Using a free video editing program is an easy and convenient way to edit your videos. Plus, most of them are so easy to use that they’re great for beginning editors.
You might want a video editor if you need to extract audio from a video or add different audio, cut out parts of the video, add subtitles, build a DVD menu, merge video files together, or fade a video in or out.
1. OpenShot (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
2.VideoPad (Windows & Mac)
Another video editing software program for both Windows and Mac is VideoPad, from NCH Software. It’s 100 percent free for non-commercial use.
It supports drag-and-drop, effects, transitions, 3D video editing, text and caption overlay, video stabilization, easy narration, free built-in sound effects, and color control.
VideoPad can also change the video speed, reverse the video, burn DVDs, import music, and export movies to YouTube (and other similar sites) and a variety of resolutions (like 2K and 4K). More »
3. Freemake Video Converter (Windows)
Freemake Video Converter functions mainly as a free video converter, which is why I’ve added it to this list. However, its simple and easy-to-use editing features is what sets it apart from some of the more complex and confusing editors.
Being able to do some light editing to your videos is great when you can also use the same tool to convert the file to a variety of other formats, or even burn the files directly to a disc.
Some of the video editing features of this program includes adding subtitles, clipping out sections you don’t want in the video, removing or adding audio, and merging/joining videos together.
You can read our review over the converter functions here. More »
4.VSDC Free Video Editor (Windows)
VSDC is a full-featured free video editing tool that you can install on Windows. A fair warning though: this program might be a little hard to use for beginners because of the sheer number of features and menus.
However, if you poke around for while and play with your videos within the editor, you’ll find that it’s not quite as daunting as it was when you first opened it.
There’s even a wizard you can run to make things easier. Some of things you can do is add lines, text, and shapes, as well as charts, animations, images, audio, and subtitles. Plus, as any good video editor should, VSDC can export videos to a variety of file formats.
The VSDC Video Editor setup also lets you easily install their video capture program and screen recorder. These are of course optional but they may come in handy in certain projects. More »
5.iMovie (Mac)
iMovie is completely free for macOS. It offers many options for editing video and audio plus adding photos, music, and narration to your videos.
One of my favorite features of iMovie is its ability to make 4K-resolution movies, and you can even start doing so from your iPhone or iPad and then finish it on your Mac. That’s pretty cool! More »
6. Movie Maker (Windows)
Movie Maker was Window’s free video editing software that comes pre-installed on a number of versions of Windows. You can use it to create and share high-quality movies.
I include it here in this list because it’s already on lots of Windows computers, which means you might not even need to download anything in order to start using it.
Paula