What is the best free video editing software?

With Full HD videos larger than 1 hour, Shotcut is much faster than Kdenlive. See More

Top Pro

Much faster than Kdenlive

Top Con

Not well-known and tutorial sources are lacking

ReasonableSirara's Experience

Easy use with great features . See More

Top Pro

Proxy editing greatly improves performance

With 360p proxies and preview scaling, older/lower end hardware (like an i3 from 2012) can smoothly edit and render very long 1080p videos, with multiple added effects and filters. See More

Top Con

They are selling it on Microsoft Store under the name of contribution

Which is a bit nonsense for opensource project. And there's no free option. Only trial. See More

EfficientPoludnica's Experience

Just started trying out shotcut because kdenlive playback delays and slow render times were hurting my productivity. So far things are much faster in shotcut and the interface is intuitive! See More

Top Pro

Includes gpu acceleration

Although it is experimental, unstable, and non supported, it is usable, and provides some very welcome speedup in many cases. See More

Top Con

Does not have good visual effect support

Pretty much similar to sony vegas level of visual effect or requires things from outside. See More

EnthusiasticNotus's Experience

Not intuitive at all, lacks basic features. See More

Top Pro

Free/opensource based and focused

See the list here. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Positively reviewed by PCWorld. See More

Top Pro

Keyframes, 5.1 surround audio export

As of version 18.05 supports keyframes and 5.1 surround audio and mono export as well. See More

CalmBeaivi's Experience

its easy and very good free open source video editor See More

Top Pro

Multiplatform

Works on all three main platforms - Win, Mac, GNU/Linux. See More

It offers a round solution (it covers many areas and professional fields) for a freelancer, for free, constantly updated, very polished, and allowing high quality results that clients do require. After some learning, it becomes very useful for professional work. See More

Blender

Top Pro

Very useful for a freelancer

Top Con

Too many possibilities, no unified workflow

The operations are not optimized enough for specific tasks. See More

NiceDionysus's Experience

As of August 2019, there is a new view for editing video that works really well. It greatly simplifies the process of setting up blender as a powerful NLE suite. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD

Top Pro

Stable and mostly bug-free

Blender does not crash under heavy loads or upon adding effects unlike other free editors such as Kdenlive or Pitivi. See More

Top Con

Difficult learning curve

Blender is not a very intuitive 3D modeling software. It has its own ways of doing things, and it is often hard to guess how to achieve simple tasks. See More

Top Pro

Powerful animation suite

Blender provides a full rigging system and automates animation by interpolating between keyframe positions. See More

Top Con

Poor particle system

The Blender particle system can at times be a little limiting and finicky (and buggy) to get working. Even if it can get most straight forward jobs done, it is far from the most advanced system and could benefit largely from advancements. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Blender is licensed under the GPL. See More

Top Pro

Includes video editing & compositing tools

Blender's node-based compositor has comprehensive video sequencing and post-processing features. See More

Top Pro

Has a large community

There's a huge community to help you get started immediately. See More

Top Pro

Has a good rendering engine

Blender runs the Cycles path tracing engine under the hood. Cycles is a very powerful rendering engine capable of full path tracing (light fall off, caustics, volumetrics). It is mostly compatible with OpenCL and CUDA rendering and is implementing mycropolygon displacement features. See More

Top Pro

Very versatile

You don't have to switch between software when you want to do different things. Because modeling, sculpting, composting, video editing etc can all be done in blender. See More

Top Pro

Regular release schedule

Releases are made every ~3 months. See More

Top Pro

Good distribution channel

You can get newest version from Steam or Microsoft Store. You don't have to visit the website for updates See More

Top Pro

Wide import and export format support

Support lots of modern 3D formats including DAE and FBX - ideal for game developers. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard shortcuts

Good keyboard shortcuts for everything. Keep your left hand on the keyboard and your right hand on the mouse. See More

Top Pro

It has sculpting and 3D painting features

Although blenders 3d painting and sculpting tools (mostly painting) are not at par with specialized software like Substance painter, z brush, or mari; it is more than capable of getting most jobs done if the user takes the time to learn and understand it. See More

Top Pro

Node based modeling support

Top Pro

Supports both low-poly and hi-poly modeling

Top Pro

Includes a complete game engine

Blender has a complete game engine. It features node based scripting (called Node Editor), Python scripting, dynamic shadows, bullet physics, animated textures and more. Combine it with the ability to model, render bake and texture paint inside the same application and modify the source code because of it being free and open source, Blender becomes an excellent choice for making prototypes and even complete games in considerably low amount of time. See More

Top Pro

Python extensibility

Blender embeds Python 3, which can be used to write add-ons, tools, extend the interface, rig characters and automate tasks. See More

