---
title: "Sound, music and video"
description: "Add sound and video, change their timing and make music for an animation."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/media/"
last_updated: 2026-10-27
---

# Sound, music and video

Add sound and video, change their timing and make music for an animation.

[All layer types](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers.md) · [Editing on the stage](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/editing.md)

## Sound, music and video

### Sound

Drop an mp3 or wav (at 8 kHz or more) and it plays from the playhead as an audio layer.

- It gets a lane under the ruler with its waveform: drag it in time.
- Its **Volume** keys (`t`), for fades.
- Dragging the playhead plays a moment of it. `⇧M` (or the transport's ♪) turns sound off and on.
- A property can move with it: add **Sound** in a layer's Behaviours (see
  [Follow the sound](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/behaviours.md#follow-the-sound)).
- MP4, WebM and MOV exports carry it. A .lottie keeps it as an mp3; a Lottie JSON keeps it inside.

### Music

The palette's **Add music: calm**, **lofi** or **launch** makes music for the whole animation,
composed and played by Creator Terminal itself (nothing fetched).

- Calm: soft pads, a kalimba and glass bells. Lofi: a swung Rhodes, bass, dusty drums. Launch: a
  build and a riser into a drop.
- It goes in as an audio layer named ♫ Music, under everything. **Music: another take** makes it
  again from a new seed, keeping its volume and fades.
- It's an MP3 when ffmpeg is installed, else a much bigger WAV. The copilot and agents can put
  music on the animation's moments too.

### Video

Drop a clip and it goes in as a video layer from the playhead, fitted. It's a layer like any
other: move, scale, fade, key, mask or matte it, put text over it. Every frame on the stage is the
clip's own, exact.

- Its lane under the ruler has its filmstrip: drag it in time, drag an end to trim, `⌥`-drag to
  slip the clip under its ends.
- The rail (the Properties panel in After Effects or Figma) has its file, size, rate and length, where it starts, its speed (`½×` `1×` `2×`, or
  type one) and its sound, which exports with it.
- The clip stays a file of its own, found by its path from the document's folder. If it's moved,
  the lane says so and the stage shows stripes: drop it again from where it is.
- A `.lottie` carries its clips inside.
- Video needs ffmpeg ([Install](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/install.md#ffmpeg)).

## Video controls

| Control | Use |
| --- | --- |
| File information | Read the source, dimensions, frame rate and length |
| **Starts** | Move the clip and its keys to a new start time |
| **Shown** | Trim the in and out points, in composition seconds |
| **Speed** | Choose **½×**, **1×**, **2×**, or type a percentage |
| **Sound** | Include or mute the clip's sound |

The score (the timeline) holds the clip's filmstrip. Trimming keeps at least one frame.
Sound and video are not portable vector artwork; see [Export](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/export.md) for the output
formats that carry them.

For sound layers, **Sound** shows the source length, **Heard** shows the part within the
composition, and **Output** turns playback sound on or off (`⇧M`). **Volume** can key for fades.

### Music commands

Use **Add music: calm**, **Add music: lofi** or **Add music: launch** in the palette.
**Music: another take** replaces the generated music while keeping its volume and fades.