Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software 2018 – Updated
If you are new to the video editing world, a free video editing software can be the best choice for you. Although most free video editors are feature limited, they are easy to use and can meet almost all of your basic video demands like cutting, trimming, cropping, or rotating. Our top 12 list focuses on the best free video editing software for Windows we could find, and it will give you a overview of what you can expect from each video editor.
Are you also looking for video editors for Mac, Linux, mobile phone, or online? Check our latest post 36 Best Video Editors for All the Platforms.
- Part 1: Choose the Right Video Editor for Windows
- Part 2: Best Video Editing Software for Beginners (Video Tutorial)
- Part 3: Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software
Part 1: Choosing the Right Video Editor for Windows
As we mentioned before, there are so many video editing software [free & paid] available on the market, but how to choose the right video editing software especially when you are a newbie and want a free video editing software before you dig deeper?
- Interface: For a newbie, a user-friendly interface can help you save a lot of time from learning and getting familiar with the program
- Formats: Make sure the software you choose enables you to export common used formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc, so that you can easily sharre your work on YouTube or other social media platform.
- Video editing features: A free video editing software might not be able to offer you tons of editing features, but it should provide at least basic video editing features such as Trim, Crop, Rotate, Transitions, etc.
Part 2: Best Video Editing Software for Beginners (Video Tutorial)
Wondershare Filmora – Recommended
You might find that the video editing software above are either too simple to meet your demends like audio editing or color correction, or too difficult to understand the workflow, then, you should look at Wondershare Filmora, which is the best video editor for PC with rich features as well as easy-to-use.
- A wide support for different formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, AVCHD, MKV and more.
- Enables you to crop, trim, cut, split and combine in a few clicks.
- Various filter and visual effects to touch up your video.
- Make your footage look like Hollywood film with color tuning tool
- Make good use of your music with Audio Mixer and Audio Equalizer
- Cut and merge large action cam footages within minutes
- Tilt Shift, Face off, Mosaic, Jump Cut and more functions for you to try out.
- Save the edited video to any popular video format or fit to the mobile device.
- Burn to DVD or upload to YouTube and Vimeo instantly.
How to Edit Videos with Wondershare Filmora
Import Media Files
Import media files from your computer or cameras and smart phones, and directly drag-n-drop to the program.
Edit Your Video
Easily crop, rotate, split or cut videos on the timeline. Then add effects and filters to enrich your video.
Save & Enjoy
Save your video to different formats, or upload to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, burn to DVD and more.
Part 3: Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software for Windows
Ranked by skill level
1. Windows Movie Maker – Free Built-in Video Editor on Windows 7
Windows Movie Maker was once the world’s most popular free video editing tool for Windows and users can make home movies by simple drag-and-drop. It contains features such as video effects, video transitions, adding titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. Although Windows Movie Maker is built for Windows 7, and if you are looking for some free video editing software for Windows 8 or Windows 10, then you should skip Windows Movie Maker. However, Windows Movie Maker has been discontinued by Microsoft, you can still find installation packages on some third-party authoritative download sites:
You can download Windows Live Movie Maker from Microsoft here.
Or download Windows Movie Maker 6 here.
- Input formats: ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, M1V, MP2, MP2V, MPE, MPEG, MPG, MPV2, WM, WMV
- Output formats: Windows Media Video (WMV) or DV AVI
- Advantages: Free, meets your basic editing demands
- Limitations: Service discontinued; No support for modern file formats; Lacks color correction tools, visual effects or any other advanced video editing options.
2. VideoPad Video Editor
VideoPad is a cross-platform software for beginners. Although the free version limits the video exporting options to just two file formats. The VideoPad’s interface doesn’t take much time to get used to, and it perfectly adjusted to the needs of inexperienced video editors.
This is an intuitive, feature rich and easy to use video editing platform. Beginners can enjoy easy editing with its drag and drop type timeline and the loads of transitions, effects and speed adjustment features make customization easier.
- Input formats: avi, wmv, mpv, divx and many more
- Output formats: WMV, AVI
- Advantages: Intuitive interface
- Limitations: Certain features become unavailable when using the free version of the software over a longer period of time.
3. Avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports various file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.
- Imput formats: AVI, MPEG, MOV, MP4, etc
- Output formats: AVI, MPEG, DIVX, XVID, MP4, etc
- Advantages: Avidemux also has solid encoding options and its interface is user-friendly.
- Limitations: There are no video effects or transitions.
4. OpenShot
Another open-source video editor which offers basic video editing features like trimming and slicing. It also provide lots of transitions and audio effects to help you make simple videos.
- Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
- Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
- Advantages: Free as well as powerful.
- Limitations: Need to install add-ons if the OS you are using doesn’t meet the software’s system requirements.
