Video consumption is rising rapidly, accounting for 82.5% of all internet traffic in 2023. It’s gaining popularity as a way for brands and creators to effectively engage their audiences. However, producing compelling video content at scale requires the right editing tools.
This article explores the 10 top free video editing programs available in 2024. Understand the capabilities and features of each to determine the right fit to help you achieve your video content goals.
What Should You Look for in a Video Editor?
When evaluating which editing program is right for you, there are several key factors to consider:
- Features: Beyond basic editing capabilities, also look for features like stock media libraries and audio editing capabilities. Advanced features like motion tracking, masking, and color grading are essential for high-end editing.
- Ease of Use: The intuitive interface and usability of the editing software should fit your skill level.
- Speed and Performance: Fast rendering speeds and overall great video editing performance are a must to look out for.
- File Format Compatibility: The best video editors support popular file types like MOV, MP4, AVI, and more. You want software that can import the types of video files you work with.
- Operating System (OS): Whether you’re video editing on Windows 10, Mac, or Linux, verify that the software is compatible with your OS.
- Collaborative Editing Features: For team projects, options to support multiple video editors through cloud collaboration can be a major asset.
Top 10 Free Video Editing Software of 2024
Whether you want advanced tools or a simple program to edit a YouTube video online, there’s free video editing software perfect for your needs.
1. Blender: The Best for 3D Animations
Blender is tough to beat if you want to take your videos to the next level with 3D animation. Originally designed for 3D modeling, Blender boasts a wide range of tools for Computer Graphics (CG) projects. But it also shines as a nonlinear video editor thanks to its rich features.
With its node-based compositor, Blender provides seemingly endless options for combining visual effects. You can create everything from simple titles to complex 3D motion graphics.
While Blender is geared more toward professional editors and artists, its large community support base provides ample tutorials to help enthusiasts get started. This software offers an immense amount of value, given its free and open-source nature.
Key Features:
- Robust video editing workspace with compositing, masking, transforms, and filters
- Powerful 3D animation and modeling toolset
- Easily enables the importing of audio tracks, videos, and images onto the editing timeline
- Chroma vectorscope, histogram, waveform, and luma displays
- Sync, scrub, and visualize audio waveforms
2. LOVO: Great Video Editing Capabilities With AI Voiceovers
If you’re looking for an all-in-one online video editor to produce high-quality content quickly, LOVO is a top choice to consider. This innovative platform goes beyond standard video editing software by integrating groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its AI voiceovers and auto subtitle generation capabilities.
Furthermore, the intuitive drag-and-drop functionality makes arranging media clips on LOVO’s timeline simple. To create polished videos, you can easily add custom AI voiceovers, background music, sound effects, and automatic subtitles.
Key Features:
- Intuitive video editing workspace
- Vast stock library with royalty-free media files
- Real-time video editing collaboration for team video projects
- Powerful AI text-to-speech and voice cloning features for video needs
- Generate and add AI voices to videos in 100+ languages with natural human quality
- Tools to customize AI voices, like pitch and speed adjustment
- AI subtitle and image generation
LOVO is a top contender for creators and businesses who want to simplify their workflow. The built-in media library and AI capabilities offer huge time and cost savings.
3. Lightworks: Powerful Features To Create High-Quality Footage
Used to edit major Hollywood blockbusters like Pulp Fiction, Lightworks lives up to its reputation as professional editing software. While the free version has limitations, such as max 720p output, it’s still incredibly capable software.
Lightworks makes precision editing effortless with excellent timeline usability. Trim clips, drag and snap clips, add crossfades, and more with keyboard shortcuts. Audio and video effects, like color correction tools that offer advanced grading options, help you polish footage.
Key Features:
- Professional nonlinear video editor optimized for precision cutting
- Over 100 GPU-accelerated inbuilt effects and presets
- Customizable timeline layouts
- Support for multi-cam editing
- Tools for color correction, sharpening, and blurring footage
- Wide format support
4. Shotcut: Free Video Editing With Support for 4K HD Resolution
Shotcut stands out as an open-source, cross-platform editing tool supporting 4K footage for free. The clean, simple interface layout promotes a smooth editing workflow. You’ll find easy-to-access tools for slicing and arranging clips in the timeline, audio editing, creating filter effects, and more.
Whether you film using a smartphone, DSLR, or video camera, Shotcut imports files with ease. The capability to export your final edit in stunning 4K resolution makes Shotcut ideal for YouTube creators who want a high-definition impact without the price tag of paid software.
