Smooth out shaky handheld footage. The tool measures how the camera moved, keeps the intended motion such as a slow pan and removes the jitter, then shows the original and the stabilized clip side by side before you save it.
Last updated:
Before / after demo · choose a video or try the shaky sample
0:00 / 0:00
Camera path (shaky)Smoothed path
Stabilization
Edges
Engine & output
Your stabilized video
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How to use the Video Stabilizer
Choose a shaky video or press Try a shaky sample. The camera motion is measured automatically.
Play the preview to compare the original (left) and the stabilized result (right).
Adjust the strength and pick how the edges are handled; Zoom in hides the moving borders.
Choose the engine: ffmpeg.wasm deshake, or the built-in stabilizer that matches the preview exactly.
Press Stabilize video, wait for it to finish, then press Download video.
What the strength setting does
The camera path is measured as the cumulative horizontal and vertical shift of the picture, about 30 times per second. The smooth path is a Gaussian-weighted moving average of that path; the strength sets how wide the averaging window is. Each frame is then moved by smooth path − measured path. The ffmpeg engine maps the same strength to the deshake filter's motion search range (rx and ry, 8 to 64 pixels).
Strength
Smoothing window (σ)
ffmpeg search range
Good for
1 – 3
0.1 – 0.28 s
8 – 16 px
Light hand tremor, tripod vibration
4 – 6
0.4 – 0.75 s
20 – 32 px
Handheld phone clips, slow pans (default 6)
7 – 8
1.0 – 1.4 s
40 – 48 px
Walking shots, footage from a moving vehicle
9 – 10
2 – 3 s
56 – 64 px
Making a handheld shot look locked off
Edge options compared
Option
What you see
Trade-off
Zoom in
A clean frame with no moving borders
Slight crop and loss of sharpness; the zoom is shown in the info line
Original frame
The unstabilized picture shows through at the edges
Edges may still look a bit shaky
Blurred fill / Mirror edges
A soft blurred copy (built-in) or mirrored pixels (ffmpeg) fill the gaps
Noticeable on strong corrections
Black
Black strips move in from the edges
Most honest view of the correction, least polished
Tips for steadier footage
Stabilize first, then trim, crop or add text, so the effects are not shifted with the frame.
Footage shot at higher resolution can be zoomed more before it looks soft; 4K clips stabilized at 1080p keep full sharpness.
When filming, hold the phone with both hands, keep your elbows in and walk with bent knees; it reduces how much correction is needed.
Very fast whip pans and scene cuts are left as they are, because no smooth path can follow them.
Frequently asked questions
How does video stabilization work?
The stabilizer compares each frame with the previous one to find how far the picture moved, which gives the path the camera took. That path is smoothed, and every frame is shifted (and slightly rotated) by the difference between the shaky path and the smooth one. Intended movement such as a pan stays, the quick jitter is removed.
Why is the stabilized video zoomed in?
Shifting a frame to cancel the shake leaves empty strips at its edges. Zoom in crops slightly to hide them; the info line shows the zoom used, and you can cap it with Maximum zoom. Other options fill the strips with the original frame, a blurred or mirrored copy, or black, with no zoom.
Which engine should I choose?
The ffmpeg.wasm engine runs the same deshake filter as desktop ffmpeg. It needs a one-time 31 MB download and is often slower than real time on phones. The built-in engine renders in real time, matches the preview exactly and also corrects roll. If ffmpeg cannot load, the built-in engine is used automatically.
What strength should I use?
Strength 3 to 5 removes hand tremor and footsteps while keeping natural camera movement. Strength 6 to 8 suits walking shots. Strength 9 to 10 makes the camera look almost locked off, which needs more zoom and works best on clips where the camera mostly points one way.
Can it fix rolling shutter wobble or motion blur?
No. The stabilizer moves whole frames, so it removes shake but not the jelly-like wobble caused by rolling shutter, and blur already recorded inside a frame stays. For the best result, shoot in good light so frames are sharp.
Is there a length limit?
There is no fixed limit, but the whole video is processed in your browser. Short clips of a few minutes work best. The built-in engine takes about as long as the clip; ffmpeg needs memory for the whole file, so very large files may fail on phones.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Measuring the shake, stabilizing and encoding all happen in your browser. The ffmpeg engine is downloaded from a public CDN, but your video never leaves your device.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.