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Welcome to the user guide for Sound and Video.
This tool lets screen reader users do basic video and audio editing.
The features are kept as simple as possible, with a focus on cutting, merging and audio processing.
Every action is confirmed with a sound and a message in the event log that the screen reader announces.
Supported formats:
MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, VOB, MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, M4A.
VOB is a DVD format and is fully supported.
How to use Sound and Video
1. File menu
Open file: Ctrl O.
Opens the file selection dialog.
Save changes: Ctrl S.
Saves all changes to the original file.
Save as: Ctrl Shift S.
Saves the part cut between the markers to a new file, in the format of your choice.
Shrink file size: Alt Shift 1.
Shrinks the file size with a small quality loss, useful for sharing.
Close file: Ctrl W.
If there are unsaved changes, the program will ask what to do.
2. Edit menu
Start marker: Ctrl Shift Q.
Marks the start of the part you're interested in.
Pause where you want, then press the shortcut.
End marker: Ctrl Shift E.
Marks the end of the part you're interested in.
Trim: Ctrl T.
Keeps only the part between the markers, removes everything else.
Select all: Ctrl Shift Y.
Selects the file from start to end.
Delete selection: Delete.
Deletes the part between the markers and joins what's before and after.
Copy selection: Ctrl Shift C.
Copies the part between the markers to a temporary buffer.
You can paste the selection into another file, or move it to a marked position in the current file.
Cut selection: Ctrl Shift X.
Copies the part between the markers to a temporary file, then deletes it from the original.
Paste selection: Ctrl Shift V.
Inserts the copied or cut segment at the current cursor position.
Before pasting, pause where you want, then press the shortcut.
Undo: Ctrl Z.
Reverts the last action, one at a time.
The menu shows exactly what will be undone.
Redo: Ctrl Y.
Restores the undone action.
Zoom selection: Alt Shift Z.
Zooms the video between the markers.
You choose the zoom level with a slider from 1.10 to 3.00.
Only works for video files.
3. Merging menu
First, in this program, select and copy the file you want to merge with another file.
Paste at start marker: Ctrl Shift J.
Inserts the copied file at the start marker.
Paste at end marker: Ctrl Shift H.
Inserts the copied file at the end marker.
Paste at beginning: Ctrl Shift B.
Adds the copied file to the beginning of the current file.
Paste at end: Ctrl Shift K.
Adds the copied file to the end of the current file.
Merge multiple files into one: Ctrl Shift D.
Doesn't require an open file.
You choose all the files at once, in the order you want them merged.
Then you choose where to save the result.
We recommend all files be the same format.
4. Insert menu
Add image as background: Ctrl Shift I.
Places an image beneath the video content for the whole file.
Add text: Ctrl Shift T.
Adds text to the video.
You choose the font, size, color and position of the text.
Add audio track: Ctrl Shift P.
Mixes a chosen audio file with the original sound.
Works for both video and audio files.
A. You choose the volume of the audio file: slider from 0 to 100.
B. You enter a number of seconds: how long you want the audio to play before the audio or video recording starts.
C. You also choose how long you want the audio to continue after the recording.
D. Finally, you activate the button: Process.
If the track is shorter than the recording, it repeats automatically.
Add subtitles: Ctrl Shift F.
Inserts one or more subtitle files into the video.
Supported formats: SRT, ASS, SSA, VTT.
You choose the font, size, text color and position bottom center or top center .
5. Errors menu
This menu is for marking and deleting all the bad parts of a recording, such as noise, speech mistakes, or dead air.
The advantage is that you delete them all at once, only at the end.
Mark start of error: Ctrl Shift N.
Pause where the error starts and press the shortcut.
Mark end of error: Ctrl Shift M.
Pause where the error ends and press the shortcut.
The error is now saved to the list.
List of errors: Ctrl L.
Opens the list of marked errors.
Enter plays or stops the selected error, Alt O deletes it from the list, Escape closes it.
Errors and their boundaries are automatically saved to an Errors.txt file next to the media.
Next time you open the same file, the errors load automatically.
Delete all errors: Ctrl Shift Delete.
Deletes all marked errors from the file at once.
6. Bookmarks menu
Add bookmark: Ctrl Q.
Adds a bookmark at the current cursor position.
List of bookmarks: Ctrl Shift L.
Shows all added bookmarks.
Enter plays or stops only the selected bookmark.
Alt O deletes the selected bookmark from the list.
Escape closes the list.
Split by bookmarks: Alt Shift P.
Splits the file into parts according to the added bookmarks.
Delete all bookmarks: Alt Shift M.
Deletes all bookmarks from memory, as well as the txt document next to the file.
Bookmarks are automatically saved to a Bookmarks.txt file next to the media.
Next time you open the same file, the bookmarks load automatically.
7. Silence menu
Add silence: Ctrl Shift O.
Inserts silence at the current cursor position.
For audio files it adds silence, for video a black screen with silence.
