19 Best Free Video Editing Software as of 2024

Forword: When looking for the best free video editing software, it's essential to consider the features, pros, and cons of each option available for Windows 10/11, Mac, Android, and other platforms. The ideal software should offer a balance of user-friendliness and a robust set of editing tools to cater to both beginners and experienced users. While many free options are available, the right choice will depend on your specific editing requirements and the type of projects you intend to work on.

Some people believe when it comes to editing video software, there is no such a thing as having GOOD and FREE at the same time, but that's not the case. We got 19 good candidates for you here and put together a 15-minute or so review of best free video editing software for anybody in need. Whether you'd like a quick editing or set your hands on professional film making, you'll find the right video editor freeware.

This list is in no particular order of importance. We tried and tested each free video editing software from various aspects, and grouped them for different editing scenarios based on their highlighted features.

19 Best Free Video Editing Software

• 1. VideoProc Converter AI 👍
• 2. VideoProc Vlogger
• 3. HitFilm Express
• 4. DaVinci Resolve
• 5. Lightworks
• 6. VideoPad Video Editor
• 7. VSDC Free Video Editor
• 8. Shotcut
• 9. Windows Movie Maker
• 10. Photos App
• 11. iMovie
• 12. Openshot
• 13. Blender
• 14. PowerDirector
• 15. Quik
• 16. Avidemux
• 17. Kdenlive
• 18. GoPro Studio
• 19. Olive Video Editor

Why should you trust us? Jump to the bottom to see how we picked the best free video editors.

#1. VideoProc Converter AI

Best video editing software for editing 4K, H.264, and HEVC (heavily-compressed) videos!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free (full version: $25.95)
• Target users: beginners
• Available on: Windows and macOS
• Capterra rating ⭐: 4.4/5

What's needed by most people who are on the hunt for a free video editor is just a lightweight and fast video editor that can help carry out basic video editing. In this case, VideoProc Converter AI might be the best pick. This high-performance video processing software is from the same developer as VideoProc Vlogger - Digiarty. Being primarily used for converting video and audio formats, VideoProc Converter AI doesn't come with a timeline, keyframe, or any stuff that's overkill for basic editing. Thus, you are free of the worries that it's difficult to master or it fails to recognize or export videos in specific formats.

But don't get me wrong, it's absolutely more than enough for making home videos and vlogs for sharing on popular platforms like YouTube and Instagram. It packs the most-used editing tools such as cut, split, rotate, flip, merge, speed change, watermark, subtitles, and deshake are included. Plus, it supports customizing video aspect ratio, bitrate, and dozens of other properties, so you can easily create videos that look good on any platform - be it on YouTube, Instagram, widescreen TV, tablet, or iPhone.

Pros:

• It's the easiest video editing software on this list
• Ready-made output settings for YouTube, game consoles, etc
• Tons of appealing templates, transitions, text effects…
• Real-time previewing for your editing decisions
• Edit and export video files at 47x faster speed
• High quality engine to keep the best picture quality

Cons:

• Lack of pro-editing tools like speed ramp and motion crop
• It's free for editing short videos

It's the fastest video editor for editing 4K UHD videos!

Thanks to the support of full GPU acceleration tech, VideoProc Converter AI is one of the few video editing software that can edit 4K UHD videos and heavily compressed formats like HEVC, H.264, VP9, and VP8 without stuttering or high CPU usage.

#2. VideoProc Vlogger

Best free video editing software for making cinematic videos and vlogs for creativity or fun!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Target users: novices, amateurs, and semi-pros
• Available on: Windows and macOS
• Capterra rating⭐: 5/5

If you're looking for simple but comprehensive free video making software, then VideoProc Vlogger is exactly what you need. Developed by a reliable team called Digiarty, this easy video editing software supports 999+ timeline tracks and provides users with trim, merge, split, crop, speed change, and loads of quick editing tools to touch up videos easily.

It offers a huge number of presets that let you do text or video animation, time-remapping, seamless transitions, and many more dope visual effects with the touch of a button. Asides, there are preset resolutions to choose from, so you can easily create videos with the best resolutions for uploading on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc.

To help you spend more time creating and less time editing, this simple free video editor makes use of your dedicated hardware to accelerate both the editing and exporting process. Thus, you can edit 4K HDR and 8K videos recorded by GoPro, DJI, DSLR, and other devices smoothly while keeping low CPU usage.

Let's download and install this free video editing software and create awesome videos now!

Pros:

• 0 learning curve. Clear and clutter-free interface
• Great selection of online video and text tutorials
• Unlimited tracks. Numerous video editing features
• Edit 4K, high frame rate, and long videos smoothly
• Motion, speed ramps, transitions, filters, and more
• Great audio editing tools: analyze beat, sound effects…

Cons:

• Can't export GIF files

Why Is VideoProc Vlogger the best free video editing software overall?

