How to make a video game trailer
Last updated 2026-10-20
To make a video game trailer, capture clean gameplay, open on your most striking moment in the first few seconds, show the core mechanic, add variety, then end on the title, release date and a call to action. Steam asks for MP4, MOV or WMV up to 1920 by 1080 at 30 or 60 fps. Woven Video, a Mac editor, cuts the footage you capture, by chat or on a timeline.
Trailer types and when you need each
Most indie games need several trailers over their life, each made from the same pool of capture. Steam requires a trailer for every product, and Steam Next Fest asks for at least one publicly visible trailer on the base game's store page.
When you upload to Steam, you can tag each trailer as General/Cinematic, Teaser, Gameplay or Interview/Dev Diary. The names in the table below are common industry types, not Steam's categories.
| Type | When | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Teaser | Months before launch | Mood, one striking moment and the title. Little or no explanation |
| Announcement | When the store page goes live | What the game is, the core mechanic, the platforms and a wishlist ask |
| Gameplay | Any time, often on the store page | Real play from the player's view, with the HUD visible |
| Steam store page | The first trailer on your page | Mostly gameplay, since Steam shows it before the screenshots and builds the microtrailer from it |
| Demo or Next Fest | Before and during a demo event | What the demo lets you play, and that the demo is out now |
| Launch | Release week | Your best footage, the platforms and Out now |
A shot order that works
Steam warns that you may have less than 10 seconds to make an impression, and that people may watch without sound. Steam also makes a 6 second looping microtrailer from six 1-second clips taken across the first trailer on your page. So the opening seconds have to work alone and silently, and every part of that first trailer should be clear gameplay.
This order fits most trailers. Adjust the time each part gets, not the order.
- Hook, first 3 to 5 seconds. Your most striking gameplay moment. Not a logo, not a studio card, not a slow fade in.
- The core mechanic. Show the one thing the player does most, clearly enough that a viewer could describe the game after watching it once with the sound off.
- Variety. Different places, enemies, tools or modes in short cuts, so the game reads as more than one level.
- A peak. One bigger moment near the end: a boss, a huge combo, a finished build.
- Title, date and call to action. The game's name, the release date or window, the platforms, and one ask such as Wishlist now. Hold it long enough to read twice.
How long a game trailer should be
Steam's trailer page sets no length rule. The platforms that do mention time point short. Apple accepts app previews of 15 to 30 seconds. Google Play says only the first 30 seconds of a preview video autoplays, and it may play muted.
This guide's advice, not a platform rule: keep a teaser to 15 to 30 seconds, a store page or announcement trailer to about 60 to 90 seconds, and mobile ad cuts to 15 or 30 seconds. A longer gameplay or deep-dive video works once people already care. If a shot repeats something the viewer has seen, cut it.
Capture footage cleanly
Record more than you need, in short takes, each built around one moment. Capture at the size and frame rate you will export, such as 1920 by 1080 at 60 fps, so nothing is scaled up later. Apple recommends capturing the native UI resolution rather than zooming in on the view.
Keep the HUD on for gameplay shots, since Steam says visible HUD elements often help. Turn off what the player never sees: frame-rate counters, debug text, system notifications and the mouse cursor, unless the cursor is part of play.
Developer tools such as a free camera, invincibility or a level select help you set up a clean shot. Keep what the trailer shows true to the game. Apple asks app previews to show more gameplay than cutscenes and to avoid implying features the app doesn't have.
Record the game's music and sound effects separately if your engine allows it, so you can mix them under the edit. On a Mac, press Shift-Command-5 to open Screenshot and choose Record the entire screen or Record a portion of the screen. On other systems, use the built-in recorder or a capture tool you trust.
Steam trailer requirements
These come from the Steamworks trailer documentation. Steam can transcode many formats, but sticking to its stated values helps avoid processing problems, and you can't release the game while a trailer is still converting.
| Setting | What Steam says |
|---|---|
| File type | .mov, .wmv or .mp4 |
| Codec | H.264 video and AAC audio preferred |
| Resolution | Up to 1920 by 1080; common sizes such as 1920 by 1080 or 1280 by 720 |
| Frame rate | 30/29.97 or 60/59.94 fps |
| Bitrate | High, 5,000+ Kbps |
| Audio sample rate | 44 or 48 kHz; other rates are a common cause of failed processing |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 preferred; 4:3 accepted |
| Placement | The first two valid trailers show before any screenshots |
| Microtrailer | A 6 second loop Steam makes from the first trailer; it can't be customized |
| Custom thumbnail | A frame from the video, 1920 by 1080, .jpg or .png, ideally without text |
Mobile game trailers
Match the orientation to how the game is played. A portrait game gets a portrait trailer, and a landscape game a landscape one. Apple accepts either for iPhone previews, and Google Play supports both but says not to leave black bars on either side of a portrait video.
Apple's app previews run 15 to 30 seconds, up to three per device size and language, at no more than 30 fps, as H.264 in .mov, .m4v or .mp4. They must show only content captured from the app, play muted by default, and should leave out prices and dated phrases like new for spring. Apple's accepted sizes differ by device, such as 886 by 1920 portrait for current iPhones, so check its table before you export.
