Whether you're a professional looking to save money, a student looking for a program to help with a school project, looking for software to edit videos for YouTube channels or its just for intertainment?, then you've come to the right place! Note that other non-windows product like QuickTime works in a complicated manner in Windows OS, due to this, Apple has discontinued production of QuckTime windows version as of January 2016.
I'll be available to address any issues you might have, in the comments section and on our forum. So please, if you need some help picking the right program or if you are an experienced video editor and feel that a specific free editor should be reviewed, because it has worked so well for you, let me know and hopefully, together, we can help everyone find the Best Free Video Editing Program for them!
Disclaimer: Be careful when installing the software(s). Choosing custom installation will often give you the opportunity to see exactly what components the software is installing and choose which parts you do or do not want. Downloading free software on the internet is (usually) risky, so ALWAYS pay attention to exactly what you are downloading and where you are downloading it from; it's for your own machine's health!
Note: This category is regularly updated including the viewers inputs, so if you got good news share with us in the comments section so we can bring this to the best it can be.
Professional non-linear video editing combined with advanced color corrector. Scalable and resolution independent, suitable for personal, studio or large Hollywood usage.
Contains complex interface that might be difficult for average users.
Professional non-linear video editing combined with advanced color corrector. Scalable and resolution independent, suitable for personal, studio or large Hollywood usage.
Contains complex interface that might be difficult for average users.
has Advanced graphical node based compositiong.
Very good audio mixing capabilities
Combined motion tracking with creation suite.
Renders videos in almost all outputs.
Needs time to get used to as it has complex mechanisms.
Requires a strong PC so it might affect its performance.
Some distributions require additional extensions/plug ins.
has Advanced graphical node based compositiong.
Very good audio mixing capabilities
Combined motion tracking with creation suite.
Renders videos in almost all outputs.
Needs time to get used to as it has complex mechanisms.
Requires a strong PC so it might affect its performance.
Some distributions require additional extensions/plug ins.
Rich tool-set suitable for professional video editing, opens any video and audio format, no conversion needed. Multiple output options, including HEVC/H265 codec for highest quality.
Getting familiar with all the features might take some time if you are a newbie, as technical documentation is not very detailed.
Rich tool-set suitable for professional video editing, opens any video and audio format, no conversion needed. Multiple output options, including HEVC/H265 codec for highest quality.
Getting familiar with all the features might take some time if you are a newbie, as technical documentation is not very detailed.
This section holds other alternative software products that did not end up on the main list. This is because i am still running some tests and reviews on them. Hopefully they might end up on the main list if my final reviews have found them to be amongst one of the best. If one of these works best for your projects I am happy for you and would honestly like to hear about it in the comments section below.
This software category is in need of an editor. If you would like to give something back to the freeware community by taking it over, check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here
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Comments
I've just been testing some video editors so I thought I'd share my findings. Prior to this I did a small amount of video editing using Adobe Premiere Elements on Windows XP and Pinnacle Studio on Windows Vista. I'd describe myself as an advanced beginner - I've got a reasonable idea of what video editors should do but less knowledge of the fancy bells and whistles. Typically what I've been doing is simple cuts/deletes and adding titles and music. More recently I've been getting into stabilization, small rotates to level the horizon, zooming a bit and putting 2 video tracks together side by side to compare before and after stabilization.
Over the last month I've tried these editors and I'd rank them in this order for my purposes:
Shotcut
Video Editor - it's part of Microsoft Windows 10, scroll down the start menu to V to find it
NCH VideoPad
OpenShot
VirtualDub - tested its stabilization capabilities
Conclusion: all video editors have problems! I've ended up doing different bits of my videos in different editors. Eg I like the Windows Video Editor titles - very easy and quick to get something that looks good. I like VideoPad's stabilization (to me it's subjectively slightly better than Shotcut and VirtualDub, but there's not much in it) and Shotcut is the most reliable at producing a usable output video file from the various video clips, photos and music.
I used the free version of VideoPad for home use and it never prevented me from exporting video saying it was a paid feature. I did have problems exporting video for other reasons though. I did not experience any stability issues.
I've put my specific comments under the review of each editor I tried.
VirtualDub is not listed - I noticed some comments on it so it was probably in the list once and I can see why it was removed - it's very bare bones and doesn't work with MP4 out of the box, although I found a codec to solve that. When I was researching stabilization I found some forum comments elsewhere that said VirtualDub's is very good. To do stabilization in VirtualDub I downloaded "deshaker" from a site in Sweden - it hasn't been updated since 2014. Deshaker is very configurable and I followed the simple instructions. It did not do any better than the stabilization in VideoPad or Shotcut.
