Changelog

Follow up on the latest improvements and updates.

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Join the Descript Changelog for a look at our releases from April.
  • Fixes an issue where private embedded share pages requested users to Sign In more frequently than intended.
  • Fixes an issue with avatar generation.
Announcing Descript Season 9, which is all about Avatars. Introducing instant text-to-video generation—no camera required. Join us live on May 6th for Descript Season 9 to see our all-new avatars in action.
There are many situations where recording on camera isn't practical or preferred. With avatars, you can create professional videos without the need for filming - now available to all Descript users.
The process is simple: write your script, select an avatar from our gallery (or create your own from an image), and generate your video. Or record your own audio. Either way, the avatar will present your content naturally with perfectly matched lip-sync.
Join CEO Andrew and the team for a live demonstration of Avatars.
We invite you to submit questions about avatars before the event, with an opportunity to ask them live on stage. If you'd like to participate, please sign up here.

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Release Version 113

Avatars
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We've begun our rollout of avatars. Over the next week, you'll start to see avatars mentioned on our Home screen and in the speaker label. With avatars, there's no need to stress about recording yourself for every single video you have to make. Avatars let you make video that’s just as informative and engaging—in a fraction of the time, with no recording at all.
Just write your script, select a voice from our new stock voices and then choose your avatar—from the variety of options in our gallery, or from an image you upload.
You can also start an Avatar based project from the Home screen, either by selecting Text-to-AI Video and ticking the Avatar box, or by selecting Create AI Avatar. Or just click here.
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Custom avatars work best with human subject in center frame so we suggest avoiding images of animals or inanimate objects.
For more details on best practices when creating custom Avatars, our Help center has you covered.
13 New stock speakers
To make Avatars even more robust, we added 13 new stock speakers that will help give your avatar just the right delivery. We've welcomed five new conversational voices, four creator-style voices, another British voice and a few others.
Say hello to the gang.
  • Edward
    -
    American - Announcer - Informative - Adult - Masculine
  • Elizabeth
    -
    American - Conversational - Soothing - Adult - Feminine
  • Grace
    -
    American - Creator - Younger - Feminine
  • Joshua
    -
    American - Creator - Adult - Masculine
  • Kyle
    -
    American - Creator - Chipper - Younger - Masculine
  • Libby
    -
    American - Conversational - Informative - Adult - Feminine
  • Michael
    -
    American - Conversational - Adult - Masculine
  • Owen
    -
    American - Creator - Younger - Masculine
  • Ryan
    -
    American - Corporate - Younger - Masculine
  • Sarah
    -
    American - Conversational - Younger - Feminine
  • Simon
    -
    British - Posh - Adult - Masculine
  • Ursula
    -
    Character - Wise - Older - Feminine
  • Vernon
    -
    American - Conversational - Chipper - Older - Masculine
Import from YouTube is back
We’ve brought back the ability to import video directly from YouTube links. This is a very popular feature that we want to support long term.
Transcription provider selection
For users with specific transcription needs, or who run recurring issues with some transcriptions, we’ve added a new Transcription provider selection in the Settings menu under the Advanced section. We do not recommend that most users switch this away from the Automatic setting, but in some cases it may be worthwhile to try a different option.
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The options at present are:
  • Scholar: classic transcription that generates at a steady pace and prioritizes accuracy
  • Daredevil: transcribes faster, better at proper nouns and punctuation, but is more prone to hallucination
We may add further options in the future.
Rooms updates
Here's what's new in Rooms:
  • For increased flexibility when the unexpected happens, we have added a dialog that appears when an upload has stalled. This option allows you to proceed using a partially uploaded but high quality file, or to use the lower quality Cloud backups. You can still swap in the original high quality files if they are recovered.
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  • We changed the People tab notification icon to a light-red dot.
The new Screen recorder—in Beta this week
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For users who have been upgraded to the new Desktop experience, we finally have a replacement for the
Quick Recorder
. The new
Screen Recorder
will launch to all users on the upgraded Desktop within the next week, bringing enhanced functionality and performance to make your recording experience smoother and more versatile. This update is just the beginning, and we’re launching it in a Beta state while we make improvements and round out the feature set.
Like our web recorders, it uploads your video in the background while you record for instant playback when you hit stop.
At the moment, it does not include screen area selection, or multitrack file recordings.
Both of these features are in the works and will be added when the Screen recorder leaves Beta.
If you’re on the old Desktop, you can upgrade manually using the
Settings menu → General → Labs → Upgrade option
. By May 15th, 2025, all users will be on the new version so you might as well jump in now.
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Agent Underlord
We're building a new way to use AI to edit your videos in Descript. If you want to help us break it and build it better, apply to get exclusive early access. Learn more and apply here.
Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a bug resulting in “Error authorizing app” message when logging in.
  • Fixed a bug causing un-dismissable pop-ups in Rooms.
  • Fixed a bug related to AV sync mismatch between Sequence and Script files.
  • Fixed a bug causing layers to be moved to the beginning of a project when editing during transcription.
  • Fixed a bug causing transcript exports to have incorrectly timed speaker labels.
  • Fixed a bug in Rooms preventing recording from stopping when the host leaves.
You'll see some UI differences when you login.
First, you'll notice that the login URL is different: https://web.descript.com/authenticate
The new login screen looks like this:
New login
Once you're logged in, you can select which Drive you'd like to open first using this new prompt:
New Drive selector
This also resolves a known issue of being unable to open menus in Drive view until a Drive is selected.
The update comes with a refresh of our invite emails, which are more branded and... inviting. Export button (1)
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback please reach out.
  • Fixes an issue where Descript crashed after new user onboarding on mobile and some desktop browsers
  • Updates desktop app to support configuration change
  • Fixes a bug causing sliders for effects and settings like Studio Sound to show incorrect values

