The best free video editing software can be surprisingly good. The choices vary widely and include include scaled-down, trial versions of professional suites, open-source alternatives with a plethora of features, and simple applications aimed at home video creators. Our top picks will be functional for many users, across many use cases.
If you’re willing to spend a little money, check out our reviews of paid consumer video editing software. Typically, those are easier to use than the free ones here thanks to great support and tutorial libraries and more refined interfaces, but they don’t necessarily have more features.
With free video editing software, you’re rewarded for your patience. If you can handle some steep learning curves, you’ll be surprised at what you can do with a budget of zero. Here are our top selections.
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Best free consumer video editing software
Shotcut
Read PCWorld’s review
Shotcut has been around for more than ten years, but it has been steadily updated by open source developers who have been dedicated to the mission of providing a prosumer-level video editing suite at no cost.
This program supports most audio and video formats you’d need, it allows you to carefully craft most aspects of your video with powerful filters, and it has a highly customizable user interface that can scale based on your needs from the basic to the advanced.
It doesn’t provide as much guidance as some other software, but curious editors can venture to YouTube and elsewhere on the web for support from a still-active community of enthusiasts.
If you’re willing to spend a few hours cracking the egg open, you’ll be rewarded with a video editing program that is every bit as useful as others for which you’d spend $100.