At the moment I'm interning at an awesome small video production company (with big ambitions) and I'm loving it. The more experience.
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The Rundown
- Best Overall:Adobe Premiere Pro at Amazon, 'The cross-platform, uber-popular timeline-based video editor that’s long set the standard for video editing software.'
- Runner-Up, Best Overall:Nero Platinum 2019 at Amazon, 'An essential multitasking tool that's perfect for beginners or aspiring filmmakers.'
- Best Value:Pinnacle Studio 21 Ultimate at Best Buy, “Offers a host of post effects that put this thing way out of its price class.”
- Best for Macs:Apple Final Cut Pro at Apple, 'Treads the line between a consumer product and one for professionals who need powerful editing tools.'
- Best for Windows:Movavi Video Editor 15 at Amazon, 'Built specifically with beginners in mind, offering special features that make it a breeze to create.'
- Best for YouTube:Corel VideoStudio Pro X10 at Amazon, 'With over 1,500 customizable effects, transitions, and titles, there’s something for everyone.'
- Best for Vloggers:Sony Movie Studio 13 at Amazon, 'Can directly upload to Facebook or other social media for fast sharing.'
- Best for Smartphones:Adobe Premiere Clip at iTunes, 'Perfect for creatives whose videos are bound for social media channels like YouTube and Instagram.'
- Best for Beginners:Corel VideoStudio at Amazon, 'Includes storyboard mode, which helps users draft the exact vision they have in mind.'
Our Top Picks
Best Overall: Adobe Premiere Pro
The granddaddy of video editing, Adobe Premiere Pro is the cross-platform, uber-popular timeline based video editor that’s long set the standard for video editing software. Capable of tackling nearly any type of video format, Adobe’s software is ready to produce video for any type of professional production, including film, television and the Web. Premiere Pro offers enough horsepower to handle 360-degree virtual reality video to 8K footage all in native format. It can even import and export footage from competitive software such as Final Cut Pro.
While most professional-grade software can handle multi-cam editing, Premiere Pro goes one step beyond, handling as many sources as necessary with as many angles as required. The inclusion of the bundled Lumetri Color Panel allows advanced color adjustments to be handled with ease. Additionally, Adobe’s integration with After Effects and Photoshop adds even more reason for professional grade editors to choose Premiere Pro.
Runner-Up, Best Overall: Nero Platinum 2019
Nero is a trusted name when it comes to diverse and easy-to-use multimedia suites, and Nero Platinum 2019 is no different. The latest version of its flagship product allows you to burn media, create your own, edit creations, organize your collection, stream the media you've already got, and much more. It's an essential multitasking tool that's perfect for beginners or aspiring filmmakers, with everything you need to author, burn, and store the best possible content you can make.
The latest version includes several new choices for movie design, disc menu, and vertical smartphone video designs in addition to the new Nero Start application, 1-Click Video Story, and DriveSpan app for making stored creations even simpler. Whether you need to edit that great new film you shot with friends or want to organize your files, Nero Platinum 2019 is an excellent choice.
Best Value: Pinnacle Studio 21 Ultimate
Corel’s Pinnacle Studio 21 Ultimate gives you everything you’ll get with the standard copy of Pinnacle Studio 21, plus a host of upgraded features. It does everything the lower version will do: giving you a seamless editing interface, the ability to work in full HD, as well as a great set of features for laying out a perfect story with video. But, it will also offer you a host of post effects that put this thing way out of its price class.
Video Editing Macbook Pro Reddit
For starters, they’ve added in some crazy seamless morph transitions to help you blend together all the parts of your visual story. They’ve thrown in a pretty unique paintbrush filter effect that will work in tandem with already-shot video, letting you transform raw, live footage into living animations. Not only does Studio 21 Ultimate offer support for uploading 360-degree video but they’ve included a surprisingly intuitive set of trim, edit and control features for 360 video that will let you ensure your viewer gets the exact immersive experience you want.