As there's no review of the built in Windows Video Editor, here are my comments on that:
Windows 10 Video Editor
It comes as standard with Windows 10 and is implemented as a "modern" Windows app (it's actually a part of Microsoft Photos that also comes with Windows 10). Video Editor looks a lot like how I remember Microsoft Movie Maker on XP, although I only ever looked at that and didn't produce any video output with it.
Ease of use is the key here. It doesn't have the multi track timeline of many other video editors. Instead video clips, titles, photos etc are put onto a storyboard. It's easy to split a video clip into 2 sections or trim the start and end. You can also add an overall soundtrack of background music.
It gives you some control over the output resolution but not bitrate which ends up high with correspondingly large files. When I first started using it I put the finished video into OpenShot and re-encoded there to get smaller lower bitrate video files.
The location of project files and temporary files is all hidden. When you start it shows you a list of projects you've saved plus you can start a new one. This is fine for what it is - a simple and easy to use video editor, rather than something powerful and serious where you might want to take backups of project files.
It's similar in capabilities to iMovie on the iPad. It would be great for a holiday video: titles, photos and video clips plus music all edited and looking good with minimal effort. Video Editor allows photos to look a bit less static by having them move/zoom a little giving a Ken Burns effect.
Sir, any latest update will be posted to this article?
Videopad Video Editor free version is not very good, as you can't save edited files.
I am able to edit and save using the free: Videopad Video Editor (Unlicensed) Non-commercial Home Use Only version.
https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/kb/free.html
Lightworks interface and the general editing software is very different, it is difficult to get started.
and the free version of the output option is extremely limited!
that's the thing with softwares that has free and paid versions, they're trying to advertise the paid ine in this manner, so they make the free one a little inconvinient
Having a problem with DaVinci Resolve. The readme file says that Desktop Video is required. Downloaded Desktop Video. Installation license says it is "Subject to payment of applicable license fees". Installation then fails.
Tried to start Resolve anyhow. Window pops up saying it needs a license dongle, or you can download free from their site. Well, this is the free version from their site. Resolve then fails to start.
So far this isn't turning out to be very useful.
That's probably a technical problem within the website links on their servers, since it had you stuck in circles you would want to contact Davinci resolve support so that they can help you with this problem. sorry for any inconveniences.
The free version of DaVinci doesn't run on Linux.
I usually run my tests using windows, and about Linux it probably might be application errors. I don't know that much about Linux products but it will be helpful to seek help from Linux web forums
As always I greatly appreciate the information from Gizmo.
Judging also from several other comments, I think it would be very helpful if each time you added information about the need and the efficieny of re-coding after the editing process. I have stopped using some great editors, because they have not kept up with the developments of hardware acceleration (e.g. CUDA.and now NVEC) and new efficient codecs, H.264 and now H.265 etc. It is quite frustrating, if this re-coding process takes hours, even one has just simply trimmed a video recording. .
Yup such stuff we usually put them in the app's full review and under pros and cons. They can be quite troublesome when it takes you hours to re-code a few minutes trim
VERY long installation if you have to allow postgres to install. VERY LONG on an i7 with SSD!
Most freewares comes with such third parties or sometimes plug ins. Which is why you should be careful when running setup to choose custom installation and only install the products you require. It saves time and space.
"DaVinci Resolve requires 64bit Windows to install. Installation will not continue".
Windows Movie Maker is good enough if you just need to add or remove frames, add titles, transitions, and background music. I do most of my editing using WMM. For slightly more complex stuff I use LightWorks. Not as easy to use, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty good. Love using it to do video overlaying/PIP.
As for the list, DaVinci Resolve is more of a post production type of editor. Has the most powerful color editor among free editors. Even beats Adobe Premiere, which is a paid product. But I don't use it often and uninstalled it.
Openshots just hates my Win10 laptop. It crashes too often. I was able to edit and export just one video successfully. Such a shame. I use it in Linux Mint and it was more stable there.
I was going to try Hitfilm 4 Express but its installer was way too big (430 MB download). With a small SSD, I can't afford to install too many big programs. LightWorks' installer is only 70MB, while fully installed it's about 250 MB.
Regarding the Windows Movie Maker program that is part of Windows Essentials 2012, Microsoft says, "Windows Essentials 2012 suite will reach end of support on January 10, 2017" and that it "will be available for download until it reaches its end of support date." (Source: "Windows Essentials 2012 Release Notes") That same page also says, "Movie Maker will soon be available from Windows Store for Windows 10 users"; however it doesn't say if that new version will be free or even if it will continue to be a standard desktop program. So, I'm now looking to replace Movie Maker.
