Comparison of video editing software

This is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.

General information

This table gives basic general information about the different editors:

active

Program Platform Developer Year of first release Year of latest release Latest version License target audience & function scope
Adobe Premiere Elements Windows, Mac Adobe Systems 2004 2016 15 Trialware prosumer
Adobe Premiere Pro Windows, Mac Adobe Systems 1991 2018 (Adobe CC 2018)
CC 2017 (11.0.2) (January 18, 2017 (2017-01-18)) [±] Commercial professional
Autodesk Smoke Mac Autodesk ? 2015 2016 Commercial professional (vfx; finishing system)[1]
Avid Media Composer Windows, Mac Avid 1989 2015 8.6 (June 30, 2016 (2016-06-30)[2]) [±] Commercial professional
Avid Media Composer First Windows, Mac Avid 2017 2017 8.10 Freeware professional
Avidemux Windows, Mac, BSD, Linux Mean, Gruntster and Fahr 2018 2.7.0 GPL basic
AVS Video Editor Windows Online Media Technologies Ltd. 2003 2017 8.0.2 Commercial prosumer
Blender (VSE: Video Sequence Editor) Windows, Mac, Solaris, Irix, Linux Blender Foundation 2002 2018 2.79b GPL professional
Cinelerra Linux, Mac Heroine Virtual 2002 2017 7.0 GPL Professional
Corel VideoStudio Windows Corel Corporation 1993 (Under Ulead) 2018 VS 2018 Trialware prosumer
CyberLink PowerDirector Windows CyberLink 2005 2017 16 Commercial prosumer
DaVinci Resolve Windows, Mac, Linux Blackmagic Design 2004 2017 14.0.1 Freeware professional
Edius Windows Grass Valley Canopus 2002 2018 9.10 Commercial professional
Final Cut Pro X Mac Apple Inc. 2011 2018 10.4.2 Commercial professional
Flowblade Linux Open Source Community 2012 2016 1.12[3] GPL prosumer
FORscene Cross-Platform (Java) Forbidden Technologies 2004 ? 15 April 2007 Commercial professional (small)
iMovie Mac, iOS Apple Inc. 1999 2018 10.1.9 Commercial prosumer
ivsEdits Windows Interactive Video Systems 2008 2017 5.0.607 Freeware, Commercial professional (small)?
Kdenlive Linux, BSD, Mac, Windows Open Source Community 2002 2018 18.04.1 GPL Professional
Lightworks Windows, Linux, Mac Editshare 1989 2017 14.0.0 Freeware, Commercial professional
LiVES GNU/Linux, Unix-like Gabriel Finch and others 2002 2017 2.8.4 GNU GPLv3 + prosumer
Magix Movie Edit Pro Windows Magix circa 2001 (VideoDeluxe 1.0) 2015 2015 Plus Commercial prosumer
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Windows Womble Multimedia ? 2012 5.0.1.105 Trialware prosumer
Natron Windows, Mac, Linux Alexandre Gauthier, Frédéric Devernay 2014 2018 2.3.14 GNU GPLv2 + prosumer ? (vfx)
Nero Video Windows Nero AG 2002 2011 11.0 Commercial prosumer
OpenShot Video Editor Windows, Mac, Linux Open Source Community 2008 2018 2.4.3[4] GPL prosumer
Microsoft Photos (Story Remix) Windows Microsoft Corporation 2017 2017 Freeware
Pinnacle Studio Windows Pinnacle Systems 1999 2017 21[5] Commercial prosumer
Pitivi Linux Open Source Community 2004 2016 0.98[6] LGPL prosumer (in development)
Shotcut Windows, Mac, Linux Meltytech, LLC 2011 2018 18.05[7] GNU GPLv3[8] prosumer
Vegas Pro Windows Magix 1999 2017 15 Commercial professional (small)
Vegas Movie Studio Windows Magix 2000 2018 15 Commercial prosumer
VideoPad Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android NCH Software 2008 2018 6.01[9] Trialware prosumer
VSDC Free Video Editor Windows Flash-Intergro LLC 2008 2017 5.7.5[10] Freeware prosumer

