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What You Need to Edit Video on Computer

The best video editing software in 2022

Screengrab showing Premiere Pro timeline
(Prototype credit: Adobe)

The best video editing software will help you create peachy looking video, whether you're a YouTuber or a professional video editor working in movies and Television. Plus, if you only want to edit together your holiday clips or family unit footage for fun, there'due south some bully software for that, too.

In that location are tools for Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone and Android and some that work across all platforms. (Notation: if you're but interested in mobile apps, see our guide to the best video editing apps.) In that location are tools that crave subscription, some y'all tin buy for a ane-off fee, and some that are fifty-fifty gratis. At that place are tools for specific editing tasks, and others that cover all bases. But with and so many options, information technology can be tricky to find the best video editing software for your specific needs.

To help you out, nosotros've rounded up the very best video editing software available today in the article below. And we explicate, in a manner that's as free from technical jargon as possible, what each has to offer and what the main differences are between them.

And then one time y'all've plant the best video editing software for your needs, it's time to check out hardware. Run into our guides to the best monitors for video editing, the best laptops for video editing and the all-time tablets for video editing for that.

The all-time video editing software in 2022

The Adobe Premiere Pro logo

(Prototype credit: Adobe )

The best video editing software for professionals.

Specifications

Platform: Windows, Mac

Central features: Multi-cam editing, 3D editing

Free trial: seven days

Best for: Video editing professionals, video editing students

Reasons to buy

+

Industry standard

+

Powerful features

+

Constantly updated

Reasons to avert

-

Requires subscription

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of ii industry-standard tools for video editing today. The other is Last Cut Pro (number five on our list), which is Mac just. As Premiere Pro works on both Windows and Mac, that makes it our number 1 selection for video editing professionals in 2022.

Premiere Pro is routinely used by professional video editors to create everything from YouTube videos to Hollywood movies, such as 2021 Oscar nominee Mank. It'due south also commonly used in the workflow of designers, animators and VFX artists. The interface enhances your productivity by dividing everything into different workspaces, such editing, effects, and audio. Each workspace helps you lot to manage a specific task and minimises distraction.

The software supports 4K, 8K and VR formats. Its trimming and editing tools give you a high degree of precision and command. You tin piece of work on an unlimited number of video tracks, which tin be imported from pretty much whatever source. The automatic sync is a precious stone when you have multi-angle shots, and information technology's hard to error the fine-tuning tools that really make your video stand out from the crowd. Plus you lot get customisable keyboard shortcuts and dandy collaboration features.

So what's the all-time way to download Premiere Pro? Well, if yous subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, y'all get it Premiere Pro every bit part of the package, and you lot'll be able to use information technology seamlessly with other software, from the move graphics tool Afterward Furnishings to Adobe Stock. Alternatively, you can subscribe to just Premiere Pro as a standalone app. In that location's a 7-day free trial and then yous can effort it out first.

Like all Creative Deject software, Premiere Pro is constantly being updated, and subscribers get all updates for gratis. The latest update in Feb 2022 (version 22.2) introduces Remix, for retiming music to match video content, every bit well as an offline Speech to Text role.

For more details, cheque out our Adobe Premiere Pro review, our guides to the best Premiere Pro tutorials, and our comparisons of Premiere Pro vs Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro vs Premiere Blitz.

The Cyberlink PowerDirector 365 logo

(Prototype credit: Cyberlink)

The best video editing software for experienced not-pros.

Specifications

Platform: Windows, Mac

Key features: Multi-cam editing, 360-caste video, move tracking, AI tools

Free trial: 30 days

All-time for: Experienced not-professionals

Reasons to buy

+

Powerful tool

+

Stacks of features

+

Choice of payment models

Reasons to avoid

-

Tough for newbies

If yous're non working equally a full-fourth dimension video editor, Premiere Pro may exist overkill. You'd be better off with a middleweight tool. And in our view CyberLink PowerDirector 365, which is available for Windows and Mac, is the all-time video editing software for non-pros who have some experience of editing video.

