Glossary
What is an L-cut in video editing?
By the KeyMo team · Updated
An L-cut is an edit where the picture switches to the next shot while the audio from the previous shot keeps playing. On a timeline the audio clip runs on past the end of its video clip, which draws the letter L. It lets viewers hear one person while they watch another person react.
L-cut meaning: the sound outlasts the picture
In a straight cut, picture and sound change at the same instant. In an L-cut they do not. The video track moves on to the next shot, and the audio from the shot before carries on underneath it. The shape the two clips make on a timeline looks like the letter L, which is where the name comes from.
Its mirror image is the J-cut, where the next shot's audio starts before its picture appears.
| Cut | Picture | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Straight cut | Changes at the cut | Changes at the cut |
| L-cut | Changes first | The old shot's sound carries on |
| J-cut | Changes after the sound | The next shot's sound starts early |
Using an L-cut in a podcast or interview
L-cuts earn their place in conversation because they match how people really watch a talk: you often look at the listener while the speaker is still going. Reach for one when the reaction matters, when you need to hide a jump in the speaker's footage, or when the picture has to change but a change in sound would break the rhythm. A cutaway laid over a talking head is often built as an L-cut.
A worked example with two cameras
The guest gives a 12-second answer. At about 8 seconds you cut to the host, who is nodding, and the guest's audio keeps running until the sentence ends at 12. Hold the host for a second or two, then go back to the guest or cut to the next question. The viewer never hears a seam, and the nod does some of the talking.
- Place both cameras and the audio on separate tracks, synced.
- Mark where the picture should change.
- Cut the video track there, and leave the audio track uncut.
- Trim the audio tail so it ends where the sentence ends.
Common mistakes
- Cutting back to the speaker too late, so the viewer wonders whose voice they are hearing.
- Staying on the listener for a whole answer. The L-cut should end soon after the point lands.
- Mismatched room tone at the join between two audio clips. Fade across the join or lay the same room sound under both.
- Trimming a clip out of a long video at the picture change. End the clip on the sentence's last word, not on the next shot.
- Forgetting that captions follow the sound. During an L-cut the caption shows the off-screen speaker's words, so the viewer reads text for a person who is not in frame.
Where KeyMo fits
This page does not claim that KeyMo creates L-cuts. KeyMo takes a finished video, returns up to 15 vertical clips, and gives each one a score out of 10 with a one-line reason. If the episode you upload was already edited with L-cuts, watch the first and last seconds of every clip, because one shot's sound can run under another shot's picture right at a clip's edge. More on that stage in how to edit podcast clips.