My favourite free video editing software solutions for your laptop. As a professional video creator I use Premiere Pro and Final Cut X normally. So what do free options have to offer? I picked Hitfilm Express, Avid Media Composer First and DaVinci Resolve Lite as my three favourites.
Video editing is crucial! the only way to shrink down tons of video footage to a great and fascinating film! But it can be expensive, especially when your are on a subscription plan like Adobe Premiere for example. What are the best free software solutions when you are on a mac or pc?
A lot of the people who start with video and attended my video workshops asked me for affordable or even free solutions to edit their videos not just on their mobile phones, but also more professionally on their laptops.
So I did some research and tried to find solutions that come close to Premiere and Final Cut, but don’t cost you any money.
The software solutions I show you are both for mac and pc. I skip iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, because they are very basic and already on your laptop.
I tested out three professional programs for you, they are all available for free:
1. Hitfilm Express
2. Avid Media Composer First
3. Da Vinci Resolve Lite
Hitfilm: easy to use, close to premiere pro, good for weaker machines, good for beginners
good youtube support:
download: fxhome.com/express
AVID
* Avid:Gold standard in digital editing for a long time
* Since 2017 they offer this basic version of their editing suite
* Download URL:
* you need to set up an account
* Limitations: 4 Video Tracks, 8 Audio Tracks
* not all video format are supported, Export in H264 only, but perfect for youtube, Fb, Vimeo and other plattforms
* 1080 is max
* At least 8 GB RAM on Mac or PC recommended, you can try 6GB though
check out the video of testimonials:
more:
The cool thing about this: you really learn the basic version of the tool that Hollywood editors use. You get a feeling of how editing feels like when you work in that industry.
So if you are just beginning and you want to go far in this field - this is surely a good option for you.
Da Vinci Resolve: Powerful. From Colour Correction but now also great for video editing and compositing. A lot of pros changed to this.
Your PC should have some RAM for this. And you should have at least a little bit of experience in video editing as this program works with nodes.
Other options:
Lightworks: looks like premiere pro, not intuitive (but powerful with 4K support, maybe a little complicated for beginners)
lgtwks.com
Alright. This is it. As a professional premiere and final cut user I was totally overwhelmed by the free alternatives that are available now. Now matter how experienced you are. These programs should be a solution for anyone who wants to dive deeper into video editing. So go ahead and show me your edited videos. Just put the link in the comments. I will try to give you everyone a short feedback.
Don’t forget - cutting videos is not just tossing video clips together. It’s about telling a story.
Wanna know more about tha?
Check out my other videos on storytelling, smartphone filmmaking and video production for beginners.
Would be great if you subscribe. And please let me know - what’s your favourite video editing software?
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