While PowerDirector 365 isn't as powerful and feature rich every bit Premiere Pro, it's not far off. And its toll, either as a 1-off purchase or a monthly or almanac subscription, is much more affordable.

Get not bad on the 100-track timeline and you'll before long find yourself making the most of lots of stabilisation and video correction tools, professional effects, multi-cam editing, motility tracking and surprisingly easy trimming. At that place'south 360-degree video editing likewise, together with support for all the file standards and formats yous tin imagine. Then there's slideshows, screen recording, DVD menus, object design tools and more.

Yous go free and unlimited access to an extensive, royalty-free library of content from Shutterstock. The latest version, released in Dec 2021, lets you add together text or graphics that automatically follow the motility of any object, and introduces three AI-driven features: AI Audio Denoise, AI Video Denoise and AI DeReverb.

With all these sophisticated features, PowerDirector 365 tin can be quite a learning bend for beginners, for whom we recommend Premiere Elements (next on our list). However, for anyone who'southward washed a bit of video editing, merely doesn't need the top-flight pro features of Premiere Pro, it's an excellent selection. To learn more, read our Cyberlink PowerDirector review and our comparison commodity CyberLink PowerDirector vs Corel VideoStudio Ultimate.

The Adobe Premiere Elements logo

(Image credit: Adobe)

The best video editing software for beginners.

Specifications

Platform: Windows and Mac

Primal features: Video stabilisation, face detection, automated motion tracking

Free trial: 30 days

Best for: Video editing beginners and enthusiasts

Reasons to buy

+

Piece of cake to use

+

Loads of features

Reasons to avoid

-

Not as powerful equally some tools

-

Not the fastest

If you don't demand to edit video for work, but simply want to play around with some family or vacation footage for fun, so the two tools listed higher up are far more complex than you need. Similarly, if yous'd like to become into video editing, but have never washed whatever earlier, their learning curve will exist a flake intimidating. Instead, we recommend Adobe's Premiere Elements, which is the all-time video editing software for beginners and coincidental users.

Equally the name suggests, Premiere Elements is a simplified version of Premiere Pro (number ane on our list). That makes it cheaper and easier to learn. Simply it withal has a lot of useful, high-end features including face up detection, audio effects and bundled soundtracks.

Its interface is very simple and visual, and you get all the video effects y'all demand, including transitions, blush-keying and opacity. You lot can develop a fast workflow by harnessing smart search functionality, video stabilisation options, and automated functions, such as move tracking and smart toning.

The latest version, Premiere Elements 2022, was released final October, and includes a number of cool new features. You can now edit and export video in social-friendly formats. There's besides a new motorcar-reframing tool that lets you select a subject and then focuses on information technology throughout your video; a new like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use video compression feature based on sliders; and the ability to view animated GIFs inside the interface.

Although it's made by Adobe, Premiere Elements is non role of a Creative Deject subscription, only for a ane-off fee. There'southward also a 30-24-hour interval costless trial. For more details, encounter our Premiere Elements review and our comparison article, Adobe Premiere Pro vs Adobe Premiere Elements.

The Pinnacle Studio logo

(Epitome credit: Pinnacle)

Good video editing software for beginners using Windows.

Specifications

Platform: Windows

Central features: Multi-photographic camera capture and editing, colour controls, stop movement animation

Free trial: No, just 30-day money back guarantee

All-time for: Beginners

Reasons to buy

+

Super-uncomplicated to employ

+

Varied features

+

Gratuitous effects, titles & templates

Reasons to avoid

-

May be too basic for some

Never edited video earlier, and using a Windows computer? Meridian Studio is another skillful option for getting started with video editing. Similar Premiere Elements, it sits somewhere between the more bones costless tools and professional-level video editing tools, both in terms of price and capability.

For a i-off payment, you become more than than i,500 effects, titles, and templates, half-dozen-track HD video editing, color correction tools, a dedicated stop motion characteristic, time remapping and more. It's very easy to use too.

