Overview
When your webinar ends, Wistia automatically saves the on-demand recording as a new media file (in a "Live Event Media" folder by default). From there, it works like any other Wistia video, so you have three ways to shape it:
Customize: Change how the player looks and behaves (branding, captions, chapters, CTAs, forms) without touching the video itself.
Edit: Trim, split, stitch, resize, and add overlays, music, or burnt-in captions.
Mochine: Wistia's AI editor that turns the recording into highlight reels, cutdowns, or chaptered content from a text prompt.
Reach the recording from the completed webinar's overview page (it's listed at the bottom) or from the folder you saved it to. See Webinar Recording for a full overview.
Customizing your recording
Customizations change how your recording is presented in the player; they don't change the video. Open the recording's media page and click "Customize."
Your customizations also appear in the Event room. The on-demand recording plays back through the same Event room where your webinar took place, so customizations carry through to anyone watching the replay via the webinar event link.
A few things you might do with a webinar recording:
Add your branding—player color, corners, and logo.
Generate chapters so viewers can jump to the parts they care about.
Turn on captions (generated from the transcript).
Add a call to action or a form to capture leads from the replay.
For everything you can do in Customize, see Customize Your Video.
Tip
Each media instance has one set of customizations. To show the same recording with different customizations in two places, create a new instance.
Editing your recording
The Editor gives you precise control over the recording itself (Customize only changes the player). Open it from the recording's media page with "Edit."
A few things you might do with a webinar recording:
Trim dead air, false starts, or the pre-show and post-show from the start and end.
Split the recording and delete or reorder sections.
Stitch on a branded intro or outro.
Resize to a different aspect ratio (e.g., 9:16 for social).
Add burnt-in captions, overlays, background music, or an animated zoom.
For the full feature list and step-by-step instructions, see Getting Started with the Editor and Editing in Wistia.
Note
Editing is available on all Wistia plans. Account Owners and Managers can edit any media; users with "Can manage" permissions on a folder can edit media there; users with "Upload" permissions can only edit media they uploaded. Videos can be up to four hours long, and we recommend a Chromium browser (Chrome, Edge, Opera).
Saving your edits: Replace vs. Save as new
When you're done, click "Finish & exit" to choose one of three save options.
Which to use:
Choose Replace current video for light polishes — trimming dead air, small cleanups — where you want the recording updated in place.
Choose Save as new video when you're making cutdowns, highlight reels, or other derivative versions and want to keep the original recording intact.
Choose Save as new audio when you want an audio-only version of your webinar — like a podcast episode or a listen-on-the-go recap — and want to keep the original recording intact.
Replace current video
This option updates the existing recording in place with your edited version.
Benefits: the media, embed, and URL stay the same, so every place the recording is already embedded or linked—including the Event room for on-demand viewers—updates automatically. Player customizations carry over, and you don't add to your media count or storage.
Note
Replacing your webinar recording does not affect your webinar analytics—registration, attendance, and event engagement stay with the webinar itself. It does reset or remove what the recording accumulated after the webinar ended:
Regenerates the transcript
Resets the recording's video analytics—the on-demand plays and engagement collected on the recording after the webinar ended
Removes all video comments on the recording (not webinar comments)
Removes all dubbed versions
Removes all audio descriptions
This can't be undone.
Save as new video
This option saves your edits as a brand new media instance in a folder you choose, leaving the original recording untouched.
Note
The new video is a standalone media that isn't connected to the webinar at all—it won't play in the Event room, and it has no tie to the webinar or its analytics (registration, attendance, engagement). On-demand viewers using the webinar event link still see the original recording, not your new cut.
Benefits: the original recording keeps its video analytics, video comments, transcript, and embeds — useful when you want both the full recording and an edited cut.
Keep in mind:
The new media counts toward your media count and storage.
It gets its own new embed and URL.
Save as new audio
This option saves your edits as a brand new audio file in a folder you choose, leaving the original recording untouched. Only the audio is exported, so visual edits like overlays, zooms, and burnt-in captions aren't included.
Like Save as new video, the new audio file isn't connected to the webinar. It won't play in the Event room; it gets its own embed and URL, and it counts toward your media count and storage.
Repurposing with Mochine
Mochine is Wistia's AI editor. Instead of editing manually, describe what you want ("a 2-minute highlight reel of the biggest takeaways"), and Mochine will analyze the transcript, visuals, and audio to build a first cut—pulling clips, sequencing them, and adding slides, narration, and music as needed.
Click "Repurpose" on the webinar overview page, or use the Mochine suggestions below the recording. You can also open Mochine from the account nav, a folder, or any media page.
A few things you might do with a webinar recording:
Turn a 60-minute webinar into a short highlight reel.
Pull out the single best moment as a clip.
Create a chaptered, condensed version of the full session.
Note
Mochine builds from your existing footage. It can add slides, motion graphics, narration, and music, and you can record new camera or screen footage in the chat. It doesn't create AI-generated footage.
Mochine uses Wistia Credits, and each request and revision uses credits from your account's balance. See Understanding Wistia Credits.
For the full walkthrough, see Mochine.
Editor vs. Mochine — which to use
Use the Editor when… | Use Mochine when… |
You know the exact cuts you want | You want help finding the best moments |
Making precise trims, reordering, stitching an intro/outro | Making highlight reels, cutdowns, or chaptered versions |
Adding captions, overlays, slides, or music by hand | Generating a fast first draft from a prompt |
Social Clips are a lighter-weight option — compile moments into short social clips with a click. See Social Clips.
Sharing your webinar recording
We recommend sharing your webinar event link (e.g.,.../live/events/xxxx). Viewers watch the on-demand recording through the registered event experience, which keeps the webinar's benefits attached—registration, polls, Q&A, and resources—so you keep capturing registrant data even after the live event ends.
To go further, embed the full webinar on your own page to bring that registration experience onto your website instead of sending viewers to a Wistia-hosted link. See Embed a Full Webinar Experience.
If you just need a simple, ungated link, the public media page link (e.g., .../s/xxxx) is also available—it sends viewers to the plain media page, with no registration or Event room. See Share Your Wistia Videos.
The recording also works like any other Wistia video, so you can customize, embed, download, or publish it to your social accounts.