It offers all the editing tools you will need to create engaging content but still keeps its interface simple and manageable. With a host of presets and effects, creating stunning animation and visual effects is easier than ever. Plus, it's compatible with almost all video formats like H.264, HEVC, MP4, MKV, WEBM, MOV, GIF, MP3, WAV, and FLAC. High resolutions and high frame rate videos like 4K 60FPS and 1080P 120FPS are also accepted. Thanks to the support of level-3 GPU acceleration tech, you can handle large videos without lagging.

#3. HitFilm Express

Best video editing software for visual effects dabblers and YouTubers!

• Watermark: yes
• Price: free (creator plan: 7.5USD/month; pro plan: 12.5USD/month)
• Target users: semi-pros
• Available on: Windows 11/10/8, macOS (High Sierra and later)
• Capterra rating ⭐: 4.1/5

Presented by FXhome, HitFilm Express is one of the best free editing software available on PC and Mac for making YouTube videos. It comes with powerful VFX tools to produce films, gaming videos, and other great content for free. It combines editing, VFX, and 3D tools in one place, so you won't need to hoop from one app for editing, to another app for compositing. It has all the basic editing functions you would expect from mainstream NLEs and offers a large number of effects and features that you wouldn't expect in other free editors.

HitFilm Express is mostly noted for its VFX capacity that helps to turn your footage into impressive filmic productions. Gunfire and Star War lightsaber effects, bold and flashy animation titles are all at your disposal to spice up the video. HitFilm even helps you to create animated 3D particles based on audio waveforms! Nicely enough, this one of the best free video editing software for PC adopts a dual-timeline approach, with all the basic editing done in the editing timeline and VFX done in the composite shot timeline. In this way, it keeps the main editing timeline from getting cluttered up, so that you can easily assemble the clips in order. While in the composite shot timeline, you can let your creative juice flow and play around with graphics, effects, and visual elements.

Pros:

• A wide selection of video editing tools
• Some creative features: sky replacement, screen simulation, etc

Cons:

• A steep learning curve for beginners
• Put a watermark when using its paid tools like denoise and deshake
• Can't edit HEVC videos recorded by iPhone, GoPro Hero series, etc
• Very limited for editing audio
• Lack of support for collaborative and multicam editing
• Not support outputting 4K UHD videos

Are you looking for free movie editing software?

Thinking about making a horror movie? How about the scene of ghost cropping out of your mobile phone? With HitFilm Express, you can utilize the tracking feature. While the character is walking with a mobile phone at his hand, you can use the tracking tool to follow the same trajectory. Then you shall be able to replace the mobile screen, with a clip of ghost popping out. There is more for HitFilm to re-create what's in your mind...

Read our full review of HitFilm Express >>

#4. DaVinci Resolve 18

Best free video and audio editing software for professional color grading!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Target users: novices, amateurs, and semi-pros
• Available on: Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Capterra rating⭐: 4.8/5

DaVinci Resolve is a non-linear video editing and mixing system developed by Blackmagic Design. It makes a name for itself as a top-notch color corrector originally and has been awarded for Engineering Excellence by the Hollywood Professional Association. The learning curve would be steep to be familiar closely with this professional free video editing software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. But to get started quickly, crash courses are everywhere.

Color grading is key to creating awe-inspiring landscape videos and cinematic looks, which happens to be what makes DaVinci Resolve critically acclaimed. In DaVinci Resolve 18, you can have full control of the image in precision with node-based color grading tools. And both the editing and rendering of landscape videos in RAW formats like CinemaDNG and ARRIRAW can be fast, even on an old computer, for its proxy mode and optimized media support. Two bonus features for advanced users - Fairlight for audio adjusting and Fusion for VFX. Remember there is only a 64-bit version for Windows 11/10, and Mac should be 10.10 or later.

Pros:

• Self-explained cutting tab for creating videos quickly
• Industry-level color grading and VFX Compositing
• Collaborate on the same timeline with multiple users
• Display up to 25 different angles in a single multicam clip
• An extensive list of LUTs and transitions library

Cons:

• Fusion and Fairlight are too complicated to learn, with few tutorials available
• Audio and video out-of-sync issues happen a lot
• RED and BMPCC 4K footages have rendering errors frequently
• Occasional 4K video stuttering, slow rendering, or media import problems
• Once you load your media files, the project frame rate value can't be changed anymore

Ready for some filmic look with enchanting color?

For your information, DaVinci Resolve was used for the color grading in famous movies and TV shows like Avatar, Deadpool 2, La La Land, The Walking Dead and Westworld, to name a few. You won't want to miss the chance to embrace such a great tool for free. To check how mighty the color grading could be:

Read our full review of DaVinci Resolve 18>>

#5. Lightworks

Top free video editor for movie industry experts and content marketers!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free (Pro: 23.99USD/month)
• Available on: Windows, Mac, and Linux
• Capterra rating ⭐: 4.3/5

Lightworks is a powerful free video editor that has been around for more than 25 years since Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere started their business in the industry. It offers a free version for serious enthusiasts to try out most of the commonly used features.

