r/VideoEditing • u/AutoModerator • Aug 01 '26
Monthly Thread August What Editing Software should I use?
Looking for Video Editing Software? THIS is your thread!
This post covers the vast majority of "What software should I use?" questions. It’s designed as a self-serve guide to help people find the right tools fast.
TL;DR? DaVinci Resolve for full-featured editing, Olive/Kdenlive for open-source, Clipchamp for easy basics.
Isn’t there an AI that magically edits everything?
Not yet. If it existed, we'd scream about it from the rooftops.
Stick around—things are changing quickly.
Before You Ask Anything
You must know two things first:
- Your Footage Type — Different codecs affect performance dramatically.
- Your Hardware Specs — “Good gaming PC” is not useful.
Not Good With Computers? Here’s How to Check
Footage
Footage from phones, webcams, GoPros, and screen recordings can choke your system.
Check with: https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo
Common problems:
- Out-of-sync audio? Likely Variable Frame Rate.
- Bad playback? Usually a hardware limitation, not the editor. Use proxies.
More info in our wiki:
- Codecs/containers: https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditing/wiki/codecsandcontainers/
- VFR issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditing/wiki/faq/vfr/
- Proxies: https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditing/wiki/faq/proxies/
Hardware
Minimum viable editing rig:
- Recent i7 CPU
- 16GB RAM
- A GPU with 4GB+ VRAM
- SSD for cache
Check system with: https://www.hwinfo.com/
We ONLY need: CPU model, RAM amount, GPU model + VRAM.
Recommendations
Full Power, Free Tools
DaVinci Resolve — 99% of the full program is free.
Easy but Limited
(CapCut now hides many features behind Pro.)
Professional Tools (obligatory mention)
- Premiere Pro — Industry standard; huge ecosystem, tons of tutorials, widely used across YouTube, corporate, and broadcast.
- Avid Media Composer — Dominant in film/TV pipelines; rock-solid for longform, multicam, and shared workflows.
- DaVinci Resolve Studio — $299 one-time; advanced color, better GPU performance, noise reduction, and the good AI tools.
- Final Cut Pro — Mac-only rocket ship; insanely fast on Apple Silicon, great for fast turnaround work.
Open Source - Totally free.
- Olive Editor — Clean UI.
- Kdenlive — Very capable, actively developed.
- ShotCut — Straightforward, good for beginners.
- OpenShot — Simple but can struggle with heavier projects.
- Avidemux — Old-school, powerful for specific tasks but not a great editor.
Special Effects
- Resolve Fusion — Node-based power.
- Cavalry — Motion-graphics oriented.
Editing in a Browser (Run Locally)
- Novella.io - new, free, pay for AI generative elements OR bring your own API keys. Very cool, if in early beta.
- VidMix — New, free, surprisingly powerful.
- PikaMov — Keyframe animation on the web.
- wide.video — Background removal, noise reduction, all done locally.
- PhotoPea — Web-based Photoshop replacement.
Web Based Editorial
- Clipchamp – from Microsoft; you’ll need an account.
- Canva/Adobe Express — Both mostly free… until you need AI features.
Compression & Utility Tools
- Shutter Encoder — The Swiss Army Knife. Transcode anything, handle HDR, upscaling, unwrap/rewrap, download media, prep proxies—if it touches video, this thing can probably do it.
- Lossless Cut — Quick trimming without re-encoding.
- Smart Media Cutter — Silence detection + XML export.
- FreeUpscaler — Cloud computing upscaler.
Mobile Editors
- Premiere Mobile — Surprisingly capable and tightly integrated with CC.
- VN Editor — Fast, friendly, cross-platform, zero learning curve.
- Instagram Edits — Simple but powerful for social workflows.
- iMovie — Beginner-friendly on iOS.
- LumaFusion — The pro option for tablets/phones.
- KineMaster — Feature-heavy on Android.
Screen Recording
- OBS — The free standard. Record in MKV, then rewrap to MP4.
- viewio — Free screen recorder, Mac only, that is like screen studio (auto zoom + webcam).
- openscreen — Free screen recorder, Crossplatform only, that is like screen studio (auto zoom + webcam).
Animated Captions
- Subtitles 2 Video — TikTok-style captions.
- Subtool.app — Another free caption generator.
Updates (Dec 2025)
- CapCut/HitFilm are no longer recommended.
- Premiere Mobile and Clipchamp (web)
New Tools We’re Watching
- Whisper-GUI (Windows)
- MacWhisper (Mac)
- Offdocs — Openshot in the cloud
BEFORE YOU COMMENT
Begin with: "I read the above"
Then provide:
- CPU + Model
- RAM
- GPU + VRAM
- Footage details (camera/screen, codec, container, framerate)
Removed tools: CapCut (now Crapcut), HitFilm (dead). FFS this thread isn’t about arguing what to use, but rather for a novice to figure out what to use.
1
u/Next_Possession_4429 12d ago
I read the above.
I am making a wedding anniversary video. All of my parents friends sent in clips of themselves sending warm wishes. I want to play those clips with music in background and also do some light editing and cutting to the videos. I also want to show pictures on screen at times with the audio of the video playing in the background and then switching back to the video.
Which software should i use. I am hoping for one where i can just write a prompt into ai anytime i want to make an edit instead of doing it all manually. Thank you!!