10 Best Free Video Editor Software For Windows

Here is a list of the best free video editors for Windows. These free video editor software allow you to edit videos by adding special effects, transitions, layout designs, annotations, and much more. Using these free video editors, you can also apply some basic editing to your videos, like: cropping, resizing, rotations, flipping vertically/horizontally, etc. You can also cut a specific part out of a video or trim a selected portion out. This list of video editors highlights the features of each freeware provided for video editing to make them impressive. So, you can go through the list and decide which one will suit your needs the best.

Along with basic video editing features, some of these video editors also provide advanced tools. These tools are: annotation tools, adding VFX effects, creating a project by merging different files like video, audio, text, etc., adding voice-over to a video, video recording, adding 3D texts, adding speed effects, timeline curve editor, and many more. Some of these software to edit videos provide audio editing tools too, which can be used to add some special sound effects.

After editing videos, these free video editors let you export them to various video formats. Supported formats are: FLV, MP4, MPEG, MOV, WMV, AVI, etc. I have mentioned the formats supported by each video editor in their respective columns. Few of these video editors also let you export the edited videos directly to YouTube and some other known social media platforms.

My Favorite Free Video Editor:

HitFilm Express is my favorite video editor. It is a full fledged professional video editor, that is available for free without any limitations. Even though it is feature packed, it is easy to learn and get used to. Next on my list is Windows Movie Maker. Even though it has only basic set of features, but I love it for its simplicity. Anyone can edit videos using Windows Movie Maker. And finally, I like Da Vinci Resolve a lot. It has everything that you would ever need from a video editor. But it has a steep learning curve, so I recommend it for professionals only.

You can also checkout the list of best free Video Broadcasting Software and Video Repair Software for Windows.

HitFilm Express

HitFilm Express is an advanced video editor with features that you will love for video editing. Tools like ripple edit, motion tracking, quick transitions, loop keyframes, video clip trimmer, opacity keyframes, audio keyframes, layer compositing with unlimited videos, etc. make this software one of the best video editor out there. Along with these advanced features, there are many other editing tools, like slice tool, rate stretch tool, crop tool, zoom, blend tool, snapping, speed/duration editor, transform (opacity, anchor point, position, scale, and rotation), etc. You can use all these features and tools to create stunning and high-quality videos for free.

You can import videos of different file formats for editing such as MP4, AVI, MPEG, MOV, M2T, M2TS, MTS, MXF, DV, HDV, WMV, etc. The resulting videos can be exported as MP4, AVI, image sequence, or you can directly upload them to YouTube.

HitFilm Express can also be used for audio editing and effects compositing (2D and 3D) with 180+ predefined VFX effects or create your own visual effects. The effects are categorized into Audio, Blur, Color Correction, Distort, Grunge, etc. which you can drag and drop on the timeline for compositing.

Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is one of the simplest and easy to use video editors. Despite being a simple video editor, it allows to edit and create great videos by adding predefined movie themes, visual effects, animated transitions, pan and zoom, etc. There are many other basic video editing tools which you can use to trim the videos, split a video into multiple parts, change video orientation, merge multiple videos into one, and more. One of the best features is Video Stabilization, which can be used to apply wobble correction and anti-shake to the videos.

For editing, you can import videos like AVI, MP4, WMV, MKV, MPEG, and other formats supported by Windows. It even has the option to record new videos using webcam. Once you’re done editing, the videos can be downloaded as MP4 or you can share them with others via Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, etc.

This video editor also allows you to add audio files (WAV, OGG, MP3, etc.) to your entire video or to any specific section. To make the audio fit perfectly with your video playback, you can adjust fade in and fade out. Not only that, it even comes with an option using which you can record voice over and add it to the videos. The “Emphasize” feature will help you change the volume intensity of the voice over, added audio, or the original sound of the video.

DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve is also one of the best video editor software with advanced editing and color grading tools to create professional videos. The tools offered by this video editor can be used to easily insert objects on the videos, trim videos, slip multiple shots, slide multiple shots, superimpose, swap edits, zoom videos, shuffle edits, overwrite editing, append editing, and more. In addition to these, it also exhibits some other interesting and useful features, like optical flow retiming, keyframe control, optical re-framing, transforms, video scaling, lens correction, transitions, and more.

There are many other editing options available like speed effects, timeline curve editor, add third-party plugins to create stunning video effects, finishing with position lock, color correction (with curve editor, tracking and stabilization, grain tools, noise reduction, etc.), and more. While using this video editor, you can import AVI, MP4, DPX, MPEG, etc. You can also export the videos as AVI, DPX, DCP, MP4, and more.

It even comes with a powerful audio editor to create up to 1000 tracks with Fairlight Audio Accelerator, dynamics, equalization, automation, mixing, mastering, and so on.

VSDC Video Editor

VSDC Video Editor is one of the best free video editor out there. Despite being free, it is very feature rich. It is a non-liner video editor. It comes with features like, annotate videos, add images and other videos to your video, add subtitles and text boxes, and many more.

Editing

You can simply trim a part from a video, which you don’t wish to keep in your video. The toolbar present at the top of its interface lets you do so. I have highlighted the tool for the same in the snapshot above. You can also crop a video, rotate it, flip it vertically and horizontally, create a snapshot, etc. This video editor also lets you add some visual effects to your videos, like changing video layout style, adding filters, etc., or add some audio effects too.

Annotation

The toolbar present at left facilitates you with some object tools, which let you annotate a video. You can add text, subtitle, shapes, images, videos, etc., to your videos and make them informational.

Along with providing editing features, it also lets you convert a video to another format. You can convert a video file to formats like AVI, MOV, MP4, WMK, MKV, RM, SWF, and FLV. It also provides tools like Screen capture, Disc burner, YouTube uploader, etc. In short, it is an all-in-one video editor with a stylish user-interface.

Apart from these, it also comes with advanced features like stabilize video, add different shaped masks to videos, and export videos to formats like 4K as well.

OpenShot

OpenShot is an open source video editor which you can use to create videos by adding different effects, animated transitions, subtitles, and more. There are more than 100 animated transitions and various videos effects which you can apply to your videos with just a click. It also offers dozens of useful video editing tools to trim video, split videos into multiple parts, crop videos, separate audio from videos, fade (in/out), zoom specific video part, snapping, cut video parts with razor tool, etc. It can also be used to change the layout of videos, change aspect ratio, rotate videos, animate videos, change speed/duration, transform, and more.

It even allows you to edit the properties of video files, like alpha, anchor, channel filter, frame numbers, gravity, shear, scale, waveform, and so on. There are some other additional options using which you can do timeline editing, add a title scene, insert text, add music, and more. It allows you to import videos like Mp4, AVI, WMV, and more for editing and export the videos after editing as MOV, AVI, MP4, FLV, etc.

All in all, this free video editing software is loaded with tools that can help you edit a video the way you want.

Shotcut

Shotcut is a free and open source video editor with dozens of useful features like video compositing, color correction & grading, deinterlacing, eyedropper for white balance, auto-orientation change, video/audio fader, stunning video transitions, blending modes, and more. Apart from these, it offers various video filters like chroma, alpha, key spill, old film, etc., which you can apply to videos. You can also add speed effects for both video and audio.

This free video editor also exhibits dozens of other editing tools using which you can trim videos, cut, copy, and paste video parts, crop, append, overwrite, ripple delete, scrub/transport control, do three-point editing, lock or mute track controls, and so on.

It offers some advanced features for external monitoring, waveform caching, thumbnail caching, frame-accurate seeking, multi-format timeline, audio recording, webcam recording, 4K support, network stream playback, etc. It supports almost all the video file formats, like AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, MKV, and more, which you can import for editing. After you complete editing, this free video editor lets you export videos to your PC as MP4, AVI, MPEG, OGG, WMV, and more.

