Apr 13, 2020 Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor.
Do you want to make sure your video stands out on YouTube? Then you will want to perform several post-production tasks such as:
- Adding, rearranging, or removing sections of a video
- Creating transitions
- Applying video enhancements such as adding filters and color correction
- Branding your video with logo, call-to-action, and contact information
Editing raw video footage and preparing it for distribution requires using third-party applications.
Below are several of the best video editing software options on the market today to help you create a YouTube video to wow your audience.
Nero Video
A low-priced video editor well suited for beginners, Nero Video offers a wide range of special features including keyframing functions and multitrack timeline.
Other features include:
- Easily transfer image and video files from external hard drives, mobile devices, USB sticks, HD-4K cameras, and camcorders to the Nero Media library.
- Store and access video assets from OneDrive online to save storage space on your computer.
- Add video effects such as slow-motion titles, audio filters, old film, and keyframe animations.
- Customize pre-built movie templates.
Nero Video is regularly priced at $49.99, but occasionally runs special discounts. It is an excellent piece of software for video editing newbies but lacks the speed and functionality of more expensive products.
iMovie
iMovie is free video editing software for YouTube for iOS and macOS. It’s well-suited for beginners who don’t want to spend money and are not familiar with more advanced editing apps.
For Mac users who want to perform simple edits, this free built-in video editor could be all you need.
Quickly choose clips, add titles, effects, and music to create 4K high-quality finished video products. Other features include:
- Adding credits and animated titles from dozens of styles
- Customizing text size, color, font, and formatting
- Giving your video a cinematic touch by choosing from creative filters
- Changing the speed of shots or using split-screen effects
- Recording your voice, using built-in sound effects, or adding a smart track
iMovie offers both basic and advanced editing functionalities and is the go-to tool for Mac users. It also has a mobile app to edit videos from mobile devices.
Movie Maker Pro
Movie Maker Pro is the Windows alternative to iMovie. It’s a free YouTube video editor that provides basic features such as joining, trimming, text captioning, transition effects, image filtering, and adding background music.
If you want a simple editor for your Windows video projects, Movie Maker Pro is an excellent place to start. For more features, you can upgrade to the Pro version.
Movavi Video Editor Plus
For those who want to share emotions through video, Movavi Video Editor is a useful free tool for beginners using Mac or Windows.
You can upload files from any device to add to your video project.
Movavi also comes with an intro mode to create special introductions for your videos and other built-in effects and features including:
- Use colors and filters to add an artistic event
- Add animated transitions to spice up your movie
- Apply animated titles for emphasis
- Crop and rotate video clips
Add some pizzazz to your video using features such as pan and zoom, video stabilization, and stylization.
The free version of this software adds a watermark to your videos. If you want to remove the watermark, you can upgrade to the paid version for only $39.95.
HitFilm Express
Hitfilm Express is a free visual effects and video editing app for YouTube. It works with Mac and Windows and is ideal for YouTubers, beginners, students, and others with a tight budget.
You can use more than 180 special effects, 3D editing, and professional VFX tools to create gaming videos, films, and other video content.
One of the most helpful features included with HitFilm is the available tutorial videos to help you with your video editing projects.
For more experienced video editors looking for advanced editing functionality, HitFilm has a Pro Software Store and an Express Add-on Store.
Avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
It is designed for simple video editing tasks such as cutting, encoding, flipping and rotating clips, adding subtitles, adjusting colors and brightness levels, and filtering. However, it doesn’t allow for audio editing.
Although the learning curve is a little steep, you can check with the extensive wiki that will help you accomplish what you want to do.
Shotcut
Shotcut is an open-source video editor that works on multiple platforms. It’s also free.
The user interface is intuitive and uncomplicated. Shotcut supports hundreds of video and audio formats. There are no imports required, which means native editing.
You can choose from advanced special effects and a vast assortment of filters to customize your video. Shotcut supports webcam, audio, and screen capture as well as resolutions up to 4K.
One of the most helpful features of Shotcut for YouTube video editing is the tutorials it offers, something not usually available with open-source software.
Blender
Blender is a free open source program for Linux, Windows, and Mac operating systems. Besides being a video editor, Blender is also a 3D animation suite.
Some of the video editing features include speed control, filters, transitions, and layer adjustments.
The editing dashboard has 32 tracks for adding video elements to create very complex and compelling videos. This is not the best option for beginner video editors because its functionality can be overwhelming. It also doesn’t offer a mobile version.
However, for more experienced editors, you can create amazing and complicated videos without watermarks for any purpose, including for commercial use.
VSDC Video Editor
VSDC is a free Windows video editing program where you can edit and create all types of videos.
Use advanced video effects such as color correction, overlay text, multi-color Chroma Key, and object transformation. VSDC supports most major video and audio formats such as HD, DVD, and GoPro videos.
It also includes audio effects such as sound normalization and volume correction. An added benefit is that the full set of features for VSDC are free and doesn’t leave a watermark.
Machete Video Editor Lite
A simple and easy-to-use free video editor is Machete Video Editor Lite (the free version of Machete).
The lite version is designed for simple and quick video edits such as cutting, copying, moving, saving, and pasting. However, it only supports WMV and AVI video format.
You can’t edit audio files in Machete lite, but you can remove sound files from video files. Newbie video editors will appreciate the intuitive interface and ease-of-use.
Lightworks
Lightworks is an advanced video editor for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is so powerful that it has been used to edit films such as Pulp Fiction, Road to Perdition, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Some of the robust features that come with Lightworks include:
- Intuitive user interface for timeline editing and trimming
- Access to royalty-free video and audio content
- Low-resolution proxy workflows for 4K
- Exports videos for Vimeo and YouTube in SD/HD, up to 4K
You can choose the free or the pro version of lightworks. The main difference between the two besides the price is the availability of more features in pro.
However, the free version is still feature-rich, supports multi-cam editing, and provides more than 100 effects.
Which is the Best Video Editing Software for YouTube Videos?
To choose the best video editor for your specific needs, consider your operating system, budget, level of expertise, and the amount of time you are willing to put into learning.
The sooner you get started using a video editor, the faster you will sharpen your video skills and produce amazing videos.
Summary
When we say basic video editors, we simply refer to easy video editors for beginners. These easy video editors provide basic video editing functions like cut, trim, merge, crop, etc. People often choose these programs only for simple video editing and prefer their small sizes for installation and use quickly.
Anyone can use the easy-to-use video editing software because their learning curve is pretty short. So, learning those functions won't take more than few minutes.
But the biggest problems with some free video editing software are that they aren't capable of processing large videos, they seriously lack performance, they don't have many advanced video editing tools except one or two, and they don't support in-demand video formats. So, if you are anything serious, you should look for an advanced video editing software. But if your video editing demand and environment are basic in nature, you can rely on these software and can save a fortune.
Below you can find a well maintained list of 10 best basic video editors in 2020 with their pros and cons. Majority of these software applications are available to download for both Mac and Windows 10. Let's get started.
1. OpenShot
Openshot is an open source and free video editor which packs several basic and advanced video editing features. It pretty looks like iMovie but is more versatile than it. You can use OpenShot to resize, crop, cut, trim, scale your videos. It also supports 3D animated subtitles and watermarks.
Pros
- It is open source so it has a good scope of further developments in future.
- Packs good video editing tools.
Cons
- Beginners need to take a while for getting used to it.
- Not much tutorials are there for learning.
2. VideoPad
VideoPad is a nice and free video editor for those people who look for visual and transition effect along with footages editing toolkits. It also featured with a sound effects library which you can utilize to apply professional sound effects to your recordings. VideoPad also supports 3D video editing.
Pros
- Easy to use UI and beginner friendly.
- Lets you export videos directly to social platforms.
- Built-in transitions and sound effects library.
Cons
- Advanced features are missing.
3. VideoProc
VideoProc is an all-in-one powerful video editing software from Digiarty. The most astonishing feature of this software is the killer level-3 GPU acceleration which processes 4K/HD videos at fast rates. You can access all kinds of basic video editing tools in VideoProc including the most advanced tools like multi trim, multi split, advanced crop, merge, rotate etc. VideoProc has several advanced tools like MKV maker, GIF maker etc. which can't be found in most free video editors. You can download VideoProc to Mac and Windows from the links given below.
Pros
- Nice UI with powerful video editing tools.
- The advantage of dealing with 4K and HEVC videos, big size videos, high frame rate videos.
- Integrated with video audio DVD conversion, video resizing downloading, recording, etc.
- Powerful performance and GPU acceleration powered by Intel, AMD , and Nvidia.
- Short learning curve.
- Highly reliable.
Cons
- Linear video editing software.
- Cannot add music to footages.
4. FreeMake
FreeMake is a professional video converter, but before the conversion, it allows video joining, cutting, and rotating. But it is also one of the most basic video editor for beginners. It comes with a straightforward UI which allows you to find most of the options in a single window. Freemake can be used by beginners for essential video editing projects like adding watermarks, adding subtitles, merging, and clipping footages.
Pros
- Easy to use UI and doesn't have confusing options.
- Powerful to convert and resize 4K videos.
Cons
- Purchase required for several video editing features.
5. VSDC
VSDC is only available for Windows 10 users. With VSDC you can learn several cool video editing features like editing the audio, adding shapes, animations, images etc. It can export the edited video to your desired video format.
Pros
- Provides option to download screen recorder.
- Built-in wizard which helps in video editing.
Cons
- Not so user friendly.
- Advanced features are paid.
6. Windows Movie Maker
This was used to be the all time and the default video editor for Microsoft Windows users. Windows movie maker was the best free video editor for Windows until Microsoft pulled it off. You can use it for all types of basic video editing, apply watermarks, create intros and outros for your videos. It was very good for vlogger and tutorial makers. There is no official way left to download the Windows Movie Maker. But some trusted and reliable sources can provide you the installation files. But make sure not to download any kind of malicious software which may pretend to be Windows Movie Maker.
Pros
- Best free video editor on windows for beginners.
- Easy to use and learn.
- Good options to add voice-over, external audios.
Cons
- May be risky to download from unofficial source as the file may contain malicious codes.
7. GoPro Quik
You might know that GoPro has developed a series of video editing app for mobiles, but do you notice they also stretch it to desktops? GoPro Quik has a desktop version for users who need to edit videos with templates, transitions and filters. You can also import photos and music to your video. For basic video editing, it is quite well-designed.
Pros
- It is quite easy to learn.
- Mobile and desktop versions satisfy all your basic editing needs.
- It is free.
Cons
- Users report that it quits randomly when you’re editing large files.
8. Shotcut
Shotcut is another open source basic video editing software for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is quite a good option for the beginners. Shotcut supports a lot of output video formats, lots of filtre effects and chroma keys. The interface is also very good and not a confusing one. You can use Shotcut if you don't want to spend a single penny on paid video editors. Tutorial - how to use Shotcut
Pros
- Multiple video format support.
- Video filter effects.
- Supports 3D titles and texts.
Cons
- Less intuitive as compared to paid video editors.
- No 3D video support.
- Transition effects are only a few.
9. Avidemux
Another free and open source basic video editing software for beginners is Avidemux. It is also available for multiple platforms. Avidemux doesn't have any difficulty to work with popular video formats like AVI, MP4, MPEG etc. It fully support non-linear video editing, and multiple visual effects. Can be used to resize, deinterlace a video along with chroma shifts and addition of black borders.
Pros
- Has many video editing features.
- Automatically estimates the output file size.
- Clean user interface.
- Most trusted free video editor.
Cons
- Unprofessional user interface.
- Extra codecs required for non-common video formats.
10. iMovie
iMovie is only available for Mac users. Good thing about iMovie is that it can process 4K videos with ease. Apart from editing videos you can edit audio too with iMovie. iMovie is pretty porttable as you can start editing a video on your iDevice and can choose to finish on your Mac computer.
Pros
- Easy to use interface.
- Has a nice set of audio and video editing tools.
Cons
- Not available for Windows users.
- Lacks performance and advanced features and tools.
Tips for Choosing the Right Basic Video Editor
Want to know how we wrap up such a list for top basic video editing software? And desire to pick out a video editor that suits You most? Now, at the end of this article, we decide to release the hints of how to choose the right video editor for your basic video editing needs.
1. Choose the one that is lightweight and safe.
Searching on the Internet, you'll get millions of results for basic video editors. But among these results, some are not safe to download, and some are downloaded with virus plug-ins. So be cautious when downloading software. And basic video editors come without too many functions, so it is not worth too much computer space.
2. It should be easy to learn.
Basic video editor users tend to simply organize videos by trimming and cutting and then add some filters and texts. If a video editor makes these operations too complicated, why not turn to an advanced editing software in which you can get more features after a long term learning. So choose the basic video editor with an intuitive interface and easy learning curve.
Shortcut Video Editing Software For Windows
3. Don't invest too much money in a basic video editor.
Obviously, basic video editors are not as robust as professional video editing software like Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, or DaVinci Resolve. They are created for quick editing and instant SNS sharing, so packed with fewer features. It is not a wise move to spend much money buying a basic video editor. There are many cheap or even totally free open-source video editors responding to your calls.
4. Take into account your extra editing needs.
Besides basic video editing, like cutting, merging, and rotating, different users have different extra needs. For example, most vloggers prefer video editors with numerous templates and themes so that they can arrange their daily video materials accordingly. For traveling video creators, they want UHD 4K videos to present stunning scenery to their audiences. Now they need a basic video editor that is capable of 4K video processing, like say VideoProc. A special video editing feature is also a crucial standard for basic video editor picking.
Conclusion
Video Editing Software Mac Free
We hope that this article has saved your time which you might have invested in doing further reasearch about basic video editing software. But now you have got a compiled list of 10 such software therefore you should not need to continue your research further. Out of these 10 free video editing software tools for beginners, you can choose the one which best suits your needs. We recommend you VideoProc which is an all-in-one video editor with many other features like video conversion and downloading. However, as per your requirements you can also make a choice between shotcut, iMovie, and the other video editors listed above.