The Best Way to Remove Silences from Videos Automatically

We tested 4 different video silence removers to see which is the most efficient and fast tool to remove silences from videos automatically.

We all have stumbled over our words, took pauses to finish our thought processes, or even forgot our lines. That’s inevitable. We’re human.

When things like this happen while filming, phrases like “we’ll just edit that out” become way too common. Then, we're stuck with raw footage that's longer than it needs to be.

Once we start editing, it ends up holding us back 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour. Next thing you know, you forgot what kind of transitional effects you wanted to add in the beginning of your video, or you lost time you could've used adding subtitles to your video.

Luckily for you, there is a tool out there to cut out the tedious editing we've all been dreading.

We’ve done the work for you and tested four silence removers for video editing to determine which video editor has the best tool for removing silences from your video automatically.

How long does it take to remove silences from videos manually?

For this test, I used the Kapwing Studio to remove silences from 4 minutes and 36 seconds of unedited footage. This ended up taking a total of 13 minutes and 55 seconds, shy away from a solid 14 minutes.

Manually editing 4 minutes of footage took almost 14 minutes.

For creators who record video podcasts, vlogs, tutorials, or even video presentations, cutting out the silences from an hour of unedited footage would take you 3.5 hours. That's 30 minutes longer than a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Dallas, Texas.

Kapwing's Smart Cut

Now if we take to Kapwing's Smart Cut feature, it automatically removes silences from the video in only 3 seconds. This was so quick, I was able to create a GIF rather than a video of the process.

With only two clicks, this automatic video editor creates seamless jump cuts, making your video higher quality with less effort. No matter how minute the silent gaps are, Smart Cut detects it for you to delete and give your audience a smoother viewing experience.

To use the automatic video editor in Kapwing, simply upload your video in the Kapwing Studio, select "Smart Cut" in the right side-bar, and click "Done!"

You can also choose to adjust the threshold or deselect any silences the tool might've detected. At the end of the day, it is your video! You're always in control here.

All in all, Kapwing's Smart Cut is user-friendly and requires minimal effort. This tool saved us over 3x the time it took to edit manually. Not to mention, it's free! You can access Kapwing's automatic video editor on any computer in your web browser without downloading any heavy duty software.

How other automatic silence removers compare

Learning how to remove silence from a video automatically shouldn't take anymore time away from you polishing your video. The automatic silence remover should be a tool that is not only efficient, but also intuitive.

For the following tools, we'll explore how easy it is to use, its price point, and the amount of steps needed from us to use its silence remover tool and cut out the silences out of a video.

Wondershare Filmora (Silence Detection Add-on)

For now, Wondershare Filmora only offers their silence detection add-on for Windows users.

If you are a Windows user, you'll have to download and install Filmora, then buy the silence detector as an add-on tool. You will have access to a 7-day free trial, but afterwards are prompted to pay either an annual subscription for $49.99/year or $79.99 for the perpetual plan. One thing to consider is that there will be a Filmora watermark on your videos if you haven't purchased a license yet.

When we tried removing silences automatically on Filmora, it took us about 5 minutes to learn how navigate the editor's interface and watch their tutorial video on how to access the Silence Detection tool. Before having the tool remove the silences from the video, I had to define what audio and silence were by adjusting the level of decibels under "Volume Threshold."

Overall, Wondershare Filmora's Silence Detection Add-On is extremely useful and fairly intuitive. However, if you are not a Windows user or are price sensitive, this might be a tricky choice for you.

Olive Video Editor

Even though Olive Video Editor is still in its development stage, it's impressive that they offer an audio silence remover.

To use this tool, we had to download and install Olive Video Editor. Because we're on a Mac OS, the .zip file was unable to open because our computer automatically detected this file to come from an "unidentified developer," since both versions of the Olive Video Editor are still in the development stages. This was only a small hiccup that added a couple minutes to learning how to use the software and editing our video.

Once we were able to properly install the editor after adjusting some settings in the System Preferences, getting to the tool was fairly easy in a few clicks. All we had to do was upload our video, then right-click and find "Auto-Cut Silence."

The only thing that I noticed was that once the editor has automatically cut the silences in your video, you still have to go through your footage to delete those silences manually.

Adobe Premiere Pro - Audition

To access the auto-silence detector in Adobe Premiere Pro, you would have to download Adobe's Audio Workstation called Audition. You would be able to do this through their 7-day free trial, but afterwards, pay the subscription with the options of $20.99/month with annual commitment or $31.49 on a month-to-month plan.

This tool was a bit more tricky since Adobe has its way of tending to the details of your footage. Technically, there were two options we could've gone down when cutting the silences out of our video: Delete Silence or Mark Audio.

After watching a video tutorial by Adobe, "Delete Silence" seems like a shortcut to do what we wanted to do and "Mark Audio" allows us to define what noise and silence is for the tool to detect them. At the end of it all, it took us about 10 minutes to learn and cut out the silences we didn't want.

This selection of video editors that removes silences automatically from videos for you evidently brings efficiency, speed, and detail. Depending on what you're willing to invest in (paying a subscription, installing a new software, or just using a cloud-based video editor in your web browser), you'll have no problem finding something that will definitely bring the fun back to editing.

To learn more about Kapwing's new features and video-editing tutorials, follow @KapwingApp on Twitter and Instagram. You can also keep updated with new tools and how to use them in our Resources Library. For more announcements and step-by-step tutorials, check out our YouTube channel as well!

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