How to Edit a Facebook Live Video

Your Facebook Live broadcast doesn't have to end when you click Finish. In fact, that's just the beginning. By editing your live video after it's over, you can transform a raw, in-the-moment stream into a polished piece of evergreen content that works for you long after the initial audience has tuned out. This guide will walk you through exactly how to edit your Facebook Live videos using Facebook's own tools and when it makes sense to use external software for more advanced changes.

Why Spend Time Editing Your Facebook Live Videos?

Going live is about capturing authentic, unscripted moments, so why refine it afterward? Because editing serves a different purpose: maximizing the long-term value of your content. A few quick edits can turn a good live session into a fantastic, replayable asset.

Here's why it's worth the effort:

• First Impressions Count: Most live broadcasts start with a few minutes of waiting for people to join. You might be saying, "Can everyone hear me?" or "We'll get started in just a minute." Editing lets you trim this dead time right off the top, so viewers watching the replay get straight to the good stuff.
• Create Polished, Evergreen Content: Maybe there was a technical glitch, a long pause, or you went off on a tangent. Editing allows you to clean up mistakes and tighten the narrative, making the video a more concise and valuable resource for future viewers discovering it weeks or months later.
• Improve Watch Time and Retention: People have short attention spans. By removing unnecessary pauses and fluff, you create a better viewing experience that encourages people to stick around longer.
• Generate More Content: Your live video is a content goldmine. From a single one-hour broadcast, you can clip out dozens of short, impactful moments perfect for creating Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikToks.

Think of it this way: the live broadcast is for the immediate audience interaction. The edited version is for everyone else, forever.

How to Edit Directly on Facebook: A Step-by-Step Guide

For most basic edits, you don't need fancy software. Facebook has built-in tools that are perfect for trimming your video and optimizing its presentation. The interface has changed over the years from Creator Studio to Meta Business Suite, but the process remains straightforward.

1. Find Your Published Live Video

First, you need to locate your video. The easiest way to do this is through Meta Business Suite, which is Facebook's central hub for managing professional content.

1. Log into Meta Business Suite for your Facebook Page.
2. In the left-hand menu, click on "Content."
3. You'll see a gallery of all your published content. Above the gallery, click on the "Live" filter tab. This will show you only your past live broadcast recordings.
4. Hover over the video you want to edit and click the three-dot icon (...) that appears. From the dropdown menu, select "Edit post."

This will open up the video editing interface, where you can make all your changes.

2. Trim the Beginning and End

This is the most common and impactful edit you'll make. Cutting out the awkward waiting period at the start and the clunky sign-off at the end immediately improves the replay experience.

1. In the "Edit post" window, look for the "Video editing" or "Trim" option. Click it.
2. A timeline of your video will appear. You'll see yellow handles at the beginning and end of this timeline.
3. To trim the beginning: Click and drag the left handle to the exact moment you want the video to start. As you drag, a preview window will show you the corresponding frame, so you can stop right on cue.
4. To trim the end: Click and drag the right handle to the moment you want the video to end. This is great for cutting off any awkward "How do I turn this off?" fumbling.
5. Once you're happy with your new start and end points, click "Save." Facebook will process the trim in the background. It might take a few minutes for the changes to go live.

Pro Tip: While you're at it, if you had a major stumble or a long, silent pause somewhere in the middle, you can't splice it out with Facebook's tool. But for simple trims, it works perfectly.

3. Optimize Your Video Details

While you're in the "Edit post" window, don't miss the chance to polish the surrounding information. This helps your video get discovered through search and gives viewers a better idea of what to expect.

• Title: Your live stream's title might have been something generic like "We're Live!" Change it to a descriptive, compelling title that includes keywords. Think about what someone would search for to find your content. For example, change "Live Q&A" to "How to Plan Your First Social Media Campaign: A Live Q&A."
• Description: Expand on the title. Use the description to summarize what the video covers, add links to resources you mentioned, and include relevant hashtags.
• Thumbnail: Facebook will automatically select a frame from your video to be the thumbnail, and it's rarely a flattering one. You can choose a different frame from the video or, better yet, upload a custom thumbnail. A custom thumbnail with text overlay that clearly states the video's topic is one of the best ways to increase click-through rates.
• Tags: Add relevant keywords as tags to help Facebook's algorithm understand what your video is about and show it to interested audiences.

