Exporting explainers
An explainer can leave Scrimba as an ordinary video file. Download it once and you get an MP4 of the whole lesson, slides and narration together, ready to upload to YouTube, a course platform, or anywhere else that takes video.
Downloading the video
Open an explainer you own and click Download at the top right of the player, next to Go deeper. The Download video window opens. Click Download video and Scrimba prepares the file. The same window opens from Download video in the right-click menu.
By default the video is 1080p at 60 fps, in the explainer's own frame: tall for a portrait explainer, wide for the others. Click Options to change that before you start:
| Resolution | Landscape | Portrait |
|---|---|---|
| 720p | 1280×720 | 720×1280 |
| 1080p (default) | 1920×1080 | 1080×1920 |
| 1440p | 2560×1440 | 1440×2560 |
Frame rate is 30 fps or 60 fps, and 60 is the default. Orientation is Landscape or Portrait, so a square or wide explainer can also be rendered tall, and a portrait one wide. The smaller sizes render faster and make smaller files.
The render runs on Scrimba's servers, roughly as long as the explainer runs. The window shows Preparing your video… with the progress, and the Download button reads Preparing video while it works. Leave the window open and the download starts by itself when the file is ready.
You don't have to wait on the page either: close the window and Scrimba emails you a link when the render finishes. Open the window again and click Download video to save the file.
Subtitles
Under Options, Download subtitles saves the narration as a separate subtitles file (.vtt), for platforms that ask for subtitles on their own. The subtitles are also inside the MP4 as a subtitle track, so players that support subtitles can switch them on without the separate file.
Once a video exists, the right-click menu gains Download video and Download subtitles too.
If the explainer is still generating, Download video queues the download with the settings you picked, and the window says Waiting for your video to finish. The render starts by itself once generation finishes. The menu offers the same as Download video when ready, then Cancel video download.
Saved versions
Every version you render is kept. Under Options, Saved versions lists them by resolution, frame rate and orientation. Pick one and Download video saves that file without rendering again.
Pick settings that haven't been rendered and Download video renders a new version. One render runs at a time, and the earlier versions stay available while it runs.
Each file name carries the settings, such as My explainer-1080p-60fps-landscape.mp4, so two versions don't overwrite each other on your computer.
Another version of the same explainer doesn't use up another of your free exports: the limit counts explainers, not versions. See Plans and pricing.
Before you download
Four things have to be true:
- It's yours. One that an agent or ChatGPT made for you shows Download before you've claimed it, but the render only runs once you've clicked Save to profile and it's in your account. See Privacy, claiming and sharing.
- It's public or unlisted. The renderer opens it by its link, so the window asks you to make your video public or unlisted to download it. Change its visibility first. The same rule applies afterwards: set the explainer back to private and the download goes offline with it.
- It has narration, and every slide has rendered. While something is wrong, the window says Some slides need attention before you can download, and the button reads Review video. Click it and Scrimba lists what's wrong and moves playback to the first broken slide, where the warning offers Redo this slide. See Editing an explainer. The right-click menu says the same on its Download video item. A download queued with Download video when ready waits until the problems are fixed.
- You have an export left. A free account can export one explainer. Rendering the same one again, in another size or after an edit, doesn't count. At the second explainer, Download video offers the Pro upgrade. On Pro, exports are unlimited. See Plans and pricing.
Playlists can't be exported as a single video yet.
After you edit
A downloaded video is a snapshot. Editing the explainer retires every saved version, because they would no longer match. The download items disappear from the menu and the window, and you render again to get the new version.
If you edit while a render is still running, you don't need to do anything: the render restarts on the edited explainer.