If you have ever finished a recording and immediately wished you could trim a rambling intro, cut a mistake, or fix muddy audio, you already know why so many people want to edit a Loom video. Screen recordings are quick to capture but rarely perfect on the first take, and Loom’s built-in editor only covers the basics. In this complete 2026 guide we’ll walk through exactly what Loom can do natively, when you should reach for a full video editor, and the fastest modern approach — editing your Loom as text with AI. By the end you’ll know how to handle every common edit and which method fits your skill level and deadline.
Knowing how to edit a Loom video properly saves hours of re-recording and makes the difference between a throwaway clip and a polished asset you can put in front of customers, students, or your team.
Loom ships with a lightweight in-browser editor that handles the most common cleanup tasks. It’s genuinely useful for fast tweaks, and for many internal videos it’s all you need. Natively, Loom lets you:
Here’s how to trim a Loom video natively:
Limitations to know. Loom’s editor is intentionally simple. There is no true multi-track timeline, so you can’t layer B-roll, overlay graphics freely, or fine-tune audio levels. Caption control and some editing features are gated behind higher-priced tiers, and you cannot re-record narration without recording your screen again from scratch. If you stumbled over a sentence, your only native option is to delete that section — you can’t fix the words. That’s where the next two methods come in.
When you need real control — transitions, overlays, color, precise audio mixing — the traditional route is to download the file and open it in a dedicated editor. Start by exporting the original: see our step-by-step walkthrough on how to download a Loom video to get the raw MP4 onto your machine.
From there you can import it into an editor such as:
A full editor gives you a proper timeline, multiple tracks, keyframes, and audio mixing. The trade-off is effort: there’s a real learning curve, projects take longer, and you’ll likely install software and manage large files. If you edit video regularly this is worth it. If you just want a clean, professional result without becoming an editor, the next method is dramatically faster.
ScreenStory takes a completely different approach. Instead of dragging clips on a timeline, you edit your video the way you’d edit a document — by typing. ScreenStory imports your Loom, transcribes it, and lets you reshape the narration as text. Change a sentence, and it regenerates a synced AI voiceover to match. There’s no timeline to learn and no re-recording — ever.
Here’s how to edit a Loom video with ScreenStory:
Everything runs in the browser with no install. Because editing is segment-level and text-based, fixing a flubbed line takes seconds instead of a re-shoot. It’s the recommended path for non-editors, busy teams, and anyone who’d rather write than wrangle a timeline. Pricing starts at $9.99/mo with a free trial.
Different tools shine at different tasks. Here’s how the three approaches compare across the edits people request most often:
| Edit task | In Loom | In a full editor | In ScreenStory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trim start/end | Yes, drag handles | Yes, on timeline | Automatic when you cut the matching script segment |
| Cut filler words | Manual, clumsy section deletes | Manual, tedious cuts | Delete the words from the text — voiceover regenerates clean |
| Replace audio | Not possible without re-recording | Possible but you must record new audio | Type new narration — AI voiceover regenerates in sync |
| Add captions | Limited, higher tiers only | Manual or auto-caption plugins | Word-level captions generated automatically |
| Add a presenter/avatar | No | Requires green-screen footage | One click — realistic AI talking avatar |
For a broader before-and-after walkthrough of turning a rough recording into something client-ready, see our guide on how to make a Loom video professional.
Yes. Loom’s built-in editor lets you trim, cut sections, and stitch clips after recording. For deeper edits — fixing the spoken words, replacing audio, or adding a presenter — you can download the file into a full editor or use a text-based AI tool like ScreenStory.
Yes. Inside Loom, set a split at the start and end of the unwanted portion, select it, and choose Remove, then save. In ScreenStory, you simply delete that part of the script and the video updates to match.
Loom’s native trim and cut tools are free for basic edits. For free timeline editing, download your Loom and import it into CapCut or DaVinci Resolve. ScreenStory also offers a free trial so you can test text-based editing before subscribing.
Yes — this is exactly what ScreenStory is built for. You edit the narration as text and the AI regenerates a synced voiceover, so you can fix mistakes, rewrite sentences, and remove filler words without ever recording your screen again.
For a single small clip, trim it in Loom. For anything involving the words you said or the audio quality, the easiest path is ScreenStory: paste your public Loom link, edit the script by typing, and export a polished MP4.
Upload a screen recording and get a polished tutorial with voiceover and talking avatar in minutes.
Start for Free