The latest edition, version 25, was launched in August 2021, and brought everything nicely upwardly to date. Highlights included the introduction of smart object tracking, 8K import, keyframe groups, new alloy modes and new audio features.

Pinnacle Studio is pretty cheap, and if you similar information technology, you lot can always upgrade to one of the more fully-featured packages, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Summit Studio Ultimate. To larn more, read our Pinnacle Studio review.

The Final Cut Pro logo

(Image credit: Apple)

The best video editing software for Mac.

Specifications

Platform: Mac

Central features: Muti-cam editing, intelligent colour balancing

Free trial: 90-twenty-four hour period

Best for: Video editing professionals, video editing students

Reasons to purchase

+

Versatile and powerful

+

Optimised for Mac

+

Generous free trial

Reasons to avoid

-

No Windows version

Along with Premiere Pro, Apple's Final Cut Pro is used today throughout the TV and movie professions. One of the master reasons to cull it is that unlike Premiere Pro, it's subscription-free: you pay in one case, and once only. Note, though, that it's but available for Mac, not Windows.

Professional video editors love the Magnetic Timeline, grouping tools, a wide range of furnishings, good organisational features and simple means to add and edit audio. Other features includes 360° video, HDR and advanced tools for colour correction. Even so, despite beingness and so powerful and characteristic-rich, Final Cut Pro (which was known equally Final Cut Pro X until that final letter was dropped in 2020), is surprisingly easy to employ. And there are lots of resources to help newbies get up to speed: run across our guide to the all-time Final Cutting Pro tutorials for more on that.

As Apple tree software, Final Cut Pro is optimised to become the about out of your Mac. And as you'd expect, integrates nicely with other parts of Apple'due south ecosystem, such as your Photos or iTunes collections. Every update to Final Cut Pro since its release has been made costless. For instance, the latest release in November (ten.6.1) improved performance when opening large libraries and introduced fixes for multiple file handling issues.

Last Cut Pro is pretty expensive, but at that place is a generous xc-day free trial, which compares strikingly with the 1-week trial offered by Premiere Pro. For more information, read our article Premiere Pro vs Final Cut Pro and cheque out our Final Cut Pro review.

The Adobe Premiere Rush Logo

(Prototype credit: Adobe)

The best video editing software for mobile.

Specifications

Platform: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Key features: In-app motion graphics, 4K support

Complimentary trial: Free starter plan

Best for: Enthusiasts (Premiere Rush solitary), professionals (with Premiere Pro)

Reasons to buy

+

Elementary interface

+

Good for social videos

+

Interoperable with Premiere Pro

Reasons to avert

-

Less powerful than Premiere Pro

Only a decade agone, the idea of doing video editing on a mobile device would have seemed laughable. Nowadays, though, the latest tablets and smartphones are much more than powerful, and information technology's perfectly possible for even pro video editing to be done while on the move.

In our view, the best video editing software for mobile is currently Premiere Rush, which makes all the nigh important bits of Premiere Pro available on your tablet or phone. Bachelor for iOS and Android, information technology's available for quite a cheap subscription, and even the free version is pretty powerful.

Premiere Rush offers a simpler version of the Premiere Pro interface, with large icons and panels that are easier to click on a minor touchscreen. And while in that location this means fewer features, you lot still get all the basics, such as adding videos to the timeline through drag-and-driblet and mixing in music. (For more than details, run across our article Premiere Pro vs Premiere Rush.)

If you're a YouTuber who wants to brand quick edits to your clips, Premiere Rush is skilful for that also. There are export options optimised for Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and more. That alone makes information technology among the best software for editing videos for YouTube.

Meanwhile, if yous're a professional, y'all'll be pleased to hear that Premiere Blitz is nicely integrated with Premiere Pro. And then for case, when you lot're on a train, you could brand some extra edits to footage you lot previously worked on at the studio on your desktop PC.

