# How to sync separate audio and video in a browser editor

> Align a camera clip with separately recorded sound, check uncertain matches by ear, choose the microphone to hear and keep the source files for later edits.

- Published: 2026-09-30
- Reading time: 3 min (~692 words)
- Tags: studio, audio sync, video editing
- Canonical: https://tautau.xyz/blog/sync-audio-and-video-browser

## Key takeaways
- Studio checks for matching sound locally when you import files, but only moves distinct, reliable matches.
- An aligned camera and recorder can still sound doubled until you mute the unwanted microphone.
- Review a proposed camera alignment before applying it, and check timing near the end for drift.

You filmed a conversation on a camera and recorded the sound on a separate microphone. Both files play, but the lips and words arrive at slightly different times. Moving a waveform by eye might get you close at the start. The useful test is whether the sound still fits after you have watched the whole excerpt.

[Studio](/studio) puts the files on a shared timeline. Its browser-local preview can try to match their audio on import, and it has a separate reviewed workflow for one master recording with two to four cameras. Here is how to use those tools without treating a suggested position as a finished edit.

## Import with matching on

Drop the camera and audio files into Studio together or choose them with Import media. Sync matching audio is checked by default for local files. The matching step compares 12 to 60 seconds of source sound within a search of roughly 15 seconds either side. It runs locally in your browser; this matching operation does not upload media.

Read the file results after import. A distinct match can place a new source on the timeline for you. If you add another source later, Studio tries to match it against an existing reference without moving your earlier edits. Loading and alignment are separate undo steps, so Undo alignment keeps the imported sources. Cancelling the matching step also keeps them.

The tool leaves uncertain sources at their imported positions. That can happen with silence, very short material, an ambiguous repeated sound, missing audio or a match that would put the new clip before timeline zero. It is better to align such a file by listening than to trust a plausible-looking but weak match.

## Check the actual sound, not just the waveforms

Play a clear consonant or a sharp event while watching the picture. Then jump near the end of the excerpt and check again. If the first check is good but the last one is off, the devices may have drifted. Studio currently places sources at fixed offsets; it does not stretch one recording to correct clock drift.

Alignment also leaves each source's audio enabled unless you change the mix. A camera's scratch mic and a separate recorder playing together may create an echo. Mute the camera track or turn off Include clip audio, then listen to the master sound alone. Temporary solo helps you identify which track contains a noise, but export uses your saved mix. The [multitrack editor guide](/blog/multitrack-video-audio-editor) covers gain, fades and the monitor peak meter.

## Use reviewed anchors for several cameras

For one audio recording and two to four cameras, open Synchronise sources. Mark the same source event in the master audio and each camera. You can also ask Studio to suggest anchors from bounded local audio analysis. It shows proposed positions for review before you apply them as one undoable edit.

Once accepted, the camera inputs exclude their own sound by default. You can choose shots on the picture-only camera programme while the master audio continues. Grouped sources move together; a source can be explicitly detached when it needs independent timing. The workflow keeps the original source files intact, but it does not pick shots or detect speakers. See the [podcast video workflow](/blog/podcast-video-editing-workflow) for a complete short excerpt.

## What to do when there is no clean match

Find a distinctive event that exists in both recordings: a clap, a tap or the start of a word with a clear attack. Move the new clip manually, play across that point, and adjust until the echo disappears. Then verify a second point later in the excerpt. If the recordings have no shared event, use a visual cue and careful listening; Studio should not invent a confident sync result for material it cannot compare.

Keep the original files and download a project backup once the timing works. Studio autosaves the edit and imported media in this browser, but its downloaded project contains metadata and transcripts, not media bytes. The [Studio guide](/docs/studio) explains relinking and the current ten-minute composition limit. The next useful check is a range export: watching the rendered excerpt catches timing changes that were easy to miss while scrubbing.

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Markdown twin of https://tautau.xyz/blog/sync-audio-and-video-browser — provided for LLM/agent consumption. tautau is a speech-to-text Chrome extension and web app: https://tautau.xyz