Best Photo Video Editor For Mac

Your Wait is over now here comes the Best and Free Video Editor and Movie maker, slideshow maker or film maker application for your windows devices, create professional looking video stories with few taps and with amazing transitions and themes *Choose from hundreds of user-friendly special effects that range from stickers and filters to animated clips and subtitles to transform. Surely the best video editing software for Mac lovers and do read the review below for extra information on Final Cut Pro X. Read – Final Cut Pro Review. Corel VideoStudio Ultimate 2018 (For Beginners – easy & simple interface,Price: $98.38) Platform: Windows only. Make your most engaging movies ever with VideoStudio Pro X10. The Best Photo and Video Editor - Filmora Video Editor Luckily, you can now get everything you need to create the best videos and photos ever and amazingly, all in one popular software package. Filmora Video Editor for Mac (or Filmora Video Editor for Windows ) is the easiest way to create, edit, and automatically turn your videos and photos into magical videos and instantly share them with your family and friends.

Jul 24,2019• Proven solutions

If you are new to the video editing world, a free video editing software can be the best choice for you. Although most free video editors are feature limited, they are easy to use and can meet almost all of your basic video demands like cutting, trimming, cropping, or rotating. Our top 10 list focuses on the best free video editing software for Windows we could find, and it will give you an overview of what you can expect from each video editor.

Are you also looking for video editors for Mac, Linux, mobile phone, or online? Check our latest post 36 Best Video Editors for All the Platforms.

Part 1: Choosing the Right Video Editor for Windows

As we mentioned before, there are so many video editing software [free & paid] available on the market, but how to choose the right video editing software especially when you are a newbie and want a free video editing software before you dig deeper?

• Interface: For a newbie, a user-friendly interface can help you save a lot of time from learning and getting familiar with the program. Some users like to use modern and intuitive free video editor, while others just like to use old style editors.


• Formats: Make sure the software you choose enables you to export common used formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc, so that you can easily share your work on YouTube or other social media platform. Friendly reminder: generally speaking, MP4 is the most used format, so it is wiser to find a free video editor that supports MP4 at least.

Part 2: Best Video Editing Software for Beginners (Video Tutorial)

Wondershare Filmora9 - Recommended

You might find that the video editing software below are either too simple to meet your demends like audio editing and color correction, or too difficult to understand the workflow, then you should look at Wondershare Filmora9, which has significant improvement in overall performance, making the product faster, more powerful, and taking the user editing experience to a new level. It is perfect for helping beginners and intermediate users create stylish videos by providing an intuitive user interface and built-in effects.

• A wide support for different formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, AVCHD, MKV and more.
• Enables you to crop, trim, cut, split and combine in a few clicks.
• Various top-tier video effects including motion elements, animated titles, royalty-free music, and transitions.
• Make your footage look like Hollywood film with color tuning tool
• Perfect your sound with audio keyframing, background noise removal, and an audio equalizer.
• Make exciting GoPro/action cam videos with precise speed controls, video stabilization, and fish-eye lens correction.
• Real-time rendering will keep your editing experience smooth, even if you’re working with 4K footage.
• Burn to DVD or upload to YouTube, or transfer to any popular portable devices.

How to Edit Videos with Wondershare Filmora9

Import Media Files

Import media files from your computer or cameras and smart phones, and directly drag-n-drop to the program.

Edit Your Video

Easily crop, rotate, split or cut videos on the timeline. Then add effects and filters to enrich your video.

Save & Enjoy

Save your video to different formats, or upload to YouTube, Vimeo, burn to DVD and more.

Part 3: Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software for Windows

The following best video editing software list is ranked by skill level only.

1. Windows Movie Maker - Free Built-in Video Editor on Windows 7

Windows Movie Maker was once the world's most popular free video editing tool for Windows and users can make home movies by simple drag-and-drop. It contains features such as video effects, video transitions, adding titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. Although Windows Movie Maker is built for Windows 7, and if you are looking for some free video editing software for Windows 8 or Windows 10, then you should skip Windows Movie Maker to use Microsoft Windows 10 Photos app. However, Windows Movie Maker has been discontinued by Microsoft, you can still find installation packages on some third-party authoritative download sites:

After you finish video editing, you can share video directly to social media platform including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. If you don't know your computer's system requirement, you can try this one. However, you must know it won't upgrade anymore, so you are not able to enjoy some innovative and high video editing technology.

