The CapCut community created billions of projects in 2025, as more accessible creative tools helped editing evolve from a technical skill into an easy way of everyday expression. Across Communities — from small businesses and filmmakers to podcaters, athletes, and everyday creators — people used editing to tell clearer stories, add personality, and move faster, all while keeping their own voice at the center. To support this shift, CapCut expanded AI efficiency tools across video and design features, while also launching AI Lab to offer more advanced generative AI features in one place.
As we celebrate this year’s TikTok Awards CapCut nominees and winner, we’re also looking back at the editing trends that shaped 2025. Editing trends pointed to a simple theme: people wanted to express more clearly, workfaster, without losing quality or creative voice that makes them unique.
A Growing Community of Everyday Creators
Editing in 2025 wasn’t limited to professional creators. More than ever, CapCut supported a wide range of users who turned to editing to communicate ideas, promote products, teach lessons, and connect with audiences.
These creative behaviors were reflected in the creators recognized at this year’s TikTok Awards. From cinematic storytelling to polished everyday edits, this year’s CapCut Creator of the Year, Recider, showed how intuitive tools can help turn simple ideas into compelling content. Nominees included career advice creator chloeshih, business owner liahyoo, one-person film production creator moniqueyvonne and creator paigepiskin.
How People Created in 2025
These insights are based on how people used CapCut’s most-used core editing features alongside its most-used AI-powered tools throughout 2025.
2025's most-used tools were those that helped people edit, clarify, and refine their own ideas, reflecting a focus on creative control, clarity, and efficiency as new AI-powered features expanded how imagination could be brought to life.
- Storytelling with Captions Became the Norm:
In 2025, captions became a central part of video storytelling. On-screen text gave audiences more ways to engage, whether watching with sound, without sound, or simply wanting to follow content more clearly. This shift was reflected in continued heavy use of added Text as a core editing tool, alongside Auto captions, which helped creators add accurate, well-timed captions quickly and consistently across different types of content.
- Faster Editing Enabled More Everyday Sharing:
Editing no longer felt like a barrier to sharing. In 2025, people increasingly turned to simpler editing workflows that fit into their everyday routines. This was anchored by strong use of AutoCut, which assembles clips into clean edits, alongside core tools like Effects, Overlay, and Extract audio for quick refinement. Together, these features made editing feel more approachable and flexible, supporting creation on people’s own terms.
- Voice-Led and Narrative Content Gained Momentum:
Voice played a bigger role in how people told stories in 2025. From narrated tutorials and explainers to POV videos and character-driven stories, creators used audio to add clarity and personality to their content. This pattern was supported by widespread use of Voice filter, which added expressive audio effects, and Text-to-speech, which enabled narration without complex setups, making voice-led content easier to produce.
- Fundamentals Still Powered the Best Content:
Even as AI-powered tools expanded what was possible, everyday editing in 2025 remained grounded in the basics. Core features such as Text, Effects, Extract Audio, and Overlay continued to be the most widely used across CapCut, reinforcing that strong storytelling still starts with solid editing fundamentals.
At the same time, the most used AI features, Auto captions, AutoCut, Voice filter, and Text-to-speech, reflected a clear need for tools that support speed and clear communication. In 2025, creators used our Smart tools to move faster and tell clearer stories, while enhancing their authentic voice. Taken together, this usage pattern suggests that in 2025, creators turned to AI to support efficiency and clarity, while keeping their ideas, voice, and storytelling at the center of the content they shared.
The future of editing in 2026
As editing becomes more embedded in how people learn, work, and connect, CapCut will continue to focus on intuitive tools that support creativity without friction. Alongside this focus, CapCut continued to strengthen transparency and user trust in 2025, including publishing a Trust Center that explains how CapCut works, and what users can expect. From everyday storytelling to professional-quality content, we’re excited to see how creators and communities continue to shape what editing looks like in 2026. We can’t wait to see what you create next.