Best free video editing software

[rwilliam99]

Davinci Resolve looks very impressive. But it's also massive on resources (esp. for Linux users like me), and I suspect has far more functionality that many people will ever use.

I've used OpenShot for some time. It's free, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and it's easy to get the hang of basic video editing.

I'd not heard of Davinci Resolve until reading this thread. As I said, I checked it out and it looks awesome. But was amused to see that their T&Cs begin "Your privacy is important to us" and then goes on to detail how many organizations they're going to share my details with! It reminds me of people who begin a sentence "I don't want to sound insulting, but...."

Maybe it does not run as efficiently on linux as it does on Windows. I have not found the hardware requirements to be all that bad for it. What I do know is that DR is WAY more stable than other video editors I've used. For years I did minor editing with Pinnacle Studio, and it would inevitably crash or lockup at least once a video for me. I don't believe I've ever had that happen with DR.

While it does have a LOT of functionality, I don't find it difficult to do basic editing with it. The basics are very similar (timelines, transitions, titles, etc) in almost every package. It is when you get into the more advanced topics (color grading, etc) that things get a lot more difficult. That has been my experience, and I'm not an advanced video editor at all. I have never really needed to progress past the newbie state.

As far as privacy goes - pretty much any package is going to do the same thing anymore, especially if it is a "free" package (you end up paying for the package with your data). In the case of DR, it seems like they use it as more of an intro to all their hardware rather than a package all on its own.

As I had not heard of OpenShot before (or at least I don't recall hearing about it), I decided to download it to take a look. It does look like it does a lot, but it was a bit laggy on my system. I did not see anything in it that would make me want to change from DR at this point, but thanks for posting it. I could see it being a good option for someone who had no experience at all.

 

[Bramavic2]

Definitely Davinci Resolve, and do get the Speed Editor keyboard, as mentioned above. You might pay a little bit more than just the license, but it makes a world of difference. It makes de processes of editing a real delight, can't stress that enough.

This tutorial really helped me, it doesn't focus on the speed editor per se, but teaching you the process. Awesome:

The various tabs, specially CUT and EDIT made no sense for me before this tutorial.

 

[Greekislandlover]

Hi all, I’m looking to edit my H264 4K DJI drone videos using a free software editing programme.

I’ve heard that DaVinci Resolve is a pretty decent feature packed tool. Would you guys recommend this or can you suggest alternatives?

Not looking to do lots to the videos, maybe some colour correction, add audio soundtracks and edit out unwanted parts of the original footage and then upload to my YouTube channel.

Thanks in advance!

DaVinci resolve is professional level, but you can do simple editing with it too. I've switched over to it from Premiere Pro. As others have said, the key is having plenty of tutorials on YouTube for whatever you decide on.

The only thing I'd say as a negative is that Resolve is a bit pernickety about hardware. If you don't have something with enough oomph to edit on it won't work. I've just built a new PC for editing purposes and Resolve works fine!

It's probably worth getting to know Resolve, as even though your needs at the moment are basic, as you get more used to it you will want to do more. It has a steep learning curve - particularly if you are changing from other software you are used to, so no point in repeating that curve!

 

[slup]

... If you don't have something with enough oomph to edit on it won't work.

Then you didn't adjust DR correctly & didn't use "Optimized Media". It's one of the strong points with DR that you can use it on an older computer... it's a bit waiting time first when the optimized media is created but then the editing is smooth. Used DR on my old laptop (old gaming laptop from 2013) without any major hazzle besides it took an hour or so to generate the optimized media before I could start to edit... then it of course took a long time to render it out to the final clip. so a long time in the start & in the end... but think that will be the same no matter what software you use if the computer is outdated.

 

[Greekislandlover]

Then you didn't adjust DR correctly & didn't use "Optimized Media". It's one of the strong points with DR that you can use it on an older computer... it's a bit waiting time first when the optimized media is created but then the editing is smooth. Used DR on my old laptop (old gaming laptop from 2013) without any major hazzle besides it took an hour or so to generate the optimized media before I could start to edit... then it of course took a long time to render it out to the final clip. so a long time in the start & in the end... but think that will be the same no matter what software you use if the computer is outdated.

You don't know how old and knackered my last PC was

Yes, I'm well aware of optimised media as I used proxies on PP. Trouble was my last PC would crash if I tried to do this with DR. PP wasn't perfect by any means but at least it would run.

I've now moved over to DR having got a PC that will happily edit 4K without optimised media, but I know it's there as an option.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

Is Davinci Resolve a Windows based program? I can’t find it in the iOS App Store.

It is available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux , and it is a direct download from Blackmagic. DaVinci Resolve 18 | Blackmagic Design

 

[mavic3usa]

It is available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux , and it is a direct download from Blackmagic. DaVinci Resolve 18 | Blackmagic Design

Version 18.5 is ready! Good timing.

 

[hazmatt779]

I have been using Lightroom for several years now. Is DaVinci superior? I only hear good things but have stuck with what I know.

 

[mavic3usa]

I have been using Lightroom for several years now. Is DaVinci superior? I only hear good things but have stuck with what I know.

For video, DR is superior. Not sure about for photos; isn't LR predominately for photos?

 

[hazmatt779]

For video, DR is superior. Not sure about for photos; isn't LR predominately for photos?

