Free/cheap Video editor

Nevakonaza · 1 Nov 2021 at 00:26

Anyone recommend a free or cheap video editor that's "Easy" to use for a beginner like me?

I use to like using Windows Movie maker as that was super easy back on Vista.

Recently tried Openshot video editor but that felt extremely clunky, stuttery and had no GPU acceleration, Only CPU acceleration and scrubbing was a stuttery mess.

What would you guys recommend?, Hopefully one that has GPU acceleration

lsg1r · 1 Nov 2021 at 01:04

Not sure if it would fall under easy to use for you but davinci resolve would be my suggestion.

Nevakonaza · 1 Nov 2021 at 10:35

Looks super high end, Will give it a go

Cyclone · 1 Nov 2021 at 14:43

Another shout for Davinci Resolve. The free version is powerfull, and I think the latest version (17.4) now lets you use the gpu.

There's load of tutorials on youtube, and I recommend MrAlexTech

RoosterC · 3 Nov 2021 at 18:34

lsg1r said:
Not sure if it would fall under easy to use for you but davinci resolve would be my suggestion.

Thanks for this. Been watching the tutorials and seems to be really powerful for a free version. Do you know the difference between the version 16 and 17, as both seem to be available to download?

MouthBoy · 3 Nov 2021 at 22:54

I too use DaVinci Resolve, and honestly it is rather easy to pickup the basics.

I used version 17, but do not know the difference. I think I originally installed 16 but then it upgraded anyway.

Something I do do though is use Studio Ready Drivers from NVidia rather than Game Drivers (only a small difference and not had an impact on gaming at all for me) due to some small stability issues I used to have. Changing the drivers resolved it.

lsg1r · 4 Nov 2021 at 02:10

RoosterC said:
Thanks for this. Been watching the tutorials and seems to be really powerful for a free version. Do you know the difference between the version 16 and 17, as both seem to be available to download?

not sure but I think 17 gained a few new things or had them updated/improved... I'd just grab 17 if I'm being honest.

As above I use the studio drivers, no obvious issues in games either.

Drizmod · 6 Nov 2021 at 21:32

there is also Shotcut which is also a very good open source free video editor

TrojanWhore · 10 Nov 2021 at 20:35

I've used the free versions of:

- lightworks - good but limited to 720p output for the free version I think
- davinchi resolve - was OK but I, personally, found it clunky to use (this was a few years back, may be better now!)
- HitFilm express - pretty good and stuck with it until I picked up vegas

bought 'vegas edit' in a humble bundle for around £20 (v14 at the time and 16 a couple years later) and find that super easy to use with good results - keep an eye out on humble bundle as it's typically around Nov/Dec they have done that bundle in the past

(it does nag you to buy the newer versions quite often though!)

Blackjack Davy · 11 Nov 2021 at 00:15

AVIdemux

RichardBrown · 22 Mar 2022 at 16:09

There are many cheap or free video editors right now, but not all of them turn out to be good to use.

IT Troll · 12 Oct 2022 at 09:02

Windows 11 22H2 adds Clipchamp which purchased by Microsoft.

mrk · 12 Oct 2022 at 13:33

Davinci resolve is excellent and super fast. Uses CUDA for GPU acceleration and supports H.265 encoding. The free version has limited audio codecs/bitrates and a ssuch you are limited to 192kbits 16bit - Which is likely to be fine for 99% of people anyway.

Can use it to very quickly import, cut and export a video once you familiarise yourself with the layout. I normally live in the Cut and Export modules, all editing done on cut, then in the Export module choose your video codec, audio, file location and click the send to render queue button and on the right click start the render tasks when ready.

Windows movie Maker isn't as robust as it once was, they have dumbed it down too much.

I have used Shotcut, hitfilm and lightworks in the past too when I was on the hunt to find a replacement for the old Windows movie maker and came across Resolve.