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Release Version 112

A new Home in Drive view
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We're excited to introduce a new Home screen in Drive view, making it easier than ever to start your next project. When you open Descript, you'll find a streamlined landing page with quick-start options for all your creation needs - whether you want to edit a video, make a podcast, create social clips, transcribe a file, clean up audio, or remove backgrounds.
The new Home screen is designed to help you find what you need faster, including a Recent projects view. You'll also discover our popular features front and center, including Translation & dubbing capabilities. These will rotate over time as new features are introduced.
The hope with this update is to remove the uncertainty of a blank page project and putting the full power of Descript at your fingertips from the moment you open the app. The new Home screen is rolling out to all users in version 112.
Text-to-AI Video
A few weeks back we created a new AI Video maker in the ChatGPT store. This tool automatically generates a video explainer on a topic of your choosing, with customizable style and tone. Now, we’ve brought this experience into the app, available from the new Home screen, so you can create narrated, illustrated video with just a few clicks. It’s a great way to experiment with the tools Descript has to offer, or make a quick piece of content for easy sharing.
A new look for the Editor recorder
We're introducing a redesigned Editor recorder experience in version 112. The recorder now lives in the play dock instead of the sidebar, making it more accessible within your workflow. When recording with an empty script, the recorder takes up your full screen for better focus. If there's content in your script, you can see it while recording - the recorder will only occupy the Scene Editor area. The redesign aims to make recording more intuitive and accessible, integrating seamlessly with your workflow while maintaining visibility of important content during recording sessions.
  • The recorder has moved from the sidebar to the Play dock.
  • When working in an empty script, the recorder will be in full screen mode.
  • Once you have content in the script, the recording preview will occupy the Scene-editor (formerly known as the Canvas.)
A new look for Scenes—Stable frame
Stable frame is a new feature that intelligently positions the playhead to show the most representative frame when selecting scenes or layers. When clicking on scenes from the scene rail or script boundary, or layers from the canvas, the system accounts for animations and scene transitions to display the most stable and useful frame (i.e. one that is not in the middle of animating.)
These stable frames will also be used for the Scene thumbnail to make scene rail more useful as a visual representation of the storyboard or through line of your project.
This enhancement addresses a common user pain point where the playhead might land mid-animation, resulting in a confusing or unclear view of the scene.
New in Elements—placeholder layers
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We’ve added two new placeholder layer types to the Elements panel for Camera and Screen video. These will to help you keep your project organized as you’re assembling layouts, and make it easier to remember where you will eventually place your content.
The three placeholder layer types are now labeled:
  • Media - for b-roll and other types of background media.
  • Camera - for your single speaker video layers.
  • Screen - for any screen recordings.
You can adjust these layers like any other Scene element, applying animations or transitions. Once you're ready to add your media, you can do so from the Scene-editor → Add media.
Editor updates
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  • We restored the Previous scene, and Next scene buttons to the playback controls, in our previous update, these icons were removed for some users.
  • We’ve made improvements to the responsiveness of text entry when working with text layers like Titles. There should be less input delay.
  • Since some have asked: we do not yet have the ability to bring back Import from YouTube, but are working on it and will update you as soon as we know more.
Rooms updates
Here's what's new in Rooms:
  • We’ve added a new progress meter for post-recording file uploads.
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  • We’ve improved participant upload status visibility in Project View.
  • We’ve streamlined handling of stalled uploads - only showing stalled participants after other uploads complete.
  • We’ve added a red notification badge for new chats.
Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a bug where the wordless media preference toggle didn’t apply to new projects
  • Fixed a bug causing a “rendered range for component not found” error when trimming clips
  • Fixed a bug causing corner rounding to be removed after flipping image horizontally
  • Fixed a bug preventing Layout preview thumbnails from appearing
  • Fixed a bug resulting in “clip not found” errors after Timeline export
  • Fixed a bug causing Create clips to fail when the same file is present twice in a composition
  • Improved error messaging when too many transcriptions are requested at once

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Descript's March Roundup

Check out our video Roundup for March, hosted by the Changelog itself.
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