If you are looking for a free editing program with ready-to-use templates for titles, animation graphics, or stickers, then Lightworks is not an ideal choice. This free video editing software is designed for professional editors, with requirements and workflow logic that are feature-film-specific. For that reason, some features, which are highly praised by professional editors, may confuse beginners or people accustomed to other paradigms of more popular NLEs. For instance, the unique Flexible layout allows experts to experiment with ideas and compare various edits easily but it would confuse beginners. No razor tool in Lightworks is another head-scratcher for people coming from other programs, while the supplementing mark-and-park method is loved by loyal users.

Pros:

• A wide range of video editing tools
• Edit directly from cloud storage like OneDrive and iCloud
• Pre-build customizable titles, transitions, LUTs & filters
• Awesome audio editing tools

Cons:

• Intimating for beginner to master
• Strong push to upgrade and activate
• The free version maxes out at 720p, H.264/MPEG4
• Lack natively support for Apple silicon M1/M1 Pro/M1 Max

Biased reviews occur when people fail to make the best of Lightworks

Beginners and seasoned editors may fail to access the full power of this free video creator software, due to lack of decent tutorials and "muscle memory" from other editing tools. For instance, when you get accustomed to mark-and-park and pressing x at the cursor point, instead of thinking in terms of razor cut, you would find Lightworks efficient. Want more tricks?

Read full review of Lightworks >>

#6. VideoPad Video Editor

Best tool for quick editing with over 60 video effects and transitions!

• Watermark: yes
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
• Capterra rating ⭐: 4.3/5

VideoPad Video Editor, developed by NCH Software, has a free version for non-commercial use. The biggest yes for beginners is its extensive support for output formats and the ability to directly export your creations to social media and cloud services such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, and Google Drive.

This free video editing program groups crop, speed change, green screen, flip, rotate, resize, picture in picture, and a plenty of other editing features into the Effects panel. Together with these editing utilities, the Effects panel also displays color correction, filter, and creative overlay sections. The only drawback is the lack of a search box to quickly spot the preferred features.

The audio editing feature also stands out with effects such as compressor, flanger, high pass, low pass, reverb, normalize, and VST plugin support.

For skilled users coming from another paid for free video editing software, some features may be odd in VideoPad. For instance, you cannot intuitively delete a transition from the clip. Instead, you need to click on the transition panel and re-select No Transition as a way to remove the applied transition effects. If you love the drag-and-drop options for most of the features in other editors, VideoPad might slow down your editing workflow. Another issue is the vague difference between the free non-commercial version and paid versions. Since NCH Software hasn't specified what features or video specs will trigger the limitation upon export, users will be prompted with an alert to upgrade to the pro version.

Pros:

• Intuitive enough for beginners to start with
• Directly upload the edited videos to YouTube and the cloud
• Tons of appealing templates, transitions, text effects…

Cons:

• Lack of advanced tools, such as motion track and color grade
• Strong push to upgrade to the paid version
• Slow in loading, previewing, rendering, and exporting videos
• No real-time previewing for video effects and audio effects

No Hardware Acceleration for Encoding

VideoPad Video Editor only supports GPU acceleration for effects and transitions. One cannot enjoy hardware acceleration unpon exporting. For that reason, the output process can be time-consuming. In some cases, it takes hours to export 6 to 8 minutes of videos.

#7. VSDC Free Video Editor

Best free video editing software for making tutorial videos!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.1/5

VSDC Free Video Editor is the free version of VSDC Video Editor developed by Flash-Integro LLC. It's well-thought-out free video making software for Windows with a buffet of awesome features such as adjustable filters, chroma keys, masking, picture-in-picture, and animated text. Plus, it provides you with countless video, audio, and text effects templates as well as dozens of eye-catchy transition and filter effects templates. Most essential editing features are easily accessible by clicking the well-designed visual icons on the main interface. And thanks to its capability to edit and export 4K UHD videos in high-compressed H.265/HEVC codec, adrenaline junkies can use VSDC Free Video Editor to process 4K UHD recordings from DJI Drone, DSLR, and action camera without comprising much to the picture quality..

However, though this free Windows 10 video editor lets you do almost everything its big brother can, it's a cut-down version. Nifty features like edit to beat, motion track, and hardware acceleration render are for preview only. Important NLE editing features like video stabilizer, audio waveform editing, and ripple edit are not accessible to free users at all. The main interface is jammed with similar icons and texts. The plenty of complicated and unexplained setting options for almost every single feature make the basic edits challenging. Users might hit a mysterious button without realizing its function and consequences and eventually ruin the project.

Timeline is another thing that might tangle the beginner into knots. No standard audio or video track, users can only work with layers to apply edits. This free video editing software for Windows 10 can move multiple clips in batch while maintaining the order, but users have to enable this feature on the block dragging mode which is hidden in the Setting menu. When adding an effect, it always creates a new layer on a new tab and requires you to tweak the effect settings on the new tab.

One tip: if you have many videos, you may use Duplicate File Finder Remover to find duplicate videos on your Mac.

Pros:

• Loads of transitions for quickly making photo slideshows
• Good selection of video editing tools with useful effects templates
• Flexible masking tools for removing or replacing unwanted objects

Cons:

• Not available on Mac and Linux
• Lack of some common features, such as ripple edit and timeline markers
• The interface and timeline are unfriendly for both beginners and pros
• Slow rendering and stutter preview of 4K high-resolution video

Any features missing compared to its brethren?

Hardware acceleration, video stabilization, motion tracking are 3 most often used toolkits for the post-production of large sport videos. Sadly, they are available on the paid VSDC Video Editor only. The masking tool and chrome key of VSDC Free Video Editor are less flexible than the pro version neither.

Read our full review of VSDC Free Video Editor >>

#8. Shotcut

Best for quick editing as well as improving your editing skills

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.2/5

Shotcut is cross-platform open-source video editor freeware developed by Dan Dennedy based on the MLT multimedia framework. It provides both 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows 7 to 10. macOS needs to be 10.10 or above. Shotcut is popular for numerous input/export options, low hardware requirements, good developer support, a vibrant forum community, and surely multiple video editing features for quick editing. It's worth trying for any user who wants a quick edit or wants to develop editing techniques because it offers a bunch of video and audio editing features for free.

As to quick editing, its native timeline accepts media loaded directly from your computer. And you can finish cutting, deleting, copying & pasting, re-sequencing, and adding transitions in the timeline intuitively. Also, advanced features like lens correction, 360 video editing, and stabilization are available. And thanks to FFmpeg, you are allowed to have good control over the export settings (codecs, format containers, frame rate, bitrate, etc.). Based on our test, Shotcut does crash occasionally, but it seems to be comparatively more stable than most of other free video creator software.

Pros:

• Powerful video and audio editing features
• A vast set of composting and filter effects
• Rich learning source and good tech support
• Can load lossless formats and export 4K UHD videos

Cons:

• The interface is a bit confusing for beginners
• Hard to find the needed editing features
• No thumbnails preview for video transitions and effects
• Freeze and crash when working with multiple tracks
• Can't render and export 120FPS videos
• Not support .srt, .ass, or .ssa subtitle files

Users of this open-source video editor are the most loyal ones. Why?

Still remember the developer's name? Dan Dennedy, he is one of the two reasons why a lot of users choose to stay with Shotcut, despite various free options out there, while another is the existence of a school-like forum community. But is Shotcut really qualified for creating amazing videos quickly?

Read our full review of Shotcut >>

#9. Windows Movie Maker

The easiest free Windows 7 video editor for quick video editing and mixing!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows
• G2 rating ⭐: 4/5

Windows Movie Maker was the pre-build free video editing software of Windows 7. Though it has been phased out for years and was officially discontinued in 2017, it is the favorite pick for many who want to create simple videos with background music and subtitles. No learning curve or tutorials to watch, it offers beginners the most straightforward timeline and menu to do all necessary edits like cutting, rotating, subtitling, stabilizing, speeding up, subtitling, and filtering videos.

As is often the case when you do home video or slideshows editing, you want to correct the picture color, add transitions, create subtitles or captions, and then mix the video with background music. This easy video editing software makes the acquiring of all those features a snap, with 77 different transitions, 26 effects, 6 movie themes, stock audios, and rich caption templates come in handy.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Dozens of transitions and effects
• Share your creation on YouTube and Facebook directly

Cons:

• Lack of some basic features like watermark, subtitle files, and crop
• The output video has to be MP4 or WMV video
• The output ratio rate has to be16:9 or 4:3
• Not let customize transitions, effects, or templates
• This discontinued app has lots of bugs, crashes, and compatibility issues

Believe it or not, it's a GPU-accelerated video editor, however

The loading of high-resolution video can take minutes. It still responses extremely slow when editing 4K or any types of high-resolution videos. Windows Movie Maker benefits little from the GPU acceleration. Anyway, that's not a surprise for an app abandoned by its developers. Besides, the resolution of the generated video can't go beyond 1920 x 1080 pixels.

#10. iMovie

Best free video editing software for Mac users make simple edits!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: macOS and iOS
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.3/5

Mac user? It might be a bit bold, but I'll say: No one can come up with an easier iMovie alternative for Mac. It is accessible on any iOS device so that you can do part of the editing on the iPhone, finish movie creation on Mac, and then share on social media instantly.

