Video Editors

Shotcut – cross-platform video editor

Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor. It is a powerful tool.

This software application provides several ways of creating and modifying a timeline. Ranging from a simple synopsis view (a-la iMovie) to the full-blown editing view (aka Complex View) which puts you in complete control of your editing.

Shotcut is developed on the MLT Multimedia Framework.

Key Features

  • Supports many audio and video formats and codecs courtesy of FFmpeg.
  • Supports many image formats such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF as well as image sequences.
  • No import required – native editing.
  • Frame-accurate seeking for many formats.
  • Multi-format timeline: mix and match resolutions and frame rates within a project.
  • Screen capture including background capture to capture a Shotcut session.
  • Webcam capture.
  • Audio capture.
  • Network stream playback (HTTP, HLS, RTMP, RTSP, MMS, UDP).
  • frei0r video generator plugins (e.g. color bars and plasma).
  • Blackmagic Design SDI and HDMI for input and preview monitoring.
  • JACK transport sync.
  • Deinterlacing.
  • Detailed media properties panel.
  • Recent files panel with search.
  • Drag-n-drop files from file manager.
  • Save and load trimmed clip as MLT XML file.
  • Load and play complex MLT XML file as a clip.
  • Audio scopes: peak meter, waveform, spectrum analyzer.
  • Volume control.
  • Scrubbing and transport control.
  • Flexible UI through dock-able panels.
  • Encode/transcode to a variety of formats and codecs thanks to FFmpeg (or libav as-built).
  • Capture (record) SDI, HDMI, webcam (V4L2), JACK audio, PulseAudio, IP stream, X11 screen, and Windows DirectShow devices.
  • Stream (encode to IP) files and any capture source.
  • Batch encoding with job control.
  • Create, play, edit, save, load, encode, and stream MLT XML projects (with auto-save).
  • Unlimited undo and redo for playlist edits including a history view.
  • Connect to Melted servers over MVCP TCP protocol.
  • Control the transport playback of Melted units.
  • Edit Melted playlists including suport for undo/redo.
  • OpenGL GPU-based image processing with 16-bit floating point linear per color component.
  • Multi-core parallel image processing (when not using GPU and frame-dropping is disabled).
  • Video filters: Chroma Key: Simple, Color Grading, Crop, Diffusion, Glow, Invert Colors, Key Spill: Advanced, Key Spill: Simple, Mirror, Old Film: Dust, Old Film: Grain, Old Film: Projector, Old Film: Scratches, Old Film: Technocolor, Opacity, Rotate, Rutt-Etra-Izer, Saturation, Sepia Tone, Sharpen, Size and Position, Stabilize, Text, Vignette, Wave, White Balance.
  • Audio filters:Balance, Bass & Treble, Band Pass, Compressor, Copy Channel, Delay, Downmix, Expander, Gain, High Pass, Limiter, Low Pass, Normlize, Notch, Pan, Reverb, Swap Channels.
  • 3-way (shadows, mids, highlights) color wheels for color correction and grading.
  • Eye dropper tool to pick neutral color for white balancing.
  • UI translations: Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portugese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish (not all 100%, but you can help).
  • HTML5 (sans audio and video) as video source and filters.
  • Leap Motion for jog/shuttle control.
  • DeckLink SDI keyer output.
  • UI themes/skins: native-OS look and custom dark and light.
  • Control video zoom in the player: fit viewable area (default), 50%, original (100%), and 200%.
  • Multitrack timeline with thumbnails and waveforms.
  • Thumbnail and waveform caching between sessions.
  • Audio mixing across all tracks.
  • Video compositing across video tracks.
  • Trimming on source clip player or timeline with ripple option.
  • Append, insert, overwrite, lift, and ripple delete editing on the timeline.
  • 3-point editing.
  • Hide, mute, and lock track controls.
  • External monitoring on an extra system display/monitor.
  • Fade in and out audio and fade video from and to black with easy-to-use fader controls on timeline.
  • Cross-fade audio and video dissolve transitions easily by overlapping shots on the same track of the timeline.
  • Video wipe transitions: bar, barn door, box, clock (radial), diagonal, iris, matrix, and custom gradient image.
  • Video quality measurement (PSNR and SSIM).
  • Support for 4K resolutions.
  • Track compositing/blending modes: Over, Add, Saturate, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Darken, Dodge, Burn, Hard Light, Soft Light, Difference, Exclusion, HSL Hue, HSL Saturation, HSL Color, HSL Luminocity.
  • Speed effect for audio/video clips.

Website: www.shotcut.org
Support: FAQ
Developer: Dan Dennedy, Brian Matherly
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Shotcut

Shotcut is written in C++ and QML. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


Related Software

Video Editors
OpenShotNon-linear editor built with Python and Qt
ShotcutVery powerful video editor
KdenliveNon-linear video editor for KDE
LosslessCutSwiss army knife of lossless video/audio editing
Blender3D content creation suite targeted at media professionals and artists
EditlyTool and framework for declarative NLE using Node.js and ffmpeg
FlowbladeMultitrack non-linear video editor
PiTiViNon-linear audio/video editor using GStreamer
LiVESVideo Editing System designed to be simple to use, yet powerful
AvidemuxDesigned for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks
lazycutTerminal-based video trimming tool
Auto-EditorAutomatically edit video and audio
VidCutterSimple media cutter and joiner
VimixMixing and blending of movie clips and computer generated graphics
Video TrimmerQuickly trim videos
OpenCutVideo editor for web, desktop, and mobile
OliveNon-linear video editor
Cinelerra3 main functions: capturing, compositing, and editing audio/video
FootageSimple video editing tool
GoZenMinimalistic video editor
VideoCutLossless video cutter

Read our verdict in the software roundup.


Best Free and Open Source Software Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.

This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk.

You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more.

Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments