If you are a video editor, whether it be a novice or a professional, there are a number of things that you may need to know about the best software for editing videos. A good video editor will give you the tools and the features that you need to come up with videos that will both impress and convert viewers.
Looking for the best video editing software for beginners? Even though video editing can be considered as one of the most sought-after skills for professionals, amateur editors have their own cut to contribute to the cinematic world. To help you with that matter, here is a list of the five best free video editing software which are enough to satisfy your taste!
Blender
Best professional video editing software with 3D creation suite
Blender video editing is a free, open-source 3D creation suite. It includes features to help model and render 3D animations. The software is a collaborative creation of hundreds of developers from around the world. The huge community of users gives Blender’s software an extensive group of tools.
Blender is designed as a 3D animation suite but comes with a functional video editor that should be enough for most users’ needs. It can also tackle more complex edits, like video masking, making Blender a flexible video editor for both novice and experienced users and an excellent option for more advanced projects that may involve 3D animation.
Features include:
- Path-tracer engine for realistic rendering of animated objects
- Advanced rendering processes to speed up the saving and exporting of your project
- Option to code game logic into the software for video game development
- Advanced character animation tools for realistic kinematics
- Extensive library of visual effects and vignettes
Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Price: Free
Corel VideoStudio Pro
Best Standalone Video Editing Software ($63.99)
Corel VideoStudio Pro is a video editing software that helps you with storyboard and timeline video editing.
The software helps you turn images into movies and provides creative effects, project templates, title presets, transitions, 1500+ filters, etc.
Its slideshow maker also helps you create movies and slideshows with plenty of template options – you just need to add your media. You can also combine photos, videos, and audio on multiple tracks.
The MultiCam Capture Lite feature lets you record your screen and webcam simultaneously and create videos. Sub-products like Corel Painter and PaintShop Pro can also help you create custom animated overlays, static graphics, and live paintings.
The video editing software also provides all essential editing tools to crop, trim, and split video – directly on the timeline. You can also change the aspect ratio and rotate or change the video just the way you like.
Further, you can remove fisheye distortion with the lens correction feature and adjust the temperature using color-correct clips. The color correction function also helps you bring out the colors in your videos with auto-tune adjustments, saturation, and more.
Additionally, you can also add subtitles to your videos, record voiceover, fade and layer audio with audio ducking, and more.
The software is also optimized for Intel and Nvidia processors and graphic cards. This helps speed up the rendering process in all the most popular file formats.
Some of its other prominent features include:
- Optimized for 4k display
- Drag and drop video editing
- Multi-camera editing
- 360-degree video editing supported
- Stop motion animation
- Pan and Zoom
- Color and Lens correction
- Chroma key/Green screen
- Split-screen video
- Record voiceovers and add subtitles
- Batch processing
- Create Custom motion paths graphics, overlays, shapes, and more
- Get new textures, gradients, templates from NewBlueFX, Boris X, and more.
- Convert 360-degree videos into Tiny Planet or Rabbit Hole effects (Spherical Panoramas).
Pricing:
The VideoStudio Pro costs $79.99. You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering, and encoding tasks on Windows 10/7/8. It supports various file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.
As its interface is so clear, it lacks a timeline, so you can’t add filters and transitions. The whole design of Avidemux is that many functions are for practical use, not for stylish purposes. If your needs are fundamental, this free video editing software is a choice. For advanced video editing, it can’t let you have more control. The good thing is you can use it smoothly and learn it quickly if you are a new user in the video editing industry.
Avidemux includes some features below:
- Input formats: AVI, MPEG, MOV, MP4, etc.
- Output formats: AVI, MPEG, DIVX, XVID, MP4, etc.
- Advantages: Avidemux also has solid an encoding option, and its interface is user-friendly.
- Limitations: There are no video effects or transitions.
Adobe Premiere Elements
Best Video Editing Software for Beginners
Based on versatility, Adobe Premiere Elements is one of the best video editing tools for beginners.
Premiere Elements has a ton of great features like hundreds of transition effects, enhanced face detection, haze removal, focus adjustment, and more. There is also live search functionality, a guided editing interface, video collages, and touch-based editing.
Adobe Premiere Elements is not compatible with 360-degree video and other innovative capabilities like multi-cam editing. All these are forgivable when you consider its vast range of capabilities.
There are three modes to create your video: Quick, Guided, and Expert.
With quick mode, you can select your preferred media for your video, and the program arranges it for you on the timeline. It automates aspects of your video like automatic motion tracking, video stabilization (excellent for GoPro), and smart toning.
Guided mode is more assisted as the name suggests. The software educates you on its features and functionalities, and you learn every component of the interface and how it works as you go.
Finally, Expert mode is more for more experienced users, and you control everything yourself. While Adobe Premiere Elements isn’t as advanced as other tools on this list (and isn’t the fastest either), it’s a great entry-level app.
Pricing:
It only costs $99.99 for the Premiere Elements 2022 or you can get this software bundled with Photoshop Elements for $149.99.
Overall, it’s a great all-around tool that’s available for both Mac and Windows 10 PCs.
Final Cut Pro X
Best Video Editing Software for Mac
Apple’s popular Final Cut Pro X is a prosumer video editing package that perfectly blends professional video features with a smooth learning curve for consumers.
With over 2 million users and a steeply reduced price from the original $999 to $99 on Amazon, it’s more popular than ever. If you’re a Mac user, then this is one of today’s best deals to consider.
The interface uses a three-pane view with a trackless, Magnetic Timeline, which is excellent for using dual monitors. Clips can be imported and organized as Roles in the library, which can be assets like video, music, titles, voiceovers, effects, and more.
Once video production completes, you can use their 149 video effects, 109 audio effects, 183 title animation templates, and 100 transitions. These transitions are effortless to implement with keyboard shortcuts, which can save with custom keyboard combos.
Final Cut Pro X has native support for MacBook Pro Touch Bar Editing, allowing you to use touch controls for things like timeline scrubbing and text customization. Text editing is fun, too, with its 3D capabilities. There are different 3D templates, textures like plastic and concrete, and lighting effects that you can add from any angle on the screen.
Some other great features include multicam editing, unlimited video tracks, chroma-keying, format support with lots of exporting options like 4k and 360 videos, and super-fast performance, even on older MacBooks.
For Mac users who care about power, advanced features, ease of use, and speed, Final Cut Pro X is the #1 choice.
Conclusion:
Seeing as video is king on the internet, it’s important for beginners to know about the best video editing software. Since one of the most important aspects of editing video is making sure that all of your edits are seamless, getting started with the right video editor is essential.