discontinued / inactive

Program Platform Developer Year of first release Year of latest release Latest version License target audience & function scope
Windows Movie Maker Windows Microsoft 2000 2012 2012 (v16.4.3528.0331) (April 17, 2014 (2014-04-17)) [±] Freeware basic
VirtualDubMod Windows 2002 2007 1.5.10.3_b2550 Discontinued (GPL) ?
VideoThang Windows VideoThang LLC 2007 2008 2.0.1 Discontinued (Freeware) ?
Avid Free DV Windows, Mac Avid ? 2006 1.8.1 Discontinued (Commercial) ?
Final Cut Express Mac Apple Inc. 2003 2007 4.0.1 Discontinued (Commercial) prosumer
Final Cut Pro Mac Apple Inc. 1999 2009 7.0.3 Discontinued (Commercial) professional
Pinnacle Videospin Windows Avid 2009 2009 2.0 Discontinued (Freeware) ?
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Windows Ulead Systems (now Corel) ? 2006 8.1 Discontinued (Commercial) ?
Serif MoviePlus Windows Serif (Europe) Ltd 2000 2012 X6 Discontinued (Commercial) prosumer (basic)
Xpress Pro Windows, Mac Avid 2003 ? 5.8 Discontinued (Commercial) ?
Kino Linux, BSD Open Source Community 2000 2009 1.3.4 Discontinued (GPL) ?
MainActor Windows, Linux MainConcept 2004 2007 5.5 Discontinued (Commercial) ?
EditDV Windows, Mac Radius 1997 2002 3.0 Discontinued (Commercial) ?
VirtualDub Windows Avery Lee 2000 2013 1.10.4 stable Discontinued (GPL) ?

Definition

  • professional: used for full length Hollywood movies;
  • professional (small): mainly used for paid commercials, short films or podcasts/YouTube channels;
  • prosumer: Mainly targeting private use, anything that can do more than just trimming a film;
  • basic: trimming a film;

System requirements

This table lists the operating systems that different editors can run on without emulation, as well as other system requirements. Note that minimum system requirements are listed; some features (like High Definition support) may be unavailable with these specifications.

Windows Mac OS X Unix-like Processor RAM HDD
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (32-bit) Yes Yes (as of CS3) No 1.4 GHz, SSE2 compatible processor 1 GB / 2 GB when editing HD 4 GB
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (64-bit) Yes Yes No multicore x64 compatible processor 2 GB 10 GB
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (64-bit) Yes Yes No multicore x86-64 compatible processor 2GB / 4 GB when editing HD 10 GB
Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 (64-bit) Yes Yes No multicore x64 compatible processor 8 GB 10 GB
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes (as of v9) No 2 GHz with SSE2 support 2 GB 4.5 GB
Avid Free DV Yes Yes No 933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC 1 GB ?
Media Composer Yes Yes No Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz processor or faster 4+ GB 80 GB
Xpress Pro Yes Yes No Pentium 4, PowerMac G5 1 GB 20 GB
Avidemux Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
AVS Video Editor Yes No No Intel / AMD compatible at 2500 MHz or higher 1 GB 1 GB
Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) Yes Yes Yes 300 MHz 128 MB 20 MB free space
Cinelerra No Yes Yes 500 MHz 256 MB ?
Corel VideoStudio Yes No No Pentium 4 or higher, SSE2 when editing HD 512 MB 3 GB
EditDV ??????
Edius Yes No No Pentium 4 3.0 GHz+ 1 GB 800 MB
Final Cut Express No Yes No 500 MHz 384 MB 1 GB
Final Cut Studio No Yes No 1.25 GHz G4, Intel Core Duo or Xeon 1 GB 4 GB Apps
Flowblade No No Yes ? ? ?
FORscene Yes Yes Yes N/A 256 MB Any
iMovie No Yes No Intel based Macs or iPhone 4 or later 1 GB 5 GB
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes 600 MHz 256 MB 1 GB
Kino No No Yes ? ? ?
Lightworks Yes Yes (planned) Yes Intel Core Duo, Intel Xeon or AMD processor 2 GB 200 MB
LiVES No Yes Yes 800 MHz 128 MB 10 GB
Magix Movie Edit Pro Yes No No Dual core processor with 2.0 GHz 1 GB 2 GB
MainActor Yes No Yes 700 MHz 128 MB ?
Serif MoviePlus Yes No No Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP 1 GB 0.96 GB
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Yes No No 233 MHz 32 MB 20 MB
VideoPad YesYesNomulticore x86 compatible processor1GBAny
Nero Multimedia Suite Yes No No 2 GHz AMD or Intel processor 512 MB (1 GB for Windows Vista or Windows 7) / 2 GB when editing HD 5 GB
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes 600 MHz 256 MB 1 GB
Pinnacle Studio Yes No No 1.8 GHz 1 GB 1.7 GB
Pinnacle VideoSpin Yes No No 1.4 GHz 512 MB 150 MB
Pitivi No No Yes ? ? 2 MB
Shotcut Yes Yes Yes 2 GHz AMD or Intel processor 2GB / 4 GB when editing HD 1 GB
Sony Vegas Pro Yes No No 2.0 GHz 1.0 GB 400 MB
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes No No 800 MHz 256 MB 800 MB
VideoPad Yes Yes No i486 16 MB 3 Mb
VirtualDub Yes No No i486 16 MB 3 Mb
VirtualDubMod YesNoNo???
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes No No 2.4 GHz, SSE3 compatible processor 2 GB / 3 GB when editing HD 4 GB
Windows Movie Maker Yes No No 1 GHz for best performance 128 MB 10 Mb
Windows Mac OS X Unix Processor RAM HDD

