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 Inc. 2004 2018 2019 Trialware prosumer
Adobe Premiere Pro Windows, Mac Adobe Inc. 1991 2020 (Adobe CC 2020) CC 2020 (14.1) (April 21, 2020 (2020-04-21)) [±] Commercial professional
Autodesk Smoke Mac Autodesk ? 2015 2016 Commercial professional (vfx; finishing system)[1]
Avid Media Composer Windows, Mac Avid 1989 2020 2020.4 Commercial professional
Avid Media Composer First Windows, Mac Avid 2017 2019 2019.9 Freeware professional
Avidemux Windows, Mac, BSD, Linux Mean, Gruntster and Fahr 2019 2.7.5 GPL basic
AVS Video Editor Windows Online Media Technologies Ltd. 2003 2020 9.3.1 Commercial prosumer
Blender (VSE: Video Sequence Editor) Windows, Mac, Solaris, Irix, Linux Blender Foundation 2002 2020 2.82a GNU GPLv2 + professional
Cinelerra Linux Heroine Virtual 2002 2019 7.2 GPL professional
Cinelerra-GG Infinity Linux, FreeBSD Open Source Community 2016
(as Cinelerra 5.1)		 2020 2020-05[2] GPL professional
Corel VideoStudio Windows Corel Corporation 1993 (Under Ulead) 2020 VS 2020 Trialware prosumer
CyberLink PowerDirector Windows CyberLink 2001 2019 18 Commercial prosumer
DaVinci Resolve Windows, Mac, Linux Blackmagic Design 2004 2020 16.2.2 Freeware professional
EDIUS Windows Grass Valley Canopus 2002 2018 9.10 Commercial professional
Final Cut Pro X Mac Apple Inc. 2011 2019 10.4.8 Commercial professional
Flowblade Linux Open Source Community 2012 2020 2.4.0.1[3] GPL prosumer
Blackbird Cross-Platform (JavaScript, Java, iOS, Android) Blackbird PLC 2004 2020 - Commercial professional
iMovie Mac, iOS Apple Inc. 1999 2019 10.1.14 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 2020 20.04.1 GPL prosumer
Lightworks Windows, Linux, Mac Editshare 1989 2018 14.5.0 Freeware, Commercial professional
LiVES GNU/Linux, Unix-like Gabriel Finch and others 2002 2019 3.0.2 GNU GPLv3 + prosumer
Magix Movie Edit Pro Windows Magix circa 2001 (VideoDeluxe 1.0) 2018 2019, 2019 Plus,
2019 Premium [4]		 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 2015 2016 Commercial prosumer
OpenShot Windows, Mac, Linux Open Source Community 2008 2020 2.5.1[5] GPL prosumer
Microsoft Photos (Video Editor) Windows Microsoft Corporation 2017 2017 Freeware basic
Pinnacle Studio Windows Pinnacle Systems 1999 2019 23[6] Commercial prosumer
Pitivi Linux Open Source Community 2004 2018 0.999[7] LGPL prosumer (in development)
Shotcut Windows, Mac, Linux, OpenBSD -current, as a port.[8] Meltytech, LLC 2011 2020 20.04.12[9] GNU GPLv3[10] prosumer
Vegas Movie Studio Windows Magix 2000 2019 17 Commercial prosumer
Vegas Pro Windows Magix 1999 2019 17 Commercial professional (small)
VideoPad Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android NCH Software 2008 2020 8.15[11] Trialware prosumer
VSDC Free Video Editor Windows Flash-Intergro LLC 2008 2020 6.4.2[12] 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)) [±] Discontinued (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) basic
Cinelerra-CV Linux Open Source Community 2003? 2015 2.3 Discontinued (GPL) professional

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 VRAM HDD
Adobe Premiere Pro CC Yes Yes No Skylake or later[13] 8 GB[13] 2 GB[13] 8 GB[13]
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes (as of v9) No 2 GHz+ with SSE2 support 2 GB 4.5 GB
Avid Media Composer Yes Yes Yes SSE 4.1 support[14] 16 GB[14] ?
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 2 GHz+ with SSE2 support[15] 2 GB[15] 512 MB[15] ?
Cinelerra No No Yes x86-64 compatible processor 256 MB 0.25 GB
Cinelerra-GG Infinity No No Yes x86-64 compatible processor,
recommended minimum: 2 GHz, 4 cores		 8 GB recommended for HD editing 0.2 GB
Corel VideoStudio Yes No No 3.0 GHz[16] 4 GB[16] 256 MB[16] 8 GB[16]
DaVinci Resolve Yes Yes Yes
EDIUS Yes No No Intel Core 2 or later with SSSE3 support[17] 1 GB[17] 512 MB[17] 6 GB[17]
Final Cut Pro X No Yes No ? 4 GB[18] 256 MB[18] 3.8 GB[18]
Flowblade No No Yes x86-64 compatible processor ? 2.7 GB
Blackbird 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
Lightworks Yes Yes 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
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Yes No No 233 MHz 32 MB 20 MB
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 4 GB (16 GB recommended) 1 GB
Pinnacle Studio Yes No No 1.8 GHz 1 GB 1.7 GB
Pitivi No No Yes ? ? 2 MB
Shotcut Yes Yes Yes 2 GHz AMD or Intel processor 2GB / 4 GB when editing HD 1 GB
Vegas Pro Yes No No 2.0 GHz 1.0 GB 400 MB
VideoPad YesYesNomulticore x86 compatible processor1GBAny
VirtualDubMod YesNoNo????
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes No No 1.5 GHz or higher, Intel or AMD or compatible processor 512 Mb for the program
Windows Mac OS X Unix Processor RAM VRAM HDD

