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 2020 2021 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 Flame Linux (CentOS), Mac Autodesk 1993 2020 2021 Commercial professional (vfx; finishing system)
Autodesk Smoke Mac Autodesk ? 2020 2021 Commercial professional (vfx; finishing system)[1]
Avid Media Composer Windows, Mac Avid 1989 2020 2020.10 Commercial professional
Avid Media Composer First Windows, Mac Avid 2017 2019 2019.9 Freeware professional
Avidemux Windows, Mac, BSD, Linux Mean, Gruntster and Fahr 2020 2.7.6 GPL basic
AVS Video Editor Windows Online Media Technologies Ltd. 2003 2020 9.4.1 Commercial prosumer
Blender (VSE: Video Sequence Editor) Windows, Mac, Solaris, Irix, Linux Blender Foundation 2002 2020 2.90.1 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 2020-10[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 16.2.5 Freeware, Commercial professional
EDIUS Windows Grass Valley Canopus 2002 2020 10.00 Commercial professional
Final Cut Pro X Mac Apple Inc. 2011 2020 10.4.10 Commercial professional
Flowblade Linux Open Source Community 2012 2020 2.6.3[3] GPL prosumer
Blackbird Cross-Platform (JavaScript, Java, iOS, Android) Blackbird PLC 2004 2020 - Commercial professional
iMovie Mac, iOS Apple Inc. 1999 2020 10.2.2 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 2021 20.12.1 GPL prosumer
Lightworks Windows, Mac, Linux LWKS 1989 2021 2021.1 Freeware, Commercial professional
LiVES GNU/Linux, Unix-like Gabriel Finch and others 2002 2020 3.2.0 GNU GPLv3 + prosumer
LosslessCut Windows, Mac, BSD, Linux Mikael Finstad 2016 2020 3.30.0 MIT_License basic, GOP-boundaries
Magix Movie Edit Pro Windows Magix circa 2001 (VideoDeluxe 1.0) 2018 2019, 2019 Plus,
2019 Premium [4]		 Commercial prosumer
Natron Windows, Mac, Linux Alexandre Gauthier, Frédéric Devernay 2014 2020 2.3.15 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 2020 24[6] Commercial prosumer
Pitivi Linux Open Source Community 2004 2020 2020.09[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 2020 18.0 Build 373 Commercial professional (small)
VideoPad Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android NCH Software 2008 2020 8.96[11] Trialware prosumer
VSDC Free Video Editor Windows Flash-Intergro LLC 2008 2020 6.5.1[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)) [±] Freeware basic
VirtualDubMod Windows 2002 2007 1.5.10.3_b2550 GPL ?
VideoThang Windows VideoThang LLC 2007 2008 2.0.1 Freeware ?
Avid Free DV Windows, Mac Avid ? 2006 1.8.1 Commercial ?
Final Cut Express Mac Apple Inc. 2003 2007 4.0.1 Commercial prosumer
Final Cut Pro Mac Apple Inc. 1999 2009 7.0.3 Commercial professional
Pinnacle Videospin Windows Avid 2009 2009 2.0 Freeware ?
Ulead MediaStudio Pro Windows Ulead Systems (now Corel) ? 2006 8.1 Commercial ?
Serif MoviePlus Windows Serif (Europe) Ltd 2000 2012 X6 Commercial prosumer (basic)
MPEG Video Wizard DVD Windows Womble Multimedia ? 2012 5.0.1.105 Trialware prosumer
Xpress Pro Windows, Mac Avid 2003 ? 5.8 Commercial ?
Kino Linux, BSD Open Source Community 2000 2009 1.3.4 GPL ?
MainActor Windows, Linux MainConcept 2004 2007 5.5 Commercial ?
EditDV Windows, Mac Radius 1997 2002 3.0 Commercial ?
VirtualDub Windows Avery Lee 2000 2013 1.10.4 stable GPL basic
Cinelerra-CV Linux Open Source Community 2003? 2015 2.3 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] ‹See Tfd›?
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] ‹See Tfd›?
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 ‹See Tfd›? 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] ‹See Tfd›? Yes[19] ‹See Tfd›? Yes[19] Yes[19] Yes[19] ?
Adobe Premiere Elements No No Yes (As of 7.0) ? Yes ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Avid Media Composer Yes[20] Yes Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes[20] Yes Yes[20] ‹See Tfd›? Yes[20] Yes[20] ‹See Tfd›? ?
Avidemux ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
AVS Video Editor ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Blender ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Cinelerra Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Cinelerra-GG Infinity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? Yes
DaVinci Resolve Mac with
Final Cut
Pro X[21]		 Yes Yes[21] Yes[21] Mac with
Final Cut Pro X[21]		 Mac with
Final Cut
Pro X[21]		 Yes[21] Yes[21] Yes[21] 16 or later Yes[21] ‹See Tfd›? Yes[21] Yes[21] Yes[21] ?
EDIUS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Final Cut Pro X Yes[22] Yes Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] Partial (3rd party via
codec install)		 ? ? Yes[22] Yes[22] Yes[22] ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Blackbird Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
iMovie Yes (3rd party) No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
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) ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
LiVES ? Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Kdenlive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Magix Movie Edit Pro No ? Yes ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
MPEG Video Wizard DVD ? ? No ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Nero Video No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? No ? ? ? ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
OpenShot Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Pinnacle Studio No No Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Pitivi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Shotcut ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Corel VideoStudio ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Vegas Pro Yes (3rd party) Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes (3rd party) ? ? Yes ? Yes (as of Pro 9) ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
VideoPad Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
VirtualDub Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
VSDC Free Video Editor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
WeVideo Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
Windows Live Movie Maker No ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ‹See Tfd›? ‹See Tfd›? ?
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 ‹See Tfd›?
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 ‹See Tfd›? Yes Yes 32/99 (Plus/Premium) each track may contain audio and video ‹See Tfd›? 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[23] Yes Yes 7 9 Yes Yes (CUDA and QuickSync)
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[24] 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 ‹See Tfd›? Yes No ‹See Tfd›?
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 Yes 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 ‹See Tfd›?
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 2020-11-04.
  3. "Flowblade Release Notes | Flowblade". Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  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 Downloads". www.pinnaclesys.com.
  7. "Pitivi NEWS | Pitivi". Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  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. DaVinci Resolve Supported Formats and Codecs Blackmagic Design
  22. Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut Pro: Supported media formats Apple
  23. https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/products/videostudio/pro/
  24. "EDL Support in Blender". www.blenderartists.org. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.