- Best Youtube Video Editor For Windows
- Best Video Editor For Mac
- Best Youtube Video Editor Free Download
- Best Video Editing For Youtube Mac
- Best Youtube Video Editor Software
Filmora Video Editor for Windows (or Filmora Video Editor for Mac) is the best video editing software for YouTube on Mac or Windows. This video editor for YouTube has very many effects that you can use to personalize your video when editing.
Video editing software ranges from free versions that are pretty bare-bones to feature-packed prosumer versions. Indeed, they vary as much as the reasons why people take up video editing—whether to make home videos, to become YouTube stars, to create VR experiences, and more.
The Best Video Editing Software of 2018 Whether you're a weekend GoPro shooter or a full-time video professional, you need editing software that's powerful but easy to use. Here's how the best. As well as our pick of the best overall machines, we'll show you the best budget video editing laptops (under £500/$500) and our favourite mid-range options (£1,000/$1,000) too. Whether you're a Mac fan or a Windows wizard, we've got you covered. Find the best video-editing software for Windows, whether you're editing a professional video or a more simple clip for YouTube. MovieMator Free Mac Video Editor is a totally free video editing software for Mac which is carried with lots of unique visual effects and transitions. Even though MovieMator is a free video editing software, it is actually very professional. The best free alternative to YouTube Video Editor 2018. Avidemux is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Even if you choose a different tool for editing your YouTube videos, it's a handy. IMovie comes with every new Mac (OS X) and you don't need to pay extra money for it. The latest iMovie 11 is a great and free video editor for Mac with many great features such as movie trailer, one step effect, audio editing, etc.
Most video editing software for consumers and mainstream users is best used for one or another of these specific functions, but there are a few generalists out there, too. We look at the full spectrum: Free video editing software; paid consumer video editing programs that cost $80 or less; and 'prosumer' versions that offer deeper feature sets, though usually for high purchase prices.
Links to full reviews of all the video editing software we've tested can be found at the very bottom of this page.
Updated February 20, 2018 to add our reviews of prosumer packages: Apple Final Cut Pro 10.4, Magix Vegas Pro 15, and CyberLink PowerDirector 16 Ultra, our top pick for best prosumer editor overall. PowerDirector 16 Ultra wins for its 360-video features, but all three of these programs offer tons of features—for a price.
Best video editor overall: Adobe Premiere Elements 2018
Adobe Premiere Elements 2018 is perfect for people who want to make home movies to share with friends, but who don’t have much video editing experience. It offers decent functionality for more experienced editors who don’t want to follow the walk-throughs, but other, more robust software might be better if you’re a power user pursuing YouTube stardom.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2018 offers most of the same basic video editing features you’d find in other consumer packages, but it separates itself from the pack with tutorials and automatic curation and content creation features that very nearly (but not quite) do all the work for you, as long as you don’t mind if your videos look generic.
It's this easy access that makes Adobe Premiere Elements our top-rated consumer paid video editor. (Read our full review.)
Runner-up: Corel VideoStudio Ultimate X10.5
At $80 Corel VideoStudio Ultimate X10.5 combines an elegant and professional-feeling interface with high-end specialty features like 3D and 4K Ultra HD, making it one of the most satisfying and versatile consumer-level video editors on the market. It also has an elegant, modern-looking user interface, and can export to YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo with all the options you’d expect. It’s versatile, efficient, and top of its class. (Read our full review.)
Best budget video editor: Nero Video 2017
Nero’s video editor is as good as it gets for ripping, copying, and repackaging existing works. But if you’re more concerned with original content creation, there may be better fits out there.
Nero Video 2017 is slightly cheaper at $50 than many competing video editing suites, but it offers most of the same features, including Ultra HD 4K support and intelligent curation features for your media library. And with H.265 format support for mobile devices and the handy ability to switch between a basic and advanced editing mode, Nero will please a wide range of users. It’s mostly intended for burning physical media, and doesn’t have good social exporting options. But even if you’re not planning to do DVDs, Nero is worth a look if you want a budget option for video editing software. (Read our full review.)
