Free Tools for Editing Videos

If you are looking for FREE video editing softwares to edit your videos online, then this article is for you. Because, if you wanted to learn video editing, I would suggest you begin with the free video editors first.

In this post, we review the best tools for video editing. Get set for a mind blowing adventure!

 KineMaster

The best free video editing software for mobile

SPECIFICATIONS

Platform: Android, iOSKey features: Instant preview, smart effectsBest for: Beginners and lightweight pro use Watermarks: Yes TODAY’S BEST DEALS

VISIT SITE

If you think professional video editing on your smartphone or tablet requires paid-for software, think again. KineMaster is available for Android devices, iPhones and iPads, and goes far above and beyond what you’d expect from a free mobile app. 

It has a smart, intuitive and lag-free interface, while features include the ability to edit multiple layers and add handwriting and text annotations. You can experiment with up to four audio tracks, and precisely edit at the frame and sub-frame level. 

The catch? Yep, you’ll get watermarks on your videos. To remove them, you’ll need to subscribe to the premium version, but that costs a pretty reasonable $4.99/month or $39.99/year. See our Kinemaster review for more details.

OpenShot

The best free video editing software that’s open source

SPECIFICATIONS

Platform: Windows, macOS, LinuxKey features: Layer-based editing, drag and drop UIBest for: Open-source lovers

Watermarks: No TODAY’S BEST DEALS VISIT SITE

REASONS TO BUY

+Simple, drag-and-drop interface+Free and open source+Unlimited layers

REASONS TO AVOID

-Occasional lagging, slow response-Bugs and glitches

OpenShot is a solid basic video editor with some nice extra features. It has a minimalistic design with a drag-and-drop interface that’s easy to used, even for newbies. While there isn’t a lot of complex features, the software’s completely free and open-source, so there are none of the usual ads, watermarks, or paid upgrades to frustrate you. 

Layer-based video editing capabilities let you stack an unlimited number of layers in your video, be it soundtracks, overlapping videos, or custom images. OpenShot also offers a range of title-card templates that can be customised. In addition, there are all the usual options to adjust and enhance your video, including crop, trim, rotate, and resize. You can also adjust elements like brightness, contrast, colour grading, and gamma. 

There are some problems, including not insignificant lag issues and the fact that the features don’t always work the way they’re supposed to (or when they do work, they take a long time to apply, making the editing process frustrating). Ultimately, however, for free video editing software, Openshot has everything you could expect.

HitFilm Express

Simple free video editing software with professional visual effects and tutorials

HitFilm Express

If you don’t have a lot of experience with video editing, HitFilm Express may feel a little advanced at first—it’s used to produce Hollywood-style films—but it’s worth the learning curve, as it’s one of the best all-in-one free video editors available. (HitFilm does ask you to share a social media status update when you download the software, but that’s a small price to pay.)

The free video and editing software includes animation tools that let you create and edit audio and video transitions without the need to create composite shots, which is a huge time saver when editing.

Features include:

  • Professional-grade video editing with motion tracking, color pickers, and cropping tools
  • Composite shot enhancements that allow you to animate two separate shots together for surreal video effects
  • An auto-stabilizer to make shaky footage look smooth
  • Unlimited video and audio timeline track creation
  • An adaptive trimmer that lets you re-trim your clips after adding them to the timeline
  • Ability to copy a group of attributes from one clip and apply them directly to another or to a whole project
  • Audio mixer for fine tuning sound for professional quality output
  • Various transition options, such as push, zoom, and dissolve

Available for: Mac and Windows

Price: Free, $349 for the Pro version

DaVinci Resolve

Top free video editing software for advanced editors

DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve combines professional 8K editing, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production in a single production tool, which is why it’s one of the free tools for video editing many professional editors of films, television shows, and commercials use.

DaVinci allows for both offline and online editing, and its high-performance playback engine saves time when editing and trimming—even for processor-intensive file formats like H.264 and RAW. DaVinci Resolve’s complex features may be too extensive for some users, but its free version is perfect for more advanced projects.

Features include:

  • Dual timeline for quick navigation, cutting, and trimming
  • A dedicated trim interface that gives you the ability to edit in minute detail
  • Intelligent auto-editing that syncs audio and visual clips for you
  • Built-in tools for picture-in-picture effects, retiming, stabilization, dynamic zoom, text, and audio
  • Facial recognition that detects faces in your clips and automatically creates bins based on the people in each shot
  • High-quality motion estimation speed changes and frame rate conversions to easily and realistically speed up or slow-down clips

Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Price: Free, $269 for the full Studio version

VSDC Free Video Editor

Best free video editing software for Windows only

VSDC

VSDC’s desktop free video editing tools are available as both a free and paid version. Although the free version has reduced features, it still comes with VSDC’s full video editing suite—including a mask tool and chroma key functionality for green-screen video effects.

If you have the funds to spring for the full version, the suite of tools expands to include video stabilization, robust post-production effects, slideshow/presentation capabilities, 3D diagram templates, and direct social media publishing.

