Descript's help centre says it outright: "Descript supports transcription in only one language per file. Files with multiple spoken languages are not currently supported."
Every clipping tool here takes a single language for the file. The API parameter is a string, never an array, and there's no per-segment control anywhere. Your guest answers in another language for two minutes and the tool has no way to represent it.
Podcasts are where it bites hardest, because the format is two people talking for ninety minutes and the interesting bit is often the aside. So we compared these five on that, and on the other things that decide a podcaster's choice and rarely make it into a roundup.
TL;DR
Five AI clipping tools, compared on what each one does when the language changes mid-episode, what it caps, and what it hands back when the clip is finished.
On multilingual episodes, and on clips you want to publish rather than download, the FastPix AI Video Clipping Agent is the strongest of the five.
What we compared, and why
Language switching: because every tool here takes one language per file, and what it does when the speaker changes language isn't published. Max source duration and metering: because the duration cap is rarely the real limit. The credit pool usually runs out first. Audio-only input: because plenty of shows have no camera, and three of these five either refuse audio or can't keep their story straight about it. Multi-speaker handling: because an interview show is two faces, and "auto-reframe" hides three different capabilities with three different failure modes. Aspect ratios and export resolution: because a vertical-only 1080p clip means no feed post, no landscape cutdown and nothing to hand a sponsor. Transcripts and chapters: because the episode ships with a text payload, and the transcript that picks your clips writes it too. Media retention and API access: because a clip that deletes itself in three days isn't a library, and at any real volume this stops being something a person does by hand. Output: because a downloaded file still has to be uploaded somewhere before anyone can watch it.
Every figure below was checked on 10 September 2026 against each vendor's own help centre or API docs. They change often, so check the current page before you rely on a number.
Quick comparison
| FastPix | OpusClip | Descript | Riverside | Headliner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Languages per file | More than one | One | One | One | One |
| Language switching | Kept as spoken | Not published | Not supported | Translated into the studio language | Not published |
| Script support | Captioned | Ruled out in its help centre | Latin alphabet only, Hindi in beta | Not published | Transcribed, never translated |
| Max source duration | No limit | 10 hours | 15 hours in practice | 4 hours | 2 hours video, 4 hours audio |
| Metering | Minutes on the plan | Minutes you import | Media minutes | Hours of outside upload | File length per plan |
| Audio-only input | Accepted | Video sources only in its docs | Accepted, no video export | Accepted | Accepted |
| Aspect ratios | 9:16, 16:9, 1:1 and 4:5 | 9:16 until Pro, no 4:5 ever | 9:16, 16:9, 1:1 and custom | 9:16, 16:9 and 1:1 | 9:16, 16:9 and 1:1 |
| Export resolution | Up to 4K on the $10 plan | 4K held for Business | 720p free, 1080p Hobbyist, 4K from Creator | 720p free, 4K on paid plans | 1080p ceiling, no 4K tier |
| Multi-speaker handling | Follows the active speaker | Split frame, only if both were already in shot | Subtitle labels, no reframing | Only with separate tracks toggled on at upload | Transcript labels, no reframing |
| Transcripts and chapters | Per clip | Captions only | Per episode | Per episode | Per episode |
| Media retention | No auto-delete with Auto-save on | 3 days free, 30 days on Starter | Not published | Recordings wiped after 3 months | Not published |
| API access | Full platform API on every plan | API from Pro upward | API cannot export media files | Business accounts only, clips excluded | Enterprise contract, no public docs |
| Output | A downloadable and streamable media asse | Two MP4 download links | A share link plus embed code | An embed code for a hosted player | An MP4 download |
FastPix AI Video Clipping Agent
The AI Video Clipping Agent turns an episode into ranked, captioned clips, and it doesn't require you to declare the language first. An episode can open in one language, move into another halfway through, and come back captioned in the right script for each stretch. A sentence that mixes both stays as it was actually said instead of being flattened into one, and the transcript and summary arrive translated alongside them.
