Discover how to integrate IMG.LY's JavaScript video editor into your web application and unlock its full range of features.
Video content has always been a powerhouse for engagement, becoming even more impactful with the rise of short-form videos. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have built their empires on video content, as that remains the preferred medium for both creating and consuming information.
Not only have those platforms changed how we consume information, but they have also transformed user behavior. We do not just want to watch videos—we want to create them, expecting the process to be both simple and professional.
Here is why embedding video creation and editing capabilities directly into your website, web or mobile application can significantly boost user engagement and satisfaction.
In this guide, you will learn how to integrate a JavaScript video editor using CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK). We will explore when it is most useful and what customizations it supports to suit your unique needs.
Want to jump into the code? For a quick start, visit our GitHub repository.
Let's dive in!
Why Does Your JavaScript Web App Need a Video Editor?
The world of content is constantly evolving—from text to images, from static visuals to long-form videos, and now from long videos to bite-sized clips. What stays consistent is that video content resonates deeply with us as humans.
No wonder, TikTok tops global app download charts, while YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram rank among the most visited sites right after Google. These platforms have not just built their empires on video—they have revolutionized how we think about video production.
They set the gold standard by enabling anyone to create professional-looking videos with minimal effort, offering tools for adding filters, overlays, audio, and text in just a few clicks. This ease of use has made intuitive video editing a must-have for web applications featuring social media integration, marketing ambitions, or content management capabilities.
By embedding a user-friendly JavaScript video editor in your application, you can ride this trend, providing a feature billions of users are already familiar with. The payoff? Lower barriers to user-generated content, enhanced engagement, and wider content distribution.
CreativeEditor SDK from IMG.LY delivers a seamless, high-performance, and feature-rich JavaScript solution for in-browser design, video, and photo editing—ready to meet your users' expectations.
Getting Started: Adding a Video Editor in JavaScript
Follow this step-by-step guide to learn how to integrate a JavaScript video editor into your site using CreativeEditor SDK.
Get started with integrating CE.SDK in a vanilla JavaScript application!
Requirements
CreativeEditor SDK runs directly in your browser's JavaScript engine, so no specific prerequisites are needed.
If your web application relies on Node.js, ensure that you have the latest stable versions of Node.js and NPM installed.
Installation and Library Import
In a vanilla JavaScript application, create a JavaScript module file (e.g., video-editor.js) and import the CreativeEditorSDK library:
import CreativeEditorSDK from "<https://cdn.img.ly/packages/imgly/cesdk-js/1.42.0/index.js>"
Note: In this example, the SDK is served from our CDN for convenience. In a production environment, you should host assets on your own servers for improved control and performance.
Alternatively, if you are using a bundler like Webpack, Rollup, Parcel, or Vite, and you want to integrate the CreativeEditor module within your existing project, simply add the @cesdk/cesdk-js npm package as a dependency to your project:
npm install [@cesdk/cesdk-js](<https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cesdk/cesdk-js>)
You can then import it as below:
import CreativeEditorSDK from "@cesdk/cesdk-js";
Well done!
Initialize the Video Editor
In your JavaScript module, right below the library import, initialize CreativeEditor SDK with the following logic:
// src/video-editor.js
import CreativeEditorSDK from "<https://cdn.img.ly/packages/imgly/cesdk-js/1.42.0/index.js>"
// your CE.SDK license and user configs
const config = {
license: "<YOUR_LICENSE>",
userId: "<YOUR_USER_ID>",
};
CreativeEditorSDK.create("#cesdk_container", config).then(async (editor) => {
// do something with your instance of CreativeEditor SDK...
// when done, clean up and free up resources
editor.dispose();
});
Replace <YOUR_LICENSE> with the license key you get from CreativeEditor SDK and <YOUR_USER_ID> with your user ID. The user ID is optional and helps track MAUs (Monthly Active Users) across different devices.
To integrate the video-editor.js file, import it into your HTML page like this:
<script type="module" src="video-editor.js"></script>
Note the type="module" attribute. This tells the browser to treat the script as an ES6 module, so that you can use import and export statements within your JavaScript code.
Make sure the same HTML page includes the following div element where the video editor will be embedded:
<div id="cesdk_container" style="width: 100%; height: 100vh;"></div>
This will load the video editor with the default video preset, giving users the ability to trim, cut, apply filters, add text overlays, include music, and more to enhance their videos.
Congratulations, you have successfully integrated the video editor!
CreativeEditor SDK: JavaScript Video Editing API for Web, Desktop, and Mobile
You just saw how to integrate the CE.SDK into a browser application. Yet, do not forget that the SDK supports a wide variety of frameworks and libraries—including mobile and web applications.
Web Framework Support
CE.SDK is designed to work with several popular JavaScript frameworks and libraries. For more detailed integration instructions, take a look at the official page on the documentation for each framework:
Additionally, the SDK is available for headless mode and works well in a Node.js environment.
Cross-Platform Support
One of the standout features of CreativeEditor SDK is its cross-platform philosophy. This extends beyond JavaScript ecosystems for the web, and includes mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop, thanks to support for:
That is made possible through a powerful engine that powers your app via features like:
- Unified API: The same underlying API is shared across web, desktop, iOS, and Android applications.
- Cross-Platform Feature Parity: CE.SDK guarantees that features are available consistently across platforms. Since core functionality is implemented at the engine level, features you use on one platform will be available on others, with only slight differences in release timelines.