I have to correct myself. LightWORKS is what I use not Lightroom and Lightworks is exclusively for video.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

I have to correct myself. LightWORKS is what I use not Lightroom and Lightworks is exclusively for video.

Once upon a time, LightWorks was the favorite editing system of many Hollywood editors. The original system was a joy to cut with.

But Avid eventually became the market leader despite the clunky interface.

The thing that made Lightworks awesome was the hardware controller. A hardware controller was also what made Fairlight awesome.

But as happens, Fairlight was absorbed by Blackmagic… DaVinci with the hardware controller is pretty rad, but still useable with a mouse.

Lightworks is also useable with mouse… and it’s solid. But it lacks the unbeatable feature set of DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic.

Blackmagic practically gives DaVinci away for free (by which I mean it is actually free and only $300 for the pro features).

This is because Blackmagic’s business model centers around their hardware.


All this to say: if you like cutting on Lightworks, that both understandable and for general editing, it really doesn’t matter the tool—editing is a creative process, so from that point use the tool that lets you work intuitively.

Where DaVinci utterly destroys everyone else is in color grading, and in the node based compositing (Fusion).

Other pro color grading systems are $$$$$ and other node based compositing like NukeX are $$$$.

And also, A Dough Bee illustrates the premiere way to spend money in design, after all, effects are a prelude to weaving dreams in a room of light, where a new dimension of animated acrobats capture photos at every shop across the bridge…

 

[Greekislandlover]

I've never used it, but it seems that lightworks has various features depending on the monthly fee. Davinci Resolve, whilst you need to buy a key to have some features certainly provides a much more generous feature set on the free version.

With Lightworks to get above 720P export it's gonna cost you £8 per month. Many of the features you'll get for free with DR will cost you £16 per month. We're heading into Premiere Pro pricing here.

But it depends entirely on your needs and budget. As the guy above says, creativity is the key factor. It's whatever you feel you can be most creative with. I came from Premiere Pro to DR, and I have to say now I have a decent computer, I like using DR for editing. HOWEVER, changing your editing software will involve a learning curve - and quite a steep one. I still find myself Googling how you do tasks I used to do in PP with Davinci.

 

[MartMX]

Good to find this info. Trying Davinci Resolve here and it is crashing all the time rendering a 15 min clip. Seems to be a known problem. Maybe my PC needs more RAM, better video card... but it is frustrating.

 

[skycam509]

Good to find this info. Trying Davinci Resolve here and it is crashing all the time rendering a 15 min clip. Seems to be a known problem. Maybe my PC needs more RAM, better video card... but it is frustrating.

DR is very demanding. I've had the same problem on my MacBook Pro and my PC with i7, Sapphire graphics and 32 GB RAM. Check out Capcut. It's all I use anymore. Works like a dream.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Good to find this info. Trying Davinci Resolve here and it is crashing all the time rendering a 15 min clip. Seems to be a known problem. Maybe my PC needs more RAM, better video card... but it is frustrating.

One thing that DR does is places a lot of work on the GPU. Not to say this is your case without knowing a lot of specific information but for an example I do a lot of work with up to seven camera angles. I also use mostly raw recording formats including blackmagic, canon, and nikon. To handle this load I have installed an RTX 4090 which will handle everything I throw at it to include stabilization and noise reduction without lag. I feed this with a SSD through sata. Ide would be better of course. I do have 48Gb of ram on board but the CPU is modest. Heat is another consideration as during an extended render you are loading your system down a lot.

 

[Grandpa]

Good to find this info. Trying Davinci Resolve here and it is crashing all the time rendering a 15 min clip. Seems to be a known problem. Maybe my PC needs more RAM, better video card... but it is frustrating.

What is your hardware setup?

 

[MartMX]

I suppose my hardware is not setup to do anything special, but has worked ok with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12. It's a Dell Optiplex 5050, i5 @ 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 530 video adapter which I think is just the stock motherboard graphics. I use 3 HDMI ports to HDTV monitors.

I have a FirePro graphics W7000 video card in my hand, but I don't think it will fit in the smaller form factor Dell 5050. Not familiar with these high end $2000+ graphics cards mentioned - wow.

 

[Grandpa]

Yeah, DR requires at least 16GB, but likes 32 much better. I am not up on the latest on board graphics chips, but a discrete video card would probably be required.

 

[Grandpa]

BTW, older versions that are not as demanding on the hardware are available on the blackmagicdesign website

 

[rwilliam99]

I suppose my hardware is not setup to do anything special, but has worked ok with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12. It's a Dell Optiplex 5050, i5 @ 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 530 video adapter which I think is just the stock motherboard graphics. I use 3 HDMI ports to HDTV monitors.

I have a FirePro graphics W7000 video card in my hand, but I don't think it will fit in the smaller form factor Dell 5050. Not familiar with these high end $2000+ graphics cards mentioned - wow.

That is one thing I've always liked about DR - I used to use Pinnacle and tried some others, but they all would crash frequently on me - If I didn't save my work frequently I'd end up losing stuff. I've never had DR crash on me, but I do have more RAM and a much better video card. 8 gig of memory in this day and age isn't much, especially for video work. I'd upgrade to 32gig of RAM and get a decent discrete video card. Doesn't have to be a top of line monster but something better than what you have. I have a NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB that I've had for a few years - you can pick one of those up for around $250.