Premiere Blitz is non only the i of the best video editing apps around today, information technology's constantly being improved. The most recent release in December, version 2.0, introduced unlimited exports on desktop and availability in additional languages, as well as adding new sound tracks.

In terms of how to get Premiere Blitz, yous're certainly non short of options. You tin can become information technology as part of the Creative Cloud (which means you get Premiere Pro too), or via a unmarried-app subscription. There'southward also a complimentary starter program that includes admission to the app, 2GB of cloud storage and unlimited free exports on mobile. For total details, see our Premiere Blitz review.

The Corel VideoStudio logo

(Image credit: Corel)

The all-time video editing software for Corel users.

Specifications

Platform: Windows

Key features: Real-time effects, color correction

Gratis trial: 30 days

Best for: Beginners, Corel users

Reasons to purchase

+

Easy to pick upwardly

+

Relatively inexpensive

Reasons to avoid

-

Also bones (and unusual) for pros

-

Unusual approach to layers

If you're reading Artistic Bloq, it's very likely y'all're familiar with Corel's analogy and graphic design software, such as Corel Painter. And if you like Corel'south way of doing things, then yous'll savor using Corel VideoStudio Ultimate, which has a similar interface and full general approach that you'll detect in all its software.

More generally, this video editing software for Windows is a practiced option for beginners and casual users. It has a clear, intuitive interface that makes it easy to become started with video editing. So, once you've mastered the basics, you can explore more powerful features, such as movement tracking, 4K support, 360-degrees VR video back up, a music library, multi-cam support, 3D text editing and thousands of furnishings.

Corel VideoStudio Ultimate is not for everyone. The manner information technology works with layers is a bit dissimilar to rivals, and if yous're used to using other video editing software that can be a bit jarring. And on the whole, it's not advanced plenty to be suitable for video editing professionals. Withal, for newcomers, it offers very proficient value. To learn more, read our Corel VideoStudio Ultimate review, and our comparing of Corel VideoStudio Ultimate vs Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Filmora logo

(Image credit: Filmora)

The best value video editing software for hobbyists.

Specifications

Platform: Windows, Mac

Key features: 4K support, born effects and titles

Gratis trial: Yeah (with watermarks)

Best for: Enthusiasts

Reasons to purchase

+

Elementary to utilise

+

4K support

+

Royalty complimentary sound effects and music

Reasons to avoid

-

As well basic for pros

If y'all're new to video editing, or only do it occassionally, Wondershare's Filmora is some other good choice at a very reasonable toll. It benefits from an intuitive interface that'south easy to utilize, whatever your level of experience. There are a large number of handy built-in titles, effects and filters designed for YouTubers and social media users. There'south a library of royalty-free sound furnishings and music to requite your videos touch on. And y'all tin as well record your own media directly within the tool.

The nigh recent version (10.5.5) in July introduced Template Way, which uses AI algorithms to pick highlights from your footage and automatically creates the video for y'all. Another highlight is the new Cloud Files characteristic, which allows you to synchronize multiple files and use them across applications.

There's a free version of Filmora, only all your videos will take a watermark on them, so information technology's really only useful for learning video editing, or trying out the tool. To remove the watermarks, you'll need to take out either an Annual program, a Lifetime plan for a i-off fee, or an Unlimited plan, which includes unlimited downloads from a stock library, and new effects each calendar month. To learn more, read our Filmora review.

The Vimeo Create logo

(Epitome credit: Vimeo)

The all-time video editing software for quick social videos.

Specifications

Platform: Browser

Key features: Templates, stock content, intuitive interface

Gratuitous trial: 30 days

Best for: Beginners

Reasons to purchase

+

Fantabulous templates

+

Lots of stock content

Reasons to avoid

-

Limited use cases

-

Requires membership

Need to brand a social media video, but don't have any experience of doing so? YouTube rival Vimeo offers a paid-for service which helps yous do only that, quickly and easily, without needing any particular skills.

