Add images, video, and audio to a scene.
Choose a file from the toolbar or drag one into the editor, and it goes into the current scene. Then use the right panel to swap the picture and set when video and audio play.
Add files
In Design mode, open the scene you want to add files to.
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Add an image
Click Image in the toolbar, or press I. When the file window opens, choose a photo. In a Studio project, the Upload check window comes up first, so click Continue. The photo lands in the center of the current view, already selected. If its longer side is over 800px, it shrinks to 800px.
Pressing I and choosing a photo places it in the center of the view. Video: Pressing I and choosing an image file places it in the center of the current view. -
Add a video
Click Video in the toolbar and choose a video file. Like an image, it goes through the Upload check window and lands in the center of the view. When you select the video, a playback bar appears right below it, so you can play it while you edit.
Clicking Video in the toolbar and choosing a file places the video in the center of the view. Video: Clicking the Video tool in the toolbar and choosing a video file adds the video. -
Add audio
Click Audio in the toolbar and choose a sound file. After the Upload check window, a gray circle with a music note appears in the center of the view. This badge is the audio object. When you select it, a playback bar appears below it, as with a video. If you add another audio file, it lands on top of the first one in the same spot, so drag it aside.
Clicking Audio in the toolbar and choosing a file places a gray music-note badge. Video: Clicking the Audio tool in the toolbar and choosing an audio file adds the audio. -
Drag and drop files
Drag image, video, or audio files from a folder window on your computer and drop them onto the editor. They land where you drop them. When you drop several files at once, they overlap with a slight offset, and all of them are selected. To add an image you copied in another app, paste it with ⌘V. It lands in the center of the view. Dropping and pasting bring up the Upload check window first, too.
Two photos dropped onto the scene land where they’re dropped, slightly offset from each other. Video: Two photos dragged from a folder and dropped onto the scene land where they are dropped, overlapping with a slight offset, and both are selected.
Get through the upload check
When you add an image, video, or audio file to a Studio project, the Upload check window opens before the file goes into the scene. It shows the file’s name and size, or the number of files and their total size when there are several. If your storage has a limit, it also tells you how much space will be left. Click Continue to add the file, or Cancel to leave it out.
If one file is bigger than the Max per file limit, a red message gives the reason and Continue stays grayed out. The same happens when all the files together are bigger than the space left, or when your storage is full. Make the file smaller, or delete projects you don’t need to free up space, and add it again. When storage is what stops it, the window shows How to free up space, which opens the guide at Free up space.
If there’s a PNG or JPEG photo, the Compress images to WebP before upload switch shows too. With it on, the photo goes up smaller at the same visual quality, and the text under the switch shows how much you save. If the WebP file would be larger, the original is uploaded instead.
This window only appears in Studio projects. Files on your device that you open in the desktop or tablet app don’t get it.
Change the size, picture, and playback
Click an image or video you added to select it. The Image panel appears at the bottom of the right panel, or the Video panel for a video.
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Resize in proportion
Hold ⇧ and drag a white handle at a corner of the selection box. The photo grows or shrinks and keeps its proportions. Without ⇧, the width and height change separately, and the photo gets distorted. If it’s already distorted, click Origin under Ratio. This button restores the original photo’s proportions: it keeps the width and adjusts the height to match.
Holding ⇧ while dragging the bottom-right corner enlarges the photo in proportion. Video: With a photo selected, holding Shift and dragging the bottom-right corner handle enlarges the photo while keeping its proportions. -
Replace the photo
In the Image panel, under Source, click Change Image and choose a new file. The position, stroke, and effects stay the same, and only the picture changes. If the new photo has different proportions, the box takes them within its old size, so the photo never looks stretched. For a video, use Change Video; for audio, use Change Audio.
Clicking Change Image and choosing a new photo swaps only the picture, in the same place at the same size. Video: With a photo selected, clicking Change Image in the Image panel and choosing another photo swaps only the picture, keeping the same position, size, and rounded corners. -
Set how the video plays
These settings are under Playback in the Video panel. A video you just added has Autoplay off, so it plays only when someone clicks it on the presentation screen. To play it as soon as the scene opens, turn on Autoplay. Muted is off at first, so the video plays with its sound. To play it silently, like a background video, turn on Muted too. When a play link opens straight onto an autoplaying video, the browser may block the sound; the video then plays muted instead of stopping.
In the Video panel, Autoplay turns on, and then Muted turns on too. Video: With a video selected, Autoplay is turned on under Playback in the Video panel, and then Muted is turned on too.
Video and audio playback settings
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Autoplay | Plays as soon as the scene opens. When it’s off, the media plays only after a click on the presentation screen. | Off for both video and audio |
| Loop | Starts again from the beginning after playing to the end. | Off for both |
| Muted | Turns the sound off. | Off for both |
| Show playback controls | Shows a playback bar when you hover over the video on the presentation screen. Audio gets no bar. | On |
| Volume | How loud it plays. The farther left you drag the slider, the quieter it gets. | Maximum |
| Trim | Cuts off the start and end: drag either end of the bar, or type seconds in In and Out. | Not trimmed |
| Sync to Timeline | Plays in step with the scene’s timeline. When it’s on, Autoplay and click-to-play on the presentation screen don’t apply, so turn it on only to play alongside keyframe animation. See Media on the timeline. | Off |
The audio badge shows on the presentation screen too
During playback, an audio object still shows in the scene as a gray music-note badge. When the audience clicks the badge, the sound plays or stops, and the scene doesn’t advance. To hide the badge, put it in a corner of the scene, or send it behind another object, such as a background photo. A badge sent behind something can’t be clicked, so turn on Autoplay. To change the stacking order, see Layers and groups.
Corners, multiple scenes, and cropping to a ratio
To round a photo’s corners. When you select a photo, blue dots show just inside its corners. Drag a dot inward to round all four corners together. Radius has one field per corner, so a number you type in one field rounds only that corner.
To replace the same photo in several scenes at once. When duplicated scenes share the same photo, Replace in All Scenes appears below Change Image. Click it and choose a new file, and that photo changes in every scene together.
To crop to a set ratio. Click 16:9, 4:3, or 1:1 under Ratio to open a crop box in that ratio. Adjust the box and press ↩. For details, see Image editing.
Shortcuts on this page
| Image tool | I |
|---|---|
| Resize in proportion | ⇧+drag a corner |
| Paste a copied image | ⌘V |
| Apply the crop | ↩ |
| Undo what you added | ⌘Z |
Updated 10/14/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.