Green screen editor

Chroma key (also called "chroma keying" or just "keying" for short) is the technical term for what most of us usually call "green screen." With the chroma key technique, you can set a particular hue to be "keyed out" of camera footage, allowing you to replace it with something else: another color, a pattern, a background image, video footage, etc. 

Chroma key used to be reserved for big-budget productions like newscasting and Hollywood movies, but today it's as easy as hopping into our video editor.

The green screen or chroma key technique works by isolating a single color (green) and removing all instances of that color from the footage. If the only use of green is in the background, then — voila! — you have instantly removed the background with no manual video editing.

One thing to keep in mind with green screen editing: because the software searches for all instances of the same color, it will remove that color even if it's not technically in the background. That's why you shouldn't wear a green t-shirt to film on a green screen (unless you want your body to be cut out!).

There are a few simple tips to make your green screen video come out better: use even lighting from multiple angles, wear high-contrast colors, and avoid hard lights that cast strong shadows. As much as possible, keep your background screen smooth and free from wrinkles or other surface imperfections.

Beyond the backdrop screen itself, the secret to a professional-looking effect is to use a high-quality editor for the background removal step. WeVideo gives you a big-budget, studio-level result with just a few clicks, and you don't need any video editing or photo editing experience. Try out our video editor for yourself!

It is if you do your editing in WeVideo! Our free plan gives you full access to all our key features including our green screen editor — plus all the fancy post-production editing options like motion titles, animated transitions, royalty-free stock assets, and more.

Upgrade to a paid plan to unlock longer video exports, higher resolutions, and watermark-free files.

Actually, no! Green is the most common color used for the chroma key effect because it's the easiest to isolate from other colors (especially skin tones), which gives you sharper edges and a nicer effect overall. Blue is also frequently used, though "blue screen" doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?

In our browser-based video editor or green screen app, you can actually "key out" any color — not only green. Simply use the built-in color picker to select any color to remove from your footage.