FAQ

Short answers to the questions people ask most about Zornov, with links to the full story.

About Zornov

Is Zornov free?

Yes. Zornov is free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later. A commercial licence is available from Ashrox LLC.

Do I need an account?

No. Zornov has no accounts and no sign-in. Download it, install it and start editing.

Which computers does it run on?

Macs with Apple Silicon and macOS 13 or later, 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and 64-bit Linux with glibc 2.39 or later (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 40 and newer). See System requirements.

Does it run on an Intel Mac?

No. Zornov needs a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later).

Does it work offline?

Yes. Editing, colour, sound, 3D, animation and export all work without an internet connection. Zornov checks for updates about once a day, and otherwise goes online only when you use something that needs it, such as the AI editor, voices, caption translation, media search, or downloading the content library or AI models. What stays on your computer lists them all.

What languages is it in?

English, Hindi, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Arabic and Persian. Choose one in Settings > General > Language; System default follows your computer. Arabic and Persian lay the editor out right to left.

AI

Do I have to use AI?

No. The AI editor is off until you turn it on, and the rest of Zornov works without it.

Which AI does the AI editor use?

The one you choose in Settings > AI under Answered by: Claude API, Claude Code, OpenAI API or Codex. The API options need your own key; Claude Code and Codex use your sign-in to those programs. See The AI editor.

Is my footage uploaded?

Your media files are never uploaded by the AI editor, except a picture you ask to have a new picture generated from. Your requests, descriptions of the project and footage, and frames the AI looks at go to the AI provider you pick. Zornov's own AI tools, such as captions, background removal and voice cleanup, run on your computer. See What stays on your computer.

Can I edit with Claude, Codex or another AI assistant?

Yes. Zornov gives AI assistants that speak MCP the same tools you use. Set it up in Claude Code with /plugin marketplace add zornov/zornov then /plugin install zornov@zornov, in Claude Desktop by opening Zornov.mcpb from the latest release, or in Codex and other clients with the zornov mcp command. If the project is open in a Zornov window, you watch each edit land. See Use Zornov from Claude, Codex and other AI assistants.

Can I undo what the AI did?

Yes. Undo this request takes back everything the AI editor did for a request, and ⌘ Z (Ctrl Z on Windows and Linux) undoes only your own edits, so you can keep working while it does. If you'd rather approve each change first, choose Ask first under Changes in Settings > AI.

Projects and files

Where are my projects?

New projects go in Studio/Projects, inside your Movies folder on a Mac or your Videos folder on Windows and Linux. A project is a folder. See Where Zornov keeps things.

Does Zornov copy my media into the project?

No. Zornov works from your files where they are, so don't move or delete them while a project uses them.

Does it save automatically?

Yes. Zornov saves 30 seconds after your last change and keeps the 20 most recent backups in the project's backups folder. You can turn it off in Settings > General > Autosave.

What files can I import and export?

Zornov reads H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9 and ProRes video and AAC, Opus, Vorbis, FLAC and MP3 sound, from MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV files, as well as pictures and 3D models. It exports H.264 MP4, ProRes, DNxHR, GIF, sound only (M4A), and image sequences such as PNG, TIFF, EXR and DPX. Files it can't play directly are converted when you import them. See Import and export formats.

Can I bring in an edit from another editor?

Yes. On the start screen, choose Import timeline and pick an OpenTimelineIO (.otio) or FCPXML file. To send an edit the other way, choose File > Export OpenTimelineIO….

Can I get stock music and pictures?

The content library has stickers, pictures, music and sound effects. It is a free download of about 280 MB; open the Assets or Audio section of the Library and click Download the library. Zornov can also compose original music for your film; see Music.

Using Zornov

Can I change the keyboard shortcuts?

Yes. Go to Settings > Shortcuts, click an action's key and press the new one. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Can I use Zornov without a mouse, or with a screen reader?

Yes. Everything can be done from the keyboard, and Zornov works with VoiceOver, Narrator, NVDA and Orca. In Settings > General you can set the interface size up to 200% and turn on high contrast, colour vision palettes, reduced motion and spoken updates.

How do I get help inside the app?

Press F1 to search the help. The Help menu also has the welcome tour and the list of keyboard shortcuts.

How do I update Zornov?

It updates itself: when a new version is ready, a notice offers to install it. See Update and uninstall.

Getting help

Where can I ask a question?

In GitHub Discussions.

How do I report a bug?

Open an issue at github.com/zornov/zornov/issues, with your Zornov version, your operating system and the steps that cause the problem. See Troubleshooting.

How do I report a security problem?

Privately, not in an issue. On the Zornov repository, open the Security tab and choose Report a vulnerability.

Can I help make Zornov?

Yes. Zornov is open source and welcomes contributions. Start with the contributing guide in the Zornov repository.