"Quicktime Mov" > Codec: "Quicktime Animatio (RLE) Video" > Advanced: "argb" to export a .mov whit alpha channel. You can use this in OBS or for sample Olive. See More

Olive Video Editor

Top Pro

Can Export Alpha transparent Channel

Top Con

Still in alpha / No stable release yet

Not exactly going to be a long term con. The official website clearly states the same, which is why this piece of software should not be used for important projects. Then again it is so damn good that Olive editor is right now my primary editor for most projects. The fact that there is NO stable version of this software does bother a bit as it's ability to handle complex projects is almost unpredictable. But all said and done, it's still not crashed on me even once. Even though an alpha, the best damn alpha release ever. See More

ExceptionalLongmu's Experience

It's Awesome See More

Specs

License:GPL-3.0

Supported platforms:Windows linux mac

Computer Specifications:Almost anything

Top Pro

Scale / move elements directly on viewer

This video editor has the ability to move things in the visual space straight in the viewer panel compared to the others where you need to change some value of x or y to scale or move things in your composition. This might not matter much in many cases but if you have a lot of elements moving or scaling throughout your scene, this is the fastest and a much more intuitive method than having to adjust the scale/position values of individual axes separately. This again is a big reason why I prefer an alpha (a damn good alpha) version of this software than a stable release of Kdenlive. See More

ProfessionalHasameli's Experience

Olive its a great alpha version of software, 0.1 version are semi-stable and you can work normal whit it. The 0.2 version, its unestable now, but, the timeline speed its great, no delay, and the integration of note visual panel its great for a NLA. See More

Top Pro

Have Effects

Have Chroma Key, and Somentins vídeo effects. You can animate simple works ofr youtube or animated overlays for twich. See More

TalentedSharraItu's Experience

it's great See More

Top Pro

Simple Automatic Tools

Have automatic, transition tool, record audio on editor, autocut silences. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Still in Alpha version, but looking very promising. See More

Top Pro

All Parameters are Key

All parameters of effects pannels, are animables, like natron. See More

Top Pro

Blazing fast preview

GPU preview means a lot and I honestly cannot understand how other video editors do not have this as the default choice. Incredibly fast previews tested even on low end machines. This is the sole deal breaker for me when it comes to editing clips. See More

Top Pro

MVK 4 or more Channels

Can work on a .mkv vídeo whith 4 channels of audio, create in OBS. See More

Top Pro

VST Plugin Audio Support

Have VST plugin, this integrate the hability to use powerfull sound edit effects, like, reafir for audio reducction, Plugin free on Reaper software page. See More

stunning nle - and the free version alone is more than adequate for almost ANY production in HD. steep learning curve, but well worth it. See More

Davinci Resolve

Top Pro

Has a free version which is only lacking a few features

Top Con

Not open source

Notta Mehere's Experience

Specs

The color correcting tools provided are quite powerful. See More

Top Pro

Stellar color correcting

Top Con

Requires registration to download

You need to register before downloading. See More

RespectableQuirinus's Experience

better than most evem hollywood uses this See More

Top Pro

Clean and modern UI

The interface is clean and modern. Providing a nice smooth experience. See More

Top Con

Lacks features

It functions flawlessly as a basic editor, but when you try to get into anything beyond titles, fades, and basic animations, you will likely find the toolset lacking. See More

RobustColopUUichkin's Experience

I can use the free version without serious drawbacks. It resources hungry and unfortunately, I use it on a slow computer. See More

Top Pro

Stable and supported

The software is actively developed on, and is incredibly stable. See More

Top Con

It can take a bit of time to get used to

Because it is traditionally a color correcting software, getting to the actual editing toolset is a tiny bit difficult. See More

PerseveringDekla's Experience

Excellent industry standard software for no cost. What's not to love! See More

Top Pro

Presets for other software

If you like the way that Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere Pro function, there are built in templates that change the program layout and functionality to match those pieces of software. Even better, you are prompted weather you want to use these on startup so there is no digging through menus to find this feature. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

GregariousAlala's Experience

lovely See More

Top Pro

Good

TolerantMegaera's Experience

DaVinci Resolve 16 is excellent video editor. I have not used Shotcut 2-3 years ago. I left it, because it crashed several times, even it was good. I think it is now stable. DaVinci Resolve 16 crashes quite seldom. It takes some time to learn it, but there are good tutorials. Kdenlive is also good, but I did no see Lightworks in this comparison. See More

Top Pro

Provides Linux binaries

One of the few industry-grade software that has official linux binaries. See More

Globolo's Experience

It is absolutely they best free software, no question. It is not as beginner friendly but in my opinion it even beats premiere. And that it's for free is just insane See More