The Windows Movie Maker includes some features listed below:

• Input formats: ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, M1V, MP2, MP2V, MPE, MPEG, MPG, MPV2, WM, WMV
• Output formats: Windows Media Video (WMV) or DV AVI
• Advantages: Free, meets your basic editing demands
• Limitations: Service discontinued; No support for modern file formats; Lacks color correction tools, visual effects or any other advanced video editing options.

2.VideoPad Video Editor

VideoPad is a cross-platform software for beginners. Although the free version limits the video exporting options to just two file formats. The VideoPad's interface doesn't take much time to get used to, and it perfectly adjusted to the needs of inexperienced video editors.

This is an intuitive, feature rich and easy to use video editing platform. Beginners can enjoy easy editing with its drag and drop type timeline and the loads of transitions, effects and speed adjustment features make customization easier.

If you like to use transitions and have various video clips, VideoPad includes more than 50 transition effects. After applying transitions, you can also adjust video speed to make slow motion or fast speed video effect. For audio, you can also record narations to make your video more detailed, which is a bonus for game lovers. However, this free video editor can't be used to make slideshow, so just pass it if you really care this function.

Features of this free video editor you should know:

• Input formats: avi, wmv, mpv, divx and many more
• Output formats: WMV, AVI
• Advantages: Intuitive interface
• Limitations: Certain features become unavailable when using the free version of the software over a longer period of time.

3.Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. You can use it on Windows 10/7/8. It supports various file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.

As its interface is so clear, it lacks timeline, so you can't add filters and transitions. The whole design of Avidemux is that many functions are for practical use, not stylish purpose. If your needs is very basic, this free video editing software is a choice. For advanced video editing, it can't let you have more controls. The good thing is you can use it smoothly and learn it quicly if you are a new users in video editing industry.

Avidemux includes some features below:

• Imput formats: AVI, MPEG, MOV, MP4, etc
• Output formats: AVI, MPEG, DIVX, XVID, MP4, etc
• Advantages: Avidemux also has solid encoding options and its interface is user-friendly.
• Limitations: There are no video effects or transitions.

4.OpenShot

Another open-source video editor which offers basic video editing features like trimming and slicing. It also provide lots of transitions and audio effects to help you make simple videos.

This free video editor can offer you unlimited video tracks in timeline. You can add many videos and audio clips. It also includes tile templates and video effects, so if you want to have more touches on your video, this free video program can also help you.

For audio editing, you can use waveforms to visualize your audio. It includes more than 70 languages. This free video editor is updated regularly, so you can always use the lasted video editing technology. However, you need to fix bugs or problems on your own as it is an open source editor, and the video effects are also limited.

• Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
• Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
• Advantages: Free as well as powerful.
• Limitations: Need to install add-ons if the OS you are using doesn't meet the software's system requirements.

5.VSDC Video Editor

It has tones of features and you can start for free. There is wide range of filters, overlays, transition effects and color correction abilities. This platform is designed to serve users with smooth editing experience so that even beginners can enjoy creative media projects. Thanks to its wide format support that helps to handle all popular media files with ease.

You can also use the build-in video converter tools to freely convert video/audio format to another format. It is a non-linear tool, which means you can place video clips in the timeline freely. You can also export your video to IG, FB and YouTube, which is powerful as a free video editor. You can also edit 4K and HD videos. For this point, not every free video editor can do.

• Imput formats: AVI, QuickTime (MP4/M4V, 3GP/2G2, MOV, QT), HDVideo/AVCHD (MTS, M2TS, TS, MOD, TOD), WindowsMedia (WMV, ASF, DVR-MS), DVD/VOB, VCD/SVCD, etc
• Output formats: AVI, DVD, VCD/SVCD, MPEG, MP4, M4V, MOV, 3GP/3G2, WMV, MKV, RM/RMVB, FLV, SWF, AMV, MTV
• Advantages: Intuitive interface, friendly to beginners.
• Limitations: Technical support is not free.