5. VSDC Video Editor
It has tones of features and you can start for free. There is wide range of filters, overlays, transition effects and color correction abilities. This platform is designed to serve users with smooth editing experience so that even beginners can enjoy creative media projects. Thanks to its wide format support that helps to handle all popular media files with ease.
- Imput formats: AVI, QuickTime (MP4/M4V, 3GP/2G2, MOV, QT), HDVideo/AVCHD (MTS, M2TS, TS, MOD, TOD), WindowsMedia (WMV, ASF, DVR-MS), DVD/VOB, VCD/SVCD, etc
- Output formats: AVI, DVD, VCD/SVCD, MPEG, MP4, M4V, MOV, 3GP/3G2, WMV, MKV, RM/RMVB, FLV, SWF, AMV, MTV
- Advantages: Intuitive interface, friendly to beginners.
- Limitations: Technical support is not free.
6. Kdenlive – Free and Open-source Video Editing Software
Kdenlive is an open-source video editing software which is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. This video editing software combines the simplicity of entry-level video editors with advanced video editing tools frequently used by experienced professionals.
- Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
- Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
- Advantages: Allows you to extend your capability with free add-ons.
- Limitations: No technical support.
7. Blender – Free & Open-source & Professional Animated Film Toolset
Blender is the free open source 3D content creation which supports all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Blender has many advanced features, such as modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material, etc. and is one of the best video editors for both Windows and Mac.
- Input formats: latest audio and video formats
- Output formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, WebM.
- Advantages: A lot of advanced features, perfect for advanced users
- Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners; Very limited learning resources.
8. DaVinci Resolve – Free Professional Video Editing & Color Correction software
If you had access to the video editing pro level, then you must try DaVinci Resolve 14. Except for multi-camera editing, 3D editing, motion blur effects, and spatial noise reduction which are only available on the paid version DaVinci Resolve Studio, you can almost do any professional video/audio editing and color correction with DaVinci Resolve 14.
- Supported formats: ARI, MTS, MXF, AVI, CIN, DNG, DPX, CDX, MP4, MXF, EXR, MOV
- Advantages: Stunning image quality. Color correction and audio editing are also excellent in Davinci Resolve.
- Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners.
9. HitFilm Express – Popular Free Video Editor & Compositor
HitFilm Express is a good alternative to Adobe After Effects, it offers users with many visual effect compositing options, and it lets you use semi-professional video editing tools for free. But beginners may find the software’s interface difficult to navigate.
- Imput formats: AVCHD, AVI, DV, MP4, MPEG, MOV, MMV
- Output formats: AVI, MP4
- Advantages: Offers a wide spectrum of transitions and video effects.
- Limitations: Feature limited while exporting video files, not friendly to beginners.
10. Lightworks – Powerful Free Video Editor
Lightworks is a great free video editor featured with many video effects. It can edit up to 256 video, audio, and still image clips. But the user interface is very technical so many people find it hard to use. The pro version costs $25 a month.
- Imput formats: latest audio and video formats
- Output formats: mp4, MXF, Quicktime, AVI, mts, mpg, m2t
- Advantages: Well designed interface, many advanced features.
- Limitations: Not for beginners.
Check this video to see more best video editing software in the market!
Filmora Video Editor2017-12-05
Try Filmora FREE: http://bit.ly/2gYlQ5n
Kitzune2018-08-15
the filmora editor is very laggy and glitchy u.u
Daytime Tea Time2018-08-02
I’ve had Filmora since 2016 and it has not updated since i got it. So all of these „New“ features I cant access. How do i get an update??
CB92018-06-26
Please Take a look on Overview of Filmora Video Editor. https://9creators.com/an-overview-to-wondershare-filmora-video-editor/
bhongskie2018-06-26
nice apps but very slow for exporting files
This is the article about free video editing software for Windows, please check some free video editing for mac here. We do love to hear from you in the comment below if there are some other awesome free video editing software for Windows which are worth mention.
Filmora Video Editor2017-09-18
Try Filmora Free: http://bit.ly/2gYlQ5n
THE DESIMATORS Productions2018-05-04
you know if you make a GIANT!!!! watermark (which you did) people when watching the video would think „hmm that’s a large watermark that mustn’t be a good software an i don’t want i giant watermark on my videos“ then leaving the video and avoiding the software. so in the end people don’t check out the software and the video gets less views.
SD FutureMusic2018-03-28
My problem is how to get the pictures or videos to full screen . Is that a problem you can’t do ?
DavidisDawei2018-02-12
Do you have video editing software that will work with a chromebook? or do you have online editing capability to replace what youtube used to offer?
Molon Labe2018-01-19
That’s the only issue I had with Filmora’s free version. They couldn’t just put a smaller watermark in the corner that’s semi-transparent, no. They had to put a big banner watermark right in the middle of the screen.
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