"Unix" includes the similar Linux, BSD and Unix-like operating systems.

High definition import

The table below indicates the ability of each program to import various High Definition video formats for editing.

DVCPRO HD Uncompressed HD IMX AVCHD XDCAM HD HDV AVC-Intra DNxHD R3D
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (third party via codec install) Yes
Adobe Premiere Elements No No No Yes (As of 7.0) ? Yes ? ? ?
Avid Media Composer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Avid Xpress Pro Yes No No Yes ? Yes ? Yes ?
Avidemux ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
AVS Video Editor ? Yes No Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
Blender ? Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No[11]
Cinelerra Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
EDIUS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Elecard AVC HD Editor No No No Yes No Yes ? ? ?
Final Cut Express No No No Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (third party via codec install) Yes
FORscene Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
iMovie HD Yes (3rd party) No No Yes ? ? ? ? ?
Lightworks Yes Yes Yes (as of Pro 11) Yes (as of Pro 11) Yes (as of Pro 11) Yes Yes (as of Pro 11) Yes (3rd party) Yes (as of Pro 11)
LiVES ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Kino GTK ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Magix Movie Edit Pro No ? No Yes ? Yes No ? ?
MainActor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Serif MoviePlus ? ? No Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
MPEG Video Wizard DVD ? ? ? No ? Yes ? ? ?
Nero Vision Xtra/ Nero Video Premium HD No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Pinnacle Studio No No No Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
Pitivi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Shotcut ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sony Vegas Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes (as of Pro 9)
Ulead MediaStudio Pro ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus ? Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? ?
VideoPad Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VirtualDub Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WeVideo Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Windows Live Movie Maker No ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
Windows Movie Maker No No No Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
DVCPRO HD Uncompressed IMX AVCHD XDCAM HD HDV AVC-1 DNxHD R3D

Feature set

High Definition support Non-destructive editing Multitrack editing Full-screen playback Storyboard mode Video tracks Audio tracks / max channels Linear timecode display GPGPU with OpenCL acceleration
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes, By hitting ctrl+~ (CS6 only) Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes Yes
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes ?
Avid Xpress Pro Media Composer Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 24 tracks, unlimited layers 24 tracks, unlimited layers Yes ?
Avidemux Yes Yes ? ? ? 1 2 / ? ? Yes
AVS Video Editor Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 1 1+ Yes ?
Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 32 channels (combined with audio) 32 channels (combined with video) Yes Yes
Cinelerra Yes
(any resolution)		 Yes ? Yes No Unlimited Unlimited / 16 Yes ?
Corel VideoStudio Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 6 4 Yes ?
EDIUS Yes Yes Yes Yes, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime No unlimited realtime layers unlimited realtime layers Yes ?
Elecard AVC HD Editor Yes Yes ? No No ? ? Yes ?
Final Cut Express Yes Yes ? Yes, with "external video" Yes, in the Media Browser 99 per sequence 99 / 2 per sequence No ?
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes ? Yes, Yes, in the Media Browser 99 per sequence 99 / 24 per sequence Yes Yes
FORscene Input only Yes ? Yes (podcasts) Beta test 2 4 Yes ?
iMovie Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 2 6 Yes ?
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes Planned through MLT
Kino GTK ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Lightworks Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes Planned
LiVES Yes
(any resolution)		 Yes
(multitrack mode)		 ? Yes
(on first, second or all monitors, configurable)		 No Unlimited audio per video track + backing audio / 2 channels Yes ?
Magix Movie Edit Pro Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 32/99 (Plus/Premium) each track may contain audio and video ? Yes
MainActor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 1 3 Yes ?
Nero Vision Xtra/Nero Video Premium HD Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes (CUDA)
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes No No Unlimited Unlimited Yes ?
Pinnacle Studio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes ?
Pitivi Yes Yes ? Yes No Unlimited Unlimited Yes ?
Serif MoviePlus Yes Yes Yes Yes, & on separate monitor or TV Yes, partial Unlimited Unlimited No ?
Shotcut ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sony Vegas Pro Yes