Each clip lands in your media library as its own asset with its own media ID and playback ID, so it streams over HLS and embeds on a page without anyone downloading and re-uploading a file. It also carries the full AI set on the clip itself: transcript, chapters, summary, named entities, scene analysis and moderation. Every other tool here generates that payload for the episode, if it does at all.
| What it does | Finds the strongest moments, scores each out of 100, reframes to follow the active speaker, and burns captions in Devanagari or Latin script. |
| Who it's for | Podcasters and marketing teams turning long episodes into a week of posts, particularly bilingual shows and anyone who wants clips on their own episode pages rather than only on social. |
| Language switching | Detected, both languages kept as spoken |
| Language coverage | 50+ caption languages. Detected from the audio, declaring it is optional |
| Max source duration | No limit |
| Metering | 250 minutes on the $10 plan |
| Audio-only input | Video or audio file accepted |
| Multi-speaker handling | Reframes to follow the active speaker |
| Aspect ratios | 9:16, 16:9, 1:1, 4:5 |
| Export resolution | Every resolution up to 4K |
| Transcripts and chapters | Per clip, not per episode |
| Per-clip AI | Transcript, chapters, summary, named entities, scene analysis, moderation |
| Media retention | No auto-delete with Auto-save on |
| API access | Full platform API on every plan |
| Download formats | MP4 or audio-only |
| Output | A downloadable media asset with a media ID and playback ID |
If your show runs in more than one language, or you want the clip live on your episode page rather than sitting in a downloads folder, it's the one worth trying first. The setup guide covers genre, clip length and caption presets.
OpusClip
OpusClip cuts long video into ranked vertical clips for short-form feeds.
| Language switching | Not published |
| Language coverage | 25 published. No Indic language, and no Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Urdu |
| Max source duration | 10 hours |
| Metering | 1 credit per minute imported. Free 60, Starter $15 for 150, Pro $29 for 300 |
| Audio-only input | Help centre and API list video sources only; a marketing page claims MP3 and WAV |
| Multi-speaker handling | Split layout works only if both speakers share the original frame |
| Aspect ratios | 9:16 only until Pro, and no 4:5 on any plan |
| Export resolution | 1080p, with 4K held for Business |
| Transcripts and chapters | Captions only |
| Media retention | Free media expires after 3 days, Starter after 30 |
| API access | Video editing and scheduler API, only from Pro |
| Output | Two MP4 download links |
Limitations
- Its own help centre says "OpusClip does not support Hindi at this time", and separately rules out Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Kurdish
- A weekly 90-minute show is roughly 390 source minutes a month, against 300 credits on Pro
- The free plan processes one hour of podcast a month, so a single episode exhausts it
- A 90-minute video episode is accepted, but only the 9:16 cut ships until Pro
Descript
Descript is a transcript-first editor that also cuts clips.
| Language switching | *"Files with multiple spoken languages are not currently supported"* |
| Language coverage | 26, and the table is prefaced *"limited to those using the Latin alphabet"*. Hindi is beta |
| Max source duration | No cap published; transcription fails above 15 hours |
| Metering | Media minutes. Free 60, Hobbyist 600, Creator 1,800, Business 2,400 |
| Audio-only input | Accepted, but *"You cannot export a video file while working in an audio-only composition"* |
| Multi-speaker handling | Detects 8+ speakers, with speaker labels in the subtitle file |
| Aspect ratios | 1:1, 9:16, 16:9 or custom |
| Export resolution | 720p free, 1080p on Hobbyist, 4K from Creator |
| Transcripts and chapters | Full suite, at episode level |
| Media retention | Not published. Storage caps only, 5GB free to 2TB on Business |
| API access | Public API, but *"direct media file exports are not supported yet"* |
| Output | A share.descript.com link plus embed code |
Limitations
- The only published remedy for a mixed-language transcript is re-transcribing the whole file
- Subtitle translation covers around 80 languages against 26 for transcription, so a language can be a target and not a source
- Scenes and layouts are unavailable in an audio-only composition, so an audio show gets no video treatment without adding visuals yourself
Riverside
Riverside is a remote recording platform that clips from its own recordings and uploads.
| Language switching | *"words or phrases in the other language/s may be translated into the studio's default language"* |
| Language coverage | No detection at all. Defaults to English and you set it per studio |
| Max source duration | 240 minutes and 25GB per file |
| Metering | 15 hours of external uploads a month on Pro, Grow and Webinar |
| Audio-only input | Accepted, with an automatic background image |
| Multi-speaker handling | Separate video tracks must be toggled on at upload or layouts are unavailable later |
| Aspect ratios | 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 |
| Export resolution | 720p on free, up to 4K on paid plans |
| Transcripts and chapters | Summary, keywords, takeaways, sound bites and timestamped chapters |
| Media retention | Cloud recordings deleted after 3 months on every plan |
| API access | Business accounts by request, and edits are excluded |
| Output | An embed code for a Riverside-hosted player |
Limitations
- Transcription can silently fall back to a related language, and the published fix is "contact Support for help"
- Translation is whole-asset and "does not let you keep specific words or phrases in the original language"
- It clips only what it records or what you upload within the 15-hour monthly pool, so a back catalogue recorded elsewhere is out
- Captions and show notes both inherit the studio language and cannot be translated independently
Headliner
Headliner turns audio into captioned audiograms and clips.
