What Do Various Icons and Symbols Mean in CapCut Desktop

Despite having a simple user interface, many users still find the CapCut video editor on desktop hard to use, especially for first-time users. Like many other video editing apps, to keep the interface simple, CapCut uses icons for most of its advanced features to keep the user experience simple and better utilise the space.

As a result, many first-time users, especially on desktop, who have never used advanced tools like frames and multi-layer editing, found the video editing app overwhelming to use in the beginning.

If you are a beginner or someone who is getting started with CapCut for the first time, it is highly recommended to go through this guide to understand what the different icons mean on the CapCut desktop.

CapCut Desktop Icons and Interface Explained: The Complete Beginner’s Guide

Knowing what icons and labels mean in CapCut can help you understand the function of each tool and what it does, so that in the future, you don’t feel lost and overwhelmed by the interface, and make your video editing workflow easy and simple.

Considering many of you might be beginners and even first-time users of CapCut desktop, I made this guide super beginner-friendly and even included a PDF for your reference.

You can also bookmark this web page and revisit it if you don’t know anything about the symbol. With that in mind, let’s go to each interface and let me explain what various icons and symbols mean on the CapCut desktop app.

CapCut Video Editor Desktop Legend and Icons Guide

Cheat sheet for CapCut icons

I have divided this interface into multiple sub-interfaces, and I will explain what symbols and icons mean in the sub-interfaces first.

CapCut Main Interface: Import and Top Toolbar Icons

The top toolbar is where you can add different assets to your videos, and it is the most-used toolbar in the CapCut video editing app on the desktop. What icons and symbols mean to make it simpler for you, CapCut also has a text under each icon to help you easily understand and differentiate between the icons, symbols, and their functions.

1. Media (Set by Default): First is a media selected by default, which allows you to import videos, images, and audio files into the project timeline. You can see all the imported files below the interface. You can even sort and change their appearance and search from your imported files.
2. Audio: Next is audio, followed by media. You can find and add different music tracks to your video timeline, including music, sound effects, extract audio from videos, and even include music from your brand. It also comes with a useful copyright check, which allows you to check the copyright of the audio used in your videos, especially useful for YouTube creators.
3. Text: Here you can access all the text, subtitles, and preset templates you can add to your video clips. You can also generate captions and import local captions from here.
4. Stickers: You can add different animated and static stickers and emojis to your videos. You can also import and save brand stickers from here.
5. Effects: As the name suggests, here you can add different video effects to your videos, including glitter, sparkles, blur, and more.
6. Transitions: Next is a transition where you can include different effects between the video clips. CapCut offers plenty of transitions by default. You can connect to the internet, download them, save them to your project, and use them between the video clips.
7. Filters: Filter allows you to add different filters, apply different colours, fits, and tone adjustments to your videos.
8. Adjustments: You can further edit video clips, brightness, contrast, saturation, and other visual parameters, and all your adjustments are present here.
9. Loading Search: Loading button in the search bar indicates that your media files are currently being loaded into your CapCut video library.
10. Sort/Layout Toggle: Once you have imported all your work files, you can further change and access them by switching between grid view and list view of assets, and also sort these assets by type, date, and data.

CapCut Desktop: Video Preview Controls

CapCut offers a small video player on the top, on the left, to preview the video timeline, edits, and edge out the video display. We can also resize and adjust the size of the player from the resizing builder. It also comes with useful controls and what they mean.

1. Sound Preview: You can play the audio or song on your videos in the waveform.
2. Play or Pause the Video Preview: You can play or pause your video preview in real-time.
3. Fit to Screen: Using this icon, you can increase or decrease the zoom in your videos. In other words, you can adjust the preview to fit inside the screen window of the user while playing the video.
4. Aspect Ratio: CapCut Desktop allows you to create videos in different aspect ratios. Using this icon, you can switch the video and view the video in different aspect ratios, including 16:9, 9:16, and 1:1.
5. Full Screen Preview: Preview the video in full screen for final visual results.
6. More Options: Tapping on the three horizontal menu on the top offers additional options, including the color of the telescope and expanding the frame paint. You can take a picture of the current frame and save it on your device.

CapCut Desktop Video Editing Sidebar: Tools & Icons Meaning

Once you get the past preview tab, you get your video editing sidebar with further options to edit your videos.

This panel appears when you select any video/audio/text clip in your timeline. Here you can control various factors of the video clip, including alignment, positioning, size, and properties of the video clip. Here, use those icons and the various symbol names in the video tab icon functions.

