--- title: "Fix Shaky Video: Stabilize Footage Free | stabilize.video" description: "Fix shaky video in your browser: find out which shake can be removed, pick the preset that matches how it was filmed and save a steady copy. Free, no upload." url: https://stabilize.video/fix-shaky-video --- Free · runs in your browser # Fix shaky video footage Find out what kind of shake your clip has, pick the preset that matches how it was filmed and check the result against the original before you save it. Nothing is uploaded. Most shaky footage can be fixed after it was filmed, as long as the problem is the camera moving rather than the picture being blurred. A wobble from your hands, the bounce of walking, the buzz of a car mount or a drone swaying in the wind are all movements of the whole frame, and they can be measured and taken back out. Blur from a fast jolt is different: it is recorded inside each frame, and no stabiliser removes it. Open the clip in the box above and it is analysed on your device straight away. When the analysis is done, a preset that fits your footage may be marked **Suggested**; switch **View** to **Split** and drag the divider to see the difference before you **Export video**. If straight lines lean or the picture wobbles like jelly, that’s [rolling shutter](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter); if the shot should not move at all, make it a [locked-off shot](https://stabilize.video/locked-off-shot); and if you can’t spare any of the frame, see [stabilising without cropping](https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-without-cropping). Fix shaky video ## Guides to shaky footage ### When the shake is a particular kind * [ Fix the rolling shutter (jello) effect Straighten leaning lines and stop the wobble phones and drones add to fast movement. ](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter) * [ Make handheld footage look locked off Hold the frame completely still, like a tripod shot, instead of just smoothing it. ](https://stabilize.video/locked-off-shot) * [ Stabilize video without cropping Keep the whole frame and fill the edges, or zoom only where the shake needs it. ](https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-without-cropping) ## How to fix a shaky video 1. ### Open the clip Drop it on the box marked **Drop a shaky video to stabilise**, or press Ctrl+O (⌘+O on a Mac). On a phone, tap **Choose a shaky video** and pick it from your photos. Analysis starts by itself (**Analysing motion…**). 2. ### Pick how it was filmed Under **How was it filmed?**, try the **Suggested** card first. Otherwise choose **Walking** for bounce, **Running** for hard jolts, **Vehicle** for a car or bike mount, **Drone** for wind wobble, or **Tripod** for a shot that should stand still. 3. ### Compare it with the original Set **View** to **Split** and drag the divider across the picture, or choose **Side by side**. The line under **Zoom limit** says how much shake was removed and how far the picture zooms in. 4. ### Balance steadiness and zoom Raise **Smoothness** for a calmer camera, or lower it if a pan you meant starts to lag. If it zooms in too far, lower **Zoom limit** or set **Framing** to **Smart zoom**. 5. ### Export video Press **Export video** (Ctrl+Enter or ⌘+Enter), leave **Keep sound** on in the sheet that opens and press **Export video** again. Then **Download** the steady copy, or **Share** it from your phone. ## Which kind of shake do you have? Play the clip and watch a straight edge near the middle of the picture: a door frame, a lamp post, the horizon. How it moves tells you the cause, and the cause tells you which preset to start from. __Kinds of camera shake and the preset to try first__ | What you see | Usual cause | Start with | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | A small, quick tremble on a shot that should be still | Hands at arm’s length, often zoomed in | **Subtle**, or **Tripod** if nothing should move | | A steady up-and-down bounce, about twice a second | Footsteps while filming | **Walking** | | Big, irregular jolts | Running, cycling, a helmet or chest mount | **Running** | | A fine buzz, with the picture going wobbly | Engine vibration through a car, bike or boat mount | **Vehicle**, or **Jelly fix** if the picture wobbles like jelly | | A slow sway or a sudden lurch on an otherwise smooth flight | Wind against a drone | **Drone** | | Upright lines leaning during pans, or a jelly-like wobble | The camera’s rolling shutter | **Jelly fix** ([rolling shutter](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter)) | | Jumps between frames of a sped-up sequence | A timelapse or hyperlapse shot by hand | **Timelapse** | Not sure? Keep **Recommended**. It suits most clips, and switching presets afterwards only plans the camera path again, so trying three of them takes moments. ## What can and can’t be fixed ### Comes out well * Jitter and tremble from holding the camera by hand. * Walking bounce and sway, including footage filmed on the move with a phone. * Vibration from vehicles and mounts, and with **Jelly fix**, much of the jelly it causes. * Small, unwanted rotation and the keystone wobble of turning while you walk (**Correction** set to **Perspective**, as in **Recommended**). * A shot that drifts when it should be still: the **Tripod** preset holds it in place. ### Stays, whatever you use * **Motion blur.** A frame blurred by a fast jolt stays blurred, and once the movement is gone the clip can seem to pulse between sharp and soft frames. * **Focus hunting.** The lens pumping in and out of focus is not camera movement. * **Picture that was never there.** Steadying moves the frame, so the edges are either zoomed past or filled in; nothing recovers what was outside the shot. * **Parallax.** When a nearby object passes a distant one, they move by different amounts, and no single correction holds both still. **Warp** under **Correction** can soften small wobbles of this kind. * **Scenes with nothing to follow.