Finally, rounding out their set of flagship additions, they give you the ability to include a motion-tracked image-blurring filter over the top of any element on the screen, meaning you can protect the identity of someone’s face, their license plate or anything else you’d prefer not to be in your final product.
Best for Macs: Apple Final Cut Pro
Top Video Editor For Mac
Apple’s Final Cut Pro X software falls into what we call the “prosumer” category because it treads the line between a product for consumers who want to up their video-editing game and one for professionals who need powerful editing tools. It lacks a traditional timeline-track interface, which is enough to scare some users off, but the software is intuitive and powerful nonetheless.
It has great organizational tools like libraries, ratings, tagging, auto analysis for faces and scenes, and automatic color coding for track-specific clips, useful keyboard short-cuts, and drag-and-drop media importing give Adobe’s Premiere Elements a run for its money. Unfortunately, you can't directly open projects from Final Cut Pro 7 or earlier, but there are many third-party plug-ins that will help you out there.
Best for Windows: Movavi Video Editor 15
The latest version of Movavi Video Editor is built specifically with beginners in mind, offering special features that make it a breeze to create. Its drag-and-drop interface is especially useful, as it allows you to trim, cut, and otherwise tinker with your clips to piece them together in a way that makes it easy to debut your very own masterpiece. It also includes a wide variety of transitions, titles, and special effects to jazz up your final version, with picture-in-picture support, callouts to annotate certain sections, stickers to place on your clips, and more.
Have older, subpar quality videos you wish you could clean up a bit? Use Magic Enhance. Need some extra footage? You can use Movavi Video Editor to record new clips from within the application as well. With all these tools in mind, Movavi offers powerful ways to package and share your footage, whether you're an old auteur or fledgling director.
Best for YouTube: Corel VideoStudio Pro X10
When it comes to video editing for YouTube, almost every app does it well, but Corel VideoStudio Pro X10 does it better. With nearly every feature and tool that you need at your disposal (including transitions, effects, titles, templates and more), Pro X10 brings with it an outstanding fleet of tools.
Support for 360-degree VR, 4K, Ultra HD and 3D media help round out the export opportunities available with Pro X10 and, while they may not all be supported by YouTube now, it’s good to know you have the capability for when they are. The user interface isn’t for beginners, but within a short amount of time, you’ll be a master at capturing, editing and sharing.
Added features such as time remapping for including slow motion, high-speed effects or freeze action are complemented by easily grouping or ungrouping clips on a timeline to edit in bulk or one at a time. With over 1,500 customizable effects, transitions and titles, there’s something for everyone. Even as the video itself is the focus, custom fitting your project with a soundtrack is handled well with custom-fit audio allowing your movies to both look and sound good.
Best for Vloggers: Sony Movie Studio 13
Sony Movie Studio 13 was made with the digital filmmaker in mind – once you’ve edited your video to your satisfaction, you can directly upload it to Facebook or other social media for fast sharing. Create video in beautiful 4K (ultra HD) XAVCS, or AVCHD to give your vlogs a high-production, professional feel.
Movie Studio 13 Platinum is touch-enabled, too, so you can create and edit movies even faster using your PC’s touchscreen. With large, easy-to-use buttons, fewer menus and the popular Simple Edit Mode, Sony Movie Studio 13 makes video editing fast and easy, so you can keep up with the Internet’s viral pace. The software also comes with ACID Music Studio 10 and Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 to take your online media up a notch.
Best for Smartphones: Adobe Premiere Clip
Premiere Clip is your iOS/Android connection to Adobe’s most powerful editing programs: Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements. It’s part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem, which means you’ll need an Adobe ID to access it, but both the app and an account are free for all.
Premiere Clip is perfect for creatives whose videos are bound for social media channels like YouTube and Instagram. You can easily import video clips from places like your phone, Lightroom, Creative Cloud, and Dropbox, and then use the app’s Freeform editor to trim or split clips, adjust exposure and highlights, add audio and more. And, of course, you can add filters, which is a given in today’s social media sphere.