1. Alignment Tools: These are alignment tools that allow you to adjust your clip position starting with the left, center, right, top, middle, and then finally bottom.
2. Reset Options: If you enable different settings and mess them up, you can easily reset to the original settings by clicking on the reset icon.
3. Keyframe: Keyframe is a part of more advanced video editing that lets it change the element or the property in the video based on time. It includes both the start and end points. Most common examples for keyframes are position tracking, where you can change the position of the element from the start point to the end point, you can think of it as an animation to move the object between two points. You can also add keyframes for different settings, such as zoom, move, texture object on the screen, fade, fade out, apply filters, and morph between two points. CapCut also allows you to add keyframes with that diamond icon. It lets you select the start and end points of the animation. If you are a beginner, I highly recommend you watch this video to get more information about what keyframes are and how they work.
4. Distribute Horizontally: Distribute horizontally allows you to align different elements horizontally in the video frame.
5. Distribute Vertically: Similar to the above, distribute allows you to align different elements in the video vertically.

Timeline Icons & Toolbar Symbols Meaning

Another major timeline in CapCut is the timeline, icons, and meanings, which play the majority of role in controlling your video clips.

It is available in the centre and currently divided into two parts, both left and right, unlike other toolbars, icons here don’t have any text, making them one of the most complex icons to understand for beginners. Here is what each icon means in the CapCut video timeline and its function.

1. Select Tool: The select tool is the default. It’s selected by default. The arrow mark indicates that you can tap on any elements and select them. You can tap on it and change the default selection into split mode selection and left mode selection. Each has different functions.
2. Undo: This is called the undo button. It is the most useful and also mostly used in video editing. It lets you reverse your edit into your video clips.
3. Redo: The redo button is available once you undo any changes. Accidentally, if you quickly reverse the changes by clicking on this icon.
4. Split: Split allows you to split the timeline into two different parts.
5. Split and Delete Left: Split and delete left icon lets you split the timeline of your video clip and delete the left time to save you some time. It is indicated by dotted lines for the left video clip.
6. Split and Delete Right: Similar to the split and delete left icon, the split and delete right allows you to split the video clip into two parts and delete the right clip completely.
7. Delete: Delete allows you to completely remove the clip from the timeline.
8. Add a Marker: Add a marker to add any marks to the video clip.
9. Freeze: The freeze icon allows you to freeze a specific frame in the video, click and split the frame into two clips, and freeze the frame in the middle. If you want, you can expand the middle frame.
10. Reverse: Since it is advanced, CapCut allows you to reverse the video clip. You can select the clip and click on the reverse icon, and it will reverse the video clip.
11. Mirror: The icon lets you mirror the video clip you have selected.
12. Rotate: Next is the rotate icon, which allows you to rotate the video clip in all four directions in the anti-clockwise direction.
13. Crop Ratio: The crop ratio allows you to crop a specific portion of the video clip.
14. Transcript Feature: The transcript feature is very similar to the captions, which allows you to convert the video into audio and add that to the video. It also includes any other sounds in the video.
15. Split Screens: The split screen feature allows you to split the screen automatically for the selected clip. It uses AI and automatically splits the clip into multiple clips in the video. This is useful, especially if you want to make changes to the individual clips.

Meaning of icons on the right side

1. Microphone: The microphone icon on the right side allows you to record video and voice over to your video clips. Furthermore, it also allows you to select the input device volume and apply noise reduction and more features while recording the audio to your video clips.
2. Turn off/on Main track Magnet: The turn off/on main track magnet allows you to stick two clips together automatically if you are working with multiple video clips. It can be very useful based on your use case. For instance, if the main track magnet is turned off, the second video clip sticks right next to the first one automatically. If you turn off this feature, you can place the second clip anywhere you want by offering a gap between them. The gap will appear as a black screen in the final video.
3. Autosnapping: While the turn off main track magnet is applicable for only the main video timeline, the auto snapping feature allows you to automatically adjust all other clips, including audio, effects, subtitles, and secondary video players. For example, when the auto snapping is turned on, the music on the text snaps starts at the beginning of the video and matches the preview, and when it is turned off, you can place them anywhere on your timeline. Both features are similar, allowing you to adjust different elements.
4. Turn off/on Linkage: The turn-on and off linkage allows you to stick multiple items and delete them all at once when needed. For example, if the turn-on link is enabled when you move the video, the music associated with it will be moved, and if it is turned on, you can move the music alone and keep the clip in the same position.
5. Turn off/on Preview Axis: Turning off/on the preview axis allows you to preview the video that you have already edited when you move the mouse through the video clip. It automatically previews a video for you. You can also select both video and audio to preview.
6. Zoom to fit timeline: The zoom to fit timeline automatically fits all your video clips to your current screen to see all your progress, and all your video clips at once, without needing to scroll left and right.
7. Zoom in: To add flexibility, you can also zoom in and zoom out of the timeline. The last two symbols on the scroll bar let you do that.