Vimeo Create provides a range of pre-prepared templates, so you just drag and drop in your own clips and you're most of the way in that location. If you lot don't have your own content, you lot tin also access millions of stock video clips, photos and commercially licensed music tracks for free. Information technology all works in the browser, and the easy interface allows y'all to produce videos for a variety of aspect ratios for unlike social platforms, such as foursquare, horizontal and vertical.

Using Vimeo Create is gratis, just to salve and share your video yous'll have to pay for a Vimeo Pro, Business or Premium memberships. For more information, read our Vimeo Create review.

Which software is best for video editing?

Right at present, Premiere Pro from Adobe tops our listing of the all-time video editing software. This industry-standard, subscription-based tool is aimed at professionals and comes packed with sophisticated and powerful tools. And the latest features, released in October 2021, show just how committed Adobe is to continually updating and improving it.

If you're more of a hobbyist, though, you're probably better off with our second selection, CyberLink PowerDirector 365. It's cheaper and easier to get started with, and information technology's available to purchase via a one-off fee.

What is the easiest software to edit videos?

If yous're just starting out in the globe of video editing, and using a desktop PC or Mac, our peak recommendation is Premiere Elements. It's a simplified version of the more than powerful Premiere Pro, so there's non such a steep learning curve, and it's cheaper as well. Plus dissimilar most Adobe tools, information technology's bachelor for a one-fee rather than a subscription.

What's the best video editing software for mobile?

If y'all want to edit videos on your phone or tablet, we'd suggest checking out Premiere Rush, which makes all the most important bits of Premiere Pro available for iOS and Android devices. Its interface is nice and unproblematic, with large icons and panels that are easier to click on a small touchscreen. Merely you withal go a range of useful features, such as adding videos to the timeline through drag-and-drib and mixing in music. It's nicely integrated with Premiere Pro, also, so yous can work on the same footage on your desktop figurer and on the movement.

What is the all-time video editor for costless?

If you have zero cash to spend, then our guide to the best gratis video editing software will give you lots of options. But bear in mind that many of these tools take serious limitations, such as ads, watermarks or express features.

An alternative to these free-only-flawed tools is to opt for a free trial of i of the paid options that nosotros list above. This volition enable y'all to explore your options before making a decision. Just don't forget to cancel your trial if you don't desire to exist charged!

How difficult is video editing?

Learning to edit video isn't something that should intimidate you. If you've always used whatever kind of app on web or mobile, you'll be able to use video editing software. Y'all only have to kickoff with the basics and build upwardly your skills from there. Any video editing software you utilise, there are plenty of tutorials online to get yous started, and often the all-time ones are provided free by the makers themselves. Check out our guide to Premiere Pro tutorials to get an thought of what's out at that place, and read our Premiere Pro tips for further pointers.

What do most YouTubers use to edit their videos?

Anecdotally, the most pop video editing software amidst YouTubers are iMovie, Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro. iMovie is a common choice among beginners and casual YouTubers, because it's gratuitous, already installed on Apple tree devices, and does everything you lot need for basic editing. If you're on Android, though, we'd recommend Adobe's Premiere Rush.

Pro and semi-pro YouTubers, meanwhile, need something more sophisticated, and and then most opt for either Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro. For more details, read The best software for editing videos for YouTube.

How do you lot edit a video for TikTok?

Y'all don't need to exist a video professional to edit videos for TikTok; nor do you demand video editing software. The TikTok app itself offers everything you demand to create your video, including editing your footage, adding furnishings and transitions, adding music or other audio clips, and posting information technology to TikTok. Find out more than in our commodity How to edit a video on TikTok.

Read more:

  • The 5 all-time video editing apps for YouTube
  • Video editing macOS: The all-time software
  • The best laptops for video editing

Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, acquaintance editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular correspondent to Creative Bloq and its sis sites Digital Camera World, T3.com and Tech Radar. He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.

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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/features/best-video-editing-software-for-designers