streamlit-nle

A professional non-linear video editor component for Streamlit

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streamlit-nle (Non-Linear Editor) is a fully-featured video/audio timeline editor that runs inside any Streamlit application. It brings real NLE capabilities — multi-track timelines, clip manipulation, transport controls, media management, and keyboard shortcuts — directly into the browser, with no server-side dependencies beyond Streamlit itself.

Features

Multi-Track Timeline

• Unlimited video & audio tracks — add as many tracks as your project needs
• Drag-and-drop clip placement — move clips freely along the timeline or between tracks
• Clip trimming — drag the left/right edge of any clip to trim its in/out points
• Razor tool — split a clip at the playhead position with a single click
• Snap-to-grid — clips snap to second boundaries for clean edits (toggle with S)
• Track controls — per-track Mute, Solo, and Lock buttons

Video Preview

• Integrated preview panel — displays the video file at the current playhead position
• Transport-linked playback — preview follows the playhead in real time during play
• Frame-accurate seeking — click the timeline ruler or use keyboard shortcuts to scrub
• Timecode overlay — always-visible timecode in HH:MM:SS format over the preview

Audio Engine

• Real-time audio playback — HTML5 Audio elements are created per clip, synced to the timeline clock
• Drift correction — audio position is automatically corrected when it drifts more than 150 ms from the playhead
• Mute / Solo aware — the engine respects per-track mute and solo states
• Automatic cleanup — audio elements are properly disposed on unmount to prevent memory leaks

Media Bin

• File import — click Import or the Media Bin's + Import link to add video, audio, or image files
• Drag from bin to timeline — drag any media item from the bin and drop it onto a track (or outside existing tracks to auto-create a new one)
• Thumbnail generation — video files are sampled at 2 seconds for an automatic thumbnail (with a 5-second timeout fallback)
• Metadata display — each item shows its type (VIDEO / AUDIO / IMAGE), duration, and file size
• Extension-based MIME detection — supports .mp4, .webm, .mov, .avi, .mkv, .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a, .flac, .aac, .jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, and more

Resizable & Collapsible Layout

• Three independent sections — Preview, Media Bin, and Timeline
• Drag-to-resize dividers — grab the divider between sections and drag to redistribute space
• Collapse any section — click the section header's arrow to collapse it to a slim tab; click again to restore
• Remembers proportions — section sizes persist during the session

Editing Tools

• Select tool (V) — click to select clips, drag to move them
• Razor tool (C) — click a clip to split it at the playhead
• Mark In / Out (I / O) — set in/out markers on the timeline ruler
• Loop region (L) — toggle looping between the in and out markers
• Undo / Redo (⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z) — full history stack with unlimited undo
• Copy / Paste (⌘C / ⌘V) — duplicate clips across tracks
• Delete (Delete / Backspace) — remove selected clips

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Space or K	Play / Pause
J	Jump back 5 seconds
← / →	Nudge playhead by 1 second
Home	Jump to start (0:00)
End	Jump to end of last clip
V	Select tool
C	Razor tool
S	Toggle snap
I	Set mark in
O	Set mark out
L	Toggle loop
⌘Z	Undo
⌘⇧Z	Redo
⌘C	Copy selected clip
⌘V	Paste clip
Delete	Remove selected clip

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Installation

pip install streamlit-nle

Note: The PyPI package is named streamlit-nle because streamlit-video-editor was already registered. The Python import remains streamlit_video_editor.

Quick Start

import streamlit as st
from streamlit_video_editor import st_video_editor

st.set_page_config(layout="wide")
st.title("🎬 Video Editor")

result = st_video_editor(key="editor")

if result:
    st.write(f"Tracks: {len(result.get('tracks', []))}")
    st.write(f"Playhead: {result.get('playhead', 0):.1f}s")

API Reference

st_video_editor

st_video_editor(
    tracks: list[dict] | None = None,
    height: int = 700,
    key: str | None = None,
) -> dict | None

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
tracks	list[dict] or None	None	Initial track data. When None, the editor starts empty and tracks can be created interactively.
height	int	700	Height of the editor component in pixels. The layout adapts to the available space.
key	str or None	None	An optional key that uniquely identifies this component. Required when placing multiple editors on one page.

