If you are new to video editing, you may be wondering what software to use. There is a wide range of video editing software available today. Some programs cost more than $500, while others cost less than $100, and some are free!
As a beginner, I would suggest trying free video editing software before buying the commercial ones. Learn basic video editing first before moving on to more complex things and special effects.
There are many free video editing software to download. Here are the top seven that I recommend:
1. Windows Movie Maker (PC):
Pre-installed on the latest Windows Vista PCs, Windows Movie Maker makes video editing easy. You can create, edit and share your videos right on your computer. Build your movie with a few simple drag and drop. Cut out the bad photos and include only the best scenes. Then share your movie via the web, email, or CD. You can also save your movie to your camera’s videotape for playback on a TV or camera.
2. Apple iMovie (Mac):
Drag and Drop Editing – It’s also an easy way to make videos. Apple iMovie gives you more ways to add clips to your project: You can replace or insert clips using a single pop-up menu. Or edit just your audio. When you choose to show the Advanced Tools menu in iMovie preferences, drag-and-drop editing includes additional options like cropping, picture-in-picture, and green screen effects. The software is only free if you have a new MAC system.
3. Debugmode Wax (PC):
Wax is a bit out of date but it is still a high performance and flexible software. It can be used as a standalone app or as a plugin for other video editors. The software also features unlimited video and audio tracks. Wax is flexible in visual effects, so you can compose your dream video sequence with ease every time.
4. Two-stone (PC, Linux):
Zweig-Stein is a free, non-destructive, non-linear video editing and compositing system that offers many advanced features not available elsewhere. With Zweig-Stein you can edit up to 256 video, audio and still image clips, each with up to 64 effects chained in series. Cropping, panning, and custom effects are easy with automatic keyframing.
5. Jashaka (PC, Mac, Linux):
Jahshaka is a film and video compositing, editing, and special effects system that uses OpenGL and OpenML hardware rendering to provide operators with real-time interactivity. The system is cross-platform and also includes full CG, paint and image processing modules. The world’s first hardware accelerated open source effects and editing system!
6. Virtual Dub (PC):
Virtual Dub offers simple editing capabilities. It lacks the editing power of an advanced editor like Sony Vegas, but is optimized for fast linear operations on video. You can’t get creative with the software, but you can use it to make simple, clean edits to your video footage. Virtual Dub is primarily geared towards processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle BMP image sets.
7. Jump Cut (online):
There is nothing to download here. Jump Cut is an online tool, a free utility that allows you to cut videos and add audio, photos, effects and titles directly on the web. This is the future of online. Upload your media, take shared media, create and mix movies, post them to your friends, share them with the world.
Conclusion
While the free software above will satisfy the simple video editing needs of most beginners, you may want to do more. There are commercial video editing programs that allow you to try them for free for a limited period of time. I would recommend that you download and try Corel Video Studio ProX2. This is one of the best video editing software for beginners. In fact, I’m still using it for simple video and DVD production work in my videography business.
Out of all the free software available, the above are the seven best free software that I would recommend you download and try to learn and understand the basic process of video editing.
