Technology @beehaw.org davido @beehaw.org 1y ago

Good free(mium) video editor?

I was looking for a video editor that can help me cut and edit some simple video footage. What are some good choices?

Preference is one with a low learning curve. Paid is alright, as long as I can test it a bit beforehand.

Google is littered with nonsense blogs so I figured id ask the Lems.

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probably one of the best free video editing programs out there atm is davinci ( https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/ )

for simple editing though I used to use KDEnlive a lot, pretty easy to wrap your head around, allbeit with a few quirks that take some getting used to ( https://kdenlive.org/en/ )

I'm sure theres others but those are the two I've used personally.
- +1 Kdenlive is great and its open source software from KDE
- I've used kdenlive for a few years now and it's so far a very good nlve, especially for the price of free.
- Here to vouch for KDEnlive! Works great in my experience.
  
  Another vote for kdenlive!
- I've heard good things about both Davinci and Openshot.
  
  undefined> Openshot
  
  Openshot is low learning curve, but daaaaaaang it crashes a lot.
- These are the only two free ones that I can recommend as someone who has been doing (mostly amateur) editing for years.
- Heavily agree. Imo both resolve and KDEnlive are capable of very complex things so might appear as though they are complex to use, but they are only as complex as the thing you're trying to do. If all you need is cut and move, they are dead simple.
- I've mostly used kdenlive and have had a pretty positive experience, +1 from me
- Love KDEnlive! It even lets you make .srt files with the subtitles feature.
DaVinci Resolve. It's good and mostly free, allowing you to export up to HD resolution. Premium features include more transitions, fx, and higher resolutions but the basics are covered free.

I can't vouch for the low learning curve. It's intuitive enough for basic basic stuff but I still find myself going to YouTube tutorials often. However- I'm always a slow learner, so it might be just me.
- A thousand times this. I have no idea why this isn't a more popular option. Also it isn't limited to HD - it's limited to 4k.
- I had been pondering on switching from Shotcut to DaVinci but exporting being limited to HD is bad news to me
  
  Edit: this claims 4K & 60fps as the limit which is fine
  
  Previous commenter is incorrect - you can export up to 4k with the free version.
Kdenlive is my go-to these days, but it's interface can take a moment to get used to. Plenty of tutorials and such on YouTube, however.

If you're on a Mac, iMovie is as good as it gets for casual production. Look no further.

Finally, if you're on Windows and don't like the look of kdenlive, I don't see any reason not to use Windows Media Maker from Windows Live Essentials 2012. There's a lot of crapware around these days pretending to be a modern version of Media Maker, but the old one still does what it needs to, and to my knowledge there's no official replacement to date.
Shotcut is quite powerful, fully featured, and absolutely free.

Microsoft's new ClipChamp is more user friendly and the most basic version is free, with some limitations.
- ClipChamp has become my go to for quick editing. The primary free version limitation is export resolution (HD).
Opensource/FOSS:
Kdenlive, Openshot, Shotcut

It think Shotcut is the simplest to use.
ffmpeg, if you don't mind the command line.. there's only two options you really have to know for editing, -ss and -t , starting time and length, respectively.. also don't forget that first -i for input file name, output file name is always last
eg, ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:01:40 -t 00:05:00 output.mp4
that would clip out five minutes starting at a minute forty seconds in, the file names are obvious
I use Videopad but I have a feeling the other suggestions might be better, I need to check these out. But I have tried Davinci Resolve before and I just felt like it was overkill for basic cutting up videos and Videopad seems nicer for simple editing.
Not free but Premiere can be subscribed so if you just have some footage to cut you should be able to rent it for a month or two and let the sub lapse until you need it again. Might be a less intense learning curve for the cost of a month or two
Lossless Cut is a good mix of free, powerful, and easy to use. I use it on my laptop for quick meme stuff

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