Video Editing Softwares: April 2020

Best free video editing software in 2020

The best free video editing software for Macs and PCs let you do virtually everything paid software can.

Unless you're editing the next Star Wars trilogy, the best free video editing software is probably going to be good enough to let you turn the footage you shot into a masterpiece. That's because completely free or freemium editing packages can accomplish most or all of what some of the paid software packages can do.

For example, the best free video editing software will let you import multiple video and audio tracks; apply various filters; add things such as 3D effects, edit 360 video, and correct for lens distortion.

Many of the best free video editing software suites have additional features that can be purchased separately. The value of these so-called freemium programs vary of course, based on the price as well as the functionality of these add-ons.

Of course, there are some features that can only be found in paid software packages; be sure to check out our picks for the best cheap video editing software under $100.

What is the best free video editing software?

After testing numerous suites, the best free video editing software overall is HitFilm Express. It works with both Macs and PCs and has a revamped interface that's powerful but easy to use and customizable to your needs.

HitFilm Express has threaded rendering, as well as GPU decoding for AMD, Intel and Nvidia GPUS on PCs, so if you have a discrete graphics chip, you should see much faster speeds when rendering video. And, HitFilm allows you to export clips while you're working on others, which can speed up your entire workflow. Other features include Picture-in-Picture and support for vertical video, though you have to purchase an add-on pack.

While HitFilm is free, the company offers 30 add-on packs which range in price from around $15 up to $50, and include such features as 360-degree video editing, 3D titles, as well as advanced color-grading tools and LUTs, even audio tools such as Doppler Shift and noise reduction. It even has a Particle Simulator, which lets you create things such as clouds and waves, and have them move as realistically — or unrealistically — as you like.

Mac users who only need a simple video editor will find that Apple iMovie is the best free video editing software, because of its strong integration with Apple's operating system and easy-to-grasp editing tools. iMovie supports 4K video, and has some good tools for smoothing shaky video, adding titles, and even soundtracks from music in your iTunes library. However, you won't get advanced features such as 360-degree video editing and special effects. If all you're doing is stitching together some video from a family event and then seamlessly post them to YouTube, Vimeo, or even watch it on an Apple TV, then iMovie will work like a charm.