How to Stabilize Video: Simple Methods and Effective Video Stabilizer in 2025

This article discusses the causes of video shakiness and effective methods to stabilize videos, including using hardware like gimbals, tripods and steadicams. You can get smoother and clearer videos through simple methods and top video stabilizers.
How to Stabilize Video

When capturing a video, it's unavoidable to experience some degree of camera shake. Video shaking can greatly affect the viewer's experience, causing blur and so on. Therefore, we need to find ways to effectively remove shaky footage from videos. This guide shows easy ways and the effective video stabilizer tools to help you make every video look smooth.

Why do some videos look shaky?

  • Handheld Camera:  Small and light devices like smartphones and action cameras are especially susceptible to camera shake, with hand movements and tremors directly affecting the image.
  • Sports Camera: Filming from moving vehicles or using specialized equipment like sports cameras can lead to shaky footage. This is also true for unconventional shots, such as 360-degree or underwater videos.
  • Zoom shooting: Capturing stable, close-up shots or from certain angles without any camera shake is often challenging.

How to Stabilize Video: 6 Easy Methods

Here are several effective methods on how to stabilize shaky video, ensuring smoother and more professional-looking footage.

Use Gimbal for Shooting a Video

Gimbal
Gimbals are particularly useful for action shots, travel vlogs, and any scenario requiring mobility. It has motors that sense when your hands shake and automatically adjust to keep the camera level. This helps you record smooth videos without the wobbles, making your footage look professional.

Use the Zoom Sparingly

zoom.jpeg
The shake is inevitable when shooting video, especially when focusing closely on the subject through zooming. Therefore, do not zoom in or out too often. Zooming will turn a slight shake in the image into a noticeable shake. The wider the shooting angle, the less jitter there will be in the video. The angle width can be defined in the settings menu of many cameras. A wide-angle lens also means less camera shake and less impact on the lens.

Use Tripods

tripods.jpg

The tripod is a basic equipment that eliminates handheld camera shake. It is a three-legged stand that holds a camera firmly in place, so your video looks smooth and stable. It is ideal for static shots or slow, controlled camera movements.

Use Steadicams

Steadicam-1-1.webp

A Steadicam is a camera stabilization system that operators wear. It uses a mechanical counterbalance and sometimes gyroscopic technology to absorb body movements. This allows for smooth shots while walking or running, eliminating camera shake and producing stable, professional footage.

Use Built-in Video Stabilizer on Your iPhone or Android

Most recent phones offer a built-in video stabilizer option.

How to stabilize iPhone video:

  1. Open the Camera.
  2. Go to Video mode.
  3. The iPhone’s optical or digital stabilization will work automatically (on most models).
  4. For extra help, try the 'Action' or 'Cinematic' mode in newer iPhones.

Tip

  • For Android, check in-camera settings for 'Image Stabilization' or 'Steady Video' and turn it on.

Use Video Stabilizer 

If you already shot a shaky video, don't worry. You can stabilize it afterwards using video stabilizer. This works on both computer and mobile files. The comparison picture below shows the effect before and after the stabilization software. This tool can eliminate shaky footage in videos with violent movements and make the video blurred by shaking clearer.

effect

Pros of Video Stabilizer

  • Cost-Effectiveness: High-quality stabilization can be achieved with software, eliminating the need for expensive hardware solutions like Steadicam or gimbal stabilizers, which can be cost-prohibitive for many content creators.
  • Precision and Control: Software solutions provide fine control over the stabilization process, allowing for adjustments to suit the specific needs of each shot, something that hardware solutions may not offer with the same level of precision.
  • Creative Freedom: With the assurance that shaky footage can be corrected in post, filmmakers and videographers can focus more on the creative aspects of their work without worrying about the technicalities of keeping the shot steady.
  • Compatibility with Various Devices: Video stabilization software often supports a wide range of devices, from smartphones to professional cameras, making it a versatile tool for any content creator, regardless of their equipment.
  • Post-Production Efficiency: Stabilization in post-production can save time and effort compared to trying to stabilize the shot in real-time during filming. This allows for more efficient editing and can be particularly useful when reshoots are not an option.

How to Stabilize Video with UniFab Video Stabilizer AI

If you don't have professional equipment like tripods or heads around or you have a shaky video, we have a lower threshold solution to stabilize your video! Using video stabilization software is especially important if you shoot with handheld recording equipment.

UniFab Video Stabilizer AI is an AI-powered software designed for video stabilization. It offers three shaking correction modes to suit various video conditions and ensures high-quality output for all types of cameras. With one-click operation, GPU acceleration, and seamless integration with other UniFab tools, it's a comprehensive solution for enhancing video stability and quality.

UniFab Video Stabilizer AI

  • Professional AI video tools with a 30-day full-access free trial!
  • No credit card requirement – download and start now!
Free Download

How UniFab Video Stabilizer AI works

The stabilization process begins by cropping into the video, creating a border for adjustment. The software then detects motion and automatically counteracts it by moving the cropped area in the opposite direction, resulting in a smooth, polished video.

Application

  • Daily Shooting: Traveling, family gatherings and other daily shooting.
  • Sports Video: Indoor and outdoor sports video.
  • Professional Video: Aerial photography, news reporting, film and television and other professional video.

How to use UniFab Video Stabilizer AI

Step 1

Open UniFab and Select “Stabilizer ”

Step 2

Import Your Video

Click on “+” button or drag files, and select the video you want to stabilize.

Step 3

Adjust Shake Elimination Settings

On the current interface, you can choose shake elimination. There are three options, “Mild, Moderate, Strong,” suited for different levels of shaking.

  • Mild: Suitable for hand-held videos that are generally smooth, with occasional slight shaking. Recommended for everyday scenes.
  • Moderate: Suitable for the more significant shake, such as when walking.
  • Strong: For videos with severe shaking, such as recording while running, shooting while moving quickly, or riding a bumpy ride.

If you need to adjust other default settings, click ‘Settings’. there are various non-AI custom settings, such as Codec, Bit Rate, and more. We recommend keeping these at their default values.

 

Step 4

Start and Export Video

Click “Start” to stabilize shakes in your video, and the export video without watermark.

If you want to learn more, click on the video below 👇

Conclusion

Whether you want to learn how to stabilize a video, how to stabilize video on iPhone, or how to fix a shaky video, you can find the answers in this article. Try using a tripod or a gimbal to record stable and smooth videos. If you don't have theses professional equipment, using video stabilization software like UniFab Video Stabilizer AI to stabilize video is also a good option.

FAQs about How to Stabilize Video

Does video stabilization reduce video quality?

No, when done correctly with AI tools like UniFab Stabilizer AI, you can significantly stabilize your video by removing shakes while preserving the key details, sharpness, and color fidelity of the original video.

How does UniFab AI Video Stabilizer work?

Just put the video into the software, select a shake mode, and then choose the output format. The advanced AI technology will examine every frame of the video and detect motion patterns, fixing shakes and making the video footage smoother and more stable.

How do I stabilize a video on iPhone?

Use the built-in stabilization, or edit the video in UniFab or other video stabilizer apps after filming. Just import and apply the Stabilize function.

What is the easiest way to stabilize video?

Use UniFab Video Stabilizer AI. Just import your video, choose the strength, and export the improved file.

I love crafting stories through cinematography and exploring the latest tools to enhance video quality. In my spare time, I capture nature's beauty or experiment with new editing tricks.