Export is stuck or fails

FlowChord builds your exported video on your own device: it loads your footage, prepares the sound, draws every frame and writes an MP4. Nothing is sent to a server to be rendered, so the export depends on your browser, your connection and your device’s memory. When it stops or fails, one of those is almost always the reason.

Before you start

• Your browser must be able to export. The Export a video row on the device check page tells you; see Check your browser.
• Leave the project open in its tab until the export is done.
• Make sure your device has some free disk space for the finished file.

Steps

When an export stopped or failed, start it again cleanly:

1. If the progress bar is still showing, press Cancel.
2. Reload the project page.
3. Press Export video (on a phone, Export).
4. Choose the cuts you want.
5. Press the button at the foot of the window, which names how many cuts it will export.
6. Keep the tab in front until the file is saved.

Tips

• Keep the FlowChord tab visible while it exports. A browser slows down a tab you aren’t looking at, so an export in the background takes much longer.
• For a long song, close other tabs and apps, and export one cut at a time.
• The first export in a browser downloads your footage, and the browser keeps it, so the next ones start faster. The browser you created the project in already has it.
• A laptop exports faster plugged in.

Common problems

It stays on “Loading your video…”

During Loading your video… FlowChord downloads your project’s footage to your device. On a slow connection, a long video takes a while. If the bar doesn’t move for several minutes, press Cancel, reload the project page and export again.

“Couldn’t load your video for the export”

FlowChord couldn’t download the footage: you see “Couldn't load your video for the export, please try again” or “Couldn't load the project's files for the export”. Check your connection, reload the project page and try again.

“The export failed”

You see “The export failed, please try again”. Try once more first. If it fails again on a long song, the device may be running out of memory: close other tabs and apps, export one cut at a time, or export from a computer. If it still fails, write to us from Support.

The export says it isn’t supported

Under the cuts, the Export window warns that video export isn’t supported when this browser can’t write a video file. Update the browser, or export from another browser or a computer. If it says “Video export needs a secure connection — open the app over HTTPS (or localhost) and try again”, check that the address starts with https.

The video came out without sound, or without your footage

After the export, a message says what was left out:

• “Exported without audio — this browser can't include the soundtrack”: the browser couldn’t write the sound.
• “Exported with the placeholder backdrop — this browser can't decode your video”: the browser couldn’t read your footage, so a plain background was used.

Export again from an up-to-date browser, or from a computer.

The video is short and small

This is a free video. Its export covers the first 30 seconds only, in standard definition (480 × 854 for a vertical cut, 854 × 480 for a horizontal one). The Export window shows Free video with a way to unlock the whole song in full size. See Export your video.

On a phone, the video isn’t in your gallery

When the export is done, press Save video. Your phone’s share sheet opens: choose to save the video to your photos, or send it straight to an app. Where the browser has no share sheet, you see Download video instead, and the file goes to your downloads. Inside the browser of Instagram, Facebook or TikTok, saving may not work: open FlowChord in your phone’s own browser and export there.

Nothing downloaded on the computer

Each cut downloads as its own MP4. If your browser asks whether FlowChord may download several files, allow it. Check your browser’s downloads list too: the file may already be there.