Okay, so a little background first, I’m doing YouTube for past 5 years, and while going from, I’ve gone through several video editing software. I started with free Windows movie maker, then tried a couple of intermediate ones, like Power Director, Sony Vegas, and finally, once I got my Mac a year ago, I settled for Final Cut Pro. So, everything in this article comes from my experience of using each and every video editor for years.
However, if you looking for a more in-depth guide, you should skip this article. Here I’ll write more about the overall working of video editor – like which one should you pick. If you want to see what format and codec does a video editor support, you can always check the spec sheet on the website. How are we going to rank video editing program? Now, when it comes to video editing, different people have different needs. Some people just want to combine few clips a nd call it a day. While others want total control over editing process like advanced color correction, magnetic timeline, keyboard shortcuts, chroma key etc. So, to make things simple, I’ve divided this video into 3 parts.
May 28, 2017 - Video editing is one of the first skills that new YouTubers have to learn. Computer is equipped with, here's how to find out on Windows and on Mac. I also did a ton of stuff “wrong” - for example, I would use keyframes to do. Other Video Editing Softwares That YouTubers Use. After researching this article on various YouTuber’s and the editing software they use. I came to the conclusion that they are mostly using the above mentioned softwares that I mentioned.
Entry level video editing software – where the most you can do is – join or split two clips, add background music, and a little bit of video animation. This is for the people who want to make basic slide shows. You can run this software on almost any entry level computer or even notebook.
Intermediate video editing software – where you can do a little more than just combining two clips; like text animations, cool transition, and support for layers. This is good for the people who are looking a decent video editor for YouTube. Although, you need a mid range laptop or computer to run this program smoothly. Advanced video editing software – these video editors are powerful and stable enough for producing an entire movie. They pretty much have every feature, you’ll ever need from a video editing software. But this perks often comes with a steep price and a bit of learning curve. So, let’s try to pick up some of the best video editing software from each category.
Related: Entry level video editing software Does window movie maker still work? A lot of tech blogs on the internet still suggest Windows movie maker as the best video editor for beginners. But, unfortunately, those days are gone. As of 2017, Microsoft has not only e nded the support for Movie Maker, b ut it’s also no longer available for download. And yes, I e ven tried downloading it from other sources, and well it simply doesn’t work.
So, yeah skip it. Shotcut It’s the closest alternative to Windows Movie Maker. But unlike movie maker which only work for Widows, shotcut also works for Mac and Linux.
But how good is it? Well, I’ve tested this app on Windows, so I’m going to speak about that only, but overall, the app is decent.
The first time you open the app, there is just one big screen window — No timeline or library options But, after watching a couple of, I was able to make it work. Just like any traditional video editing software, on shotcut, first, you import your clips by dragging and dropping them in your library and then move them to your timeline. Basic options like trimming and joining two clips are there. You can also change playback speed, add layers (not supported in Windows Movie Maker), a background music or voice over and a few text transitions. Price – Free Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux 2. IMovie If you are rich enough to have MacBook or an iMac, then look no further than iMovie. It’s a free video editor that comes pre- installed on your MacOS. The best thing about iMovie is that it’s so intuitive, that even a fairly computer literate person can understand all features of iMovie in hardly 30 mins.
When you first launch the app, i t asks you w hether you want to create a movie from the pre-built template or do everything from scratch. In the first option, you just have to drag and drop your files a nd iMovie will take care of everything else, from transitions to music, everything. But for the most part, you want to start with second option i.e. If you search for ‘ how to edit youtube videos‘ on YouTube, you’ll find many popular YouTuber with millions of subscribers who still use iMovie for all their work. So, yeah, it’s safe to say iMovie has all the basic features you can expect from a video editor, heck, I can even put it in the intermediate video editing software. However, there are few shortcoming, one – it’s only available for Mac, there is no way to run it on Windows, and second, being a Mac propriety it doesn’t work well with all audio/video format. For instance, you can not import.avi file directly in iMovie.
Price – Free Platform – Mac only Intermediate video editing software 3. Movavi I see Movavi as a polished version of shotcut.
The reason I used the word polish is because, unlike shotcut, Movavi is a bit more intuitive, has more features and comes with a price of $40. I’ve done a detailed video on Movavi, so I won’t explain its features in depth. But what I really like about this app is that it has a simple interface with somewhat advanced features, like modern text animations, t ransitions, chroma key, playback speed etc. The only complaint I’ve with Movavi is that there is no option to import media in the library. So, everything you import goes directly t o your timeline, which makes it difficult to work with larger projects.
Overall, if you want to get a decent video editor for budget, then Movavi is a good mixture of simplicity and features. Here is the, which I edited entirely on Movavi software.
Price – Free Platform – Windows, Mac 4. Powerdirector If you need a more powerful video editor t hen Movavi, then try PowerDirector. It’s available for Windows only (sorry Mac users) and cost somewhat around $70 after discounts. I’ve used PowerDirector for full 2 years, b efore switching to macOS and if I recall correctly many popular YouTubers like Tim Scholfield still uses power director to this day. PowerDirector has all the advanced features, that you’ll ever need. Like – t rim, cut, join, l ayer supports, a nimation, video effect etc. You name it and it has it. They have recently also added support for 360 videos and 4k, w hich, most video editor in this category does not do.