6.Kdenlive - Free and Open-source Video Editing Software

Kdenlive is an open-source video editing software which is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. This video editing software combines the simplicity of entry-level video editors with advanced video editing tools frequently used by experienced professionals.

As a free video editor, it is popular at first on Linux, but now you can also use it on Windows. It includes multi-track timeline to use, so you can import various video and audio clips onto timeline. For some special situation, say crash, Kdenlive can back up your file automatically, so no worries about file missing. From online forum and community, you can ask them questions if you have any questions, but sometimes you won't get answered as there is no support team.

• Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
• Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
• Advantages: Allows you to extend your capability with free add-ons.
• Limitations: No technical support.

7.Blender - Free & Open-source & Professional Animated Film Toolset

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation which supports all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Blender has many advanced features, such as modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material, etc. and is one of the best video editors for both Windows and Mac.

As a beginner users, it is difficult to use as it is designe for pros. It is totally free to use and distribute. The interface is customizable and flexible color settings. On the other hand, if you a semi-pros or want to improve your video edting to a higher level, this free video editor is best for you. The thing is you need to spend many time and energy to learn it. You can have a try to see if you like it or not.

• Input formats: latest audio and video formats
• Output formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, WebM.
• Advantages: A lot of advanced features, perfect for advanced users
• Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners; Very limited learning resources.

Learn more about Blender >>

8.DaVinci Resolve - Free Professional Video Editing & Color Correction software

If you had access to the video editing pro level, then you must try DaVinci Resolve 14. Except for multi-camera editing, 3D editing, motion blur effects, and spatial noise reduction which are only available on the paid version DaVinci Resolve Studio, you can almost do any professional video/audio editing and color correction with DaVinci Resolve 14.

• Supported formats: ARI, MTS, MXF, AVI, CIN, DNG, DPX, CDX, MP4, MXF, EXR, MOV
• Advantages: Stunning image quality. Color correction and audio editing are also excellent in Davinci Resolve.
• Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners.

9.HitFilm Express - Popular Free Video Editor & Compositor

HitFilm Express is a good alternative to Adobe After Effects, it offers users with many visual effect compositing options, and it lets you use semi-professional video editing tools for free. But beginners may find the software's interface difficult to navigate.

• Imput formats: AVCHD, AVI, DV, MP4, MPEG, MOV, MMV
• Output formats: AVI, MP4
• Advantages: Offers a wide spectrum of transitions and video effects.
• Limitations: Feature limited while exporting video files, not friendly to beginners.

10.Lightworks - Powerful Free Video Editor

Lightworks is a great free video editor featured with many video effects. It can edit up to 256 video, audio, and still image clips. But the user interface is very technical so many people find it hard to use. The pro version costs $25 a month.

Lately, it comes a new version 14.5. For more than 25 years, many movie makers use it as a professional tools to edit videos. You can use it to edit YouTube video and 4K films. Speaking of 4K, you can use proxy for smooth 4K video editing experience. If you want to edit 4K videos, this one is best for you.

• Imput formats: latest audio and video formats
• Output formats: mp4, MXF, Quicktime, AVI, mts, mpg, m2t
• Advantages: Well designed interface, many advanced features.
• Limitations: Not for beginners.

Check this video to see more best video editing software in the market!

This is the article about free video editing software for Windows, please check some free video editing for mac here. We do love to hear from you in the comment below if there are some other awesome free video editing software for Windows which are worth mention.

Easy-to-use and powerful video editor for all creators.

Bring up your video to a professional level with straightforward tools.

• Choosing Video Editing Software
• Video Editing Tips

HitFilm Express

Balancing creativity, ease of use and performance is a trade-off, but HitFilm remains an inspired software package brimming with features, and paired with a dynamic website offering an abundance of fun, funky training videos.

Apple iMovie 10.1.8

iMovie is the ultimate Mac video app for novice filmmakers, combining professional trailers and themes, abundant special effects, and an easy-to-learn interface.

VideoPad

Beginners looking for a free app to quickly edit and output a movie to YouTube or other social networks should check out VideoPad.

