Fair Copy Edit · video editing for Windows
You have to read the whole thing before you cut any of it.
What it’s for · 1 minute 9 seconds. Plays only when you press Play, with sound; English captions available (CC).
Fair Copy Edit is a Windows application for editing talks, lessons, interviews and other speech-led recordings from a word-timed transcript. The AI reads the whole recording and proposes the cuts, Fair Copy Edit checks each cut against the transcript, and you watch the draft and decide what stays. The aim: a shorter video that still says what the speaker meant.
Monthly, or buy once. Checkout isn’t open yet; prices are published when it opens. Plans and requirements
Fair Copy Edit for Windows. Fair Copy Edit for macOS: coming soon.
A recording, marked up
(cut) So, um — the thing is, right, you’ve got to — (kept) you have to read the whole thing.(cut) Like, the whole thing, start to finish, before you, uh, (kept) before you cut any of it.(cut) Otherwise you’re just — yeah.
Its fair copy
You have to read the whole thing before you cut any of it.
Highlighted words stay; struck words go. What’s left is shorter, cleaner, and still means exactly what the speaker meant. (Specimen text.)
A clip can say the opposite of what you meant.
(cut) Everyone told me (kept) the fastest way to grow a small business is to cut your prices.(cut) So we did. It nearly sent us broke.
Confident. Quotable. The opposite of the speaker’s point.
(kept) Everyone told me the fastest way to grow a small business is to cut your prices. So we did. It nearly sent us broke.
Stet: the proofreader’s mark for “let it stand”. Two sentences longer, and true.
The problem (specimen text, written for this page)
A recording isn’t a pile of highlights. It’s an argument, a story or a conversation, and the point of one sentence often lives in the next.
Software built to find the punchiest moments will find them. Some of them will mean the opposite of what you said, and they’ll go out under your name.
So Fair Copy Edit starts where a careful editor starts: it reads the whole recording, works out what it’s for and who it’s for, and only then proposes what to cut.
How a recording becomes a fair copy.
-
Transcribe
Every word is written down and timed to the original recording. The original file is never altered.
Watch: Transcribe, in the film How it works, with sound -
Read the whole
Your brief and the full transcript are read as one piece before a single cut is proposed.
Watch: Read the whole, in the film How it works, with sound -
Plan
An edit plan sets out what stays, what goes and what needs your review, each point tied to the exact words.
Watch: Plan, in the film How it works, with sound -
Check
Before anything is rendered, every cut point must be a real word in the transcript; a cut inside a word or where speech overlaps is flagged, and adjusting a cut never adds or drops a “not”. Flagged cuts wait for you.
Watch: Check, in the film How it works, with sound -
Watch the draft
You watch the draft preview against your brief and approve it or ask for a change. Every change is saved as its own version that you can go back to.
Watch: Watch the draft, in the film How it works, with sound -
Render the final
The draft you approve is rendered at full quality as the final video, with captions timed to the edit.
Watch: Render the final, in the film How it works, with sound
Not another AI trimmer.
Most AI editors look for moments to cut. Fair Copy Edit starts from what was said, shows its reasoning, and leaves the decision with you.
Edited from the transcript
Every word is timed to the recording, and every cut point must be a word that is really in the transcript. The AI reads the whole recording, with your brief, before it proposes anything.
Decisions you can read
The edit plan sets out what stays, what goes and what needs your review, each point tied to the exact words. Passages moved out of their original order need a stated reason.
Safeguards for meaning
Adjusting a cut never adds or drops a “not”, “no” or “never”. A cut inside a word, or where speech overlaps, is flagged, and flagged cuts stop the render until you accept them. It doesn’t judge meaning for you: that is your review.
Nothing final without you
You watch a draft preview against your brief and approve it or ask for changes. The finished video and Shorts are made only from a version you approve, and Fair Copy Edit never publishes anything.
Revisions you can undo
Every edit is saved as its own version that you can go back to. Earlier finished videos move to an Older versions folder; nothing is deleted unless you choose to free up space.
Ready to upload
A finished MP4 at your recording’s own quality, SRT captions timed to the edit, vertical Shorts taken only from parts you kept, and an OpenTimelineIO timeline for DaVinci Resolve.
Two ways to a fair copy.
Most people will want to do the editing themselves, with the software. Some would rather not touch it at all. Both are on offer, and they are bought separately.
Do it yourself
Fair Copy Edit
A Windows application, monthly or bought once, that you run on your own computer, with your own ElevenLabs account for the transcript and, if you like, your own Claude account for the edit. You brief it, check it and approve every version.
Have it done
Edited for you
Send us the recording and we do the whole edit, then send back the finished video and our working. A small, boutique service, by enquiry only.
Rather not set up AI accounts? Edited for you does the whole edit: you send the recording, and we send back the finished video.
Why it’s called Fair Copy, and who made it: read the Story.
What you’ll need.
A Windows computer and one account of your own, ElevenLabs, for the transcript. Claude is optional. You pay those services directly for what you use; Fair Copy Edit never charges usage fees.
-
A Windows computer
Windows 11 or Windows 10, 64-bit. Transcripts and editing are in English only in this release.
-
ElevenLabs, for the transcript (needed)
Your own ElevenLabs account and API key, on a plan that allows API use; there is no offline transcription in this release. At the list price recorded on 20 October 2026 (US$0.22 per hour of audio), a 30-minute recording costs about US$0.11 and a 60-minute one about US$0.22, and usage included in your ElevenLabs plan may cover it. Fair Copy Edit shows the estimated cost and asks before anything is sent, and never sends the same recording twice. ElevenLabs receives the audio only, never the video. Setting up the account and key takes about 5–10 minutes.
-
Claude, for the edit (optional)
Sign in once with your own Claude subscription, and editing uses that plan’s normal allowance, with no extra charge from us; or connect your own Anthropic API key, and Anthropic bills each editing pass at its prices. Claude receives text only: your request and brief, the transcript, and the editing rules. No video, audio or picture is sent. Connecting takes a few minutes, once per computer.
-
Or no Claude at all
Use ChatGPT instead: copy the request, then paste ChatGPT’s answer back. It works with any ChatGPT account. Or write a cut sheet by hand, with no AI.
-
Where your keys are kept
Your ElevenLabs key and Anthropic API key are saved in Windows Credential Manager on your computer. We never see your AI keys, recordings or transcripts: activation sends us only your purchase key and a one-way code made from the computer’s Windows ID.
The application itself.
What’s included.
Working today, and in use on the creator’s own channel.
- Word-by-word transcripts, timed and linked to the original recording
- Editorial planning from the whole recording and your brief
- Edit plans drafted by the AI, written by hand, or supplied from another AI or editor
- Programmed checks and risk flags on every planned cut
- Previews and revisions: every edit is saved as its own version that you can go back to
- Precise cutting and full-quality final renders
- SRT captions timed to the edited video
- Vertical Shorts with face-aware framing and captions
Next: Interested in Fair Copy Edit?
Help answers the common questions. For anything else, get in touch: we reply by email, normally within a few business days.
Questions are answered by email. We never add you to a mailing list.
Fair Copy Edit for Windows.
Please don’t send footage, passwords or personal documents through the form.