Not yet working in the movie business, but keen to do so eventually? Then we recommend Lightworks, another high-end tool used by Hollywood pros, on movies including The Wolf of Wall Street, LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction and Heat.Īs with Da Vinci Resolve, nearly all of Lightworks’ pro features are available in its free version, including precision trimming, multicam editing, and the ability to edit while importing new content. Read our full DaVinci Resolve 18 review for more details So if you’re a beginner, or just want to make a few quick edits to your footage without fuss, you're better off looking at tools 4-6 on our list. The very sophistication of this software makes for a tough learning curve if you’ve never used video editing software before. For this reason, Da Vinci Resolve is our pick as the best free video editing software overall.Ī word of warning, though. But unless you’re actually working day-to-day on a TV show or movie, you’re unlikely to need most of these. You can import, edit, and grade videos up to 8K with the free version.Īdmittedly, you’ll need the paid version to unlock other features including GPU/hardware accelerated encoding, H.264 and H.265 accelerated decoding, and the AI neural engine, along with noise reduction, face detection, motion blur, and object removal. With a familiar interface consisting of a timeline, monitor window, and a media pool, anyone coming from Premiere Pro should feel right at home. Where that's the case, though, we'll make the differences between the free and paid versions clear, so you know exactly where you stand.īefore we look at the free software, though, let's have a quick look at the best paid-for software for video editing.

So you can just click and download this software today no credit card is required.īe warned: some of these tools are limited free versions of full software, so they may not contain the complete feature set, and there may be restrictions on the format and size of the videos you can export. Not as in a time-limited free trial, or just free for students, but free for everyone, forever. Whether you're a pro editor, a semi-pro YouTuber, or just someone wanting to make your home videos look slick and professional, these apps all do a great job and are all free to download.

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