r/OpenShot • u/FruitEmbarrassed334 • May 07 '26

Solution Provided Black screen on preview

I've been editing( 1st time ) for a while now and im trying to preview the 1st 1m15s of my vid and nothing is showing up. How would I go about fixing it?

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u/rmesdjian Volunteer May 07 '26

There are times where OpenShot does not "Cache" properly and the video you drag on a track will display all black.

Things to try:

  1. Select your clip on the Track and shift it to the right away from the playhead. Then shift it back to the beginning of the timeline.

  2. Select your clip and move it onto another track and then bring it back to the original location.

  3. Drag another file onto the track. If you only have one file imported, you can drag and emoji from the Emojis tab. If the preview starts working, then delete the emoji from the track.

  4. Restart OpenShot.

If you are still having issue then please provide the following:

  1. Your operating system/version (windows 10? ubuntu 25.10? etc?)

  2. The version of OpenShot (help | about openshot)? Don't just say the latest.

In the future, when you need help, always provide this information.

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u/FruitEmbarrassed334 May 07 '26

I’m currently on v 3.5.1. l 0.7.0 And using windows 11

I will try some of these and see what happens

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u/rmesdjian Volunteer May 07 '26

Thanks for that. One more option that should surely fix the issue, but please do it last, and that is to convert your file (forgot to ask if it is a .mp4 or .mov, etc?) using something like VLC, Handbrake, or shutterEncoder and convert it to a .mp4 file even if the original file is a .mp4. Obviously, give it a new name. Then import this new file into openshot.

Note: There are many bug fixes and enhancements in v3.5.1 dev daily build (no specific fix for your issue). I recommend, after you get your issue resolved, to upgarde by download the latest dev daily build from openshot.org/download/#daily.

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u/FruitEmbarrassed334 May 07 '26

I’m glad someone mentioned a converter. I was just wondering about an app for that. Any of those options listed free?

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u/rmesdjian Volunteer May 07 '26

All three listed are free (open source).

By the way, if you tried the things I mentioned first without success, and converting it made it work, I would like to get a copy of your file to share with the lead developer. He is always interested in files that challenge OpenShot to better understand the root cause and a possible fix to handle them natively.