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

High definition/High resolution import

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

DVCPRO HD HD uncompressed AVCHD XDCAM HD HDV AVC-Intra XAVC DNxHD DNxHR DNx uncompressed ProRes ProRes RAW R3D ArriRaw X-OCN AV1
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes Yes[19] Yes[19] Yes Yes[19] Yes[19] Yes[19] Yes[19] ? Yes[19] ? Yes[19] Yes[19] Yes[19] ?
Adobe Premiere Elements No No Yes (As of 7.0) ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Avid Media Composer Yes[20] Yes Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes Yes[20] ? Yes[20] Yes[20] ? ?
Avidemux ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
AVS Video Editor ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Blender ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No[21] ? ? ?
Cinelerra Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No ? ? ?
Cinelerra-GG Infinity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ? No ? ? Yes
DaVinci Resolve Mac with
Final Cut
Pro X[22]		 Yes Yes[22] Yes[22] Mac with
Final Cut Pro X[22]		 Mac with
Final Cut
Pro X[22]		 Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] 16 or later Yes[22] ? Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] ?
EDIUS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Final Cut Pro X Yes[23] Yes Yes[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] Partial (3rd party via
codec install)		 ? ? Yes[23] Yes[23] Yes[23] ? ? ?
Blackbird Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
iMovie Yes (3rd party) No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Lightworks Yes Yes 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 ? ? ? ? No ? ? ?
Magix Movie Edit Pro No ? Yes ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MPEG Video Wizard DVD ? ? No ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Nero Video No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? No ? ? ? ? No ? ? ?
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No ? ? ?
Pinnacle Studio No No Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pitivi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Shotcut ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Corel VideoStudio ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Vegas Pro Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes (as of Pro 9) ? ? ?
VideoPad Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
VirtualDub Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
WeVideo Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Live Movie Maker No ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
DVCPRO HD HD uncompressed AVCHD XDCAM HD HDV AVC-Intra XAVC DNxHD DNxHR DNx uncompressed ProRes ProRes RAW R3D ArriRaw X-OCN AV1

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 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 Quick Sync and CUDA for decoding
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 Yes No Unlimited Unlimited / 16 Yes ?
Cinelerra-GG Infinity Yes max 8K Yes Yes Yes No Unlimited Unlimited / 16 Yes Some formats, using
VAAPI/VDPAU/CUDA
for decoding/encoding
DaVinci Resolve Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes
EDIUS Yes Yes Yes Yes, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime No unlimited realtime layers unlimited realtime layers Yes ?
Final Cut Pro X Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Blackbird Input only Yes Yes Yes Yes 18 36 Yes ?
iMovie Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 2 6 Yes ?
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited Yes Planned through MLT
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
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Yes Yes ? Yes Yes 1 3 Yes ?
Nero Video 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 ?
Shotcut ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? Yes (Quick Sync)
Corel VideoStudio Yes Yes Yes[24] Yes Yes 7 9 Yes ?
Vegas Pro Yes

(any resolution)

 Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Unlimited/Max Channel 16 Yes Yes (as of 11)
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 ? ?
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 QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting
Adobe Premiere Pro Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Adobe Premiere Elements Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Avid Media Composer ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Avidemux Yes Yes No ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
AVS Video Editor Yes Yes (Blu-ray) Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes[25] No ? ? ?
Cinelerra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
Cinelerra-GG Infinity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes CMX3600 No Yes No Yes
EDIUS Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Final Cut Pro X Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Flowblade Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Blackbird No Yes Yes Yes (MPEG 2) Yes (MPEG 2) ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes
iMovie Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (with .Mac) Yes
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
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 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 Video Yes Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pinnacle Studio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pitivi Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? No No ?
Shotcut ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Corel VideoStudio Yes Yes Yes (via plug-in) Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes (with DropShot) ?
Vegas Pro Yes Yes (Blu-ray) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
VideoPad Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
VirtualDub No No Yes (Via passthru) No No Yes No No Yes (Via passthru) No No
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
WeVideo No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes No
Windows Live Movie Maker Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No
DVD High Definition Smart phone QuickTime Windows Media MPEG-4 XML/EDL Print to tape Web, not hosted Web, hosted Podcasting

See also

References
  1. Roberts, Neil (25 April 2011). "Smoke on the Water: Which software is used to edit Movies?".
  2. "Cinelerra-GG changelog" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. "Flowblade Release Notes | Flowblade". Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  4. Coalition, ProVideo (22 August 2018). "Movie Edit Pro 2019: new version offers improved speed and new features by Jose Antunes".
  5. "OpenShot Video Editor | Download". www.openshot.org.
  6. "Pinnacle Studio 22 - Powerful Video Editing Software". www.pinnaclesys.com.
  7. "Pitivi NEWS | Pitivi". Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  8. https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-ports&m=159076520528699&w=2
  9. "v20.04.12". www.shotcut.org. Retrieved 1 Apr 2020.
  10. "MLT Framework license details". GitHub. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  11. "VideoPad Video Editor Versions". www.nchsoftware.com. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  12. "Download Free Video Editor". www.videosoftdev.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  13. Adobe Premiere Pro system requirements Adobe Systems
  14. Media Composer System Requirements Avid
  15. Requirements Blender Foundation
  16. VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 User Guide P.10 Corel
  17. EDIUS 9 system requirements Grass Valley
  18. Final Cut Pro X - Technical Specifications Apple
  19. Premiere Pro supported file formats Adobe Systems
  20. Avid Supported Video File Formats Avid
  21. "OpenCL Status". Dev:2.6. Blender Wiki. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  22. DaVinci Resolve Supported Formats and Codecs Blackmagic Design
  23. Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut Pro: Supported media formats Apple
  24. https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/products/videostudio/pro/
  25. "EDL Support in Blender". www.blenderartists.org. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
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