Overall, if you are looking forward to investing in some long-term video editor, which is easy to learn, has all the basic features and doesn’t require an extremely powerful system, then PowerDirector makes sense. Price – Free Platform – Windows only 5. DaVinci Resolve 12.5 by Blackmagic Now, honestly, I’ve not thoroughly used DaVinci Resolve, as it was released after I finally settle for Final Cut Pro on Mac, but I did test it with few of my YouTube videos and they were good.
Da Vinci resolve is like a dream come true for video editors who need a powerful video editing program for free. This program is a lot powerful and feature rich than PowerDirector a nd is still available for both Windows and macOS for free. So, what’s the play here? Well for one, Da Vinci Resolve is built for professional video editing, which is why it requires a powerful system to run. Even my fairly powerful Windows PC (with 8GB of RAM, i5, and a graphic card) was not powerful enough for DaVinci Resolve. The program did hang a couple of times, and rendering took ages. When it comes to features, Da Vinci resolve has all the advance feature you’ll ever need in a video editor. They are pretty heavy on color correction part, as they have a separate option for this.
But then, how are we getting a professional video editing program for free? What’s the catch? Well, first of all, the app is freemium. The latest version is Da Vinci Resolve 14, which is paid, however, Da Vince resolves 12 is free and it has almost every feature you’ll get in the paid one. The reason, they are offering a solid video editing program for free is because t hey want to compete the big players like After Effects and Final Cut Pro. And before they do that, they first need a good user base.
Especially the students, who are willing to learn this program. Kind of like why Adobe tolerates Photoshop piracy. Let it for free now and make money from the organization later on. But anyways, my point is, If you are looking for a robust video editor for free, t hen Da Vinci Resolve is your best bet, though, do remember, you need a powerful system to run this program.
Price – Free Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux How to download Da Vinci Resolve for Free? Like I said, only the 12 version of Da Vinci Resolve is free and finding them is not that easy. If you have a Mac, then you get DaVinci Resolve 12.5.6 from the iTunes (it’s free) or for Windows and Linux, head over to their, scroll down to the bottom and look for the DaVinci Resolve 12.5, it should be free. You might have to fill your email address before downloading it, which is totally fair in my opinion. Advanced video editing software 6.
Adobe Premiere Pro Adobe Premiere is the de facto standard when it comes to video editing. Almost every advanced video editor who works on Windows environment uses Adobe Premiere Pro for their editing needs. Although the program is available for both Window and Mac, I don’t find it well optimized for the Mac version. And it’s also pretty expensive. With creative suite, Adobe Premiere Pro cost around $240/year (yup the price is too high) Now, there are thousands of features in Premiere Pro and there is no point is talking about it because if that thing exist, it might already be present in Premier Pro.
But I personally find not that easy to use. I personally believe, Final Cut is better than Adobe Premiere Pro, however, both these video editing program target 2 entire separate markets. We’ll come to FCP in a while, but for Premiere Pro, here are 2 main reasons, you want to learn it. It gives you more control on each frame like we see in game theorist channel. If you have plans to stay inside the Adobe ecosystem, like Illustrator, and After Effects etc.
Because then you can directly import the project file from After Effects to Premiere Pro. Price – 240$/year Platform – Windows, Mac (30 days free trial) 7. Final Cut Pro X A lot of people ask for my video editing system in the YouTube comments.
And well it’s Final Cut Pro. I’ve used FCP for past 2 years, and I’ve no plans to switch anytime soon. I can go on and on w ith its features. But the real reason why creator chooses FCP over anything is else is Rendering time. The hardware-software optimization is so good that everything runs like a butter. There is not even a save project option since it auto saves everything.
That said i f you have macOS, and looking for a long term video editor, hen FCP is the best program for crisp yet simple video editing. It’s also much cheaper than Premiere Pro, and cost only $300 for a lifetime. Price – 300$/year Platform – Mac only (30 days free trial) Wrapping Up: Best Video Editing Software If you are looking for a basic video editor t hat gets the job done quickly, then go for shotcut (Windows) or iMovie (if you have Mac).
For more balanced video editing program, I would suggest PowerDirector And if you need more control on every aspect of editing t hen go with Adobe Premiere Pro. Or FCP if you have Mac and need something that just works. I personally use FCP on my iMac and I’ve no plans of switching to anything else, soon.
By Jan 04,2019 10:28 am - What is the best alternative to YouTube Video Eidtor in 2019? - Are there some free video editing software for YouTube available in the market? - What is the best video editing software for YouTube free? YouTube is not only a great place to watch videos, but also an awesome platform to share your own created videos with friends all over the world.
Uploading videos to YouTube is easy, but it is not an easy task for creating an awesome video. So more and more YouTube users want to find a professional video editing software for YouTube. Can't Miss: Yes, you will come across very many free or paid YouTube video editor software over the internet for working with. All YouTube video editing software have their distinct features that you should lookout for as well as pros and cons. The following top 5 free video editor for YouTube will give you a good starting point. In short: If you're looking for the best YouTube video editing software (like me), you'll love this guide. Now, let's get started.
