Guide
Raw UGC is the unedited clip, edited UGC is the finished video a brand can post
Updated
Raw UGC is the clip straight from your phone, with nothing added. Edited UGC is the same clip made into a finished video with cuts, captions, music and a call to action, ready to run as it is.
In short
- Raw UGC is the unedited clip straight from the creator's phone. Edited UGC is the finished video, with the pauses cut, captions, music and a call to action.
- Brands use raw footage to make their own versions, such as new opening lines, other captions or music, and shorter cuts for other platforms.
- An edited file runs as it is, so its captions, music and call to action have to be right before you send it. Burned-in captions can't be taken off later.
- Send both when the brief asks for raw footage or the brand plans to test several versions of the ad, and price the raw file as an add-on, because the brand can cut more ads from it.
- Cutroom's Magic Editor makes the edited file from your raw clip, and the raw clip stays yours to send as it is.
What is the difference between raw and edited UGC?
Raw UGC is the clip as filmed: every pause, every um, no captions and no music. Edited UGC is the same clip made into a finished video that a brand can post or run as an ad.
The drawing shows one 40-second example clip both ways. Everything struck through is still in the raw file and gone from the edited one.
- The raw file is longer, because it keeps the warm-up, the pauses and the sentences you said twice.
- The edited file has the cuts, the captions, the product shots, the music and the call to action built in.
- A brand's editor can still turn the raw file into other versions. The edited file is finished, and what's in the picture stays there.
One laptop stand clip as a raw file and as an edited file
The raw file is the clip as filmed, with nothing added. The edited file is Jacob's first edit, with the cuts made and captions burned in.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 40-second phone video of a creator showing a foldable laptop stand at a café table
“Okay, um, this stand folds flat and fits in my laptop sleeve. It, it It lifts my screen up to eye level, … (pause) so I'm not hunched over all day.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Skit style
“This stand folds flat and fits in my laptop sleeve. It lifts my screen up to eye level, so I'm not hunched over all day.”
- On “stand”: the first line as the hook in big words, then a sudden stop
- On “level”: your product photo stand.jpg in a card over your face
- Under the whole video: captions burned into the picture, timed to your voice
- Under the whole video: music with energy under your voice
- On “day”: after this last word, a phone with the call to action "Shop the stand"
window: stand.jpg
Then you ask Jacob
- “Keep my pauses, it feels too rushed”v2the same edit with the natural pauses between sentences kept
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”v3a second, shorter version of the same edit, for a brand that tests lengths
What brands do with raw footage
Brands ask for raw footage so their own editor can make more ads from one shoot. Insense, a UGC platform, describes editing one raw clip into versions with different captions, opening lines or music.
- They test different opening lines. Insense's example turns one 30-second video into five ads, each with a different hook.
- They make several lengths. Billo's editing guide suggests a 15-second and a 30-second version from the same footage.
- They cut short snippets of the same clip for other platforms.
- They add their own captions, music and call to action, so the ad matches the rest of their ads.
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
Should you charge extra for raw footage?
Yes, usually. Raw footage lets the brand cut many ads from one shoot, so creators price it as an add-on. Superscale's UGC pricing guide puts raw footage at 30 to 50% of the base rate.
Usage rights are priced separately from the raw file. The raw file is what the brand gets; the usage rights say where and for how long it can run the ads.
- Superscale puts extended usage, such as paid ads for a longer period, at 30 to 50% on top of the base rate.
- It puts perpetual rights, where the brand can use the video forever, at 100 to 150% on top.
- These are one guide's ranges, not a fixed market rate, so write your own add-ons into your rate card and the deal before you film.
What an edited UGC file must include
An edited file runs as it is, so everything a viewer needs has to be in the picture. Billo's guide recommends burned-in captions, because platform auto-captions disappear when a video is downloaded.
- It opens on your strongest line, with the warm-up cut.
- It has no long pauses, ums or repeated sentences.
