---
title: "Photos and video"
description: "Make a hero video from a listing's photos, change its length, quality and phone framing, edit it, and sharpen or retouch photos."
last_updated: "2026-10-21"
lang: "en"
status: "beta"
canonical: "https://matchai.co/docs/guide/studio/photos-and-video"
---
# Photos and video
> Make a hero video from a listing's photos, change its length, quality and phone framing, edit it, and sharpen or retouch photos.
**In closed beta. This feature is open to a small group of professionals while we finish it, so it may change. It is coming to every account.**
Source: https://matchai.co/docs/guide/studio/photos-and-video
A hero video is a short, silent video that plays on a loop at the top of your listing page. You pick between three and seven photos, and each one becomes a few seconds of smooth camera movement. Outdoors, leaves, water and clouds may move a little. Indoors, only the light changes.
## Make a hero video [#make-a-hero-video]
### Before you start [#before-you-start]
- **Use landscape photos.** Portrait photos are greyed out and marked **Landscape only**, because every clip in the video has to be the same shape.
- **Pick three to seven photos.** Each one stays on screen for 2, 2.5 or 3 seconds, so the video runs between about 6 and 21 seconds.
- **Use the property's own photos.** Neighbourhood photos are not offered.
If the listing has no photos yet, Studio says **This listing has no photos yet. Add some first.** See [photos and media](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/listings/photos-and-media).
### Create it [#create-it]
Open the listing and select **Studio**, then **Create a hero video**.
**Pick the photos.** Tap the photos in the order they should play. Each one shows its number. Tap a photo again to take it out. Studio starts you off with your cover photo and the ones after it.
Under **Each photo stays for**, choose how long each photo stays on screen. You can change this later for free.
Select **Create hero video**. It stays greyed out until you have picked at least three photos.
### While it renders [#while-it-renders]
**Creating your hero video** shows one tile per photo. As each clip is made, Studio checks it against your photo:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Checking…** | The clip is being compared with your photo. |
| **Matches** | The clip shows the room as photographed. |
| **Re-rendering** | Something looked different from the photo, so the clip is being made again. |
| **Review this scene** | Studio could not confirm that the clip matches your photo. The clip is kept, so watch it before you share the video. You can trim or remove it in the editor. |
Select a finished tile to watch that clip full size while the others render.
**This can take a few minutes — you can leave and come back.** Your video keeps rendering. To check on it, open the listing's **Studio** and select **Your video is rendering…**, or open **My videos** and select **View progress**.
A buyer who visits the property should find the room the video showed them. So Studio compares every clip with the photo it came from, and makes it again if the room itself seems to have changed. When the video starts, Matchai sets aside enough Energy for a couple of these second tries. Whatever is not used comes back to you when the video is done.
### Stop a video [#stop-a-video]
Select **Cancel render**. You pay only for the photos already rendered, and the rest of the Energy comes back to you. Once every photo is rendered, the button reads **Finish now** instead: it puts the video together from the clips you have.
## When your video is ready [#when-your-video-is-ready]
**Your hero video is ready** plays the video, and it is already on your listing. It plays silently on a loop at the top of your listing page.
If the listing already had a hero video, the new one takes its place at the top. The older one moves to the video section further down the page. To take it off the listing, use the media manager (see [photos and media](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/listings/photos-and-media)).
Under the video:
- **Edit video** opens the editor. See [Edit a video](#edit-a-video).
- **On your listing** means this video is the one playing at the top of your listing. For a video that is not, **Add to listing** puts it there.
- **Download** saves the video to your device.
- **Make another** takes you back to **Pick the photos**.
**Videos for this listing** shows every hero video you have made for this listing. Select one to open it. **All videos** opens **My videos**.
## Change the length and the quality [#change-the-length-and-the-quality]
You can change a finished video without making it again.
- **Each photo stays for** changes how long each photo stays on screen. It is free, and a length you have used before switches instantly.
- **Quality** makes a sharper version: **1080p** or **2K**. The video is first made at **768p**. A sharper version uses Energy once for each length, and the button shows what it costs. It takes a few minutes, and you can keep working. Your listing keeps its current version until the new one is ready, and the sharper version is used on phones too. If it fails, your Energy comes back.
Every version you make is kept. Your listing shows the one you select, and switching back to a version you already have is free. In **My videos**, **Versions** switches which one your listing shows.
## Frame it for phones [#frame-it-for-phones]
On a phone held upright, visitors see a tall slice of your video rather than the whole wide frame. Studio chooses where that slice sits on each photo. To change it, use **Phone framing** under your video.
For each photo, choose **Hold** to keep the phone on one part of the room, or **Slide** to glide from one part to another.
Drag the window to what buyers should see, or tap the photo to move it there. With **Slide**, the solid window is **Where the shot starts** and the dashed one is **Where it ends**. The preview beside it plays the result.
Select **Save phone framing**. Updating the phone version is free and takes about a minute.
To go back to Studio's own choice, select **Reset to automatic**.
## Edit a video [#edit-a-video]
Select **Edit video** on a finished video, in Studio or in **My videos**. The editor shows your video as a row of clips.
- **Reorder** by dragging a clip.
- **Trim** by tapping a clip, then dragging its handles. Select **Done** when it looks right. Your original clip is always kept, so you can drag a handle back to undo.
- **Remove** a clip. The notice that follows offers **Undo**.
- **Keep a good clip** by starring it. It goes to **My clips**, where you can reuse it.