Mesh, for your next reviews, I'd very much like to see your opinions of VSDC Free Video Editor, and Shotcut.
From a couple of other people's comments here, I think it would be helpful for a review to mention when QuickTime is used by a Windows program, and for the Introduction section to explain the significance of that issue.
Thank you, i will put it into consideration. Hopefully i wiil be done with new updates soon.
It is sad that MS isn't doing anything with WMM and will probably abandon it on January 2017. Very easy to use when you just need to edit out scenes and add titles and music.
I've tried Shotcut. The installer is like 191MB but like H4E, it expanded to about 1GB upon installation! I would say that is it is somewhat easy to use once you've used another NLE. I am thankful for learning to use NLE with the hardest program in that category, LightWorks. Compared to LW, everything else is easy! Unlike Openshot, Shotcut is more stable in my Windows 10 machine. Encoding 1080p is slow, much slower than LW. I think it's worth more of a look but I had to uninstall it. I don't keep any programs that are more than 500MB.
Well it is ussually like this for most programs. The more you use it increases in its overall space, especially if you use it with third parties and plug ins in some cases.
I've installed Hitfilm 4 Express on my sister's desktop. While the installer is about 430MB, it expanded and used almost 1GB of HDD space! And it still asked me to install Quicktime to be able to edit .MOV files. Lightworks can also use Quicktime but it can edit .MOV files without it. Plus, did I say it only needed 250MB? It is also faster to launch.
But H4E is a bit easier to use than LW. They are both non-linear editors (NLE) and you can reuse many of the same editing skills on either program. LW is harder to use since the UI is pretty bare-bones, and assumes that you know your way around its non-intuitive menu. It also has an ever-present shark tooltip assistant. He is almost as annoying as the MS Paperclip, but a lot easier on the eyes.
H4E has a more updated UI, very visual, which makes it easier to learn. I also think that since I've already mastered the harder LW program, converting to H4E is a cinch. New users of NLE might have a higher learning curve. I would recommend H4E over LW to those who don't use small SSDs and aren't constrained by drive space; and to those who want learn to use it fast and start editing immediately.
But for myself, I'll have to make do with LW since I can't afford to give 1GB to a video editing app. I barely have 10GB left in my 128GB SSD.
Thanks for the input, it is very resourceful
I use Avidemux.
My problem is finding a way to mark several areas of the video that interest me all at once.
It seems to only allow you to extract/save 1 at a time
Its a good one, but it probably needs an update that account for this
This article is out of date.
Virtualdub is a relic that knows only .avi formats - it was good 10 years ago
The best free and powerful editor out there is Davinci Resolve 12.5 which is free in standard edition (not Studio) and has truly professional capabilities (I don't know how such a good software can be free). The single disadvantage: it needs QuickTime (there is not a video professional editor that works without QT unfortunately because they need ProRes); but, on installation QT is installed automatically (last version for Win) and then you can rename the player executable (e.g. add the .bak extension to the .exe) in Program Files, which is a security risk in Windows OS, and verify your browser plugins - QT must be disabled; this doesn't affect Resolve editor because it needs only the codecs from QT, not the video player.
Other good/fair alternatives for Windows are:
- VSDC Free Video Editor
- DVD Video Soft Free Video Editor (bee aware: contains unwanted software at installation)
PS: i couldn't post links but you can find the software above easily with google
Can the codecs from QT be installed without installing QT? If so, can you recommend a source of how-to info?
Does VSDC or do other programs reviewed here need the codecs from QT?
DaVinci Resolve looks great. Thanks for bringing this into attention.
Thanks, soon we will be updating this category, as you noticed some of the softwares are no longer as popular as new softwares have taken over. I am currently compiling a new list and will post it as soon as i am done with my research
Hitfilm 4 is free and has great capabilities. It also can edit mp4 video.
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Comments
I've just been testing some video editors so I thought I'd share my findings. Prior to this I did a small amount of video editing using Adobe Premiere Elements on Windows XP and Pinnacle Studio on Windows Vista. I'd describe myself as an advanced beginner - I've got a reasonable idea of what video editors should do but less knowledge of the fancy bells and whistles. Typically what I've been doing is simple cuts/deletes and adding titles and music. More recently I've been getting into stabilization, small rotates to level the horizon, zooming a bit and putting 2 video tracks together side by side to compare before and after stabilization.