| Language switching | Not published |
| Language coverage | 100+ for transcription, and *"Headliner can only transcribe spoken word. It cannot translate."* |
| Max source duration | Audio 4 hours, video 2 hours, editor 10 minutes |
| Metering | Free and Basic take 2-hour audio files, Pro takes 4-hour |
| Audio-only input | MP3, WAV and M4A |
| Multi-speaker handling | Speaker labels on the transcript. No video framing |
| Aspect ratios | 16:9, 9:16, 1:1. A 4:5 option is listed as coming soon |
| Export resolution | 1080p, with no 4K tier on any plan |
| Transcripts and chapters | Promo Pack with show notes, chapters, keywords and quotes |
| Media retention | Not published. A 10GB cap on uploads, no stated expiry |
| API access | Clip API is enterprise-priced, with no public docs |
| Output | An MP4 download |
Limitations
- No translation at all, stated twice in its own docs, so a non-English clip stays non-English
- Video imports cap at 2 hours, half the audio limit, so a long video episode is rejected
- Full-length export above 10 minutes needs the Full Episode project type; everything else forces a clip down
- No public API. The API page is a lead-generation form marked Enterprise
- Asked how to embed a clip, its help centre suggests uploading to YouTube first
What happened with a multilingual episode
We ran the same ten and a half minute episode through OpusClip and FastPix on the same afternoon, genre set to Podcasts, language left on Auto in both. The host opens in English and the guest answers in a second language, which is how a large share of interview shows outside the US actually sound.
OpusClip stopped at the upload step and named the language it could not process.
FastPix returned five clips, scored 97, 96, 95, 88 and 62. The captions kept both languages exactly as spoken rather than flattening them into one, with each script rendered correctly and the keyword highlighted across both. The scene analysis panel returned an English summary and transcript from that same audio, so the translation runs alongside the as-spoken captions.
One test on one language pair isn't a benchmark. It's a single data point, and a reproducible one, since the source is a public episode and both tools have a free entry point.
Start clipping multilingual episodes with FastPix
All five will clip an English talking-head episode. Every one of them takes a single language per file, and what happens to the rest is either undocumented or a silent translation.
Four of the five hand you a file or a page on their servers. FastPix hands you a media asset you can stream, embed, gate and enrich.
So try it on the episode you gave up clipping. Create an account, open AI Agents, pick the clipping agent, and paste in the messiest, most multilingual recording you have. Leave the language on Auto. Ours came back with both languages still in the captions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the best AI clipping tool for podcasters?
It depends on which limit your show hits first. Every tool here takes one language per file, so a multilingual episode narrows the field immediately. The FastPix AI Video Clipping Agent is the only one that keeps both languages in the captions and the only one that returns a clip you can stream and embed rather than a file to re-upload.
What happens if a podcast guest switches language mid-episode?
Almost nothing good, at most tools. Every one of them takes a single language for the whole file, so the second language is either dropped or converted. Descript states that files with multiple spoken languages are not supported. Riverside says words in another language may be translated into the studio's default language. The rest publish nothing about it.
How long an episode can AI clipping tools handle?
The duration cap is rarely the real limit. OpusClip accepts videos up to 10 hours but meters one credit per minute imported, so a weekly 90-minute show needs 390 credits a month against 300 on its Pro plan. Riverside caps files at 240 minutes and external uploads at 15 hours a month. Headliner accepts 4 hours of audio but only 2 hours of video.
Can AI clipping tools work with audio-only podcasts?
Some can and several won't say. Headliner and Riverside accept audio files and generate a visual layer. Descript accepts audio but cannot export a video file from an audio-only composition. OpusClip's help center and API list video sources only, while a marketing page claims MP3 and WAV support. FastPix accepts a video or audio file in the upload step.
Do AI clipping tools handle two speakers on a podcast?
Only under conditions most tools bury. OpusClip's split layout works only when both speakers already appear together in the original frame, so separate camera feeds cannot be composited. Riverside needs separate video tracks toggled on at upload or layouts are not available afterward. Descript detects eight or more speakers on every plan.
Do podcast clipping tools give you transcripts and chapters as well?
Most generate them for the episode rather than the clip. Riverside, Descript and Headliner produce show notes, chapters and transcripts from the full recording. FastPix attaches them to each clip instead, so an individual clip carries its own transcript, chapters, summary and named entities.