Google Play takes one preview video as a YouTube link, public or unlisted, with ads and monetization turned off, and not age-restricted.
For mobile ads, this guide's advice is to cut 15 and 30 second versions from the same footage, usually vertical. Put the core action in the first two seconds, add short on-screen text for people watching muted, and end on the store name and icon.
Trailer ideas by genre
Genre changes the pace and the sound more than the shot order. A few starting points:
- Horror. Slow down. Hold on dark spaces, let near-silence and one sound build, and show the threat late and only briefly. Cut hard to black before the title.
- Cozy. Warm, gentle music and longer shots. Show the daily loop, such as planting, decorating or tending animals, and let a few satisfying actions play out in full.
- Roguelike or roguelite. Show that every run differs: quick cuts of builds, items stacking up, a death, then a stronger run. Fast cuts suit driving music.
- Survival. Open on a threat, such as night falling or supplies running out, then show gathering, crafting and a base growing over time.
- Puzzle. Make one rule clear with a slower shot, then show a satisfying solve. Show twists on the rule, not full solutions, and let the click and chime of a solve land.
- RPG. Lead with the world and a character, then combat, choices and progression. A voiced line can carry the hook if you have one.
Cut a game trailer in Woven
Woven doesn't record gameplay, so you capture the footage and choose the moments. It has no automatic highlight finding, and its AI agent looks at footage as still frames, so it can't judge motion, music or sound effects; point it at moments by time. It has no beat detection either, so you cut to the music yourself. Export is always an H.264 MP4 at 1080p or 1440p, with no 4K, and you upload the file to Steam or a store yourself.
Ask in chat
- Trim the clip from 0:42 to 0:47 and open the trailer with it.
- Add a title card with the game's name, Coming 2027 and Wishlist now over the last 3 seconds.
- Add the deep-whoosh sound effect where the boss appears at 0:18.
- Make a 30 second vertical cut of this trailer for a mobile ad.
- Generate a tense instrumental music track, about 60 seconds long.
Or do it by hand
- 1Set the canvas and frame rate. Open Format and choose Horizontal 1920x1080 for Steam, or Vertical 1080x1920 for a phone. Clear the selection so the Settings page shows, then set Frame rate to 30 or 60 for Steam. For an App Store preview, choose 30 or lower.
- 2Bring in your capture. Choose Add, then Video, or drag clips from Finder onto the timeline. Drag a clip's edges to trim it, and press Command-B to split at the playhead.
- 3Lay the music and cut to it. Choose Add, then Audio, for your soundtrack. A hand-added track comes in at full volume with no fades, so lower its volume by hand or ask in chat to fade it. Music you generate in chat uses Woven credits and lands in the workspace's generated folder; drag it onto the timeline or ask in chat to place it. Scrub to each hit in the music and cut there.
- 4Change speed per clip. Select a clip and open Speed for 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x or 2x. Each clip has one speed, with no speed ramps, so split a clip first if you want part of it slower.
- 5Add hits and effects. Choose Add, then Sound Effects, to search the 35 built-in sounds, such as fast-whoosh or bass-impact. Choose Add, then Video Effects, for Shake, Flash, Punch or Glitch on an impact.
- 6Add the end card. Choose Add, then Text, for the title, date and call to action, and pick a Text style. Use Generate captions only for voiced lines, since captions come from speech.
- 7Export. Click Export and choose 1080p. A 16:9 canvas comes out at 1920 by 1080, the most Steam accepts. Export from chat is always 1080p.
Common questions
Steam's trailer documentation sets no length. As a guide, keep a teaser to 15 to 30 seconds and a store trailer to about 60 to 90 seconds. Apple's app previews must be 15 to 30 seconds, and Google Play autoplays only the first 30 seconds of a preview.
Steamworks asks for .mov, .wmv or .mp4 files, prefers H.264 video and AAC audio, accepts up to 1920 by 1080 at 30/29.97 or 60/59.94 fps, and asks for a bitrate of 5,000 Kbps or more with 44 or 48 kHz audio. 16:9 is preferred.
Steam highly recommends that it be primarily gameplay. The first two trailers show before your screenshots, and Steam builds the 6 second microtrailer from the first one.
Steam's trailer page says to upload up to 1920 by 1080. Woven has no 4K export, and its 1080p export of a 16:9 canvas is 1920 by 1080.
Capture in the game's orientation, keep it 15 to 30 seconds, and add on-screen text, since App Store previews play muted by default. For the App Store, export at 30 fps or lower and check Apple's size table for each device.
No. Woven doesn't record the screen or gameplay and doesn't pick highlights for you. You capture the footage and choose the moments, then edit them in Woven by chat or by hand.
Sources
- Trailers - Steamworks Documentation, checked October 27, 2026
- Steam Next Fest - Steamworks Documentation, checked October 27, 2026
- App preview specifications - App Store Connect Help, checked October 27, 2026
- App Previews - App Store - Apple Developer, checked October 27, 2026
- Add preview assets to showcase your app - Play Console Help, checked October 27, 2026
- Take screenshots or screen recordings on Mac - Apple Support, checked October 27, 2026
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