Top Pro

Good

Top Pro

Unbeatable for cc'ing and grading

Express lacks physics-driven particle simulation, the ability to import and animate 3D models, some of the more powerful plugins (such as professional denoiser and chroma key), OpenEXR export, 64-bit and GPU acceleration and OpenFX plugin support. See More

Hitfilm Express 2017

Top Pro

Combines editing and VFX tools in one package

Top Con

Free version lacks some of the major selling points of the software

SuccinctFecunditas's Experience

Perfect solution for a free utility. I use the all the time to make my movies intro's and special effects. I have not purchased any add-ons yet because the free version comes with everything I need. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac

Import image formats: MOV

Export video formats: MP4 (AVC/H264 & AAC)

Import audio formats: AVI

HitFilm's YouTube page. See More

Top Pro

Lots of beginner-friendly tutorials

Top Con

Download requires social media sharing

When you choose download, they need you to share to facebook, twitter, or google+. See More

SincereChimalma's Experience

I couldn't believe that an app like Hitfilm Express could be free. It has many effects, the user interface is friendly, and is completely swift and smooth! See More

Top Pro

Powerful presets & visual effects

Color grading, motion blur, lights, flares, 3D muzzle flashes, procedural fire, etc. They both work out of the box and can be heavily customized. More than 150 visual effects and more are added constantly. See More

Top Con

Requires an account to download and use

You need to register an account to use the software. See More

Top Pro

Offers 4K input and output

Top Pro

YouTube direct upload

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

Amazing all-in-one starter software thanks to a lot of powerful presets and a simplified workflow. There are tips, guides, explanations and easy access to community support. The interface is intuitive and easy to overview. See More

Crashes enough to make you feel like searching for another editor. See More

OpenShot

Top Pro

In active development

Top Con

Unstable

ConscientiousMalakbel's Experience

easy to use See More

Specs

By using a clean interface that is uncluttered and simple to understand the program allows for intuitiveness that is not always seen in other video editors. See More

Top Pro

Easy to learn

Top Con

Unintuitive

DeterminedSerket's Experience

Pro: Simple, easy to use, works fine on 5 year old laptop. Con: Fine timeline adjustments not as easy as Shotcut. See More

IntuitiveSjofn's Experience

It was fairly straightforward and intuitive. See More

Lightworks has been used to edit movies such as Wolf of Wall Street, 28 Days Later, Pulp Fiction, The King's Speech and many, many others. See More

Lightworks

Top Pro

Hollywood approved

Top Con

Free version is limited to 720p output

Whereas the full version can export to a wide variety of formats and resolutions, Lightworks can only export H.264 / MPEG-4 up to 720p. See More

Specs

Import image formats: DVCPRO HD

Export video formats: Uncompressed SD 8 bit and 10 bit

Import audio formats: DVCPRO 50

Lightworks is very focused on just the editing workflow. It's full of functionality that eases the workflow. For example, media manager can be used to storyboard, "mark and park" can be used in timelines, cut points can be adjusted in 3 ways (end point of a clip without adjusting the start point of a clip that comes before it, start point of a clip without adjusting the endpoint of a clip that comes after it or start and end points of 2 joined clips at the same time) without shortcuts, just intuitively placed mouse hover points around the cut point. Such attention to detail is what makes it an efficient tool for editing. See More

Top Pro

Highly polished editing workflow

Top Con

Doesn't support multi-frame rate videos

Unlike the other video editor, this one doesn't support multi-frame rate video. See More

VSDC Free Video Editor exceeds the standard array of functions required for modest editing goals. Faced with a long video conversion: a 7:30 minute video (a part of which was accelerated at 800%) was exported in 20 minutes. See More

VSDC Free Video Editor

Top Pro

Smooth playback

Top Con

Interface is not as straightforward as it could be

VSDC exposes a lot of information. And a good amount of that information is non-essential. That results in a slightly cluttered interface that can get in the way of actually editing the material. Similarly, some workflow conventions are dated. For example, cutting a clip needs a separate interface. All of that combined ends in having to learn a lot more about the software before it can be used. See More

TranquilPhrike's Experience

I'm not a pro user, though, I often need to cut/trim/modify audio track/stabilize/add video filters. I shoot with GoPro fusion, so my editing machine HAVE TO be friendly with 360 videos and export my video monsters in full HD as minimum. VSDC complies with this task. And its title - VSDC Free Video editor - is not just a sales pitch, the editor is really free. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Import image formats: BMP, JPEG/JPG, PNG, PSD, GIF, ICO, CUR

