What it does
Pulls the image toward the center and squeezes a stretched, magnified band around the edges, like looking through thick curved glass.
A classic pinch pulls the image toward a point inside a circle, and it always reads as a lens dropped onto the picture: the distortion is round no matter what shape the frame is. Edge warp pins its ring to the frame itself. The warp saturates exactly at the boundary of the composition, whatever the aspect ratio, so the band of compressed image hugs the rectangle like a bezel rather than floating over it. The transition between the calm center and the saturated edge can be reshaped too, from a diamond through a circle to a contour that traces the frame outline, and repositioning the safe zone slides the calm region around while the rim stays put.
The reason the band reads as glass rather than smear is dispersion. Thick glass bends short blue wavelengths more than long red ones, so a real curved edge fringes into rainbow where the bending is strongest. The effect reproduces that by sweeping samples across the visible spectrum instead of offsetting three color channels, which keeps the fringe continuous, orange grading into cyan, and confines it to the warped band; the safe zone stays clean. A rotation control adds a lensing twist inside the band while the center holds still, turning the bezel into a slow vortex.
It earns its keep in layout as much as in distortion. The untouched center is a genuine safe zone: type and subjects placed there stay perfectly sharp while the frame churns around them, which is why the effect suits covers, posters, and interfaces that need decoration without sacrificing legibility. On video the geometry is fixed, so the border seethes with movement while the subject reads clearly, and because the warp mirrors edge content inward it never reveals anything beyond the frame, no matter how hard it pulls.
Signature looks
Bezel glass
A gentle frame-following squeeze with a trace of fringe, like footage playing behind the curved face of an old monitor.
Rainbow rim
The dispersion pushed until the compressed band ignites into a continuous spectral border around a calm center.
Vortex frame
Rotation folded into the warp so the edges swirl around the untouched middle, a slow whirlpool wearing the frame.
Try it on your own footage
This effect runs live in the Modulate editor, with layers, effect chains, masks, and keyframes. Free, no signup, nothing to install.
Common questions
What is the edge warp effect?
It is a distortion that compresses the outer region of an image into a stretched, magnified band along the frame edges while leaving the center untouched. The result looks like the picture sits behind thick curved glass: a clean middle, then content accelerating and squeezing as it approaches the border.
How is edge warp different from a pinch or fisheye filter?
Pinch and fisheye are radial: they distort inside a circle around a point, and the circle ignores the shape of the frame. Edge warp anchors its distortion to the frame rectangle itself, saturating exactly at the boundary on every side regardless of aspect ratio. That is why it reads as a property of the frame, a bezel or a pane, rather than a lens laid over the photo.
Why does the warped border fringe with rainbow colors?
Because the effect models dispersion, the same behavior that makes a prism split light. Short wavelengths bend more than long ones through glass, so where the warp is strongest each color lands in a slightly different place. Sweeping the whole spectrum rather than shifting three channels keeps that fringe smooth and continuous, the way real thick glass renders it.
Can text sit inside an edge warp?
That is the intended use. The center of the effect is a true safe zone where nothing moves or blurs, so a title or a subject placed there stays sharp while the frame distorts around it. The size and sharpness of the transition are adjustable, so the safe zone can be generous for layouts or tiny for an almost full-frame warp.
Can you apply edge warp to video?
Yes, and the fixed geometry works in its favor: the warp ring stays locked to the frame while footage churns through the compressed band, so the border animates constantly while the middle stays readable. In Modulate the edge warp effect runs live on images and video in the browser.
Related effects
Spherize effect
Wraps the image onto a sphere — the disk bends over the ball, on a flat colour or transparent background.
Chromatic aberration
Splits the red, green, and blue channels slightly apart so edges fringe with color, like a photo taken through a misaligned lens.
Reeded glass effect
Looks through ribbed glass: rounded vertical flutes that bend and repeat the image like a textured shower door.
Wave effect
Bends the image with moving distortion: swirling turbulence, rolling directional waves, or rings spreading from a point.