Return Value

Returns a dict (or None before first interaction) with the following structure:

{
    "tracks": [
        {
            "id": "track-1",
            "name": "Video 1",
            "type": "video",          # "video" or "audio"
            "muted": False,
            "solo": False,
            "locked": False,
            "clips": [
                {
                    "id": "clip-1",
                    "name": "Interview_A.mp4",
                    "start": 2.0,      # start position in seconds on timeline
                    "duration": 12.0,  # clip length in seconds
                    "src": "blob:...", # object URL of media file (browser-local)
                    "type": "video",
                    "offset": 0.0,     # source-media offset (for trimmed clips)
                    "mediaId": "m-1"   # reference to media bin item
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "playhead": 7.25  # current playhead position in seconds
}

Data Structures

Track

Field	Type	Description
id	str	Unique track identifier (auto-generated if omitted)
name	str	Display name shown in the track header
type	str	"video" or "audio" — determines track color scheme
muted	bool	Whether the track's audio is muted
solo	bool	Whether the track is soloed (only soloed tracks play audio)
locked	bool	Whether clips on this track are locked from editing
clips	list[dict]	List of clip objects on this track

Clip

Field	Type	Description
id	str	Unique clip identifier
name	str	Display name (usually the file name)
start	float	Start time on the timeline in seconds
duration	float	Duration in seconds
src	str	Object URL or data URL for the media file
type	str	"video", "audio", or "image"
offset	float	Offset into the source media (for trimmed clips)
mediaId	str	Reference to the corresponding media bin item

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Usage Examples

Pre-populated Timeline

import streamlit as st
from streamlit_video_editor import st_video_editor

initial_tracks = [
    {
        "id": "v1",
        "name": "Main Video",
        "type": "video",
        "muted": False,
        "solo": False,
        "locked": False,
        "clips": [
            {"id": "c1", "name": "Intro", "start": 0, "duration": 5,
             "type": "video", "offset": 0},
            {"id": "c2", "name": "Interview", "start": 5, "duration": 15,
             "type": "video", "offset": 0},
        ],
    },
    {
        "id": "a1",
        "name": "Background Music",
        "type": "audio",
        "muted": False,
        "solo": False,
        "locked": False,
        "clips": [
            {"id": "c3", "name": "Ambient.mp3", "start": 0, "duration": 20,
             "type": "audio", "offset": 0},
        ],
    },
]

result = st_video_editor(tracks=initial_tracks, height=800, key="editor")

Reading the Edit Back

result = st_video_editor(key="editor")

if result and result.get("tracks"):
    for track in result["tracks"]:
        st.subheader(f"🎚️ {track['name']} ({track['type']})")
        for clip in track.get("clips", []):
            col1, col2, col3 = st.columns(3)
            col1.metric("Clip", clip["name"])
            col2.metric("Start", f"{clip['start']:.1f}s")
            col3.metric("Duration", f"{clip['duration']:.1f}s")

Controlling Editor Height

# Compact mode for dashboards
result = st_video_editor(height=400, key="compact")

# Full-screen editing
result = st_video_editor(height=900, key="fullscreen")

---

Architecture

The component is built with a React 18 frontend communicating with Streamlit via the bidirectional component API (streamlit-component-lib).

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Python (Streamlit)                         │
│  st_video_editor(tracks, height, key)       │
│       ↓ args         ↑ componentValue       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  React Frontend (iframe)                    │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │ Toolbar (transport, tools, zoom)     │   │
│  ├────────────────────┬─────────────────┤   │
│  │ Video Preview      │ Media Bin       │   │
│  │ (HTML5 <video>)    │ (imported files)│   │
│  ├────────────────────┴─────────────────┤   │
│  │ Timeline                             │   │
│  │ ┌─────────┬──────────────────────┐   │   │
│  │ │ Track   │ Clips on grid        │   │   │
│  │ │ headers │ (drag, trim, razor)  │   │   │
│  │ └─────────┴──────────────────────┘   │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Transport system — requestAnimationFrame loop drives the playhead at 30 fps during playback
• Audio engine — one HTMLAudioElement per clip, with seek + drift correction on every animation frame
• Video preview — a single <video> element that is currentTime-synced to the playhead
• State — React useState with a custom undo/redo history stack; changes are debounced before being sent to Streamlit via Streamlit.setComponentValue()
• Layout — CSS flexbox with draggable resize dividers; section heights are stored in component state

Browser Compatibility

Browser	Status
Chrome / Edge 90+	✅ Full support
Firefox 90+	✅ Full support
Safari 15+	✅ Full support
Mobile browsers	⚠️ Usable but optimized for desktop

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• Streamlit ≥ 1.28.0

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

Links

• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/streamlit-nle/
• GitHub: https://github.com/RhythrosaLabs/streamlit-video-editor
• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
• Issues: https://github.com/RhythrosaLabs/streamlit-video-editor/issues