Best free video editor: Shotcut
Shotcut has been around for more than 10 years, but it has been steadily updated by open source developers who have been dedicated to the mission of providing a prosumer-level video editing suite at no cost.
Best Youtube Video Editor For Windows
This program supports most audio and video formats you’d need, it allows you to carefully craft most aspects of your video with powerful filters, and it has a highly customizable user interface that can scale based on your needs from the basic to the advanced.
It doesn’t provide as much guidance as some other software, but curious editors can venture to YouTube and elsewhere on the web for support from a still-active community of enthusiasts.
If you’re willing to spend a few hours cracking the eggs, you’ll be rewarded with a video editing program that is every bit as useful as others for which you’d spend $100. Read our full review. And check out our full roundup of the best free video editing software.
Best prosumer video editor: CyberLink PowerDirector 16 Ultra
Mentioned in this article
For a traditional video editor with a ton of features running on a Windows PC, you could hardly ask for better than PowerDirector 16. From multi-cam to motion tracking to H.265, there are very few editing and exporting features you might want that this software doesn’t have.
Cyberlink PowerDirector 16 Ultra is a prosumer video editor that aims to bring every feature under the sun to a video editor that is accessible and affordable. There’s nothing else in this price range that brings you this many well-implemented features, especially in 360 video. Complexity is its one challenge: The user interface is not always self-explanatory, and the inclusion of so many features means it can be difficult to find what you want. Read our full review.
Video editing software: What features to look for
The basics
When you shop for video editing software, keep these fundamentals in mind. All the video editors we’ve reviewed can do standard functions like creating clips, transitions, titles, and some effects, though they vary in quality of execution and ease of use.
There are so many different video formats out there, and one device may capture in a different format than another. Furthermore, different devices and platforms need specific file formats for playback—and those formats may be different than what your camera captures! That means you’ll want software that can import from a variety of sources and that will support many file formats for export.
Exporting videos to social media, DVD, or Blu-ray
That’s assuming you’re just exporting files. You may want to burn a DVD or Blu-ray disc, or upload your videos directly to YouTube or Facebook. Each of these comes with its own set of necessary features that some apps have and others don’t. For disc burning, you need not only support for the right formats, but DVD menu authoring tools so viewers can navigate what you’re presenting. On the social side, it’s much easier if the application syncs up directly with your account online and allows you to enter metadata like a description, tags, and privacy settings.
Expanding into VR, 4K, and 3D
You may want to expand into specialty and high-end features like stop-motion video, multi-camera editing, 3D 360 VR, and support for the official Ultra HD 4K format used by most Blu-ray players. You’ll generally find that the most expensive consumer video editors support these features well, and the cheaper ones either don’t support them or produce lackluster results.
Speed and stability
Finally, stability and speed matter—although speed may not be as important if you’re not a professional. Nothing is worse than losing your work when the program crashes to your desktop, so we’ve tested software in a variety of conditions on a typical Windows setup to assess stability.
How we tested
We installed each video editor on a Windows 10 PC running on an Intel Core i5 processor and an Nvidia dedicated graphics card. We used each suite to edit the same two videos: a 4K NASA video from inside the International Space Station, and a 1080p game capture video from Overwatch. We tested most of the filters and transitions in each suite, and cut the same edited versions of each video in each program. We then exported the videos to various file formats and media, as well as web services, to test output quality and speed. Where software offered a notable special feature not supported in the other products, we tested it when our hardware and software setup allowed it.
Video editing software reviews
If you want to learn more about all of the video editing software we’ve reviewed, see the list below. We’ll continue to evaluate more as time goes on—as well as re-evaluate those we’ve already reviewed.
