1. React.js – User Interface Framework

  • What it is: A popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

  • Why it matters here: React makes it easy to build a clean, responsive web app where users can upload footage, select music, and view AI-generated timelines.

2. Web Audio API – Music Analysis & Beat Detection

  • What it is: A browser-based API for processing and analyzing audio in real time.

  • Why it matters here: It can detect beats, rhythm, and energy changes in the music track to help the AI align video cuts to the soundtrack.

3. Canvas API – Video Frame Analysis

  • What it is: A web API that lets you draw and manipulate images or video frames directly in the browser.

  • Why it matters here: It allows lightweight video analysis (e.g., scene changes, frame features) without needing heavy desktop software.

4. FCPXML – Timeline Export Format

  • What it is: An XML-based format used by Final Cut Pro to describe editing timelines (clips, transitions, effects).

  • Why it matters here: The AI editor outputs timelines in FCPXML so editors can import them directly into Final Cut Pro and refine the edit instead of starting from scratch.

5. TensorFlow.js – Advanced Scene Detection

  • What it is: A machine learning library for running neural networks in the browser.

  • Why it matters here: It enables AI-driven analysis of video (e.g., identifying shots, faces, or important action) to help the system cut intelligently instead of randomly.

6. OpenCV.js – Motion & Object Tracking

  • What it is: A computer vision library, ported to run in the browser with JavaScript.

  • Why it matters here: It can track motion, detect objects, and analyze visual flow—useful for syncing video cuts to movement as well as to audio beats.

7. Essentia.js – Enhanced Music Analysis

  • What it is: A specialized music and audio analysis library.

  • Why it matters here: Goes beyond basic beat detection—capable of identifying rhythm patterns, key, harmony, or mood, which lets the AI generate cuts that match not only the beat but also the musical feel.

8. Cloud Functions – Backend Processing

  • What it is: Serverless functions (Google Cloud, AWS Lambda, etc.) that run code on demand.

  • Why it matters here: Handles heavier processing tasks (like long video encoding or deep AI inference) in the cloud, freeing up the user’s browser and ensuring scalability.

👉 Together, these tools form a hybrid pipeline:

  • Frontend (React.js, Web Audio API, Canvas API) → User interaction and lightweight analysis in the browser.

  • AI/ML (TensorFlow.js, OpenCV.js, Essentia.js) → Intelligent audio-video synchronization and scene detection.

  • Integration (FCPXML, Cloud Functions) → Export professional timelines to editing software, while scaling heavy tasks in the cloud.

ChatGPT (2025). Explanation of technical tools for AI Beat-Sync Video Editor (React.js, Web Audio API, Canvas API, TensorFlow.js, OpenCV.js, Essentia.js, Cloud Functions, FCPXML). OpenAI.

Existing AI Final Cut Pro tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivnfmC4rZ2s&t=202s

Edit a video through telling AI what to do: https://www.descript.com

Beat Detection Algorithms:

  • Dixon, S. (2006). "Onset Detection Revisited." Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects

  • Scheirer, E. D. (1998). "Tempo and Beat Analysis of Acoustic Musical Signals." The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 103(1), 588-601

  • Web Audio API Documentation. Mozilla Developer Network (MDN), 2024. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_API

Video Scene Detection:

Professional Editing Workflows:

AI Ethics in Creative Tools:

  • Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press

  • Pasquale, F. (2020). New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI. Harvard University Press

  • ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (2018). Association for Computing Machinery

Development Resources:

  • Technical Documentation: developer.apple.com/documentation/professional_video_applications

  • Web Audio API: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_API

  • TensorFlow.js: github.com/tensorflow/tfjs

  • OpenCV: github.com/opencv/opencv

Research Assistance: Initial prototype development and research compilation assisted by Claude (Anthropic), October 2025

Apostolidis, E., Adamantidou, E., Metsai, A. I., Mezaris, V., & Patras, I. (2021). Video summarization using deep neural networks: A survey. Proceedings of the IEEE, 109(11), 1838-1863.

Document generated with research assistance from Claude (Anthropic AI Assistant), October 2025