Select **Save changes** to make the edited video. Editing is free, because it only reuses clips that are already made.
Saving an edit does not change your listing on its own. To show the edited version, open the video again and select **Add to listing**.
## If a video stops before it finishes [#if-a-video-stops-before-it-finishes]
If you cancel a video, or it stops on its own, Studio keeps every clip it made. You see **Render stopped** or **Render failed**, and how many photos were rendered.
- **When every photo has a clip,** select **Finish video from these clips**. Finishing is free and takes about a minute.
- **When some photos are missing,** the video cannot be finished. Download the clips you have with **Download clip**, or choose **Start again** to pick photos again. Your last picks are kept.
You pay only for the photos that were rendered. If none were, all your Energy comes back. A stopped video shows **Stopped · clips saved** under **Videos for this listing**, and **View clips** in **My videos**, so you can come back to it later.
## My videos [#my-videos]
**My videos** holds every video you have created, for all your listings. Choose **All** or **Ready** to filter them.
Each video shows its listing, when you made it, and whether it is **Ready**, **Rendering**, **Cancelled** or **Failed**. A hero video shows **Hero** and its quality. Select the picture to play it. Depending on the video, you can then:
- **Edit video**, **Download** or **Add to listing** a finished video.
- **View progress** on one that is still rendering.
- **View clips** on one that stopped, to finish it or download its clips.
- **Retry** one that failed.
## My clips [#my-clips]
**My clips** holds the clips you starred in the editor, grouped by listing. Use them to put together a new video.
Open **Studio**, then **My clips**.
Select the clips in the order they should play. A video uses clips from one listing, so choosing a clip from another listing starts a new selection.
Select **Create video**. It is free. The new video opens in the editor, and you find it in **My videos**.
To start your selection over, choose **Clear**. To save a single clip to your device, use **Download clip**.
## Put a video on a listing [#put-a-video-on-a-listing]
A finished hero video goes on its listing by itself. For any other video, or to bring back one you removed:
- In Studio or **My videos**, select **Add to listing**.
- In the listing's media manager, under **Listing videos**, pick one from **Your Studio videos** and choose **Add**.
Only finished videos go on a listing. Clips are building blocks. See [photos and media](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/listings/photos-and-media).
## Sharpen or retouch a photo [#sharpen-or-retouch-a-photo]
The [Matchai Assistant](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/assistant) can improve a photo that is already on one of your listings. To furnish an empty room instead, see [AI staging](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/studio/ai-staging).
Open **Assistant**. Type `@` and pick the listing, then say which photo and what you want. For example: "sharpen the kitchen photo" or "replace the grey sky in the front photo".
The assistant can look at your photos to find the one you mean, or to suggest what would help. Looking is free. If it is not sure which photo you mean, it asks you.
A card shows the photo and how much Energy the edit uses, then waits. Approve it to start.
**Edited photo** shows **Before** above **After**. Choose **Add as new photo**, **Replace original** or **Discard**.
If you chose to add or replace, a second card shows exactly what changes on your listing. Approve it. This step is free.
Nothing on your listing changes until you approve that second card. **Add as new photo** puts the photo at the end of the gallery. **Replace original** puts it in the original's place. **Discard** leaves your listing as it was.
### What you can ask for [#what-you-can-ask-for]
| Ask for | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sharpen | Makes a small or soft photo larger and crisper. If the photo is already large enough, the assistant tells you sharpening would not help. |
| Declutter | Clears loose clutter, such as cables, dishes and papers, and keeps the furniture. |
| A new sky | Replaces a flat or grey sky. |
| Better light | Opens up dark shadows and brings back the windows. |
| Enhance | A careful all-round correction. |
| Time of day | Dusk, golden hour or night. |
| Weather | Clear, overcast or just after rain. |
| Season | Spring, summer, autumn or winter. |
| Mood | Warm, cool, or cosy with the lights on. |
| A touch of life | A couple, a family, a dog or a few guests, kept small in the frame. |
| Your own words | Any other change to the light, the sky, the weather or the mood. |
The photo editor is instructed never to change what is built: walls, windows, doors, floors, fixtures, the room itself or the view. Look at the result before you add it.
### Labels on edited photos [#labels-on-edited-photos]
A photo you sharpened carries no label. Every other edit shows **AI-edited** on your public listing page and in the media manager. The result card tells you which one before you add it.
Sharpening only makes the photo you took larger and crisper. It adds nothing the camera did not see. Every other edit changes what the picture shows, such as the sky, the season or who is in the room, and a buyer deserves to know which conditions were chosen afterwards.
### Put the original back [#put-the-original-back]
Ask the assistant to put the original photo back. It shows you the photo on your listing now and what comes back, then waits. Approve it, and your listing page changes straight away. It is free, and the edited version is kept under **Studio** in [Matchai Cloud](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/cloud).
## Common questions [#common-questions]
They are portrait photos. Hero videos use landscape photos only for now, so every clip in the video is the same shape.
No. One hero video renders at a time for each listing. If you try to start another, Studio says **A hero video is already rendering for this listing.** You can make videos for other listings in the meantime.
No. Hero videos are silent. They are made to play on a loop at the top of your listing page.
There is a daily limit on how many hero videos you can start. It protects you from starting the same video twice by mistake. Try again tomorrow.
Your video keeps rendering. Open the listing's **Studio** to see its progress or the finished video.
## Sitemap
- [Every page of Matchai Docs](https://matchai.co/docs/sitemap.md)
- [llms.txt](https://matchai.co/docs/llms.txt)