4. Add Chapters for Longer Videos

If your live video was long and covered several distinct topics (like a workshop or a detailed Q&A), adding chapters is a huge favor to your viewers. Chapters break the video into navigable sections, allowing people to jump directly to the parts they care about most.

1. In the video editing tools, look for an option called "Chapters."
2. Click "Add Chapter."
3. You'll add chapters one by one. For each chapter, you create a timestamp (e.g., 03:15) and a descriptive title (e.g., "Step 2: Choosing Your Platforms").
4. Continue adding timestamps and titles for each major topic shift in your video.
5. When you save, these chapters will appear on the video player's timeline, making your long-form video much more user-friendly.

Going Further: Using External Tools for Advanced Edits

Facebook's tools are great for the basics, but what if you want to do more? What if you want to add background music, insert branding like a logo or lower-third titles, or create a fast-paced highlights reel? For that, you'll need to download the video and use external editing software.

When to Use an External Video Editor

It's time to go beyond Facebook's built-in tools when you want to:

• Add on-screen graphics, like your name and title, pop-up text callouts, or your company logo.
• Incorporate B-roll footage or other video clips to illustrate a point.
• Add background music to set the mood or a voiceover narration.
• Perform complex edits, like cutting out "ums" and "ahs" or splicing together the best parts of the stream.
• Create highly polished and vertical videos (Reels/Shorts) from a good base content.

A Simple Workflow for Advanced Editing

This process sounds technical, but it's more straightforward than you might think.

1. Download Your Facebook Live Video: Go back to your video list in Meta Business Suite. Click the three-dot menu (...) on the video you want to edit and select "Download." Facebook will provide you with a high-quality MP4 file.
2. Choose Your Editing Software: You have plenty of options for every skill level.
   • For Beginners: Tools like CapCut and Canva now have surprisingly powerful and intuitive video editors that are perfect for adding text, graphics, and simple cuts.
   • For Intermediate Users: DaVinci Resolve offers a free version that is a professional-grade editing suite. It has a steeper learning curve but is incredibly powerful.
   • For Professionals: Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are the industry standards for a reason, offering maximum control.
3. Make Your Edits: Import the downloaded video into your chosen software. This is where you can trim with precision, add your branding, layer in music, adjust colors, and everything else you need to do to create a professional final product.
4. Export and Re-upload: Once you're done editing, export your finished video as a high-quality MP4. Now you have a decision to make. You can't replace the original live broadcast video on Facebook. Instead, you'll upload your newly polished version as a brand new "Video on Demand" (VOD). While you'll lose the comments and live engagement from the original, you'll now have a far superior evergreen asset on your Page.

Remember to Repurpose, Not Just Refine

Editing your Facebook Live doesn't just mean cleaning it up. It also means chopping it up. Your long-form live video is a pillar piece of content. After polishing the main video, your final step should be to mine it for micro-content.

Go back through your timeline and find the best moments:

• A powerful quote
• A hilarious moment
• A single, high-impact tip or answer to a question
• A surprising statistic

Each of these can be clipped into a 15-60 second vertical video. Add captions (since most people watch with the sound off), and you suddenly have a week's worth of content for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts - all derived from one broadcast.

Final Thoughts

Taking a few minutes to edit your Facebook Live video transforms it from a disposable, in-the-moment event into a lasting asset for your brand. Trimming content with Facebook's native tools, or adding professional polish with external software gives your content a second life and allows you to reach a far wider audience over time.

Once you've edited and repurposed your live video into clips for every platform, the next step is getting it all scheduled. We built Postbase to solve this exact problem. With our visual content calendar, you can easily plan and schedule your polished VOD, your short-form clips, and any promotional graphics to go out across all your platforms, making sure you get the most mileage out of your content without the organizational headache.