(any resolution)

 Yes Yes Yes No Unlimited Unlimited/Max Channel 16 Yes Yes (as of 11)
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes Yes ? Yes, on separate monitor ? 99 ? Yes ?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 7 9 Yes ?
VideoPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited ? Planned
VirtualDub Yes Yes No No No 1 1 Yes ?
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes Yes
WeVideo Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited No ?
Windows Live Movie Maker Yes Yes No Yes Yes 1 2 ? ?
Windows Movie Maker Yes No No Yes Yes 1 2 Yes ?
High Definition support Non-destructive editing Multitrack editing Full-screen playback Storyboard mode Video tracks Audio tracks Linear timecode display GPGPU with OpenCL acceleration

Output options

Please note that recording to Blu-ray does not imply 1080@50p/60p . Most only support up to 1080i 25/30 frames per second recording. Also not all formats can be output.

DVD High Definition Smart phone Java phone QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Avid Xpress Pro Yes Yes (Blu-ray) No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Avidemux Yes Yes No ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
AVS Video Editor Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes[12] ? ? ? ?
Cinelerra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
EDIUS Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Elecard AVC HD Editor No Yes No No No No Yes (Part 10) No No No No No
Final Cut Express Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes No (as of 2.5) Yes Yes ? Yes
Final Cut Studio Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Flowblade Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
FORscene No No Yes Yes Yes (MPEG 2) Yes (MPEG 2) ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes
iMovie HD Yes No Yes No Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes No Yes Yes Yes (with .Mac) Yes
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Kino GTK No No No No No No Yes No No No No No
Lightworks Yes Yes (max 720p in free version) ? ? Yes (only in Pro 11) ? Yes (only in Pro 11) ? ? ? ? ?
LiVES Yes Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No ?
Magix Movie Edit Pro Yes Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes No ?
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Yes Yes ? ? Yes No Yes No No No No Yes
Nero Vision Xtra/Nero Video Premium HD Yes Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pinnacle Studio Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pitivi Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? No No ?
Serif MoviePlus Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ?
Shotcut ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sony Vegas Yes Yes (Blu-ray) No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus Yes Yes Yes (via plug-in) Yes (via plug-in) Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes (with DropShot) ?
VideoPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
VirtualDub No No Yes (Via passthru) No No No Yes No No Yes (Via passthru) No No
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
WeVideo No Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes No
Windows Live Movie Maker Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes No No
Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes (WMV only) No No
DVD High Definition Smart phone Java phone QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://nrsotw.blogspot.de/2011/04/which-software-is-used-to-edit-movies.html
  2. ↑ http://resources.avid.com/SupportFiles/attach/WhatsNew_MediaComposer_v8.6.pdf
  3. ↑ "Flowblade Release Notes | Flowblade". Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  4. ↑ OpenShot Download
  5. ↑ http://www.pinnaclesys.com/fr/products/studio/
  6. ↑ "Pitivi NEWS | Pitivi". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "New Version 18.05 Adds Keyframes!". www.shotcut.org. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "MLT Framework license details". GitHub. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "VideoPad Video Editor Versions". www.nchsoftware.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "Download Free Video Editor". www.videosoftdev.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "OpenCL Status". Dev:2.6. Blender Wiki. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "EDL Support in Blender". www.blenderartists.org. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
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