Video editing is the process of editing motion video footage. In the new age of personal video, video editing is becoming a central function of the desktop, with the popularity of video editing software ever increasing.
Any self-respecting operating system that has ambitions on becoming the dominant force on the desktop therefore needs to have a good selection of video editing software. Video sharing websites such as YouTube are now enormously popular with hundreds of thousands of new videos uploaded every day.
In the past, video editing in Linux significantly lagged behind other popular operating system. While there was a good range of software, the vast majority offered limited functionality. However, the situation dramatically improved, in part because of development on multimedia frameworks (such as GStreamer and MLT). Furthermore, the versatility of Linux video editors has improved markedly. Linux now represents an excellent platform for editing video.
Our recommendations are captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion here.
Our ratings reflect our opinion of the software as a video editor. Therefore the rating doesn’t reflect the capabilities of software that offers other functionality.
Click the links in the table below to learn more about each editor.
| Video Editors | |
|---|---|
| OpenShot | Non-linear editor built with Python and Qt |
| Shotcut | Very powerful video editor |
| Kdenlive | Non-linear video editor for KDE |
| LosslessCut | Swiss army knife of lossless video/audio editing |
| Blender | 3D content creation suite targeted at media professionals and artists |
| Editly | Tool and framework for declarative NLE using Node.js and ffmpeg |
| Flowblade | Multitrack non-linear video editor |
| PiTiVi | Non-linear audio/video editor using GStreamer |
| LiVES | Video Editing System designed to be simple to use, yet powerful |
| Avidemux | Designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks |
| lazycut | Terminal-based video trimming tool |
| Auto-Editor | Automatically edit video and audio |
| VidCutter | Simple media cutter and joiner |
| Vimix | Mixing and blending of movie clips and computer generated graphics |
| Video Trimmer | Quickly trim videos |
| OpenCut | Video editor for web, desktop, and mobile |
| Olive | Non-linear video editor |
| Cinelerra | 3 main functions: capturing, compositing, and editing audio/video |
| Footage | Simple video editing tool |
| GoZen | Minimalistic video editor |
| VideoCut | Lossless video cutter |
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
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what exactly puts openshot at no. 1 with 0.3 ponts above kdenlive?
For the factors covered in point 2 of our FAQ