This free video editing software covers basic (4K) video editing features, for instance, cut, crop, rotate, stabilize, overlay, subtitle, chroma key, speed controls, transition, etc. Thanks to the intuitive and clean interface, iMovie is the epitome of simple. You just plug in the footage, and it can do the rest for mixing a variety of videos and audio. In addition, there are dozens of themes, animated titles, and credits, creative filters in various genres that you can access to spice up your videos without needing to set a plethora of parameters.

Update: From iMovie 3.0 and onwards, the newly added Storyboard and Magic Movie features are making this free video editing software even easier for beginners.

If you are terrified by blank timelines and don't know where to start, iMovie is a faster option to automatically create movies from a group of video clips, and add transitions and music. There are storyboard templates for various video types, including DIYs, cooking, how-to videos, gaming, etc.

Pros:

• Simple to use
• 20 storyboards, 13 video filters, and 100 soundtracks
• Easily change the focus of iPhone 16/15/14 footage

Cons:

• Lack of advanced video and audio editing features
• Limited effects and most of them are over bright
• Can only output H.264 and ProRes videos
• Display the animated picture as a still image
• Can't customize the intensity of the color correction
• Support adding 2 video tracks upmost
• Error-ridden playback and 100% CPU usage

Ready to dive deep?

This is a very limited video editing tool. It enables the editing and exporting of 4K 60FPS videos if only the initial clip we put to timeline is 4K 60FPS clip. You are not allowed to create any videos with 1:1 aspect ratio. Sadly, Facebook, Instagram, and many social media still love square videos.

Read our full review of iMovie >>

#11. Openshot

Best open source video editing software for quick editing!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Capterra rating ⭐: 4.3/5

OpenShot is another open-source and free video making software, started by Jonathan Thomas for Linux originally, compatible with various pla1tforms now including Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD. Different from Shotcut based on the MLT framework, OpenShot uses C++ libopenshot project library. Note that OpenShot is only available in 64-bit for Linux, Windows 7 to 10, and OS X 10.9 or later.

Due to the ease of use and unique 3D animation features "borrowed" from Blender, OpenShot is pretty good for novices to make decent small business videos. All OpenShot updates try to keep up with the latest Blender for new 3D features, so the stunning 3D animation titles can be used to attract your customers in the presentation. Various presets in transitions, filters, curve-based time-mapping, and hardware acceleration in the latest 2.5.0 could be pluses.

Pros:

• A complete suite of tools for basic video editing
• Curve-based time mapping
• 3D animation and text effects

Cons:

• Severe slow and crashing problems
• Lack of advanced video editing features
• Hardware acceleration is still in the experimental period
• Random final file broken error without any sign

Does OpenShot support GPU acceleration now?

Download recent releases of OpenShot, and you should see hardware encoder options like NVENC and VA-API in the Export panel. But since it is still experimental, errors happen a lot. Most Windows 11/10 users find it can't detect GPU correctly, leading to "No acceleration" problems. To check detailed information:

Read our full review of Shotcut >>

#12. Blender

Best free video editing software for 3D modeling and animation!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.3/5

Born in 1988 as NeoGeo's in-house 3D toolset in the Netherlands, what was known as Blender today undergone re-writing in 1995 and went open-source in 2002. It is the Swiss army knife of 3D modeling and sculpting, animation, video editing, and VFX. With the incorporation of the video sequencer, Blender grows into a powerful all-in-one tool, especially after the release of 2.80. Small studios and freelancers use it extensively and bigger studios resort to it in a few work stages, for instance, object modeling and texturing. The game industry also witnesses its popularity in recent years.

Whatever other high-end 3D modeling and animation programs can achieve, Blender helps you do almost the same without spending a dime, provided that you have the technical know-how and a skilled hand. You can utilize the powerful tools to focus on some aspects of the 3D pipeline: be it modeling, animation, rigging, compositing, simulation, or editing. In terms of video editing, Blenders offers you a complete editing system sequencer and compositer. Therefore, if you are daunted by 3D features, you can still learn this free video editor simply for editing clips (termed as strips in Blender), after all, it is free.

Pros:

• Powerful 3D modeling & sculpting capabilities
• Abundant add-ons for advanced video editing

Cons:

• A steep learning curve for most users
• Users have to be familiar with tons of shortcuts to get the hang of this tool
• Lack of official explanation on certain features to help users know the difference
• Error crops up sometimes if you set the frame rate or use a custom frame rate
• Extremely slow rendering
• Limited audio editing features

Is Blender Video Editor Good for editing videos?

This free video editing tool helps you do basic video editing in a timeline-based manner, just as many other NLEs. You have the tracks to cut footage, add layovers, transitions, as well as audios and texts, though you have to acquaint yourself with numerous keyboard shortcuts to give it a spin. As you become more skilled, you will appreciate the range of 3D graphics tools and options in Blender. Aspiring to read more on 3D modeling and animation in plain language?

