Capcut

CapCut, known in China as JianYing (Chinese: 剪映; pinyin: Jiǎnyìng) and formerly worldwide as ViaMaker, is a Chinese short-form video editing app. It was created by ByteDance, who owns its sister app TikTok.

CapCut was first released in China in 2019. At first, it was available for iPhone and Android. In 2020, it was renamed to CapCut (formerly ViaMaker in other countries) and became available around the world. Capcut later released new online and desktop versions for Mac and Windows devices.

In 2022, CapCut had 200 million active users. According to The Wall Street Journal, in March 2023, it was the second-most downloaded app in the U.S., behind that of the Chinese discount store Temu. CapCut has over 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store as of 2022.

The free version of CapCut has many features. They include speed options for adjusting the duration of clips. The Auto Captions tool can be used to generate video captions that can be edited within the app. This is no longer a free feature.^[1][2]

CapCut supports basic video editing functions. These include editing, trimming, and splitting clips. It allows the addition of new clips to projects but is limited to single-layer editing. However, the app supports overlay options that enable additional effects, including multi-layer editing. Users can also use many types of effects such as trending, opening and closing, nightclub, retro, glitch and distortion, vlog 3D, cartoon, dark and split. Users can export or save completed projects directly to different social media platforms.

Capcut Pro was released in 2023. It features things like pro effects, pro tools, and other things included with pro at the time not a lot of things were using pro.

In the middle of 2024, people started removing the app. This is because much of the app's features were pro. This angered many people. Capcut lost half of its users because of this problem.^[source?]

Some businesses use Capcut for making ads for their business, along with TikTok to promote and post their ads. The new features comes with AI in Capcut. By using AI technology business owners can make AI generated ads for their business.^[3][4]

Capcut has options for businesses as well as using business mode which comes with business sounds to avoid copyright from using them for commercial use.

Businesses use Capcut to normally edit as well. With such a free and easy editor their edits will help them boost popularity. This is why Capcut adores business.

On January 18 around 7:30-7:50, Capcut was unavailable due to the ban signed by former president Joe Biden. There was a message saying "Capcut is temporarily unavailable" with a note on the bottom.^[5]

This ban would mean businesses wouldn't be able to create edits, ads, or use AI to design curtain products. This decision got many negative reactions but it did not take long for the main app ban the bill had tried banning, TikTok would follow up being removed around 8:30, an hour after Capcut's ban. On January 19 around 8:00 am, Capcut returned after Donald Trump said he would extend the removal date by 75 days. Users could then see a message about how they are back online with media covering about it.

1. ↑ "TikTok makes app unavailable for U.S. users ahead of ban". NBC News. 2025-01-19. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
2. ↑ "Capcut Launches 'Commerce Pro' Package for Retail Promotions". Social Media Today. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
3. ↑ "AI Ad Generator". Retrieved 2025-03-12.
4. ↑ Anderson, Jimmy (2025-01-23). "10 Reasons to Switch to CapCut Commerce Pro for Ad Creation". BNO News. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
5. ↑ Maheshwari, Sapna (2025-01-21). "CapCut, a Video-Editing App From ByteDance, Returns for U.S. Users". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-12.