Best for Beginners: Corel VideoStudio
Corel’s Windows-only VideoStudio offers an equally robust set of features comparative to Adobe or CyberLink’s product line. Right off the bat, it’s easy to see why VideoStudio is a great option: It offers support for 4K, 360-degree VR, multi-cam editing, as well as a large library of royalty-free music. Beginners will quickly learn to appreciate features such as 'checkmarks,' which can either let you know which clips you’ve already used or can apply effects to all the clips currently in your timeline at once. Additionally, voice detection helps you match subtitles to speech in your video clips.
Purchasing the full version of VideoStudio Ultimate X10 adds a whole extra set of options that beginners will quickly love, including multi-monitor support, easier title creation, and even stop-motion animation. Corel supports almost every output format imaginable, so it's ideal for sharing socially or for hosting online for the world to see. Another highlight for beginners is the inclusion of storyboard mode, which will help draft the exact vision they have in mind for a finished product without wasting hours and days on edits that may never see the light of day.
Movavi Video Editor
What to Look for in Video Editing Software
Platform - If you’re looking for a new video editing software package, you’ll want to look into whether if it is available for your platform before continuing to dig into it any further. If you have a Windows PC or a Mac, check the software manufacturer's website to see if a version is available for your device.
Experience - Are you brand new to video editing or a seasoned professional? Some video editing software packages can feel extremely intimidating with an endless number of settings and dials. If you are new to the game, consider picking out a started solution from companies like Corel and Nero.
Price - Professional video editing software packages and cause hundreds if not thousands of dollars. If you are looking to edit videos of your family events, you most likely won’t need the features in the professional suites. If you’re keeping it simple, don’t spend over $100 on your software of choice.
Screenshots
Description
Offering professional quality, VideoPad Video Editor is the perfect video editor and recorder to make movies that will impress your family, friends, and colleagues. With its intuitive interface, you can quickly and easily start editing your project by using the drag and drop features to pull your audio and video clips in the timeline.
Enjoy the ability to jump right in and start editing using the many editing tools available. Customize your project by applying stunning effects, transitions, color corrections, and filters. Once your project is created to perfection, share it with friends online or burn directly to DVD or blu-ray.
Video Editing Features Include:
Video Features
+ Drag and drop for speed and convenience.
+ Record video directly from VideoPad application or use pre-existing video files.
+ Select from over 30 transitions
+Edit 360 videos
+ Apply artistic effects and filters, like: ripple, dots, dream, hue cycle, two-tone, or x-ray.
+ Take advantage of plugins to gain access to thousands more effects.
+Add custom title cards or chose from animated title card templates
+ Make color corrections with color curves, exposure, transparency, and much more.
+ Edit in 3D and 2D to 3D stereoscopic conversion
+ Adjust clip speed and transition durations
+ Use the chroma key/green screen for image replacement
+ Add text and captions to create a storyline
+ Use batch edit to edit multiple files and clips at once
Audio Features
+ Drag and drop in audio files or make a recording right in the app
+ Edit sound by using cut, copy, fade, split, and other editing tools
+ Convert text to audio by using the Text-To-Speech feature
+ Include stock sounds from the NCH Sound Library
+ Tell your movies story by creating narrations
+ Load music directly from a CD
+ Apply audio effects, like: amplify, compressor, flanger, or reverb
Sharing Features
+ Share online directly to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Dropbox, or Google Drive
+ Burn to DVD or blu-ray to watch later
+ Export your movie onto portable devices, including your PSP, iPod, or iPhone
+ Choose from resolution sizes of full HD, 2K and 4K (720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p, and more)
Supported file formats include: avi, mpeg, wmv, divX, Xvid, APGN, mp4, mov, vob, H.264, ogm, gif, jpg, png, bmp, tif, wav, mp3, m4a, mid, aiff, ogg, raw, dvf, and more.
