> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.usecardboard.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Search your clips

> Upload, organize, and search your media files.

The **Media Library** is the left panel of the editor. It holds all the files you have imported into your project — videos, images, and audio. You can browse, preview, and drag media onto the timeline to start editing.

## Importing media

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the import dialog">
    Click the **"Add"** button at the top of the Media Library, or drag files directly from your computer into the panel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your files">
    Select one or more files. Cardboard supports video (MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV), audio (MP3, WAV, AAC), and images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for processing">
    After import, Cardboard automatically processes your files in the background. This includes generating thumbnails, transcribing speech, analyzing video content, creating waveforms, and building search embeddings — all in parallel.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Browsing and organizing

* **Grid view** — See thumbnails of all your media at a glance
* **Hover preview** — Hover over any video thumbnail to scrub through a preview

## Semantic search

Cardboard automatically analyzes your media on import, which means you can search by what is *in* the content — not just file names.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Visual search">
    Search by what you see in the video. Cardboard uses AI video analysis to understand the visual content of every clip.

    **Example searches:**

    * "city skyline"
    * "person holding a phone"
    * "outdoor nature shots"
    * "close-up of a face"
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Speech search">
    Search by what is being said. Cardboard transcribes all spoken audio automatically.

    **Example searches:**

    * "mentions pricing"
    * "talks about the product launch"
    * "introduces the team"
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Music & sound">
    Search by the type of audio in a clip — music genre, sound effects, or ambient sounds.

    **Example searches:**

    * "upbeat music"
    * "applause"
    * "typing sounds"
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>
  You can also search from the AI Chat panel — try "Find all shots where someone is talking to camera" or "Show me the clips with outdoor scenery."
</Tip>

## What gets analyzed

When you import a file, Cardboard runs several AI processes in the background:

| Analysis           | What it does                                       | Used for                  |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| **Thumbnails**     | Generates preview frames                           | Grid view, hover preview  |
| **Transcription**  | Converts speech to text with word-level timestamps | Speech search, captions   |
| **Video analysis** | Identifies scenes, objects, and actions            | Visual search, AI editing |
| **Waveform**       | Creates an audio waveform visualization            | Timeline display          |
| **Embeddings**     | Builds semantic vectors for content                | Semantic search           |

All of this happens automatically and in parallel. You can start editing immediately while processing completes in the background.

## What's next?

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="timeline" href="/editing/timeline" title="Timeline Editing">
    Learn how to arrange clips on the timeline.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="rocket" href="/first" title="Your First Video in 5 Minutes">
    Follow the quickstart guide to make your first edit.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>