You choose the duration with a slider from 0.01 to 60.00 seconds.
Remove silence: Ctrl Shift G.
Automatically finds and removes silence from the whole file.
You choose the minimum duration of silence to remove, from 0.01 to 60.00 seconds.
Same range as when adding silence.
8. Playback menu
Play/Pause: Space.
Starts or pauses playback.
Stop: F5.
Stops playback and returns to the start.
Go to position: Ctrl G.
Opens a field to enter a time in hours:minutes:seconds format.
Mark position: Ctrl F2.
Remembers the current position and saves it to a Bookmark.txt file next to the media.
This way you can continue editing from the marked position, even after restarting the program.
Return to marked position: F2.
Jumps to the marked position.
Bookmark.txt is then deleted automatically.
9. Navigation menu
1 second back: left arrow.
1 second forward: right arrow.
5 seconds back: Ctrl left arrow.
5 seconds forward: Ctrl right arrow.
30 seconds back: Ctrl Shift left arrow.
30 seconds forward: Ctrl Shift right arrow.
60 seconds back: Alt left arrow.
60 seconds forward: Alt right arrow.
Go to start: Ctrl Home.
Go to end: Ctrl End.
10. Audio effects menu
Effects apply to the part between the markers, or to the whole file if no markers are set.
Auto-fix audio: Ctrl Shift A.
Automatically normalizes loudness and removes faint noise in one step.
Useful as a quick fix before more detailed processing.
Loudness normalization: Ctrl Shift 1.
Evens out loudness to a standard level.
Noise and echo removal: Ctrl Shift 2.
Cleans the recording of background noise.
You can choose between lighter and stronger noise removal.
Remove click: Ctrl Shift 3.
Automatically removes clicks, pops and short noise created when cutting segments.
Bass boost: Ctrl Shift 4.
Boosts low tones.
Even out loudness: Ctrl Shift 5.
Boosts quiet parts, reduces loud parts.
Speed up 1.25x: Ctrl Shift 6.
Speed up 1.5x: Ctrl Shift 7.
Speed up 2x: Ctrl Shift 8.
Normal speed: Ctrl Shift 9.
Extract audio: Ctrl Shift 0.
Saves only the audio track from a video file.
Auto-trim silence: Ctrl Shift W.
Automatically removes silence from the start and end of the recording.
Works on the whole file, for audio and video.
Fade out: Ctrl Shift U.
Gradually reduces loudness in the selected part.
Fade in: Ctrl Shift R.
Gradually increases loudness in the selected part.
Stereo to mono: Ctrl F9.
Mixes the left and right channel into one.
Useful when the sound is only on one side.
Mono to stereo: Ctrl F10.
Copies the mono channel to both channels. The sound is heard evenly on both sides.
11. Video effects menu
Brightness and contrast: Alt Shift 2.
Automatically improves the brightness of the video image.
Automatic edge cropping: Alt Shift 3.
Removes black bars around the image.
Rotate by 90 degrees: Alt Shift 4.
Rotate by 180 degrees: Alt Shift 5.
Rotate by 270 degrees: Alt Shift 6.
Image stabilization: Alt Shift 7.
Automatically corrects shake from footage filmed with a handheld camera or phone.
Auto-fix orientation: Alt Shift 8.
Fixes a tilted or upside-down image based on data recorded by the phone.
12. Themes menu
Here you can choose between a light and dark theme.
The choice is remembered and applied the next time you start the program.
13. Help menu
Text help: F1.
Opens this guide in a text window inside the program.
Web help: Ctrl F1.
Opens the guide in a browser, formatted with chapter headings.
The headings are the sections, i.e. the menus, then the helpful tips.
Headings like How to use and Helpful tips are H1, and menus and tips are H2.
Helpful tips
1. For audio files, cutting, copying and deleting happen instantly and without quality loss.
2. You follow the processing progress by percentage.
You hear a signal when processing finishes.
If you cut a segment, the signal sounds twice that's normal.
3. If you have several errors in the recording, mark them all first, then delete them all at once.
This way you only wait for processing once.
4. Apply audio effects only at the end, before saving, since they work most precisely then.
5. After processing, the file may be a bit smaller.
That's normal.
6. First add an image as background, then add text.
If you use a light background, choose dark text colors and vice versa.
7. If you're adding longer text or song lyrics, adjust the number of lines to the length of the video.
If the video is shorter, use fewer lines, since the program spreads the video's time evenly across each line.
8. For subtitles we recommend the SRT format, since it's the most supported and easiest to create.
Set the font size to 20-28 for a standard screen.
Yellow at bottom center is a classic choice that reads well on any background.
If a subtitle is already embedded in the video, adding a new subtitle will show both subtitles.
9. If you're adding several subtitle files at once, check whether their times overlap.
For example, if both files start at 00:00:00, the subtitles will show at the same time and be unreadable.
Each following subtitle file should start where the previous one ends.
Thank you for editing your media files with the Sound and Video tool.
