Once an edit plan is finalised, it produces a structured output that a developer can pass to any processing service — AWS MediaConvert, FFmpeg, a custom Lambda function, or anything else.
- Clip management — bring in video files and define each clip: set an in-point and an out-point to trim it down to exactly the segment you need.
- Sequence builder — arrange clips into a defined order. Drag to reorder, remove clips, or add the same source file as multiple clips with different trim points.
- Edit plan output — once the sequence is ready, the plugin generates a structured representation of the edit: an ordered list of clips with their source references, trim points, and sequence positions.
- Processing-agnostic — the plugin makes no assumptions about how the video will be rendered. A developer hook receives the edit plan and can pass it to AWS MediaConvert, trigger an FFmpeg job, call a custom API, or any other processing pipeline.
The Edit Plan
The core output of Video Editor is the edit plan — a structured description of the final video. Each entry in the plan describes one clip: which source file to use, where to start within it, where to end, and where it sits in the sequence. A developer consuming this plan has everything needed to construct a MediaConvert job, build an FFmpeg filter chain, or call any other compositing service.
The plan is exposed via a developer hook so it can be handed off to processing automatically when a user submits their edit, or stored for batch processing later.
Built for Developers
The processing layer is entirely up to you. Common patterns include:
- AWS MediaConvert — map the edit plan to a MediaConvert job with input clippings and output group settings. MediaConvert handles the transcoding and delivers the rendered file to S3.
- FFmpeg — translate the plan into an FFmpeg filter graph or concat demuxer manifest and run the job on your own server or via a Lambda function.
- Custom pipeline — pass the plan to any internal or third-party video processing API of your choosing.
This separation means the editing interface stays consistent regardless of how your infrastructure changes. Swap out your processing backend without touching the WordPress-side workflow.
Setup
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Add the Video Editor block to any page or post where users should be able to build their edit.
- Hook into the edit plan output to connect your processing backend of choice.