Filmora Video Editor - Best YouTube Video Editing Software Free or Paid (or ) is the best video editing software for YouTube on Mac or Windows. This video editor for YouTube has very many effects that you can use to personalize your video when editing. They include intro/credit where you will get to enjoy multiple templates, transitions to help come up with a flawless exchange from one scene to another, sound effect and filters.
The selection will be all yours to make and you should be very keen on what you decide to use with your video. Furthermore, this powerful YouTube video editing software has support for very many file formats and guarantees high quality to edited files. Key Features:. This video editing software for YouTube has video color correction which allows for adjustment of brightness, saturation and contrast. Green screen is another feature that makes it possible to replace the background. Scene detection helps to know when changes have been made to scenes.
Face off offers fun faces for making a video funny. PIP effect makes it possible to overlay more than one video together. A wide range of video and audio effects and very handy video editing tools. Various output options help you directly upload video to YouTube or Viemo for sharing as you like. Easy Steps to Use This Best Video Editing Software for YouTube The Filmora YouTube Video Editing software is very affordable and can edit both videos and audios.
With this software you can edit the YouTube video according to you, it helps in applying effects or customize your video. Import the Video for YouTube At first, you need to download the Filmora Video Editor from the official website. After the installation, you can import the video clips by 2 methods. Click the 'FULL FEATURE MODE' from the main window, you can directly drag your videos to the software or click on the 'Import Media Files Here' button to import all video clips to Filmora Video Editor. Edit Your Video Clips Drag the video clips to timeline directly, now you can adjust the order of the video clips by click on the video clips and drag, and you can also trim unwanted video clips.
Add Effects to Your Videos After you cut and splice the video clips to a complete video you want to post to YouTube, you can choose to add some effects on the video to make it amazing. For example you can add filters to the video, click on 'FILTERS' option from the menu, and you will see all the filter in the Filmora Video Editor.
Select a suitable filter and drag it to timeline to apply. In addition to the filter, there are many other effects you can apply to your videos including transitions, overlays, audio effect and others as follows: -Step 4. Export the Videos to YouTube Directly After you are satisfied with the editing of your video, you can preview the excellent video in Filmora Video Editor firstly, and then export it to YouTube directly. When you are looking for the best free YouTube video editing software program to use with Mac, iMovie will be the best choice to consider. This free video editing software for YouTube allows for easy importing of videos as well as editing in terms of adding effects, inserting titles and adding sound tracks. A simple drag and drop will help you add files to the program.
Pros:. This video editor for YouTube is very easy to use. And it is the best alternative to YouTube Video Editor. This video editing tool has a friendly interface and allows for sharing of edited videos online.
Those are the standout advantages you will enjoy. Cons:. One of the biggest disadvantages of iMovie is inability to import files in MP4 format. It is not readily available because of its price tag that ranges around $14.99. This YouTube video editing software is another best video editing software for YouTube videos and it's designed by Microsoft. You can create, edit and publish your videos using this program on online sites like YouTube and Facebook. That will help in enhancing your overall editing experience.
It has support for very many transitions, effects and titles to help customize video. Pros:. Key advantages of using this software program are availability for free. This video editor for YouTube is easy for beginners to learn. This video editing tool offers a variety of editing tools and functions as well as perfect for photos slide shows. Cons:. When you choose this program, expect to enjoy limitations on the number of features you will enjoy because it comes for free.
This video editing tool is not good for advanced users. It is highly prone to crashing down thus not reliable enough. This free YouTube video editor allows for easy customizing of video files through specialized tools and effects. You should choose a good combination of those that will suit your video editing. Also, the program helps in trimming down the size of videos. Pros:.
You will have an easy time learning how to use this program. This video editing tool works at high speeds and it is available for free as well as allowing adding music to video. Cons:. Its availability for free means this program comes with limitations on some features. You will enjoy only the basic features.
This free editing software is a professional free video editing software for YouTube that you can use to work on any YouTube files. It's non-linear and has support for resolutions amounting to 4K. It works well with videos on both HD and SD formats. If you have a film that you want to edit, LightWorks will be a good choice to consider at any given time. Pros:. Ability to customize is the biggest advantage for using this software program.
Other pros are support for different platforms. Support for professional video editing and availability as paid or free versions.
Cons:. This video editing tool lacks FireWire support for Linux. The pro version has changes in pricing and does not offer any help with basic hints alone. Write in the End Although some provide most promising results but there aren't as good as professional video editors available for Windows and Mac. One of the biggest disadvantage is that if you don’t have an internet connection, you will not be able to edit the videos. Moreover, if your video needs a lot of editing, you can't perform all the functions using online video editors.
So, if you want to create an awesome video, or you have some requirement of the YouTube video, then, I'd like to strongly recommend the Filmora Video Editor or Filmora Video Editor for Mac for your reference. It can help you quickly make a cool video with effects.