--- title: How we built a free video editor that never uploads your... description: A developer shares the story of building Reels Editor, a browser-first video editor that processes files entirely on the client without uploading them to any... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How we built a free video editor that never uploads your files | daily.dev og:description: A developer shares the story of building Reels Editor, a browser-first video editor that processes files entirely on the client without uploading them to any... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/iOg9CMRlM.png og:image:alt: How we built a free video editor that never uploads your files og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How we built a free video editor that never uploads your files **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 6 min read · 17 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A developer shares the story of building Reels Editor, a browser-first video editor that processes files entirely on the client without uploading them to any server. The core technical challenge was replacing cloud-based FFmpeg rendering with browser APIs like Canvas, MediaRecorder, and browser codecs. Cross-browser inconsistencies — especially between Chrome, Safari, and iOS — were the biggest engineering hurdles. Privacy evolved from a technical constraint into the product's core philosophy, influencing every feature including AI background removal via on-device inference. The app is built with Next.js 15, React 19, TypeScript, and Prisma, with a content strategy around SEO to drive organic discovery. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@allinonetools** · 1 upvotes > Processing files locally is a huge win for trust. It's refreshing to see privacy shaping the architecture from day one. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Replit — We Built a Video Rendering Engine by Lying to the Browser About What Time It Is](https://daily.dev/posts/replit-we-built-a-video-rendering-engine-by-lying-to-the-browser-about-what-time-it-is-8jyaegwtp) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I replaced every online video editor with one self-hosted app on my NAS](https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-every-online-video-editor-with-one-self-hosted-app-on-my-nas-cve6svmcs) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [GitHub - ronak-create/FableCut: Zero-dependency browser video editor that AI agents can drive — JSON timeline, MCP \+ REST, live-reloading UI](https://daily.dev/posts/github---ronak-create-fablecut-zero-dependency-browser-video-editor-that-ai-agents-can-drive-json-wwjfarqow) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#nextjs](https://daily.dev/tags/nextjs) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How we built a free video editor that never uploads your files","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T08:05:56.352Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:14:39.805Z","description":"A developer shares the story of building Reels Editor, a browser-first video editor that processes files entirely on the client without uploading them to any...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/000bf3722f4e29af120685c571ea6c12?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/000bf3722f4e29af120685c571ea6c12?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":17},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"webdev,react,nextjs","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How we built a free video editor that never uploads your files"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-we-built-a-free-video-editor-that-never-uploads-your-files-iog9cmrlm","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Processing files locally is a huge win for trust. 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