Read more in our Blender review for beginners >>

#13. CyberLink PowerDirector

The easiest free video editing app for making eye-catching effects!

• Watermark: yes
• Price: free (full version: 19.9USD)
• Available on: Windows, Android, and iOS
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

PowerDirector is the flagship product presented by Cyberlink. This intuitive and elegant piece of free video editing software offers you a streamlined experience, no matter if you are in storyboard mode, time-line based free editing, slideshow, or auto mode. If your priority is to quickly cut and edit videos to share with friends and families, while investing less effort in learning how to use an NLE, then PowerDirector perfectly fits the bill. Technical newbies or moderately experienced hands, you can quickly pick up PowerDirector to trim videos, add effects, and apply transitions and music.

This powerful free editing video software for PC (Windows 10/11) can spice up your videos and showcase those exciting moments. On the plus side, the motion tracker in Cyberlink helps you to track designated objects, so you can add text, graphics, and other elements along with that object in motion. It is nice because the tracking is done automatically, instead of created manually frame-by-frame. You can also make use of the time shift feature to create slow motion out of a section of your footage, thus allowing viewers to savor that highlighted moment during a slowed-down flow of time.

Pros:

• Sleek interface
• Wide range of video intro templates
• Hundreds of shapes & callouts, masks, titles, and sound effects

Cons:

• Not support exporting H.265/HEVC in the free version
• Lack of advanced tools like curved-based speed ramp
• Limited effect template

Want to see time flows back? Use Video in Reverse in PowerDirector

Besides Speed Multiplier that allows you to speed up or slow down a part of the video, PowerDirector also helps you to reverse speed, creating a rewind effects that everything moves backwards in terms of time flow. Instead of showcasing the cliff diving moment, you can reverse the footage into the diver rising back onto the cliff from the sea. Ready to explore more ?

Read full review of PowerDirector >>

#14. GoPro Quik

Best free video editing app for fast creating mini clips full of outdoor activity highlights!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
• Google Player rating ⭐: 4.4/5

Quik, developed by GoPro, is one of the easiest free video editing software. It runs on both desktop computers and mobile phones. Well, according to our test, Quik for mobile is much more brilliant than Quik for desktop, while the iOS version has more features than Android. Before you download it, check its system requirements: Windows 10 (64-bit only), Mac OS X 10.10 or above, iOS 10 and up, and Android 5.0 and up.

Quik seems like a hint of Quick. Together with its support of stock music, various templates in different themes, smart Auto modes, instant uploading options, and the unique built-in Wi-Fi connection between the editing system and camera, Quik is quite handy for personalizing videos of vacations, trips, family gatherings, etc in a very short time for sharing on the go. Basic editing features like cutting, rotating, and text adding surely are accessible as well.

Pros:

• Easy for green hands
• Create highlight videos automatically
• No need to wait for video transcoding before editing

Cons:

• As phased out video editor, it often goes crashes
• Quik for desktop can only detect media files from GoPro
• Not allow you to add local music files
• Not profound. Lack of many advanced editing tools
• No accurate frame control
• Slow raw GoPro file editing

GoPro Quik vs. GoPro Studio, which is a better free video editor?

You probably know that GoPro Studio has been replaced by Quik for a long time. But why are there so many people still struggling to find a safe GoPro Studio download file? Which one of them is more full-featured and better for video editing? To get a detailed analysis:

Read our full comparison of GoPro Studio and Quik >>

15. Avidemux

A simple free video editor for quick on-the-go edits with basic editing toolkits!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.4/5

Avidemux is a piece of basic and easy video editing software that gives only the necessary features (cut, merge, flip, speed up, color correction, etc.) to handle routine video tasks without fancy options. However, basic doesn't equal simple. Many rudimentary features are buried in the menu. You have to press various buttons to locate the needed tool. For example, you have to click on Video on the top menu, press Filters, select Video Filter Manager, and tap Transform to acquire the Rotate button.

Quite different from other NLE video editing software in this round-up, Avidemux doesn't been designed with a timeline, storyboards, or anything close to them for inserting multiple videos or audio tracks. So don't ever think about using it to put multiple clips side by side on one screen, add moving pictures, insert an audio overlay, or do any other sort of thing that involves two or more media tracks.

Pros:

• Give basic video editing
• A lightweight video editor

Cons:

• Difficult to find the editing tools on its 80s-style interface
• Intricate and confusing cut features due to the lack of a timeline
• No fancy effects or advanced editing features
• Not support GPU acceleration

Avidemux edits your video by applying filters...

Whether you need to crop off the redundant part of a video, remove noises of the recordings, or make any other simple edits except for trimming, you have to go with filter. That's not the most annoying thing. Avidemux lets you add one filter at most to your video, and then switch between different filters might crash your computer.