Unless you're editing the next Star Wars trilogy, there's no reason to spend a fortune—or anything, for that matter—on video editing software for your Mac or PC. While there are many reasonably priced video-editing suites, going for less than $100, completely free or freemium editing packages can accomplish most or all of what some of the paid software packages can do.

After testing numerous suites, our favorite free video editing software is HitFilm Express for its lavish cinematic capabilities and high-powered interface. Our favorite video editor for Mac owners, Apple's iMovie, is a no-brainer choice, because of its macOS integration, top-notch output, professional themes and trailers, and support for professional shooting and editing techniques.

Best Overall

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

Hitfilm Express's high-energy style appeals to budding filmmakers who want to put a special touch on a personal event or get creative with a video blog, but it's still easy enough for the adventurous friends-and-family crowd. The one concession you have to make is that you have to give the software maker a shout out on social media in order to download the free app.

New features include animation keyframing in the editor, motion blur, enhanced preview options, a new layout panel, improved masking in composite shots, additional workspaces and new export features.

Other great features include the ability to create your own lightsaber battles, support for 4K video, as well as such features as 3D effects, 360-degree video editing and lens distortion correction from action cameras. Our one quibble is that some features, such as picture-in-picture and animated text require a $9.99 expansion pack.

As with previous versions, HitFilm wasn't the fastest at encoding videos, but that's a trade-off we're willing to make for such an expansive feature set.
Editor's Note: Since our initial review, HitFilm has been updated to version 12.3; improvements GPU-accelerated decoding on Nvidia and Intel graphics cards, changes to the interface, and native support for Dolby AC3 audio.

MORE: HitFilm Express Full Review

Best for Mac Users

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

iMovie is the Mac-based amateur filmmaker’s best friend, delivering themes, Hollywood-style trailers and video effects with minimalistic panache, a cinematic flair, and deep integration and optimization with the Mac OS. Recent updates tweaked the interface and added Touch Bar support for the latest MacBooks.

While you can now edit and share 4K videos, iMovie lacks features found in other free apps, such as the ability to edit 360-degree video, multicam editing and motion tracking. You also have limited control over output settings.

Because it's so deeply entwined with the macOS, iMovie was one of the fastest apps when it came to encoding video. Once that's finished, it also gives you plenty of sharing options: You can upload directly to YouTube and Vimeo, and share any video frame as an image. When you couple iMovie with iMovie Theater and iCloud, you can also view your creations on any Apple device or via Apple TV.
Editor's Note: Now on version 10.1.12, you can no longer share movies to iMovie Theater; you have to save your movies to iCloud Photos to watch them on other devices including Apple TV. On a previous update, Apple has removed the ability to share videos directly to Facebook, but has added an option to export Facebook-compatible videos, which you can then manually upload.

MORE: Apple iMovie 10.1.8 Full Review

Best for Beginners/Social Media

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

This free video editor makes it a cinch to export your creations to YouTube, Facebook, Dropbox, Flickr, Google Drive and an assortment of mobile devices through a simple pull-down menu. You have to sign in to these services first. And while YouTube uploaded directly to my channel without incident, you may have to save your video to your hard drive with social media specs and then upload to the social network yourself.

Compared to HitFilm's high-energy interface, VideoPad has a simple, soothing look which makes it more approachable for novices. It works with both Macs and PCs and still lets you edit 360-degree video with the same ease as you would traditional movies, though adding text to 360-degree clips can be a bit tricky. VideoPad also lacks some of the advanced features you'll find with HitFilm, like multicam editing, high-end special effects and motion tracking, but you can purchase a number of add-ons to expand VideoPad's feature set.

Our biggest issue with VideoPad was not knowing which features were disabled in the free version versus the trial and paid versions. We found VideoPad to be a bit slower on our transcoding tests than Hitfilm, too. But that may not matter for those looking for an app that they can use to quickly and easily edit video and then upload to the social media outlet of their choice.

MORE: VideoPad Full Review

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

A powerful pro-level app, cross platform you’ll want to use a system with discrete graphics to get the most out of this editor.

The latest version of DaVinci incorporates Fusion, previously a stand-alone application, which brings with it four high-end video-production modules for editing, color correction, audio production, and video effects and motion graphics. This video editor is quite powerful, but has a bit of a learning curve. If its 256-page manual doesn't intimidate you, high-level enthusiasts will find a lot of tools at their disposal.

