The best free video editors and best free video converters for Windows PC and laptop. We reveal the best free video-editing software packages you can install today.
There has never been a better time to edit video, which is good news because these days we are all budding film directors. If you want to do something brilliant with all those hours of footage of your kids in the park, you have come to the right place.
The modern video editor is simple to use and full of great effects. Literally anyone who can use a PC can edit video.
We found 22 great free video editors for Windows. And we listed them alphabetically, so take a look at all of our great free video-editing software packages. One of them is bound to be great for you. These are the best free video editors, regardless of your experience or ability. And stay tuned to the end, there are products from Microsoft and Google at the end that are great starter video editors for the uninitiated.
Best free video editors for Windows
Best free video editors: Avidemux
Avidemux is not one of the more simple free video editors, but it allows you to automate many tasks, and supports a huge array of file types. If you are comfortable with scripting it may be a good choice for you.
Click here to find out more about Avidemux
Best free video editors: BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve offers a professional level of video editing, as well as colour correction, and finishing. The feature set may be a little too much for absolute beginners, but if you know your way around a video editor this is a great non-linear editing package to choose.
Click here to find out more about BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve
Best free video editors: Blender
Blender is free, open source 3D creation software with a feature set that is truly stunning. It supports 3D modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, with video editing something of a tacked on extra. This is great software if you are interesting in 3D projects with some video editing, rather than a core video editor.
Click here to find out more about Blender
Best free video editors: DebugMode Wax
Free for business and personal use, Wax is high performance, flexible video compositing-and special effects software. It is good general purpose editor with high-end features.
Click here to find out more about Wax
Best free video editors: Freemake Video Converter
As the name suggests Freemake’s software is both free, and aimed more at converting different formats of video files than it is at editing projects. None the less, it offers some useful simple editing tools, and is the world’s number one video file converter, converting from and to MP4, MP3, AVI, MKV, iPhone, Android, and even YouTube. And it is free. Well worth having in your locker.
Click here to find out more about Freemake Video Converter
Best free video editors: HitFilm Express
HitFilm Express is great free video-editing software for Mac as well as Windows, offering 2D and 3D compositing and more than 140 visual effects and transitions, and unlimited tracks. There are free video tutorials and training, and a vibrant community that just loves to help. Some add-ons are pay for, but in general we are big fans of HitFilm.
Click here to find out more about HitFilm Express
Best free video editors: ivsEdits LE
ivsEdits LE is a free video editing software package that features most of the same professional editing tools of the serious professional tool ivsEdits, with some minor limitations around file formats.
Click here to find out more about ivsEdits
Best free video editors: Jahshaka
Jahshaka is a free, open source digital content creation platform – much more than a simple video editor, and for those who wish to do more than just edit video. It offers a powerful immersive media management and playback platform that is accentuated by modules for animation, compositing, editing and special effects. It’s full featured and has good support from its user community.
Click here to find out more about Jahshaka
Best free video editors: Kate’s Video Toolkit
Like Freemake as much a conversion tool as a full fat editor, Kate’s Video Toolkit is an easy-to-use, all-in-one solution for video conversion and simple edits. It can convert AVI, WMV, MPEG, MOV, MP4, 3GP and ASF files into a variety of output formats, including AVI, WMV, MPEG, MOV (Quick Time), VCD, and DVD. If you love to play around with sounds or edit videos, this tool will be great for you.
Click here to find out more about Kate’s Video Toolkit
Best free video editors: Lightworks
The free version of Lightworks Pro, Lightworks is EditShare’s professional grade non-linear editing software. It supports resolutions up to 4K as well as video in SD and HD formats. An excellent full-featured video editor for free.
Click here to find out more about Lightworks
Best free video editors: Machete Video Editor Lite
Machete Video Editor Lite is a free version of the powerful video editor Machete. As the name suggests Machete Lite is designed for quick and simple slicing and dicing of your video files. It is an easy way of deleting unnecessary fragments, and quickly cutting, copying and pasting video clips into a full video. The only real down side is that the Lite version supports only AVI and WMV files.
Click here to find out more about Machete Video Lite
Best free video editors: NCH Software VideoPad Video Editor
Designed to be intuitive and easy for beginners, VideoPad is a fully featured video editor for creating professional quality videos in minutes. It allows you to apply effects and transitions, as well as adjusting video speed.
Click here to find out more about NCH Software Videopad Editor
Best free video editors: PhotoFilmStrip
PhotoFilmStrip lets you create video clips from photos in three simple steps. You can then output for VCD, SVCD, DVD and Full HD. Other features include subtitling and background music. Not quite a full video editor, then, but good free software for those hoping to create videos from still photos.
Click here to find out more about PhotoFilmStrip
Best free video editors: Pinnacle VideoSpin
The cut down version of Pinnacle’s top of the shop premium video suites, VideoSpin is a free video editor that offers high-end capabilities in a simpler package. It’s designed to make it easy for beginners to create high-quality videos and slideshows, and is limited only in output options. A great choice.
Click here to find out more about Pinnacle VideoSpin
Best free video editors: Shotcut
Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor. It offers wide format support, and has a simple and easy-to-use interface for beginners and more advanced video editors to use. Recommended.
Click here to find out more about Shotcut
Best free video editors: Squared 5 MPEG Streamclip
MPEG Streamclip is a powerful free video converter, player, and editor. Edits are to a large part limited to cut, trim and join, but the conversion and export functions are good.
Click here to find out more about Squared5 MPEG Streamclip
Best free video editors: VirtualDub
VirtualDub is a free video capture- and processing software utility. It lacks the editing power of a full video editor, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video. If you need to make quick simple edits, this is for you.
Click here to find out more about VirtualDub
Best free video editors: VSDC Free Video Editor
A great free video editor that offers a simple-to-use non-linear video editor, full-fat video conversion tools and DVD authoring for those stuck in the 1990s. With video- and audio effects baked in there isn’t much that is bad that we can say about VSDC Free Video Editor.
Click here to find out more about VSDC Free Video Editor
Best free video editors: WeVideo
An online video editor that literally anyone can use, WeVideo is great for starters. For free you can create 2 minutes of video each month, publish to 720p, and use 1GB of storage. Your output will be watermarked, however. To remove the restrictions you need a paid version, and they start at $10. One for when you need a simple edit of a quick clip without installing software, or a great one for Chromebook users.
Click here to find out more about WeVideo
Best free video editors: Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a free video-editing software package from Microsoft. It is a part of the Windows Essentials software suite and offers the ability to create and edit videos as well as to publish them on OneDrive, Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, and Flickr. If you are a Windows user, there really is no reason not to install Windows Essentials and have a go with Movie Maker.
Click here to find out more about Windows Movie Maker
Best free video editors: Wondershare Filmora
Filmora is an easy-to-use video editor from Wondershare. It offers some great features, including text and titling, the ability to import music, overlays and filters, and still and motion graphics. What’s the catch? There isn’t one, really. There is a store for effects, and Wondershare would clearly like you to upgrade to the pay-for product. But the free version of Filmora may well satisfy your editing needs.
Click here to find out more about Wondershare Filmora
Best free video editors: YouTube Editor
YouTube Video Editor is – as the name implies – a free online editor for YouTubers. It lets you combine and edit YouTube clips. That could mean it is limited in use, but it is truly simple to get to grips with, and doesn’t require installing software. So all you need is a web browser and a Google account. You could, after all, always upload clips and download the final product.
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