Key Features:
- Native support for 4K editing and export
- Real-time video & audio previews
- Drag and drop importing of video files
- Wide range of color grading and filter effects
- Support for FFmpeg codecs and file formats
5. DaVinci Resolve: A Pro Video Editor That’s User-Friendly
DaVinci Resolve continues dominating Hollywood with its premium color correction features, but did you know it boasts a full video editor that’s completely accessible for free? The DaVinci editing experience feels anything but stripped down, stacked with a timeline, three-point editing, split screen previews, and a speedy rendering engine.
Smooth playback performance means you can throw projects at DaVinci, packing hundreds of graphics and effects without frustrating lag. And, DaVinci’s Fusion visual effects compositor makes adding muzzle flashes, explosions, lightning, and other VFX elements easy.
Key Features:
- Professional toolset supporting Hollywood-level post-production
- Fast rendering performance, even with complex timelines
- High-resolution playback
- 3D compositing with hundreds of nodes
- Intuitive color correction workflows
6. OpenShot: A Drag-and-Drop Video Edit Interface
OpenShot makes jumping into video projects fun and intuitive. The interface shows marked influence from nonlinear editors like Final Cut Pro, prioritizing clean timeline organization.
Dragging clips from folders drops them straight onto the editing canvas, allowing you to easily arrange your video clips and features. With unlimited tracks, you can pile on videos, images, audio, and dynamic title screens. Smooth real-time previews empower efficient scene experimentation, so you achieve the exact storytelling you want.
Key Features:
- Super simple drag-and-drop workflow
- Unlimited tracks for videos, images, audio, etc
- Real-time video previews for efficient editing
- Animated titles with keyframes
- Range of transitions like fade, wipe, and animation effects
- Support for aspect ratios like 16:9 and Instagram’s square 1:1
7. Avidemux: The Best Video Editor for Beginners
Avidemux makes this list as one of the best film editing software for beginners. Despite its simplicity, Avidemux capably handles core editing tasks like cutting footage, applying filters, inserting subtitles, and transcoding files into multiple formats.
The straightforward design means most users will understand how to perform edits without getting lost clicking through menus.
Key Features:
- Easy to navigate timeline interface
- Format transcoding engine
- Subtitle and watermark support
- Range of audio filters like reverb and chorus
- Lightweight performance ideal for older computers
8. HitFilm Express: With More Than 180 Free Special Effects
HitFilm Express excels at preset-driven editing and effects tailored for ambitious YouTube creators and budding filmmakers. The software includes over 410 visual effects designed for you to customize and apply simply.
Artistically, HitFilm reveals its motion graphics roots with an editor timeline focused on quickly layering videos, images, particle effects, and text. Composite shots then combine different media elements like green-screened footage with custom backgrounds.
Key Features:
- 410+ effects and presets for creative videos
- Intuitive editing and compositing toolset
- Support for 4K, HD, and social media aspect ratios
- Customizable lighting, reflections, and text effects
- Particle engines for realistic effects such as smoke, fire, and explosions
- Chroma key tool for green screen editing
9. iMovie: Great for Beginners That Own a Mac Computer
If you primarily edit video on Mac, this is one of the best free video editing apps for you. Apple seamlessly integrates its free iMovie editor into Mac, iPhone, and iPad devices. Apple plays to its strengths, emphasizing simplicity through smart defaults, drag-and-drop behavior, and one-click filters. Useful tricks like instantly creating movies from selections of clips lower the initial effort to produce stylish results.
Key Features:
- Smooth Apple ecosystem integration
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editing
- One-click filter effects
- Quality themes and title animations
10. VSDC Free Video Editor: An All-in-One Multimedia Toolset
VSDC Free Video Editor brings full spectrum editing tools spanning effects, masking, color balance, object transformation, and more. Whether you shoot video on a smartphone or DSLR, VSDC easily imports files like MP4, AVI, and MKV for editing projects.
If your video process demands software to tackle editing, effects, DVD authoring, and uploading online, VSDC is a free catch-all toolbox.
Key Features:
- Hundreds of video and audio effects
- Tools to stabilize and rotate video
- Frame-by-frame preview for precise edits
- Convert videos for mobile devices
- Create DVDs and Blu-ray discs
Discover the Best Video Editing Tool To Create Stunning Videos
When assessing the best editing programs for 2024, carefully weighing factors like usability and features is key. The highlighted solutions all provide differentiated strengths to suit creators producing at any level.
LOVO especially stands out from its peers by integrating game-changing AI that automates tedious video editing work. This gives all creators, from amateurs to professionals, the power to effectively engage audiences and grow their skills over time. LOVO makes producing top-caliber videos straightforward by fusing intuitive editing essentials with a cutting-edge suite of tools such as an AI voice generator, auto subtitle generator, and AI writer for video scripts.
LOVO offers the ultimate editing toolkit to optimize video editing flows. Sign up today to access LOVO’s online editor, simplified for beginners yet unrivaled for creators aiming to constantly advance their production capabilities at scale.