CapCut Timeline Track Symbols

CapCut track timeline allows you to control individual video clips in the timeline; These settings allow you to track control icons like audio, lock, eye, and others, and more. These are located on the left side bar.

1. The TI icon (in this case): The TI icon represents text. It represents the type of media timeline. It shows the video symbols for the video clips, TI for text, music for the audio, and more.
2. Lock: The lock symbol allows you to lock the time from making any changes or edits to it. You can lock and unlock specific video clips, text, or any elements in the timeline anytime.
3. Eye: The eye symbol lets you disable some elements of the tracks in the timeline. You can also use it to preview changes and declutter your experience while you are editing in the timeline.

CapCut Top Toolbar: Symbols and Icons Explained

The toolbar hosts some important settings of the CapCut video editing bar and also gets you to access the video editor shortcuts without needing to check elsewhere. Here is what these symbols mean.

1. Windows icon: The Windows icon lets you change the placement of the different windows for the CapCut video editor. It comes with default presets, including default, media, and attributes, and also lets you reset the layout to the default. If you don’t, you can replace any windows in the CapCut and replace them and resize, and also make the window a separate window. You can grab the window and place it anywhere on the screen.
2. Shortcuts: Next, as the name suggests, the shortcuts allow you to view all the shortcuts in a single place.
3. Share: You can export and share the video editing.
4. Export: Finally, you can export the video with different settings.

Export Screen: Symbols and Settings Explained

Finally, the export tab lets you edit and export the video you have created. Unlike other tabs, the export tab doesn’t have any symbols, and it utilises the space well and includes all the text icons to help you understand. However, if you are new to video editing, some advanced options might confuse you; here is what they mean.

1. AI Ultra HD: The AI Ultra HD option upscales the video resolution using AI. It needs an internet connection, and the results were significantly better in the final output, as I tested with multiple videos while exporting.
2. Bit rate: Bit rate controls the video quality and the size of the video. The higher the bitrate, the better the video will be.
3. Codec: Codec is the method used to compress the video for optimized sharing across different platforms. If you are exporting it for social media, the default setting is H.264. Depending on your use case and the platform you want to share the video on, you can select different bitrates.
4. Format: The format of the video. MP4 is set by default. You can change the export of your video into multiple formats.
5. Framerate: The number of frames per second. 30fps is the most recommended. You can also set it to 60 for smoother videos, but it increases the video file size while you are exporting.
6. Sync exported videos to the space: When enabled, this option will save the exported video to your CapCut cloud, so you can edit and export it into other videos using the CapCut account on other devices.
7. Video symbols on the left side of the duration: It simply represents the duration of the video.
8. Folder: You can select a specific folder to save the video into.

I have been editing videos for the last seven years, but I am not familiar with advanced editing tools like Adobe or even DaVinci. I always found this too complex to use and requires a lot of learning curve to make even simple edits.

So, most of the time, I rely on basic video editing apps like Filmora for desktop and basic mobile video editing apps to edit videos, despite having an advanced video editor. This is where CapCut has offered exactly what I needed, and to be honest, it has changed the game for me forever.

It is no brainer that CapCut, owned by TikTok, has gained millions of users monthly and is a popular player like Adobe in terms of market share. CapCut has solved the biggest user pain point. The current most advanced video editing apps are too complex, expensive, and heavy for casual users.

Thanks to CapCut. It offered a solution that is not only lightweight and easy to use with modern features, but also most of the features are free to use compared to the paid, expensive alternatives.

I started using CapCut in 2023, and since then, it has become my go-to video editing app for both mobile and desktop. If you are on mobile, you can also try Instagram Edits. It is further simplified than CapCut. I have a detailed comparison. I recently compared CapCut with the Instagram Edits mobile editor. You can also check it if you are looking for an easy-to-use video editor app for mobile.

You can bookmark this guide to view it whenever you get stuck with the symbols you don’t know. I hope you find this guide helpful. If you have any issues, you can comment below, and we will try to answer.