Real-time video editing is a system of editing video where it takes no longer to render a video than the length of that video clip itself.
Broadcasters traditionally used large, disparate computer systems for real-time video editing with multiple CPUs, multiple gigabytes of RAM and high-powered hard drives. Some had additional hardware components designed to enhance the performance of the specific video editing software being used. Other approaches used to ensure real-time playback included continuous background rendering, and using multiple networked computers to share the rendering load. These systems would allow broadcasters to edit and render a video clip in 30 minutes.
These systems are now outdated thanks to the instantaneous nature of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Broadcasters and content rights holders now use cloud-based video editing technology which allows them to clip, edit and share video across multiple digital platforms such as websites and social apps within seconds rather than minutes.
Forscene is one of the very earliest cloud video editing applications and has been used to quickly edit and publish clips of Olympics and Wimbledon tennis action.
Grabyo is an example of a cloud-based real-time video editing platform. It was founded in 2013, has partnerships with Facebook and Twitter and is used by some of the largest media companies in Europe and North America.