Projects serve as containers for all your content in Descript. Within a project, you'll work with compositions, media files, and sequences. This article explains how these elements work together, when to use each one, and how to create and manage them effectively.

This article covers

• What’s inside a project
• When to use projects vs compositions
• How to access projects and compositions
• How to create and manage compositions

What’s inside a project

Each project includes three types of assets:

• Compositions — where you write, edit, and assemble content. Editing in a composition is non-destructive, so your source files aren’t permanently changed.
• Project files — the audio and video you import into Descript or record directly in the app, used across your compositions.
• Sequences — containers for working with multiple media tracks (e.g., multi‑speaker recordings). Learn more about sequences.

Projects vs. compositions

Think of a project as a binder and compositions as the pages inside. Creating a new composition is like adding a new page.

• Projects:Use separate projects for large or distinct productions. Keep projects as small as possible for better performance. For example, create a new project for each podcast episode or each lesson in a course.
• Compositions: Create multiple compositions within a project for alternate versions of the same material. For example, you might keep one composition for raw audio, another for your final edit, and others for social clips.

Access projects and compositions

1. From the Drive view, click a project to open it in the editor.
2. Open the Project panel in the right sidebar to view your compositions, project files, and sequences.

Create and manage compositions

Click the ellipsis (…) next to a composition name to rename, duplicate, copy link, open in a new window, set to audio only, flatten, copy highlights, or delete. Compositions can be accessed from either the Project panel in the sidebar or the drawer at the top of the Descript editor.