** Clear sky, fog, open water, night and plain walls give the tracker little to hold on to, and a crowd or a subject filling the frame can pull it off course. **Ignore an area** leaves part of the picture out of the tracking; **Precise** under **Analysis** looks at finer detail. Two limits are this tool’s own. It measures the motion from the picture alone, with no gyroscope or lens data from the camera, and it saves HDR and 10-bit clips as standard 8-bit video. ## How much will it zoom in? To cancel the shake, each frame is shifted, turned and sometimes rescaled, which pulls its edges into view. The usual answer is to zoom in just far enough to keep those edges out of sight. How far depends on the shake: a gentle tremble needs a few per cent, a run or a bumpy road much more. **Zoom limit** sets the most it may use, and the line under that slider reports the zoom it really used. * **Crop to fit** picks one zoom for the whole clip, so the framing never changes. * **Smart zoom** zooms in only where the shake is worst and eases back out on the calm parts. * **Full frame** doesn’t zoom at all: the picture moves inside the frame and the gaps are filled, as [stabilising without cropping](https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-without-cropping) explains. When the shake needs more zoom than you allow, the planner lets the camera follow the original movement a little more closely in that stretch rather than show wide empty edges, and any thin gap that remains is filled as set under **Edges**. Lowering **Smoothness** keeps the camera closer to the original for the whole clip. ## Walking, running and drone footage ### Walking Each step lifts and drops the camera and rocks it slightly, about twice a second. **Walking** smooths that bounce heavily while keeping the direction you walked in, and uses **Smart zoom** so the calm stretches keep more of the frame. If the result feels floaty, lower **Smoothness** a little. ### Running and action cameras **Running** smooths much harder than **Recommended** while still following where you went, and allows more zoom. Expect some frames to stay soft: running shakes the camera fast enough to blur it. Wide action-camera lenses help, since the same shake moves a wide picture less, but there are no lens profiles here, so the curved edges of a fisheye picture can still wobble a little. That is why **Running** uses **Perspective**: **Warp**, which **Maximum** and **Jelly fix** use, can turn a fisheye’s curve into extra wobble, so keep it for other footage. ### Drones A drone usually flies smoothly, then catches a gust. **Drone** keeps nearly the whole frame and steadies the sway; setting **Analysis** to **Precise** helps it follow the fine detail of distant landscapes. Fine vibration that bends the picture is a rolling-shutter problem, covered on [the rolling shutter page](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter). ## Questions about fixing shaky video ### Why is my video shaky? Because the camera moved while it recorded: hands that can’t stay still, footsteps, wind or engine vibration. The further away or the more zoomed in the subject, the bigger a tiny movement looks on screen, which is why zoomed phone shots shake most. ### Can every shaky video be fixed? Most can be made much steadier, but not every clip comes out perfect. Shake is removable; motion blur, focus hunting and parallax are not, and scenes with almost no detail are hard to measure. Comparing in **Split** view shows quickly whether your clip is a good candidate. ### Will fixing the shake get rid of the blur too? No. Blur happens inside a single frame while the shutter is open, and stabilising only moves whole frames. A clip with lots of blur will look calmer but slightly soft in places. ### How far will the picture zoom in? Only as far as the shake needs, up to the **Zoom limit** you set, and the line under that slider tells you the figure. Choose **Smart zoom** to zoom only on the rough stretches, or **Full frame** to keep the whole picture and fill the edges instead. ### Is there a way to make a shaky video completely still? Yes, when the camera wasn’t supposed to move. The **Tripod** preset sets **Camera** to **Locked** and holds one position for the whole shot. A shot that pans or walks can’t be frozen, but **Cinematic** turns it into calm holds and straight moves. ### Which preset should I start with? The one marked **Suggested** after the analysis, which is picked from how your clip moves. If none is marked, **Recommended** suits most clips; the table above matches each kind of shake to a preset. ### Can I fix shaky video on my phone? Yes. Open this page in Safari or Chrome on the phone, choose the clip and export it there. Long 4K clips are quicker on a computer, and the [phone guide](https://stabilize.video/video-stabilizer-app) shows how to keep the site on your home screen. ## More ways to steady your footage * [ Stabilize a video online Smooth out shaky footage in your browser, with nothing uploaded. ](https://stabilize.video/) * [ Fix the rolling shutter (jello) effect Straighten leaning lines and stop the wobble phones and drones add to fast movement. ](https://stabilize.video/rolling-shutter) * [ Make handheld footage look locked off Hold the frame completely still, like a tripod shot, instead of just smoothing it. ](https://stabilize.video/locked-off-shot) * [ Stabilize video without cropping Keep the whole frame and fill the edges, or zoom only where the shake needs it. ](https://stabilize.video/stabilize-video-without-cropping) * [ OIS vs EIS, explained Optical, electronic and software stabilisation: how each works and what it costs. ](https://stabilize.video/ois-vs-eis) * [ Stabilise video on your phone, no app needed Use the stabiliser in your phone’s browser, and keep it on your home screen like an app. ](https://stabilize.video/video-stabilizer-app) * [ Compare video stabilisation software Free and paid stabilisers side by side, from Resolve and Warp Stabilizer to Gyroflow and FFmpeg. ](https://stabilize.video/video-stabilization-software)