Over the last month I've tried these editors and I'd rank them in this order for my purposes:
Shotcut
Video Editor - it's part of Microsoft Windows 10, scroll down the start menu to V to find it
NCH VideoPad
OpenShot
VirtualDub - tested its stabilization capabilities
Conclusion: all video editors have problems! I've ended up doing different bits of my videos in different editors. Eg I like the Windows Video Editor titles - very easy and quick to get something that looks good. I like VideoPad's stabilization (to me it's subjectively slightly better than Shotcut and VirtualDub, but there's not much in it) and Shotcut is the most reliable at producing a usable output video file from the various video clips, photos and music.
I used the free version of VideoPad for home use and it never prevented me from exporting video saying it was a paid feature. I did have problems exporting video for other reasons though. I did not experience any stability issues.
I've put my specific comments under the review of each editor I tried.
VirtualDub is not listed - I noticed some comments on it so it was probably in the list once and I can see why it was removed - it's very bare bones and doesn't work with MP4 out of the box, although I found a codec to solve that. When I was researching stabilization I found some forum comments elsewhere that said VirtualDub's is very good. To do stabilization in VirtualDub I downloaded "deshaker" from a site in Sweden - it hasn't been updated since 2014. Deshaker is very configurable and I followed the simple instructions. It did not do any better than the stabilization in VideoPad or Shotcut.
As there's no review of the built in Windows Video Editor, here are my comments on that:
Windows 10 Video Editor
It comes as standard with Windows 10 and is implemented as a "modern" Windows app (it's actually a part of Microsoft Photos that also comes with Windows 10). Video Editor looks a lot like how I remember Microsoft Movie Maker on XP, although I only ever looked at that and didn't produce any video output with it.
Ease of use is the key here. It doesn't have the multi track timeline of many other video editors. Instead video clips, titles, photos etc are put onto a storyboard. It's easy to split a video clip into 2 sections or trim the start and end. You can also add an overall soundtrack of background music.
It gives you some control over the output resolution but not bitrate which ends up high with correspondingly large files. When I first started using it I put the finished video into OpenShot and re-encoded there to get smaller lower bitrate video files.
The location of project files and temporary files is all hidden. When you start it shows you a list of projects you've saved plus you can start a new one. This is fine for what it is - a simple and easy to use video editor, rather than something powerful and serious where you might want to take backups of project files.
It's similar in capabilities to iMovie on the iPad. It would be great for a holiday video: titles, photos and video clips plus music all edited and looking good with minimal effort. Video Editor allows photos to look a bit less static by having them move/zoom a little giving a Ken Burns effect.
Sir, any latest update will be posted to this article?
Videopad Video Editor free version is not very good, as you can't save edited files.
I am able to edit and save using the free: Videopad Video Editor (Unlicensed) Non-commercial Home Use Only version.
https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/kb/free.html
Lightworks interface and the general editing software is very different, it is difficult to get started.
and the free version of the output option is extremely limited!
that's the thing with softwares that has free and paid versions, they're trying to advertise the paid ine in this manner, so they make the free one a little inconvinient
Having a problem with DaVinci Resolve. The readme file says that Desktop Video is required. Downloaded Desktop Video. Installation license says it is "Subject to payment of applicable license fees". Installation then fails.
Tried to start Resolve anyhow. Window pops up saying it needs a license dongle, or you can download free from their site. Well, this is the free version from their site. Resolve then fails to start.
So far this isn't turning out to be very useful.
That's probably a technical problem within the website links on their servers, since it had you stuck in circles you would want to contact Davinci resolve support so that they can help you with this problem. sorry for any inconveniences.
The free version of DaVinci doesn't run on Linux.
As always I greatly appreciate the information from Gizmo.
Judging also from several other comments, I think it would be very helpful if each time you added information about the need and the efficieny of re-coding after the editing process. I have stopped using some great editors, because they have not kept up with the developments of hardware acceleration (e.g. CUDA.and now NVEC) and new efficient codecs, H.264 and now H.265 etc. It is quite frustrating, if this re-coding process takes hours, even one has just simply trimmed a video recording. .
VERY long installation if you have to allow postgres to install. VERY LONG on an i7 with SSD!
"DaVinci Resolve requires 64bit Windows to install. Installation will not continue".
Windows Movie Maker is good enough if you just need to add or remove frames, add titles, transitions, and background music. I do most of my editing using WMM. For slightly more complex stuff I use LightWorks. Not as easy to use, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty good. Love using it to do video overlaying/PIP.
As for the list, DaVinci Resolve is more of a post production type of editor. Has the most powerful color editor among free editors. Even beats Adobe Premiere, which is a paid product. But I don't use it often and uninstalled it.
