Beat sync · Mac and iPhone
Sync your video to the beat of the music
Motion that lands on the beat is what makes a montage, a workout reel or a product edit feel cut to the music rather than laid next to it. Doing it by hand means finding every beat and keyframing a zoom onto it.
Beat Sync does the finding and the punching for you. It is never applied for you, Auto-Polish included: you choose when a video gets it, and the Punch slider sets how hard each hit lands.
- Mac and iPhone
- Free, with Pro export extras
Quick answer
To sync a video to the beat of its music automatically, use Zella's Beat Sync on Mac or iPhone: it listens to the track on your device, finds the beats and punches a quick zoom on each one, so the edit moves with the music. On the Mac, click Beat Punch in the sidebar for the one-click version, or open Effects → Beat Sync for the Sensitivity and Punch sliders. Detecting beats and pulsing on them is free; tuning the kick, snare and hats separately is part of Zella Pro's depth toolset on Mac and iPhone.
How to do it in Zella
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Step 1: Add music with a clear beat
Put a music bed or your own track under the video. Narration alone, or a silent screen recording, has no beat to find.
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Step 2: Mac: one click or the full controls
Click Beat Punch in the sidebar to detect the beat and pulse a subtle zoom on every hit. For control, open the Effects tab, find Beat Sync, set the Sensitivity slider and click Detect Beats; Zella shows a count such as 24 beats.
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Step 3: iPhone: open it with the sound tools
Beat Sync lives behind the Audio button in the timeline toolbar, next to the music it reads.
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Step 4: Set the Punch
Punch sets how far the picture zooms in on each beat, from a subtle heartbeat to a bold, snappy montage. On the Mac it updates live while the video plays.
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Step 5: Pick one drum with Pro
With the depth toolset, the kick, snare and hats each get their own sensitivity, and any drum set to 0 is ignored. Driving the pulse from the kick alone usually reads cleanest.
Why do it this way
Energy without new footage
A beat-timed zoom turns a flat clip into a montage with no extra shots and no keyframes placed by hand.
Under your control
Sensitivity decides how many beats count and Punch decides how big each one is, and Beat Sync only runs when you ask for it.
On your device
Beat detection runs on your Mac or iPhone, with nothing uploaded, and works on the built-in music beds as well as your own track.
What you need
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later (Apple Silicon or Intel), or iPhone on iOS 18 or later
- Music or rhythmic audio on the timeline; a clear drum pulse gives the cleanest beats
- Free on every tier: beat detection and the zoom punch, no watermark, exports up to 2 minutes at 1080p
- Zella Pro ($89 once, Mac and iPhone) for per-drum control of the kick, snare and hats
Questions
How do I sync my video to the beat of a song?
Add the song, then on the Mac click Beat Punch, or open Effects → Beat Sync, click Detect Beats and set the Punch slider. On iPhone, Beat Sync is behind the Audio button with the rest of the sound tools.
Why did Beat Sync find no beats?
There is probably no clear beat in the audio, or the sensitivity is too low. Make sure a music track is on the timeline, raise Sensitivity and click Re-detect.
Can I sync to just the kick or the snare?
Yes, with Zella Pro. Per-drum control gives the kick, snare and hats their own sensitivity on Mac and iPhone, and only the drums above 0 are combined.
Does Auto-Polish add Beat Sync for me?
No. Beat Sync is never applied for you. On iPhone, Auto-Polish does snap the start of its music bed to the take's first beat, but the zoom punches are always your choice.
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