Troubleshooting

The video backdrop is missing from my render

WebM previews but does not export. A WebM plate plays perfectly in the editor and then is simply absent from the rendered file. Re-encode the plate as MP4 / H.264 and re-import it. The VIDEO BACKDROP panel states this above the upload button.

My render has no sound

Three things to check, in order:

1. INCLUDE AUDIO in the render dialog — off renders video only.
2. A track is actually loaded. The dialog warns you when there is none, and the render will be silent by design.
3. The right source is selected. If the project has both a music track and a video with its own audio, the MUSIC · VIDEO · MIX buttons on the transport decide which one is exported. The EXPORT summary names it.

Pressing I and O types letters instead of timing lyrics

You are focused in a lyric text box. Click the timeline or the canvas once, then use the keys. The chip in the lyrics pane header shows I IN or O OUT when the keys will time, and TIMED when the line under the playhead is already done.

My saved project is gone

Projects are stored in this browser. They are not on a server and they do not follow your account.

• A different browser, a different profile, or a private window will not see them.
• Clearing site data or cookies deletes them.
• The audio file itself is picked again on the TRACK step — a project stores the canvas, not necessarily the media.

To stop this happening again, EXPORT the project from its card in YOUR PROJECTS. That downloads the canvas as a .beamtracer-studio file you can keep anywhere and IMPORT on any machine — the one copy that clearing site data cannot reach. For the finished result rather than the editable canvas, export the video.

The canvas looks right but the export is cropped

Changing platform on FRAME re-shapes the frame; layers keep their percentage positions, so something placed near an edge in 16:9 can fall outside a 9:16 crop. Switch to the target platform first, then place your layers, and check the preview — the preview is the actual output shape.

The export is taking a long time

Studio renders every frame rather than recording the screen, so a long or high-resolution render takes real time. The frame count in the render dialog footer tells you how much work it is: a three-minute video at 30 fps is over five thousand frames.

Nothing is lost by waiting — playback speed cannot drop frames, so a slow render produces exactly the same file as a fast one. To test a look quickly, set a short slice with TRIM FOR EXPORT on FRAME and render that first.

A visualizer is black or will not start

Studio needs Chrome or Edge. Many visualizers use WebGPU, and other browsers either do not implement it or implement it differently. If a visualizer is black in a supported browser, try another from the picker — and check that hardware acceleration is enabled in your browser settings. See Browser support.

The title keeps changing when I load a new track

It should not — text you have typed yourself sticks. Studio only fills the title and artist automatically while they are still the placeholders or still match the previous file. If you want the automatic fill back, clear the field.

To stop Studio reading tags at all, turn off EMBEDDED ARTWORK, INFO & LYRICS on the TRACK step before loading.

My exported video has a watermark

Free exports carry the BeamTracer watermark, including the YouTube thumbnail, and the free plan covers ten finished exports a month. The render dialog says both before you start, and Account → Billing → Your Allowances shows what is left. See Pricing.

Still stuck