Lightworks

Lightworks is another advanced free video editor with features like real-time video effects, multi-cam editing, visual effects routing, second monitor output, multi-channel sound mixer, and more. Other than these, it also offers tools for easy timeline editing, video scaling, zoom, color correction, trimming, maintain master clips, easily manage media files, etc. One of the best features is “Stereoscopic Editing”, which helps you edit videos without any need to change the workflow or use multiplexed media files. All these features are available in the free version of Lightworks.

In addition to that, it offers various video effects such as 3D DVE, color matte, mix, 3D LUT, chroma key, luma key, color mask, blend, squeeze, dissolve, etc. which you can apply to your videos. There are many other segment commands, sequence commands, timeline commands, and trimming commands which can help you properly edit your videos.

Apart from these, you can also import audio files and edit them before adding to your videos. You can edit audios with effects like EQ, boost treble, low end booster, and more. You can import different video and audio files for editing, like MP4, WMV, AVI, MP3, WAV, and more.

Wax

Wax is actually a simple free video editor which can help you edit and create nice videos by adding predefined transitions, your own music to video files, timeline editing, etc. It even allows you to generate textures, insert 3D text, make specific video sections transparent, stretch pixels, wrap videos, etc. using the built-in video plugins. To make your videos more impressive, you can apply presets to your videos. There are tons of presets available, which you can browse and apply to your videos. The presets will be visible in two different categories named, Transitions Presets and Plugin Presets.

Unlike other video editors in this list, Wax lacks some of the useful video editing features, like trim, split, etc. It only allows you to import AVI files for editing. But, you can export the resulting videos either as MPEG and AVI files.

It also comes with various “DirectX” plugins using which you can apply different video effects alpha, blur, convolution, emboss, engrave, and more. While editing a video, you can also add your own music files (WAV files only) to the video.

Avidemux

Avidemux is yet another free video editor which you can use to edit and create amazing videos. It comes with some of the simple video editing options to adjust color tone (contrast, brightness, chroma, hue & saturation, etc.), reduces noise from videos, sharpens video edges, cut, copy, and paste video parts, etc. It also comes with a tool named, “Transform”, which you can use to blackout video parts, add a logo, crop video, add a border, change FPS, flip videos (horizontally and vertically), set fade, and more. There are some advanced features as well, like post processing, video decoder, etc.

This video editor allows you to add music files like MP3. AC3, AAC, etc. to videos and apply various audio filters as well. To apply filters, you can manually change resampling frequency, frame rate, adjust shift audio, set custom dB, and remix audio.  It even has the option to add subtitle files like SSA, SRT, etc. to your videos. It supports various video file formats for importing and exporting, such as MP4, MPEG, MKV, AVI, etc.

Easy Video Maker

Easy Video Maker is another useful free video editor for Windows using which you can make great videos by editing them with tools like trim, cut, split, mix, join, resize, crop, merge, zoom (in/out), rotate, stretch video, speed (up/down), and more. In addition to that, you can also add music to videos, add images, convert videos, add text, subtitles, lyrics, movie credits scene, change video shape, video color, etc. To make your videos look more stunning, you can apply various effects, like audio shake effect, mask effect, motion effect, transition effect, particles effect, Chroma key, PIP effect, and more.

There are many other useful features of this video editor freeware which can be used to record monitor screen as videos, record videos using a webcam, record audio files, add special effects when recording a video or audio, etc. It supports all the standard video file formats, such as AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, FLV, MKV, DivX, XviD, etc. You can also export videos in different file formats like MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, MPEG, MKV, ASF, FLV, OGG, 3GP, etc.

Apart from a full-fledged video editor, it also allows you to edit audio files with options like audio chorus, speed (up/down), fade (in/out), volume adjustment, split, merge, cut, mix, join, etc.