- It has captions burned in, clear of the app's buttons at the edges.
- It shows the product on the words that name it.
- It has music under your voice and ends with the call to action from the brief.
- It's in the format the brief asks for, such as vertical 9:16, with no editing app's watermark on it.
What is inside each file
The same clip, before and after the edit.
| What's inside | Raw file | Edited file |
|---|---|---|
| Pauses and ums | All of them | Cut |
| Captions | None | Burned into the picture |
| Product shots | Separate files, if any | On the words that name it |
| Music | None | Under the voice |
| Call to action | Only if you said it | On screen at the end |
| Who uses it | The brand's editor | The brand's page or ad account |
| Can the brand recut it? | Yes, it's the source | Only by trimming; the captions stay |
What's inside: Pauses and ums
- Raw file
- All of them
- Edited file
- Cut
What's inside: Captions
- Raw file
- None
- Edited file
- Burned into the picture
What's inside: Product shots
- Raw file
- Separate files, if any
- Edited file
- On the words that name it
What's inside: Music
- Raw file
- None
- Edited file
- Under the voice
What's inside: Call to action
- Raw file
- Only if you said it
- Edited file
- On screen at the end
What's inside: Who uses it
- Raw file
- The brand's editor
- Edited file
- The brand's page or ad account
What's inside: Can the brand recut it?
- Raw file
- Yes, it's the source
- Edited file
- Only by trimming; the captions stay
When to send both, and how
Send both when the brief asks for raw footage, or when the brand plans to test several versions. If the brief asks only for the finished video, send the edit.
With Cutroom's Magic Editor, you upload the raw clip, add your product photos and press "Make my video". Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit, and your raw clip stays as it was.
- It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready.
- Then you type changes in the chat, such as "Remove all the ums and uhs". Each one comes back as a new version of the edit.
- Send the raw clip exactly as your phone saved it, without trimming it first.
- Send big files as a link to a shared folder or a file-transfer service, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer, rather than through a chat app, which may compress the video.
- Name the two files so nobody mixes them up, for example stand-raw.mov and stand-edit.mp4.
- The Magic Editor exports a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920, 30 frames a second, with the sound levelled, with the captions in the picture. For a 4:5 copy or one without captions, the brand works from your raw clip.
- For a second version to test, ask Jacob for a different opening, for example "Cut the first sentence" so the video opens on your second line, or "Make this about 10 seconds shorter" for a short cut. Each change costs 40 credits and makes a new version, and you export the ones you want.
- Free exports carry a Cutroom mark across the middle, which doesn't belong on a paid brand video. Lite at $19.99 a month removes it.
Questions people ask
- What is raw UGC?
- Raw UGC is the unedited clip straight from the creator's phone or camera, with no cuts, no captions and no music. Brands use it to make their own edits.
- What is the difference between raw and edited UGC?
- Raw UGC is the clip as filmed. Edited UGC is the finished video, with the pauses cut, captions burned in, the product on screen, music and a call to action.
- Should I send raw footage to brands?
- Yes, when the brief asks for it or the brand wants to test versions. Send it as your phone saved it, next to the edited file, and check whether raw footage is part of the price or an add-on.
- Does raw UGC mean UGC that looks unpolished?
- Sometimes. People also say "raw" for the look: a video that feels filmed on a phone, with little editing. That's a style of finished video. In a brief, raw footage means the unedited file.
- Should the edited UGC file have captions?
- Yes. Billo's editing guide recommends burned-in captions, because platform auto-captions disappear when a video is downloaded. The raw file has none, so the brand can add its own.
- Can captions be removed from an edited video?
- No, not once they're burned in. Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so a version without them has to be made from the raw clip.
- Does Cutroom give me a raw and an edited file?
- Cutroom gives you the edited file: one vertical MP4 with the captions in the picture. Your raw file is the clip you uploaded, so you already have it.
Film the clip once, keep the original as your raw file and let Jacob make the edited one. Your first video is free.