Transitions are visual effects you can apply to smooth the start, end, or change between scenes and individual clips in your project. They add polish to your edits and help guide your viewer’s attention as your video moves from one moment to the next.

This article covers:

• Where transitions can be applied in Descript
• Types of transitions available
• How to apply transitions to scenes or clips

Where and how to use transitions

You can apply transitions in two places:

• Between scenes – Ideal for pacing and shifting topics
• Between clips – Useful when editing B-roll, visual cutaways, or media layers

How to apply transitions to scenes or clips

Use Underlord to apply transitions

You can ask Underlord—Descript’s AI co-editor—to add and adjust transitions for you. Instead of manually applying effects scene by scene, just describe what you want.

Try prompts like:

• "Can you make all transitions crossfades please - not smart transitions"
• "Apply the zoom in and zoom out effects at appropriate locations "
• "I want smooth and hardly noticeable transitions, like the crossfade."

Underlord can apply transitions across scenes, audio, or visuals—all while keeping your project structure intact. You can still fine-tune or remove transitions manually afterward.

Manually apply transitions

Transitions are added via the script scene thumbnail, the timeline, or the scene panel in the right-hand sidebar.

From the script scene thumbnail

From the scene panel in the right-hand sidebar:

From the timeline between scenes:

Available transition types

Descript includes the following transitions:

Fade	Crossfade	Cross-blur
Cross-zoom	Directional wipe	Star wipe
Dip to color

Want to save time?

Smart Transitions automate common scene transitions based on your content layout. By default, smart transitions are added to your scenes automatically to speed up your editing workflow and add consistent polish with fewer clicks. Learn more about Smart Transitions.