Features include: 

  • Color-correction tools for a more professional look
  • A full suite of transitional effects
  • Easy-to-use image filters, similar to what you’d find on Instagram
  • Mask tools for hiding, blurring, or highlighting specific elements
  • Social media link for sharing videos on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo
  • HEVC/H.265 (an advanced video-compression standard), for maintaining the highest quality at the minimum file size—essential for processing 4K and HD files

Available for: Windows

Price: Free, $19.99 for Pro version

OpenShot

The easiest free video editing software for intermediate editors

OpenShot

OpenShot’s easy-to-use user interface makes it a great video editing program for beginners. While more complex tools may offer more editing components, OpenShot’s intuitive interface and minimal design are perfect for simple editing.

OpenShot is one of the most efficient free editing programs for small businesses and is best for clip resizing, scaling, trimming, snapping, and rotation. It also offers credit scrolling, frame stepping, time mapping, audio editing, and real-time preview.

Features include:

  • Unlimited layers for watermarks, background videos, and audio tracks
  • Customizable title-card templates
  • Drag-and-drop functionality for easily adding video, audio, or image files
  • Digital video effects, including brightness, gamma, hue, greyscale, and chroma key compositing for green-screen effects
  • Powerful key-frame animation capabilities for creating animated videos

Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Price: Free

Shotcut

Best open-source free editing software for audiophiles who want to make movies

Shotcut dashboard

Shotcut is an open-source, cross-platform free video and editing software with a vast collection of tutorial videos. It also supports a wide range of formats, including FFmpeg, 4K, ProRes, and DNxHD. A warning, however—Shotcut was originally designed for Linux, so some may find the interface a little quirky. Despite this, it’s still a top-notch editor

Shotcut also provides extensive audio editing options, making it ideal for audiophiles. Its host of fine-tuning audio tools allows users to make bass and treble adjustments, create bandpass filters, adjust gain, add dynamic compression, and much more.

Features include:

  • Support for the latest audio and video formats via FFmpeg, the leading multimedia framework
  • Native timeline editing, which allows users to import video files directly into their project file rather than a media library
  • Multi-format timeline for mixing and matching resolutions and frame rates within a project
  • Advanced audio filters like balance, bass and treble, bandpass filters, compressor, and more

Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Price: Free

InVideo

Available on Windows and Mac

invideo online video editor

This online video editing tool is great for marketers, publishers, individuals and agencies alike. With support for intelligent frames, automated voice overs, and much more, this desktop-compatible software is best in class for many different reasons. Users praise this video editing software for it’s amazing customer service, UX, value for money, and of course it’s features. 

With new high-quality video templates added most months, this tool is good for beginner and seasoned video editors alike. It is deceptively simple to use, and has amazing flexibility. 

Invideo’s features include:

  • Audio Tools
  • Brand/Text Overlay
  • Collaboration
  • Speed Adjustment
  • Split / Merge
  • Supports HD Resolution
  • Video Stabilization

Pros: Awesome for creating quick presentation videos.

Cons: It is not an all-in-one, 360 video editor. You cannot add more than one audio file, etc.

Best for: Creating marketing videos or listicles for your blog.

InVideo ReviewsCheck out InVideo user reviews

iMovie

Available on Mac

iMovie Video Editing Mac

Good old iMovie comes baked into Mac OS. Like most native Mac apps, this video editor is very intuitive to use. 

iMovie’s drag and drop interface makes it quick to move and edit video elements. Mac users can use this editing software as a playground for learning the basics of video editing. iMovie’s features include:

  • Library of pre-made transitions
  • Video trimming
  • Audio editing
  • Split screen
  • 4K resolution support

Pros: Easy to learn.

Cons: Advanced users may find features a little limited; import and render times can be a little slow.

Best for: Mac users getting started with video editing.

iMovie ReviewsCheck out iMovie user reviews

Machete Video Editor Lite

Available on Windows.

Machete Video Editor Lite

Machete Lite is the best free video editor for doing quick editing tasks on a Windows computer. In the free version, you cannot edit audio, but you can remove audio tracks. Also, the free version only supports AVI and WMV files. 

Machete Video Editor Lite’s features include:

  • Copy, cut, paste, and delete video file fragments
  • Integrate one video into another of the same format
  • Edit metadata (file tags) for all compatible media formats
  • Extract video stream as an individual file

The full version costs $19.95, and it allows you to edit audio and supports more file types.

Pros: Super simple to learn and use.

Cons: Windows only; does not support as many file types as other programs; no audio editing.

Best for: Simple video splicing.

Machete ReviewsCheck out Machete user reviews

VideoPad

Available on Windows

VideoPad Video Windows Editing Software

VideoPad is one of the best video editing tools to take your first steps into the world of multimedia video editing. It’s perfect for anyone starting to play around with video compositions as it is simple and easy to use. Advanced video editors may find it too basic though.

VideoPad’s features include:

  • Library of pre-made transitions
  • Export Movies In Multiple Resolutions
  • 3D Video Editing
  • Reduce Camera Shakes
  • Sound Effects Library

Pros: Robust features for directly exporting to YouTube and other social platforms.

Cons: Too simple for more advanced users.

Best for: Beginners getting started with video editing.

VideoPad ReviewsCheck out VideoPad user reviews

Conclusion

Whether it’s amateur youtube videos, an in-house video production for your company or just celebrating that home video you took on your mobile phone, video editing has become one of the biggest trends in the web today.

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