Read our full review of Avidemux >>

#16. Kdenlive

Best free editing software for creating tutorial videos with 2D titles, screen/sound capture!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, Mac, FreeBSD, Linux, Ubuntu
• Alternativeto rating ⭐: 3.5/5

Kdenlive is one of the most involved and complex open-source video editors. It offers all you need to create simple videos. Its wide range of advanced functionalities, like multiple tracks, transitions, keyframe, rotoscoping, video/audio scope, and chroma key, just to name a few, even can rival some commercial video editing software. However, those nifty features come with the sacrifice of a neat interface. The major update it received recently, somehow, further separates it away from beginners.

One essential feature for making easy-approached tutorials is the screen capture tool. This free editing video software is well-designed in this facility. It can record your computer screen or webcam with sound coming from the microphone. The latest version allows you to add audio tracks. This is a useful capability for instruction video creators as it lets them record sound while previewing the video simultaneously. Subtitle is another terrific feature of Kdenlive, with which you are on your own to create plain or animated text and decide when and where the subtitles showed up, for how long, and in what kind of format.

Pros:

• Efficient to edit videos into storytelling
• Offer pro tools like rotoscoping and video scopes
• Support GPU acceleration

Cons:

• Can't save the edited video with some popular formats like MKV and AVI
• Doesn't offer a ready-made output format
• Some effect options seem to be absent from the drop-down menu
• It's unstable and buggy as hell on Windows
• It's voracious with its CPU and RAM requirements

Worth updating to its latest version?

Kdenlive now combines audio and video in one track, and you aren't enabled to opt "auto separate audio and video" anymore. This controversial update is in fact another sacrifices made by Kdenlive to gain a buggy free performance.

Under the render tab, there are only WebM, Mpeg-2 and few other codecs. Beginners have to learn FFmpeg command to understand those video jargons.

Read our full review of Kdenlive >>

#17. Microsoft Photos

Best free Windows 10 video editor for occasional usage!

• Watermark: no
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows 10/11
• Alternativeto rating ⭐: 3/5

Windows Photos app has a hidden video editing feature and can be utilized to quickly trim videos, change speed, or draw freely directly over the footage. Depending on your Windows 11/10 version, you might have additional options to add music to a video in Windows 11/10 or create 3D effects. These additional features allow you to do project-based editing, with storyboards, filters, animated text, camera motion effects, and 3D effects such as rain, fire, and thunders, ready to lay over your footage.

This Windows free movie editor is a good pal when all you need is quick and basic edits. Since all functions are self-explanatory, you need zero editing experience to get going. It works nicely if you want to quickly churn out a 5-minute video of traveling shots and recordings. Plus, you can take advantage of the app integration with mobile media importing. You can directly import photos and videos from iPhone, iPad, and other USB-enabled camera devices. If you are familiar with those auto-created memories videos on your iPhone, you would love the automatic video with music option.

Pros:

• A simple photo editor
• Cool 3D effects

Cons:

• Eat up CPU and RAM
• Lack of true NLE features
• Many editing features are missing on Windows 10 N versions
• Limited options to save the video with desired quality or format
• Fewer filters and effects to choose from

So, have you ever used this Windows editing software to cut a video?

You can use photos app as the media library to host and display your videos and photos, and the hidden editing feature might surprise you if you simply want to trim off unwanted parts, mix music and text with the footage. Those with a Microsoft Surface can also utilize the touch screen and the pen.

Read our full review of Windows Photos app >>

#18. GoPro Studio

Best free video editing software for personalizing videos of outdoor activities!

• Watermark: ys
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS

GoPro Studio was the standalone official video editing software of GoPro for both Windows and Mac, which however was wrapped up into the Quik Desktop suite and then removed forever. An educated guess is that GoPro thinks people prefer auto edits for instant sharing than sitting down for mind-numbing post-production.

This free video editing software is a perfect pick for editing outdoor videos. It packs numerous background music and slow-motion effects. Creating an awesome GoPro-style video could be as easy as this: import media, mark in and out the highlights, convert to CineForm for smoother editing, choose a template, drag your highlights onto one separate clip, export your video until all cuts have been replaced by your own footage. You still have necessary functions for sports video editing like fisheye lens correction and color adjusting.

Pros:

• Good for making slow-motion videos
• Quickly remove GoPro fisheyes

Cons:

• It was discontinued for years
• Limited output file format - MP4 (H.264) and AVI/MOV (CineForm)
• No option to rotate a video 90 degrees
• No support of GPU acceleration and HEVC codec
• Put a 10-second GoPro watermark

Where to download this free video editor now?

Although it is discontinued, you have ways to free download GoPro Studio 2.5.9. 2658. But if you have installed Quik already, GoPro Studio won't be installed or installed correctly, unless you uninstall Quik. Even if you have both installed on your computer, choose Open In Studio will only lead GoPro Studio to shut down.