What’s New
New UI with Dark mode
New Video Effects:
- Flip
- Crop/Letterbox/Stretch to Aspect Ratio
- Circular/Directional Blur
- Noise Reduction
- Fade (Cross Fade, Fade In/Out)
Variable preview playback speed
H265 (HEVC) export for mp4 and mov
THE WORST
I hate admitting it but this thing has made me cry multipe times over multiple projects. It can do a lot and is really easy to figure out, but is a nightmare once you finish what youre working on. I recently finished the first draft of a video, about a months worth of work, and everything was going smoothly until I started trying to go back through from the beginning again. Suddenly it takes about an hour to load and process the files when it didn’t even take a minute before, and it crashes after about a minute or two. What’s worse is I tried editing a video clip at the very beginning and it messed up EVERYTHING. Video clips are now overlayed and I have to find them to seperate them, audio is no longer aligned with the video, text and extra audio is all over the place. This insanity also started happening on my last project, but I was able to just save and export it before anything too bad happened to it, even though it wasn’t finished either. And I last about half my work on the video I finished before that one, just gone like I never did. I kept coming back to it because it can do most everything I want to do while being free, and I keep hoping maybe it was really me messing it up or that the updates will have fixed it, but it just keeps reuining projects I’ve spent weeks working on and will not allow me to fix them. It could be a great video editor if it didn’t destroy the every video you use it to create.
Developer Response,
Hello,
We are very sorry to hear about the inconveniences you have experienced with our application. I have passed along your review to our development team so we can investigate the issues you have brought forward. If you could message us with more details about your experience, including App version, OS version, any relevant file information, and anything you think would help us better look into the problem, we would appreciate it: http://www.nch.com.au/software/bug.html In the meantime, please reach to our support team. We would love to try to assist you with the problems you have faced and resolve them as soon as possible: http://www.nch.com.au/support/supportcontact.html?software=VideoPad
-NCH Software team
Best of a Bad Situation
Let me guess, you’re looking for a video editing app that isn’t $500 and is easy to use. VideoPad Video Editor definitely isn’t $500 (currently $99), and, while it is pretty intuitive, it’s not without shortcomings.
I’ve used the free version of VideoPad Video Editor to get by on small projects without much of an issue. The limitations are saving files in high resolutions (I believe anything over 1200x1200), no audio FX (minus fading in / fading out) and a few others. I’ve came so close to paying the $99 to fully experience VideoPad, but some of the lackluster qualities of it have really made me reconsider.
The biggest, and most frustrating, is crashing. Yes, there is an autosave, but, with my minute long video project, if I try to shorten any of the audio clips, the app crashes. There’s no worse purchase than food you don’t like, but spending money on a video app that prevents you from completing the task is a close second.
The second, though nitpicking, is the app is pretty dated UI-wise. I grew up using a variety of command line-only apps, so it certainly can be worse. The year is 2018, and a facelift would be a bit more welcoming.
In short, don’t expect the world from a free video editing app and dont expect it’ll get better just because you paid.
~~ I will gladly update this review if these issues are revised. If a log is needed for figuring out the crashes, feel free to respond with how and where to send, and I will do so promptly.
Developer Response,
Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to give us your well thought out feedback. We appreciate it as we are always aiming to improve our software. We do have a way you can report these issues so that our development team can investigate it located here: http://www.nch.com.au/software/bug.html
But for overall concerns with our software, please message our support team here (for assistance, for suggestions about UI, to address concerns that have made you reconsider the full product, etc.): http://www.nch.com.au/support/supportcontact.html?software=VideoPad
We hope to hear from you soon and apologize for any inconveniences you've had.
-NCH Software Team
Superb
I only recently got into video editing by accident. Wanted to crop a home movie and could not find inexpensive software that could do what I wanted. Have very little background on editing and related tools. I found the program fantastic in what it could do, versatile, and easy to use. I have been trying different stuff and I really like it, so much so that I am thinking of asking my boss to spring for a license or Pro version so I can use it at work. Very much recomend it.
Information
OS X 10.7.3 or later, 64-bit processor
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.