Export video formats:AVI, DVD, VCD/SVCD, MPEG, MP4, M4V, MOV, 3GP/3G2, WMV, MKV,RM/RMVB, FLV, SWF, AMV, MTV

Import audio formats:MP3/ MP2, WMA, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, RA, RAM, VOC, WAV, AC3, AIFF, MPA, AU, APE, CUE, CDA, FLAC

Is a super good editor See More

Top Pro

Feature rich for a free app

SociableMaui's Experience

Top Pro

Good format support

Most major video and audio formats are supported. See More

Top Pro

Suprisingly wide choice of video effects and transitions

Top Pro

Good quality export

The only free editor which enables a Full HD export. See More

Easy to start using it. There are many tutorials on their YouTube channel. See More

VideoProc Vlogger

Top Pro

Easy

IntuitiveTawhirimatea's Experience

VideoProc Vlogger is easy for beginners like me, just drag the footages, audios, images, etc, to the timeline, and choose the feature from the toolbar. It won't degrade my quality, and it has no watermark See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac

Top Pro

No watermark

A completely free video editing software that does not have a watermark. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Intuitive video editing software, not only for vloggers, but for all creators. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

For a video editor it is lightweight, minimum software requirements: 2GHz Intel or AMD processor minimum of 1GB RAM 600MB of empty hard-disk space See More

FriendlyShulmanu's Experience

It's completely free. No watermark!!!! All the tools are within reach. Just use it. See More

Although it supports all versions of Windows, Mac and Linux users will have find another video editor, since ivsEdits is not cross platform. See More

ivsEdits LE

Top Con

Windows only

Top Pro

Free features that competitors lock behind paywalls

ivsEdits is frame accurate and has audio feedback on Timeline scrub. These are basic features that several free competitors miss. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Import image formats:BMP, JPG, TGA, PSD, PNG, TIFF

Export video formats:AVI, MKV, MOV, MPG, WMV

Import audio formats:MP3, WAV

The free version is limited (compared to the full version) in what formats it can export, as well as supported capture formats and bundled apps. This is to be expected though as the pro version is a professional geared app that costs €800. See More

Top Con

Limited free version

Top Pro

Functionally competitive with other video editors

The layout is impressive, and that impression sticks throughout, especially when it comes to multiple live camera inputs. See More

Top Pro

The UI is very easy and intuitive

It is very easy to add effects and transitions. See More

Top Pro

A great free option

One of the better free options for editing video. See More

Kdenlive is licensed under GPLv2, and built on top of other open source projects like FFmpeg. See More

Animaker

Add Video or Image

Kapwing

Top Pro

No watermarks

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KDENlive

Top Pro

Open Source

Top Con

It's laggy and freezes, with some chance of crashing

Maxim Kamalov's Experience

Works well on Windows, unlike Windows versions of most other open-source/free video editors. See More

Specs

Audio is edited in the same way as video, which makes it one of the best audio editors. See More

Top Pro

Works great as an audio editor

Top Con

Timeline cursor is not working

Timeline cursor is not working well on Kubuntu, very difficult to use it. You have to switch all the time between project monitor and clip monitor to get it work. See More

Peter J. Mello's Experience

Due to the nature of proprietary codecs, FOSS video editors will always fall short of commercial offerings like Adobe Premiere. If I can do without those features for a project, Kdenlive gives me the best toolkit I've found for video editing. See More

Top Pro

Surpisingly complete

Although this editor is not up with the top of the professional pack of editors, it certainly packs a powerful punch, and should provide enough features for amateur montages, ranging from alpha manipulation, to multiple audio and video live track editing. See More

Top Con

Dose not work well in Windows

They do not support windows well like other distribution. You will face a lot of problems. See More

Sojan Janso's Experience

Awesome, fully featured, relatively stable. Exports are slow. See More

Top Pro

Its great for learn the basics of video-editing

Top Con

No hardware acceleration

If you don't have a CPU that's good for video encoding, the render time can be quite bad. See More

MerryChaxiraxi's Experience

Windows version works great now See More

Top Pro

Subtitles included

Top Con

Does not have good distribution channel

You have to go to their website to get newest version, does not auto update via package manager. See More

ReverentPinikir's Experience

Nice GUI and intuitive ! See More

Top Con

Doesn't support multi frame-rate video editing

When you choose the mixed frame rate option, your video with 60 fps will be broken (slow down and trimmed). (This con might be just misunderstanding of how to do video editing and production from the user who typed in). See More

VersatileBeaivi's Experience

A really great free video editor. See More

David Eltz's Experience

KDENlive is the most feature-complete open source video editor available, and more than capable for producing quality hobbyist/prosumer content. Recent updates have vastly improved stability and performance across all operating systems. See More