As a video marketer, I know the importance of a good video editor. Not only does it make me become more productive, but also makes the videos more attractive to viewers. In this article, I have picked 7 best free video editors among all the ones I have used in years.
I will cover the main features, disadvantages, and applicable users of each video editor. Please pay attention to the applicable ports and scenarios of different editors.
Capcut
Oftentimes, you probably use our mobile phones to shoot videos. If you need a free video editor for Android of iOS, Capcut is a nice choice. It is totally free and has no advertising. It offers many templates so anyone can create amazing videos in seconds.
Capcut offers a stabilizing function and it can even be tweaked to some degree. AI Remove Background and Chroma Key to let you remove video background with or without green screen. If you need to produce captions, CapCut provides you the automated speech-to-text/text-to-speech processing.
If you use TikTok, you should also use CapCut to edit videos because you can upload your edited videos to TikTok directly. Both CapCut and TikTok are offered by ByteDance.
Key Features:
Split and stitch videos;
Speed control;
Reverse video;
built-in music library;
Various filters;
Chrome key and background remover;
Special effects such as split-screen, retro, comic, dreamy, etc;
Stickers and annotations
Advantages: Lots of features yet easy to use.
Disadvantages: no support for UHD/4K export
Best for: editing videos for Tiktok.
Blender
Blender is a completely free and open source program for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. It is actually designed specifically for the 3D animation suite, but it is good enough to meet most of your video editing needs.
The editor allows you to perform basic operations such as video cutting and stitching, and also allows you to perform more complex operations such as masking. This makes it a very flexible video editor, suitable for both beginners and advanced users.
Key Features:
Real-time preview, luma waveform, chroma vector oscilloscope and histogram display;
Audio mixing, synchronization, clearing and waveform visualization;
Up to 32 slots for adding video, pictures, audio and special effects;
Speed control, adjustment layers, transition effects, key frames, filters, etc.
Advantages: Very suitable for advanced users who are not bothered by all functions.
Disadvantages: the function is more difficult to learn. Most tutorials focus on 3D animation/modeling, and the resources that can help you use the video editor are very limited.
Best for: More advanced projects that may involve 3D animation.
Lightworks
Lightworks is another easy-to-use free video editing software. It is suitable for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
Lightworks is one of the more powerful video editors in the list. It contains only the functions needed for video editing. For most users, the free version should be sufficient, and the professional version costs $25 per month.
The free version features are as follows:
High-precision video trimming;
Support real-time multi-camera (Multicam) editing;
The video exported as 720p is used for YouTube upload;
Support multiple video formats;
Although the free version includes most features, 4K video editing supported by Youtube and Vimeo is a paid feature. Compared to Blender, Lightworks has many great video tutorials to help users get started quickly.
Advantages: powerful video editor with many advanced features.
Disadvantages: 4K video only supports the paid version, and some users may find Lightworks too advanced to use.
Best for: All-round PC-side video editing.
Shotcut
Shotcut is available on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. Like Blender, Shotcut is a completely open source software. This means that after downloading, you can access all features without paying for an upgrade.
This video editor supports various video formats and has a large number of tutorial videos. With too many features, some users may find the interface a little weird, as it was originally designed for Linux. Other than that, it is definitely a high-quality video editor.
The two most compelling features of this video editor are 4K HD resolution support and timeline editing. Few video editors support 4K resolution for free. Shotcut does not require you to import video into the editor, if you need to process large video files, this can save time.
Advantages: Support timeline editing and 4K resolution.
Disadvantages: The quirky interface may offend some users.
Applicable to: 4K, high-definition video projects.
VSDC free video editor
VSDC is a video editing software only for Windows systems. The free version of the software has a series of powerful features, including color correction and audio editing.
The professional version costs $19.99 and includes video stabilization, support for narration recording, and visual waveforms. If you choose not to update to the professional version, technical support costs $9.99 a month and $14.99 a year.
Advantages: Many powerful functions are relatively easy to learn.
Disadvantages: Technical support is not free, and only for Windows systems.
Best for: Video editing projects based on Windows systems.
Machete Video Editor Lite
Machete Lite is one of the simplest editors in this list, ideal for quick and easy video editing projects. In the free version, you cannot edit the audio, you can only delete the audio track. In addition, the free version only supports AVI and WMV format file editing. The full version costs $19.95, and it allows you to edit audio and support more file formats.
Advantages: Super easy to learn and use.
Disadvantages: only for Windows systems; supported file formats are not as many as other software; audio editing is not possible.
Best for: Simple video stitching.
Avidemux
Avidemux is very friendly to beginners thanks to the concise interface. If you are completely new to video editing, you can try to start with this video editor first. The software features include:
Simple video editing;
Video coding
Filter
Advantages: Very simple software, no need to read technical documents.
Disadvantages: not as many functions as other video editors.
Best for: Beginners, the most basic video editing tasks.
Final Thoughts
It is more important to choose a video editor which works the best for you rather than debating which is the best one. That’s why I have included easy-to-use video editors and professional ones.
If you only need to do simple video stitching, then the most basic editor like Avidemux. Similarly, if you need to do professional video processing work like adding fancy effects, then a full-featured editor will be your right choice.