Actions define what auto-editor does to different parts of your media. By default, inactive (silent) sections are cut out and active (loud) sections are kept unchanged. Actions give you fine-grained control over this behavior.
Actions are specified using the --when-silent and --when-normal options:
# Cut silent sections (default behavior)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent cut
# Keep normal sections unchanged (default behavior)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal nil
These options have aliases:
--when-silent = --when-inactive, -w:0--when-normal = --when-active, -w:1Syntax: nil
Do nothing. Keep the section unchanged at normal speed with normal pitch.
# Keep everything, even silent sections
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent nil
Syntax: cut
Remove the section completely from the output.
# Remove silent sections (default behavior)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent cut
# Remove loud sections (inverted editing)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal cut
Syntax: speed:<value>
Change the playback speed while preserving pitch using time-stretching.
# Speed up silent sections to 8x (preserving pitch)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:8
# Slow down normal sections to half speed
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal speed:0.5
How it works: Uses FFmpeg's atempo filter to change speed without affecting pitch.
Syntax: varispeed:<value>
Change the playback speed by varying pitch, like analog tape or vinyl.
# Speed up silent sections with pitch variation
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent varispeed:2
# Create slow-motion effect with lower pitch
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal varispeed:0.5
How it works: Uses FFmpeg's asetrate + aresample filters to change sample rate, which changes both speed and pitch together.
Syntax: volume:<value>
Adjust the audio volume level.
# Reduce silent section volume to 20%
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent volume:0.2
# Boost loud sections
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal volume:1.5
Syntax: invert
Invert all pixels in the video section.
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent invert
Syntax: zoom:<value>
Zoom in or out by a factor.
# Zoom in 2x on active sections
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal zoom:2
# Zoom out on silent sections
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent zoom:0.5
You can combine multiple actions using commas. Actions are applied in the order specified.
# Speed up AND reduce volume
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:3,volume:0.5
# Combine speed and varispeed
# Effective speed: 1.25 × 1.25 = 1.5625x
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal varispeed:1.25,speed:1.25
# Triple action: speed, varispeed, and volume
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:2,varispeed:1.5,volume:0.8
Use --set-action to apply an action to a specific time range, overriding the default actions:
# Keep a section unchanged from 0 to 5 seconds
auto-editor video.mp4 --set-action nil,0,5sec
# Apply speed + varispeed from 30 seconds to the end
auto-editor video.mp4 --set-action speed:1.5,varispeed:1.5,30sec,end
The format is ACTION,START,END where ACTION can be any action or comma-separated list of actions.
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:8
# Slightly slow down normal sections for emphasis
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal speed:0.9
# Keep silent sections but reduce volume
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent volume:0.3
# Cut silence, slightly speed up speech
auto-editor podcast.mp3 --when-silent cut --when-normal speed:1.15
# Keep everything but boost quiet parts
auto-editor song.mp3 --when-silent volume:1.8 --when-normal volume:1.0
# Nightcore effect: speed up and pitch up
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal varispeed:1.25
# Slow-mo with deep voice
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-normal varispeed:0.75
# Fast silent sections with reduced volume
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:6,volume:0.4
The following options are deprecated but still supported:
# Old way (deprecated)
auto-editor video.mp4 --silent-speed 8 --video-speed 1
# New way (preferred)
auto-editor video.mp4 --when-silent speed:8 --when-normal speed:1
--cut-out and --add-in