Openshots just hates my Win10 laptop. It crashes too often. I was able to edit and export just one video successfully. Such a shame. I use it in Linux Mint and it was more stable there.
I was going to try Hitfilm 4 Express but its installer was way too big (430 MB download). With a small SSD, I can't afford to install too many big programs. LightWorks' installer is only 70MB, while fully installed it's about 250 MB.
Regarding the Windows Movie Maker program that is part of Windows Essentials 2012, Microsoft says, "Windows Essentials 2012 suite will reach end of support on January 10, 2017" and that it "will be available for download until it reaches its end of support date." (Source: "Windows Essentials 2012 Release Notes") That same page also says, "Movie Maker will soon be available from Windows Store for Windows 10 users"; however it doesn't say if that new version will be free or even if it will continue to be a standard desktop program. So, I'm now looking to replace Movie Maker.
Mesh, for your next reviews, I'd very much like to see your opinions of VSDC Free Video Editor, and Shotcut.
From a couple of other people's comments here, I think it would be helpful for a review to mention when QuickTime is used by a Windows program, and for the Introduction section to explain the significance of that issue.
Thank you, i will put it into consideration. Hopefully i wiil be done with new updates soon.
It is sad that MS isn't doing anything with WMM and will probably abandon it on January 2017. Very easy to use when you just need to edit out scenes and add titles and music.
I've tried Shotcut. The installer is like 191MB but like H4E, it expanded to about 1GB upon installation! I would say that is it is somewhat easy to use once you've used another NLE. I am thankful for learning to use NLE with the hardest program in that category, LightWorks. Compared to LW, everything else is easy! Unlike Openshot, Shotcut is more stable in my Windows 10 machine. Encoding 1080p is slow, much slower than LW. I think it's worth more of a look but I had to uninstall it. I don't keep any programs that are more than 500MB.
Well it is ussually like this for most programs. The more you use it increases in its overall space, especially if you use it with third parties and plug ins in some cases.
I've installed Hitfilm 4 Express on my sister's desktop. While the installer is about 430MB, it expanded and used almost 1GB of HDD space! And it still asked me to install Quicktime to be able to edit .MOV files. Lightworks can also use Quicktime but it can edit .MOV files without it. Plus, did I say it only needed 250MB? It is also faster to launch.
But H4E is a bit easier to use than LW. They are both non-linear editors (NLE) and you can reuse many of the same editing skills on either program. LW is harder to use since the UI is pretty bare-bones, and assumes that you know your way around its non-intuitive menu. It also has an ever-present shark tooltip assistant. He is almost as annoying as the MS Paperclip, but a lot easier on the eyes.
H4E has a more updated UI, very visual, which makes it easier to learn. I also think that since I've already mastered the harder LW program, converting to H4E is a cinch. New users of NLE might have a higher learning curve. I would recommend H4E over LW to those who don't use small SSDs and aren't constrained by drive space; and to those who want learn to use it fast and start editing immediately.
But for myself, I'll have to make do with LW since I can't afford to give 1GB to a video editing app. I barely have 10GB left in my 128GB SSD.
Thanks for the input, it is very resourceful
I use Avidemux.
My problem is finding a way to mark several areas of the video that interest me all at once.
It seems to only allow you to extract/save 1 at a time
Its a good one, but it probably needs an update that account for this
This article is out of date.
Virtualdub is a relic that knows only .avi formats - it was good 10 years ago
The best free and powerful editor out there is Davinci Resolve 12.5 which is free in standard edition (not Studio) and has truly professional capabilities (I don't know how such a good software can be free). The single disadvantage: it needs QuickTime (there is not a video professional editor that works without QT unfortunately because they need ProRes); but, on installation QT is installed automatically (last version for Win) and then you can rename the player executable (e.g. add the .bak extension to the .exe) in Program Files, which is a security risk in Windows OS, and verify your browser plugins - QT must be disabled; this doesn't affect Resolve editor because it needs only the codecs from QT, not the video player.
Other good/fair alternatives for Windows are:
- VSDC Free Video Editor
- DVD Video Soft Free Video Editor (bee aware: contains unwanted software at installation)
PS: i couldn't post links but you can find the software above easily with google
Can the codecs from QT be installed without installing QT? If so, can you recommend a source of how-to info?
Does VSDC or do other programs reviewed here need the codecs from QT?
DaVinci Resolve looks great. Thanks for bringing this into attention.
Thanks, soon we will be updating this category, as you noticed some of the softwares are no longer as popular as new softwares have taken over. I am currently compiling a new list and will post it as soon as i am done with my research
Hitfilm 4 is free and has great capabilities. It also can edit mp4 video.
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