How To Remove A TikTok Filter

The quality of a TikTok video plays a major role in whether surfers stop to watch and interact with the post. On many social media platforms, quality is largely in the hands of the content creator; they shoot and edit their videos externally and then upload them.

The large majority of TikTok users, however, record their content right in the app, making TikTok’s editing functions crucial for those seeking to create high-quality, compelling video that drives viewership and engagement.

Some use TikTok’s robust effects palate to take actions like adding hearts, bling, or video “glitches,” or transforming faces into anime characters, to grab surfers’ attention and make their posts enticing and fun. Those who want to make their TikTok content look more professional, though, opt to enhance their productions with the use of the editor’s built-in filters.

TikTok filters are applied “on top” of the video to change its overall look. The most popular filters fall into the “beauty” category, enhancing facial color and tone, others can alter the background light and feel of a vid to make it look like it was shot in a completely different environment, and that’s just scratching the surface.

But what if you’ve applied a filter — and later decide that you don’t like it? Can you remove it?

Yes, but only if you haven’t already published your TikTok post. Once you’ve hit the “Post” button, the content can’t be changed.

Removing a TikTok Filter Before Shooting or During Editing

If you’ve just added a filter and want to change it, just tap the button for the replacement filter you want to use. The first one will be removed. If you want to remove it without replacing it, tap the 🚫 icon at the left of the navigation bar.

If you’ve already moved on to another part of the editing process, just tap the “Filters” icon (three circles) on the right side of the editing screen, and hit the 🚫 icon to remove the active filter. You can use the same process if you’ve saved a video to your drafts folder; just find the draft in your TikTok profile, open it, and you can change or remove the filter.

Ensuring No Filters Are Used on Your Video

TikTok may add enhancing filters to videos by default, meaning you might not see a completely “natural” look in your finished product.

If you want to be sure your content appears exactly as you shot it, you can remove any active filters by opening the filters pop-up, clicking on “Portrait” and choosing “Normal.”