Replace an Object in a Video with AI (Real Test)

To replace an object in a video with AI, use an AI video editor that takes the clip you already have and changes one thing in it while keeping the rest. On November 1, 2026, we tested Riffkit's Swap on an 11-second clip of a woman at a desk: we asked, in words only, for her black mechanical keyboard to become a white one with pastel pink keycaps. The new keyboard is there at every half-second check and she types on it; her face, the room, the camera, the timing, the caption and the sound all held. The pink came out as an accent on a mostly white keyboard, not all pink. It cost 1,440 credits on Seedance 2.0 at 720p and took about 9 minutes. Disclosure: we make Riffkit.

The before-and-after, with sound, is on our YouTube channel.

Which AI tools replace an object in a video?

Tools differ in how much they redraw. Per each tool's own page on November 3, 2026, Dreamina, Pika and Higgsfield change the part you mark or name, and Kling's guide describes targeted edits that keep the rest of the scene stable; Picsart Flow and Runway edit one frame and carry it through the clip, and Riffkit Swap draws the whole clip again; Adobe's page doesn't say.

Pick by what must stay exact. A region edit aims to change only what you mark, though Dreamina's own page says to narrow the selection if too much changes. A redraw changes more of the frame, so check the whole clip, not just the object. On sound, Picsart's template page says its export has no audio; Kling 4.0's guide says the model generates sound from the visuals, though one of its editing examples asks in the prompt to keep the original audio; Dreamina's page says to ask for stable audio timing; the others don't say. When only an object changes, Swap keeps the clip's original sound.

The test: a black keyboard becomes white with pink keycaps

The source is an 11.1-second vertical clip of ours, made with AI and posted on our TikTok in September: one shot, no cuts. A woman in a headset hurries to her desk with a laundry basket, types on a black mechanical keyboard with an orange backlight, fake-laughs at a video meeting and leaves. The only sound from her is the laugh, and the caption reads "my only contribution / to team meetings".

Settings: Swap, Seedance 2.0, 720p, no photo, no character. We typed this into "What to change", word for word:

Change only the keyboard on the desk: the black mechanical keyboard with the orange backlight becomes a white low-profile keyboard with pastel pink keycaps and no backlight. It sits in the same spot at the same angle, and she types on it exactly the way she types on the black one. Keep everything else exactly as it is: the same woman, her face, expressions, hair and claw clip, the headset and its microphone, the rust-colored T-shirt, the black scrunchie on her wrist, the laundry basket and the clothes in it, the wooden desk, the room, the window blinds and the sunlight on the wall, the floor lamp, the grey armchair, the aquarium on the cabinet, the camera angle, the framing, the timing, the sound, and the caption text and its position. The keyboard is plain and unprinted: the pink keycaps are blank, with no lettering anywhere on them. Add nothing else: no other products, no extra people, no new text.

What it cost: 1,440 credits, the same as the quote: the clip runs 11.1 seconds, which bills as 12 seconds at 120 credits a second, the Seedance 2.0 Swap rate at 720p.

What held, checked every half second

We compared six moments side by side, then checked 22 stills from the result, one every half second.

What drifted

Three details came out differently from the brief:

1. The color. We asked for pastel pink keycaps. The result is mostly white keycaps with a block of pink on the right and a few pink keys along the top row: a two-tone keyboard, not an all-pink one.
2. The shape. We asked for low-profile keys. They came out at normal height.
3. Lettering. The keycaps came out blank as asked, but a faint line of unreadable gray marks sits on the front edge of the case, just left of the pink key at the bottom right. Video models often draw marks like these where text might go (why AI video garbles text), so check every new object for them before you post.

In our test, words alone got the right kind of object in roughly the right color. For an exact look, such as your own product with its real label, add photos of it, as in our lipstick product swap.

Change only an object's color

For a new color on a plain, solid object that nothing crosses, a video editor's color tool is the better answer: it changes only the pixels you select. In DaVinci Resolve, the Qualifier selects the object by its color, and a tracked Power Window (a shape that follows it) keeps the selection on it as it moves. CapCut's HSL controls (hue, saturation and lightness) shift one color across the whole clip, which works when nothing else in the frame shares it.

Use an AI redraw when a color selection breaks down: a hand passes over the object, the light shifts across it, or more than the color changes, as when our backlit black keyboard became an unlit white one. For clothes, changing the color of clothes in a video has three more tests.

How to replace an object in your video with Swap

1. Add your clip in Swap, up to 45 seconds and 100 MB.
2. Name the old object and the new one in "What to change": type, color, material, size and where it sits, and how the person uses it.
3. List what must stay: the person, the room, the camera, the timing, the sound and any caption.
4. Say what to leave out: "plain and unprinted, no lettering; add nothing else".
5. Add a photo for an exact look. Save it under References (or Products), pick it in the Swap form under "Reference images" (or as the product), then type @ in "What to change" to name it.
6. Check the price, then select Riff it →. Before you post, check the object and any text across the whole clip.

You can also run Swap from Claude, or from ChatGPT on the web (OpenAI lists full connector support for Business, Enterprise and Edu), with the Riffkit connector; setup is on the connector page.

Can AI remove an object from a video?

Yes, with an object remover, which takes the object out and fills the gap: CapCut's AI object remover, where you brush over the object (free, per CapCut's page), Filmora's AI Object Remover, where you draw a box or brush over it, and Content-Aware Fill in Adobe After Effects. Runway Edit Studio, Kling 4.0 and Adobe Firefly also list removing objects among their edits. If a different object would do, use Swap to replace the one you don't want with something that belongs in the scene, like a plain mug for a branded one.

What it costs, and how to start free

Swap bills per second of finished video, rounded up to whole seconds: on Seedance 2.0 that's 60 credits a second at 480p and 120 at 720p, and Seedance 2.0 Fast is cheaper still. Failed renders aren't charged; if a run fails partway, only the seconds already rendered are billed. Plans start at $15 a month for 3,000 credits; at that price, our keyboard test's 1,440 credits come to about $7.20.

New accounts start with free credits, no card needed, and can Swap on Seedance 2.0 Fast or Seedance 2.0 at 480p. On free credits, a clip under 8 seconds comes back whole; a longer one, like this 11-second clip, usually comes back as its first section, and a plan finishes the rest. Videos made on the free credits carry a small Riffkit watermark; any plan removes it from every video, earlier ones included. We ran the keyboard test at 720p, which comes with a plan.

Rights: replace objects in videos you own

Use footage you own or have the rights to: changing a prop doesn't change who holds the rights to the person's likeness, the voice, the footage or the music.

Open Swap and try it on a clip of your own. For a car, give one photo per angle the clip shows, since one front photo didn't carry to the wheel close-up or the rear in our car test; for a pet, see our pet test; for clothes, our outfit test.