Comparison of video editing software
This is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.
General information
This table gives basic general information about the different editors:Active
Discontinued / inactive
Definition
- professional: used for full length Hollywood movies;
- professional : mainly used for paid commercials, short films or podcasts/YouTube channels;
- prosumer: Mainly targeting private use, anything that can do more than just trimming a film;
- basic: trimming a film;
System requirements
| Windows | Mac OS X | Unix-like | Processor | RAM | VRAM | HDD | |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Skylake or later | 8 GB | 2 GB | 8 GB | |||
| Adobe Premiere Elements | 2 GHz+ with SSE2 support | 2 GB | 4.5 GB | ||||
| Avid Media Composer | SSE 4.1 support | 16 GB | |||||
| Avidemux | |||||||
| AVS Video Editor | Intel / AMD compatible at 2500 MHz or higher | 1 GB | 1 GB | ||||
| Blender | 2 GHz+ with SSE2 support | 2 GB | 512 MB | ||||
| Cinelerra | x86-64 compatible processor | 256 MB | 0.25 GB | ||||
| Cinelerra-GG Infinity | x86-64 compatible processor, recommended minimum: 2 GHz, 4 cores | 8 GB recommended for HD editing | 0.2 GB | ||||
| Corel VideoStudio | 3.0 GHz | 4 GB | 256 MB | 8 GB | |||
| DaVinci Resolve | |||||||
| EDIUS | Intel Core 2 or later with SSSE3 support | 1 GB | 512 MB | 6 GB | |||
| Final Cut Pro X | 4 GB | 256 MB | 3.8 GB | ||||
| Flowblade | x86-64 compatible processor | 2.7 GB | |||||
| Blackbird | N/A | 256 MB | Any | ||||
| iMovie | Intel based Macs or iPhone 4 or later | 1 GB | 5 GB | ||||
| Kdenlive | 600 MHz | 256 MB | 1 GB | ||||
| Lightworks | Intel Core Duo, Intel Xeon or AMD processor | 2 GB | 200 MB | ||||
| LiVES | 800 MHz | 128 MB | 10 GB | ||||
| Magix Movie Edit Pro | Dual core processor with 2.0 GHz | 1 GB | 2 GB | ||||
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | 233 MHz | 32 MB | 20 MB | ||||
| Nero Multimedia Suite | 2 GHz AMD or Intel processor | 512 MB 2 GB when editing HD | 5 GB | ||||
| OpenShot Video Editor | 4 GB | 1 GB | |||||
| Pinnacle Studio | 1.8 GHz | 1 GB | 1.7 GB | ||||
| Pitivi | ? | ? | 2 MB | ||||
| Shotcut | 2 GHz AMD or Intel processor | 2GB / 4 GB when editing HD | 1 GB | ||||
| Vegas Pro | 2.0 GHz | 1.0 GB | 400 MB | ||||
| VideoPad | multicore x86 compatible processor | 1GB | Any | ||||
| VirtualDubMod | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||
| VSDC Free Video Editor | 1.5 GHz or higher, Intel or AMD or compatible processor | 512 Mb for the program | |||||
| Windows | Mac OS X | Unix | Processor | RAM | VRAM | HDD |
"Unix" includes the similar Linux, BSD and Unix-like operating systems.
High definition/High resolution import
The table below indicates the ability of each program to import various High Definition video or High resolution video formats for editing.| DVCPRO HD | HD uncompressed | AVCHD | XDCAM HD | HDV | AVC-Intra | XAVC | DNxHD | DNxHR | DNx uncompressed | ProRes | ProRes RAW | R3D | ArriRaw | X-OCN | AV1 | |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | ? | |||||||||||||||
| Adobe Premiere Elements | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||||||||
| Avid Media Composer | ? | |||||||||||||||
| Avidemux | ? | |||||||||||||||
| AVS Video Editor | ? | |||||||||||||||
| Blender | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||
| Cinelerra | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| Cinelerra-GG Infinity | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||||
| DaVinci Resolve | ? | |||||||||||||||
| EDIUS | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||
| Final Cut Pro X | ? | ? | ? | |||||||||||||
| Blackbird | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| iMovie | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||
| Lightworks | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| LiVES | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Kdenlive | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| Magix Movie Edit Pro | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Nero Video | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| OpenShot Video Editor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| Pinnacle Studio | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||
| Pitivi | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||||||
| Shotcut | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Corel VideoStudio | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Vegas Pro | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||||||||
| VideoPad | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| VirtualDub | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| VSDC Free Video Editor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||||||
| WeVideo | ? | |||||||||||||||
| Windows Live Movie Maker | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||
| DVCPRO HD | HD uncompressed | AVCHD | XDCAM HD | HDV | AVC-Intra | XAVC | DNxHD | DNxHR | DNx uncompressed | ProRes | ProRes RAW | R3D | ArriRaw | X-OCN | AV1 |
Feature set
Output options
Please note that recording to Blu-ray does not imply 1080@50p/60p. Most only support up to 1080i 25/30 frames per second recording. Also not all formats can be output.| DVD | High Definition | Smart phone | QuickTime | Windows Media | MPEG-4 | XML/EDL | Print to tape | Web, not hosted | Web, hosted | Podcasting | |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | ? | ||||||||||
| Adobe Premiere Elements | |||||||||||
| Avid Media Composer | |||||||||||
| Avidemux | |||||||||||
| AVS Video Editor | |||||||||||
| Blender | |||||||||||
| Cinelerra | |||||||||||
| Cinelerra-GG Infinity | CMX3600 | ||||||||||
| EDIUS | ? | ? | |||||||||
| Final Cut Pro X | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||||
| Flowblade | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Blackbird | |||||||||||
| iMovie | |||||||||||
| Kdenlive | ? | ||||||||||
| Lightworks | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| LiVES | ? | ||||||||||
| Magix Movie Edit Pro | |||||||||||
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | ? | ||||||||||
| Nero Video | |||||||||||
| OpenShot Video Editor | |||||||||||
| Pinnacle Studio | |||||||||||
| Pitivi | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||||||
| Shotcut | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Corel VideoStudio | ? | ||||||||||
| Vegas Pro | |||||||||||
| VideoPad | |||||||||||
| VirtualDub | |||||||||||
| VSDC Free Video Editor | |||||||||||
| WeVideo | |||||||||||
| Windows Live Movie Maker | |||||||||||
| DVD | High Definition | Smart phone | QuickTime | Windows Media | MPEG-4 | XML/EDL | Print to tape | Web, not hosted | Web, hosted | Podcasting |