Read our GoPro Studio download tutorial >>

#19. Olive Video Editor

Best free video editing tool for making complicated video effects!

• Watermark: yes
• Price: free
• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux
• G2 rating ⭐: 4.5/5

Olive Video Editor has tried its best to stay simple and intuitive. However, the Hollywood high-energy style layout always reminds people of Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. That's understandable as this is not any beginner-oriented open-source video editor like Openshot or Shotcut, and what's behind its sophisticated GUI is a complete set of editing toolkits for handling all simple-to-intermediate editing projects.

Being node-based free video editing software, it's capable of making many complicated video effects without a timeline. The support of the Bezier curve is one of the key advantages of this amazing piece of video editor as this allows you to create a smooth speed ramp and other motion scenes by simply dragging your mouse. Best of all, Olive Video Editor is not a CPU-intensive program that uses OpenGL for playback and GLSL effects, allowing its users to edit 1080P videos smoothly without bothering creating a proxy.

Pros:

• Precise and flexible timeline
• Node-based compositing and color grading

Cons:

• It's now a bit slow when handling large videos
• Keep crashing when loading videos
• No comprehensive tutorial for this brand-new video editor

Olive Video Editor is still in alpha

We are talking about Olive Video Editor 0.2, and it's being rewritten. No stable release is currently available. You can download the alpha version for testing and trying out the new features. However, there are lots of crashes in the alpha version. Many important features including color grading and QuickSyn acceleration are absent.

Best Free Video Editing Software FAQs

What is video editing software?

Video editing software offers you the tools to fix, edit, and improve your video/image files. They can help you edit pictures, videos, captions, and animations into simple vlogs, engaging storytelling, commercial movies, etc.

What is the best free video editing software?

One person's meat is another's poison. There is no absolute one best free video editor that caters for all, given your budget, hardware, operating system, and the comfort level. Casual hobbyists may be adequately served by no-brainer tools, while professionals and serious learners go for highly customizable NLEs.

What is the best free video editing software for beginners?

If you have zero experience in video editing, and are merely seeking tools for quick trimming, add text and background music, use Windows Photos app or iMovie on Mac.

If you are a serious beginner, and are willing to invest in time and effort to become a master, use popular editors. You can quickly hone your skills with YouTube tutorials, and seek help in active forums. In this regard, Shotcut, Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve may fit the bill.

What is the best professional video editing software?

Hollywood mainly uses Avid Media Composer, and those outside Hollywood use Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Edius etc. These NLEs only offer trial versions, and are thus out of the scope of this article.

Which editing software is best for slow motion video?

Shotcut and Kdenlive allow you to cut up a section and slow it down, say 1/4 speed of the real time. If you prefer speed ramping to harsh cuts, you can use HitFilm, DaVinci Resolve or Olive Video Editor for gradual speed control, and there is a learning curve.

What is the best free video editing software for low spec computers?

Timeline-based video editing is a computing intensive process that occupies enormous resources on your machine. Want to edit high-res files, hard-to-decode format, or add lots of visual effects and animations? It's more about upgrading hardware than picking an editor, though you do have the choice to optimize video clips for smooth editing, in iMovie, Shotcut, and DaVinci Resolve.

How We Picked The Best Free Video Editing Software

It took us half a month to round up 19 best free video editors out of numerous programs on the market. The result is where all the following efforts come together:

1. A list of more than a hundred of video editing tools was compiled based on market presence.
2. Powerful programs that only have a paid version or limited free trials were removed from the list ( and that's why big names such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro is missing from the final list).
3. That left us with twenty-some truly free programs. We tested each one on Windows and Mac computers, and picked out 19 applications based on following factors.

Factors Considered During the Test

• Compatibility - which platforms can run the free video editor.
• Capability - how well it nails the task for a specific editing scenario.
• Stability and smoothness - especially when you scrub, playback, render and export the video.
• Ease of use - how natural it is to finish a certain editing task and make use of a utility.
• Quality of support - can you get timely response from forums, official tech support, or find resourceful tutorials.

Test Environment

• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-8300H CPU @2.30GHz
• GPU 1: Intel® UHD Graphics 630 | GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti
• RAM: 8GB | VRAM: 4GB | SSD: 500GB

• Operating System: macOS 10.10.5
• CPU: Intel® Core i5 @2.7GHz
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• RAM: 8GB | VRAM: 512MB | SATA Disk: 1TB

General System Requirements for Video Editing

• More than half of the free video editors we tested (on this list or not) provide 64-bit version only.
• Most can run on Windows 7 and later. But when it comes to Mac, every application seems to have its own standard.
• Minimum requirement of RAM varies, but normally 4GB is needed, while 16GB/32GB for 4K and VFX. Theoretically, the larger, the better.
• Only part of the free video editing tools we used gives a clear indication of what kind of GPU or how much VRAM is required. Generally, 2GB would be OK.