- Interoperable Designs: Designs created in the editor component on one platform work on all platforms supported by CE.SDK. Whether a user is designing on iOS, Android, or the web, their design files can be imported seamlessly between platforms.
Native iOS and Android libraries, along with other frameworks, are also available. Learn more in our documentation!
JavaScript Video Editor Use Cases
It is time to explore some key use cases. Let’s see how the unique features of the CreativeEditor SDK can cover many scenarios!
Social Media Publishing
CreativeEditor SDK features what users need to create engaging and easy-to-share videos optimized for popular social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more. This is possible due to a large set of capabilities, which include:
- Reusable Templates: Users can either design their own templates and share them with the community or download those created by others. This variety of ready-to-use templates for different scenarios helps users skip the daunting blank canvas to bring their ideas to life. Explore various templates in our video editor demo.
- Music and Audio Library: In CE.SDK, adding audio to videos is simple and intuitive. Given the impact of audio, users can set the tone with music or narration in just a few clicks, creating a more immersive atmosphere for their content.
- Animations: The SDK includes a wide selection of animations to enhance the design elements positioned within video scenes.
After creating a video within your web app, users can export it directly from CE.SDK in the appropriate formats and aspect ratios for their target social media platforms.
Product Showcase for E-Commerce Applications
Images have long been a simple yet powerful tool for showcasing products on e-commerce platforms, and sites like eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, and Walmart have relied on them for years (and still do!).
However, in recent years, customer expectations have shifted. Today’s buyers crave more interactive and immersive ways to visualize products—they want to see how items look and perform in real-world settings.
Short, dynamic product videos offer a superior presentation experience. According to an analysis by Firework, video content increases purchase likelihood by 51%, highlighting its undeniable impact on buying decisions. This is why many sellers have already embraced video to enhance product displays.
With a CE.SDK-powered JavaScript video editor, producing compelling videos that deliver a seamless, multi-device shopping experience becomes effortless. Plus, reusable templates help you generate unique product videos while maintaining brand consistency.
Engaging Video Messages for Sales Outreach
Marketers and sales teams know that cold emails often come across as impersonal and boring. The solution to this challenge? Personalized video messages!
Customized video messages are proving to be an effective outreach tool, with studies showing significantly higher conversion rates.
With CreativeEditor SDK, sales and marketing teams can easily create personalized videos tailored to individual clients or leads, making their outreach more engaging and impactful. Unlike traditional email campaigns, personalized videos create a sense of real, one-on-one interaction.
Additionally, the SDK’s translation features help sales teams break down language barriers, allowing them to reach a global audience. This ensures that the personalized messages resonate with clients from different regions.
Explore this feature in our translation and internationalization demo.
Digital Asset Management
DAM, short for Digital Asset Management, is the process of organizing, storing, and managing digital assets, including video content. As your business grows, an effective DAM system becomes key to enabling multiple teams to easily access and collaborate on assets across different projects.
CreativeEditor SDK backs DAM workflows by offering powerful tools to organize, edit, and repurpose video content through an embeddable, centralized interface. Its core JavaScript video editor component empowers users to:
- Effortlessly adapt and customize video assets.
- Ensure brand consistency while automating updates across various assets.
- Edit content efficiently within a collaborative environment.
Although CE.SDK does not provide built-in role-based permissions, it integrates smoothly with backend systems to control user access. In particular, its flexible architecture supports the definition of custom hooks for permission checks to customize the editor’s behavior.
Automated Video Creation
CreativeEditor SDK streamlines the automation of asset creation by enabling users to generate on-brand video content variations for multiple channels. Thanks to adaptable templates, dynamic text variables, and lockable designs, the SDK ensures consistency and brand compliance over all produced videos.
Given a template, the creative engine automates the generation of countless personalized assets by populating them with resources from various data sources. That eliminates manual effort, reduces design bottlenecks, and accelerates production, making it perfect for scaling campaign-specific videos or building dedicated marketing tech.
Customizing your CreativeEditor SDK Instance
CreativeEditor SDK is not a one-size-fits-all JavaScript video editor. Instead, it is built for flexibility, offering a wide set of customization options to tailor the editor to your unique requirements and brand identity. These include:
- Theming Options: Match the editor’s look to your app’s style with built-in themes, generate new ones using the theme generator, or create custom themes manually. Explore theming possibilities in our dedicated demo.
- Custom UI: Build entirely bespoke JavaScript video editing user interfaces that align with your specific use case.
- Media Library Integration: Set up sortable, flexible media libraries and integrate popular third-party libraries like Unsplash and others. Get easy access to external assets.
- Localization: Adapt the editor to different languages and regions with full i18n support, letting you extend or overwrite any language setting.
- Toolbar Customization: Rearrange toolbar elements, update icons, or rename tools to deliver a tailored user experience.
With these customization options, CreativeEditor SDK ensures your video editor is as unique as your JavaScript application.
Conclusion
Implementing a JavaScript video editor in your web app can greatly improve the user experience and provide a powerful feature to drive higher engagement, retention, and even product distribution. This is true whether you are developing an e-commerce platform, a social media app, a tool for influencers, or a SaaS web solution.
With the CreativeEditor SDK, adding a fully customizable video editing experience to your web application takes only a few minutes. Explore CE.SDK’s video capabilities and dive into the docs.
Stay tuned for more updates, and please reach out if you have any questions. Thank you for reading.
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