Creating a good YouTube video involves both shooting the video and then editing it to make a final production. Nowadays, various video editing software and apps are available for you to choose from, be it cheap or costly. To help you make a better decision, we compile a list of best video editing software and Apps for YouTube. These tools will indeed assist you to stitch together multiple shots into a cohesive, persuasive whole creation.
#1. iMovie
Best Video Editor For Mac
Operating system: Mac
iMovie is Apple’s consumer-end video editing software. It’s incredibly easy-to-use and the practical drag-n-drop feature makes it easy to edit your videos. With it, you can add effects, titles, soundtracks and fulfill other video editing tasks to your video. When the editing is done, you can immediately preview it, save in HD for big-screen watching, burn to DVD or upload to YouTube.
#2. Windows Movie Maker
Operating system: Windows
Windows Movie Maker is a free great video editing tool and has been a part of the Windows system for many years. It supports different video formats and contains various video editing functions. You can easily combine videos and videos, add transitions and effects, insert music or sound and tweak the playback speed, post to YouTube and more.
#3. Wondershare Filmora (originally Wondershare Video Editor)
Operating system: Windows & Mac
Wondershare Filmora (originally Wondershare Video Editor) lets you effortlessly edit videos to look amazing. It’s easy, utilizing classic editing functions like trim, crop, rotate and professional extras like stylish title screens, colorful filter effects, transition/motion effects. It even takes your video even further with special features like intro/credit screens, PIP, green screen, tilt shift, mosaic blur, face off and more. When you finish your video creation, make them web-ready to upload to YouTube and Facebook.
#4. Lightworks
Operating system: Windows & Linux
Best Youtube Video Editor Free Download
Lightworks is a free yet powerful video editing tool. It comes with a user-friendly interface, supports virtually any video format and provides various professional-level tools. Although it requires a steep learning curve, you’ll finally find it has a lot to offer. If you’re looking for an affordable professional YouTube video editor, don't miss this one!
#5. Adobe Premiere Elements
Operating system: Windows & Mac
Adobe Premiere Elements is a scaled-down version of Adobe Premiere Pro and is designed to novice editor and consumers. It’s a budget professional video editor and allows you to work with any video file format, and contains all the tools that you will need to edit and polish your videos. When the editing process is over, you can directly upload videos to Facebook or YouTube.
#6. Sony Vegas Pro
Operating system: Windows
Sony Vegas Pro is a high-end video editor packed with awesome great editing features. It’s compatible with almost all the video formats and features real-time multi-track video and audio editing, resolution-independent video sequencing, complex effects and compositing tools, plug-in effect support, and Dolby Digital surround sound mixing.
#7. Video Toolbox
Operating system: Online
Best Video Editing For Youtube Mac
Video Toolbox is a handy online video editor which enables you to easily do different video editing tasks. It supports multiple video formats along with providing the high quality output format. Main features include crop, merge, demux, hardcode subtitles as well as convert and download videos. However, you can only upload videos up to 600 MB.
Best Youtube Video Editor Software
#8. AndroVid Video Editor
Operating system: Android
You may need a professional video editing app to cut, edit, merge or add music at any instant. Here AndroVid Video Editor can help. Besides the basic video editing functions, it also gives the advantage of adding text, frames and effects to your videos. You can also choose frames to your videos which will be shown on the screen of the viewer first. In all, it’s an ideal YouTube video editing app for Android.
#9. YouTube Capture
Operating system: iOS (iPhone & iPad)
YouTube Capture is Google’s dedicated iPhone and iPad app for recording and sharing video on YouTube. It enables you to capture videos and stitch together multiple clips into a seamless creation. The main editing functions include rearrange or trim individual clips, add a soundtrack from your music collection or its own audio library. You can also upload your video to YouTube and simultaneously post to all of your social networks.
#10. Magisto
Operating system: Android & iOS
Magisto is an easy-to-use video editing app for you to directly edit your videos from smart phone. Just upload your video, select your favorite theme and music and let the app do the rest for you. Another nice feature is that, this app can automatically choose the best scenes from your videos and create short videos.