In film editing, a wipe is a gradual spatial transition from one image to another. One image is replaced by another with a distinct edge that forms a shape. A simple edge, an expanding circle, or the turning of a page are all examples.

It is often acknowledged that using a wipe, rather than a simple cut or dissolve is a stylistic choice that inherently makes the audience more "aware" of the film as a film, rather than a story. For example, George Lucas is famous for the sweeping use of wipes in his Star Wars films, which help evoke a kinship to old serialized pulp sci-fi novels and serials; he was inspired by a similar use of wipes by Akira Kurosawa.

The very earliest examples of a wipe are seen as long ago as 1903 in films like Mary Jane's Mishap by George Albert Smith.

The star wipe became popular again in video editing after a very famous scene in The Simpsons in which Homer was editing a dating video for Ned Flanders and didn't realize that there were other wipes in addition to the star wipe. This scene concludes with a star wipe to add more comedy.

Wipes also can be used as syntactic tools, but are often frowned on. Some examples are:

• A star wipe is a wipe that takes the shape of a growing or shrinking star, and is used to impart a sense of "extra specialness" or "added value." This convention was considered overused in the 1980s and is now generally thought to be somewhat out-of-date.
• A heart wipe is a wipe that takes the shape of a growing or shrinking heart, and is used to impart a sense of "love" or "friendship." The heart wipe is still used in wedding, graduation, and bar mitzvah videos, among others, as it has now passed from stylistic into the realm of standard convention, though many people consider it tacky.
• A matrix wipe is a patterned transition between two images. The matrix wipe can be various patterns such as a grid, stars, etc.
• A clock wipe is a wipe that sweeps a radius around the center point of the frame to reveal the subsequent shot, like the sweeping hands of an analog clock. Because of this similarity, it is often used to indicate that time has passed between the previous shot and the next shot.

Demonstration

Alternate Meanings

In roleplaying games, especially MMORPGs, a wipe can refer to a situation where an entire group or party is killed by hostile units. This is also called a TPK, or "Total Party Kill."

Film techniques | Film editing