Editor's Note: DaVinci Resolve 16 is now available, and includes such new features as facial recognition, fast export to YouTube and Vimeo, and 3D audio.

Also Reviewed

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

VSDC is not bad for basic edits, but its interface has a learning curve, and it lacks some popular features.

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

Shotcut has a ton of features, but is not as intuitive to use as other programs.

Why You Should Trust Us

We have been testing the leading consumer video-editing suites, both free and paid, for several years. With such knowledge, we can compare things like performance, interfaces and features, and improvements in the various suites over time.

The reviewer, Jackie Dove, is an obsessive, insomniac freelance tech writer and editor in Northern California. A wildlife advocate, cat fan, photo-app fanatic and VR/AR/3D aficionado, her specialties include cross-platform hardware and software, art, design, photography, video, and a wide range of creative and productivity apps and systems.

Best Photo Video Editor For Mac

What to Look for in a Free Video Editor

The Definition of Free: There's free and then there's freemium. Some software, like iMovie, is genuinely free. But just as some video-editing packages are sold in tiers — with more-expensive versions offering more and expanded features — a freemium video program may just be the lowest level of a paid version. Or it may be a trial version that hobbles the end product in various ways, like putting a huge watermark on your video or limiting output formats.

Final Cut For Mac

But there are variations on this theme. HitFilm, VideoPad, DaVinci Resolve and VSDC, for example, offer paid versions with high-end features that most consumers probably won't miss, but otherwise allow for full use of the basic program.

Wondershare Video Editor For Mac

MORE: The Best Video Editing Software Under $100

Another hidden 'cost' is periodic or even constant in-line advertising or reminders that an upgrade is available. Our favorite program, HitFilm, never pushes an upgrade on you, but it makes you go through a social media and authorizing song and dance to download the product or switch computers. VideoPad (on the Mac) makes you verify at every launch that you are using the free version for noncommercial purposes.

Download Photo Editor For Mac

Both DaVinci and VSDC mix paid features in their basic programs, but they do not explicitly mark these features as such. However, if you try to use them, you'll get an error message and an ad. We can't fault the software companies for trying to get users on board with paid versions, but just be warned that such annoyances are the hidden cost of otherwise-free video apps.

Those looking for a powerful editor with a huge variety of built-in resources and responsive technical support may be better off dropping some cash on a consumer video-editing program, like award winners Adobe Premiere Elements, CyberLink PowerDirector or Corel VideoStudio. However, first consider trying out software such as HitFilm Express 2017, VideoPad, DaVinci Resolve or VSDC, which offer all of the basics for free, and then purchasing additional features à la carte or simply upgrade as your experience and needs grow.

Basic Features: The watchword with free apps is often which one offers the best combination of technically complex software for which you would otherwise have to shell out the big bucks. All video editors should, at the very least, have some combination of familiar features like a viewer or playback window, library, timeline, and access to transitions and effects.

Tech support and documentation: One of the big distinctions between paid and free software is the level of documentation and tech support; paid software has more-explicit and -detailed documentation and guides than the free versions. That said, many software packages post instructional videos of the most popular features to YouTube, and more-complex free packages may offer extensive documentation.

Best Photo Video Editor

Many independent vendors, who are often sole proprietors in charge of the software, make themselves available to users via social media and email to assist with problems, troubleshoot, take suggestions and criticism, and otherwise oversee the software. Programs with intuitive interfaces and tool-tip hints, and even built-in tutorials to greet new users, make free software popular.

System requirements: Many free software packages technically serve most consumer hardware systems with integrated graphics, as opposed to more-powerful discrete graphics cards. If you have a consumer machine like a MacBook or a Windows laptop with integrated graphics, make sure your machine is powerful enough to run them efficiently.

Export options: Another area where free meets inconvenience may be at the tail end of the project, when you want to export your video, only to discover that the free version will not output to your desired format. Before you start using a free package, make sure that it will save your video to the platform and resolution you need, whether your video will eventually wind up on YouTube or on a Blu-ray disc.