Remotion Best Practices

When to use

Use this skill whenever you are dealing with Remotion code to obtain the domain-specific knowledge.

New project setup

When in an empty folder or workspace with no existing Remotion project, scaffold one using:

npx create-video@latest --yes --blank --no-tailwind my-video

Replace my-video with a suitable project name.

Designing a video

Before designing visual scenes, layouts, promos, motion graphics, or text-heavy videos, load rules/video-layout.md for video-first layout and text sizing guidance.

Animate properties using useCurrentFrame() and interpolate(). Prefer interpolate() over spring() unless physics-based motion is explicitly needed. Use Easing.bezier() to customize timing, including jumpy or overshooting motion.

For animations that should be editable in Remotion Studio, keep the interpolate() call inline in the style prop and use individual CSS transform properties (scale, translate, rotate) instead of composing a transform string.

import { useCurrentFrame, Easing, interpolate, useVideoConfig } from "remotion";

export const FadeIn = () => {
  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
  const { fps } = useVideoConfig();

  const opacity = interpolate(frame, [0, 2 * fps], [0, 1], {
    extrapolateRight: "clamp",
    extrapolateLeft: "clamp",
    easing: Easing.bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1),
  });

  return <div style={{ opacity }}>Hello World!</div>;
};

Prefer:

style={{
  scale: interpolate(frame, [0, 100], [0, 1]),
  translate: interpolate(frame, [0, 100], ["0px 0px", "100px 100px"]),
  rotate: interpolate(frame, [0, 100], ["20deg", "90deg"]),
}}

Over:

const scale = interpolate(frame, [0, 100], [0, 1]);

style={{
  transform: `scale(${scale})`,
}}

CSS transitions or animations are FORBIDDEN - they will not render correctly.
Tailwind animation class names are FORBIDDEN - they will not render correctly.

Place assets in the public/ folder at your project root.

Use staticFile() to reference files from the public/ folder.

Add images using the <Img> component:

import { Img, staticFile } from "remotion";

export const MyComposition = () => {
  return <Img src={staticFile("logo.png")} style={{ width: 100, height: 100 }} />;
};

Add videos using the <Video> component from @remotion/media:

import { Video } from "@remotion/media";
import { staticFile } from "remotion";

export const MyComposition = () => {
  return <Video src={staticFile("video.mp4")} style={{ opacity: 0.5 }} />;
};

Add audio using the <Audio> component from @remotion/media:

import { Audio } from "@remotion/media";
import { staticFile } from "remotion";

export const MyComposition = () => {
  return <Audio src={staticFile("audio.mp3")} />;
};

Assets can be also referenced as remote URLs:

import { Video } from "@remotion/media";

export const MyComposition = () => {
  return <Video src="https://remotion.media/video.mp4" />
};

To delay content wrap it in <Sequence> and use from. To limit the duration of an element, use durationInFrames of <Sequence>. <Sequence> by default is an absolute fill. For inline content, use layout="none".

import { Sequence } from "remotion";

export const Title = () => {
  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
  const { fps } = useVideoConfig();

  const opacity = interpolate(frame, [0, 2 * fps], [0, 1], {
    extrapolateRight: "clamp",
    extrapolateLeft: "clamp",
    easing: Easing.bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1),
  });

  return <div style={{ opacity }}>Title</div>;
};

export const Subtitle = () => {
  return <div>Subtitle</div>;
};

const Main = () => {
  const {fps} = useVideoConfig();

  return (
    <AbsoluteFill>
      <Sequence>
        <Background />
      </Sequence>
      <Sequence from={1 * fps} durationInFrames={2 * fps} layout="none">
        <Title />
      </Sequence>
      <Sequence from={2 * fps} durationInFrames={2 * fps} layout="none">
        <Subtitle />
      </Sequence>
    </AbsoluteFill>
  );
}

The width, height, fps, and duration of a video is defined in src/Root.tsx:

import { Composition } from "remotion";
import { MyComposition } from "./MyComposition";

export const RemotionRoot = () => {
  return (
    <Composition
      id="MyComposition"
      component={MyComposition}
      durationInFrames={100}
      fps={30}
      width={1080}
      height={1080}
    />
  );
};

Metadata can also be calculated dynamically:

import { Composition, CalculateMetadataFunction } from "remotion";
import { MyComposition, MyCompositionProps } from "./MyComposition";

const calculateMetadata: CalculateMetadataFunction<
  MyCompositionProps
> = async ({ props, abortSignal }) => {
  const data = await fetch(`https://api.example.com/video/${props.videoId}`, {
    signal: abortSignal,
  }).then((res) => res.json());

  return {
    durationInFrames: Math.ceil(data.duration * 30),
    props: {
      ...props,
      videoUrl: data.url,
    },
    width: 1080,
    height: 1080,
  };
};

export const RemotionRoot = () => {
  return (
    <Composition
      id="MyComposition"
      component={MyComposition}
      fps={30}
      width={1080}
      height={1080}
      defaultProps={{ videoId: "abc123" }}
      calculateMetadata={calculateMetadata}
    />
  );
};

Starting preview

Start the Remotion Studio to preview a video:

npx remotion studio

Optional: one-frame render check

You can render a single frame with the CLI to sanity-check layout, colors, or timing.
Skip it for trivial edits, pure refactors, or when you already have enough confidence from Studio or prior renders.

npx remotion still [composition-id] --scale=0.25 --frame=30

At 30 fps, --frame=30 is the one-second mark (--frame is zero-based).

Captions

When dealing with captions or subtitles, load the ./rules/subtitles.md file for more information.

Using FFmpeg

For some video operations, such as trimming videos or detecting silence, FFmpeg should be used. Load the ./rules/ffmpeg.md file for more information.

Silence detection

When needing to detect and trim silent segments from video or audio files, load the ./rules/silence-detection.md file.

Audio visualization

When needing to visualize audio (spectrum bars, waveforms, bass-reactive effects), load the ./rules/audio-visualization.md file for more information.

Sound effects

When needing to use sound effects, load the ./rules/sfx.md file for more information.

Visual and pixel effects

When creating a visual effect, prefer: 1. normal Remotion/HTML/CSS/SVG/filter/blend/mask animation, 2. a listed effect via rules/effects.md, including on HTML rendered through <HtmlInCanvas>, 3. a custom createEffect() via rules/effects.md when the user asks for a reusable/project-specific effect, 4. custom <HtmlInCanvas onPaint> via rules/html-in-canvas.md only if no effect fits.

For light leak overlays, see rules/light-leaks.md. Docs: https://www.remotion.dev/docs/effects

Available effects: brightness(), contrast(), colorKey(), duotone(), grayscale(), hue(), invert(), saturation(), tint(), linearGradient(), linearGradientTint(), thermalVision(), blur(), linearProgressiveBlur(), radialProgressiveBlur(), zoomBlur(), dropShadow(), glow(), lightTrail(), evolve(), venetianBlinds(), mirror(), scale(), uvTranslate(), xyTranslate(), barrelDistortion(), chromaticAberration(), fisheye(), cornerPin(), wave(), burlap(), emboss(), dotGrid(), halftone(), noise(), noiseDisplacement(), paper(), pattern(), pixelate(), pixelDissolve(), scanlines(), speckle(), shine(), shrinkwrap(), vignette(), contourLines(), checkerboard(), halftoneLinearGradient(), gridlines(), whiteNoise(), tvSignalOff(), lines(), rings(), waves(), zigzag(), lightLeak(), starburst().