We are increasingly filming on our smartphones. It is then inconvenient to first send your videos to your PC and then edit them. It is much easier to edit the videos directly on your smartphone. Which free video editors are recommended? In this article we list the best 20 tips.
01 Windows Movie Maker
This video editor from Microsoft is wonderfully easy to use, while still having all the functionality you need to create beautiful movie montages. You load a few movie files, indicate the start and end point for each movie, let images flow into each other nicely, add animations and effects here and there, put everything in the desired order and let the program generate the end result. You can also add music or sounds and incorporate photos into your montage. Upload a movie directly to online services such as YouTube and Vimeo? Yes, that is possible too.
Windows Movie Maker is easy to use and yet has many options for editing and editing movies.
02 MoviePlus Starter Edition
MoviePlus Starter Edition is quite a powerful video editor. It is nice that you can make a so-called picture-in-picture, with which you actually watch two videos at the same time. For example, to show a scene from two points of view simultaneously. Handy for those who work with multiple action cams, or if you also include videos from friends in the editing. To be able to download you have to leave an email address after which you will receive a license code. Be careful not to install any unwanted programs. The program doesn't recognize many file formats unless you buy a codec pack with it. Fortunately, you can convert videos for free with the programs from tips 10 and 11.
MoviePlus: A great video editor that supports picture-in-picture.
03 VSDC Free Video Editor
Not the easiest video editor, but one with a lot of possibilities, so you don't get bored with it quickly. For example, there are various tools with which you can adjust the image quality and you can add all kinds of graphic elements such as rectangles and lines, but also text. There are also beautiful effects and transitions and a picture-in-picture is possible. This is a kind of Windows Movie Maker, but more comprehensive and a little more complicated. During installation, make sure that you do not install any additional software.
DSDC Free Video Editor can do a lot but is not really accessible.
04 LightWorks
The fact that this video editor has been used for real Hollywood productions immediately creates confidence. The program is therefore very extensive and makes a professional impression. You can even work on your film with several people at the same time. It is a precision tool that you have to sit down for a while and this is certainly not a program for beginners. So take your time to thoroughly immerse yourself in the matter. The free version can be less than the commercial version. For example, the number of formats in which you can save films is limited. You need to create an account to get the program up and running.
LightWorks is a video editor in which you may even create your own Hollywood productions.
05 Avidemux
A small but nice open source video editor with which you can crop or divide videos into smaller fragments. The great thing is that they don't get re-encoded when they're saved. As a result, you have no loss of quality at all. You can also perform a number of operations, such as cropping, rotating, sharpening, reducing noise, and adjusting things like exposure and colors. In that case you adjust the image material and coding is of course necessary.
Movies can be shortened with Avidemux without loss of quality.
06 Free Video Editor
With this program you can cut unwanted parts from a movie, after which you save the new movie without re-encoding it. Not only do you retain the original image quality, but saving is also very fast. Feel free to cut bits from the middle of the film and are not limited to just the beginning or end. Converting to another format is also possible with this program. Previously, this program was called Free Video Dub. Again, watch out for unnecessary additional software during the installation.
Cut out all the parts you want to get rid of from the movie with Free Video Editor.
07 VideoPad Video Editor
VideoPad is a powerful video editor that can handle many movie formats, both in terms of loading source material and saving the final result. You do need some time to find your way in this program, because there is a lot that is possible. It's easy to get lost between all the menu options, tabs and icons. Still, you get used to it quickly and you can make the most beautiful films with it in no time. You can apply countless filters and transitions and in terms of editing you can improve things like lighting and colors very fine.
VideoPad Video Editor is a comprehensive video editor worth trying.
Tips
Nice all these programs, which together offer hundreds of ways to edit your videos, but where do you start once you find a tool? In this article we take a closer look at the possibilities of the most popular apps. Remove certain fragments, provide your videos with a text message or subtitles or apply filters or effects to them.
08 ShotCut
This open source program is available for multiple platforms, including Windows of course. ShotCut is easy to use, while still having a lot of functionality on board. You can improve the footage with it, apply digital image stabilization to make shaky movies quieter and the program supports almost all movie formats that you come across. Also when saving the final film, there are many buttons that you can turn, so that you can generate films for any device or medium.
ShortCut has very extensive options and a professional appearance.
09 GoPro Studio
More and more movies are shot with an actioncam these days. With GoPro Studio you can cut, rotate or flip these videos to size and then edit them. But even if you shoot your films with a regular camera or a smartphone, you can still edit them with this program. You load a few videos and then you make a choice from the supplied templates or you start from scratch. You then place the videos in the desired order on the timeline and you have extensive editing options at your disposal.
A comprehensive video editor whether you have a GoPro action cam.
10 Freemake Video Converter
Not every program can handle every video format. If you have already edited a few nice films, you may also have to deal with all kinds of devices and video websites that expect a certain film format or a specific resolution. Instead of generating a new film every time, which is quite time-consuming, you can quickly convert an existing copy.
Quickly convert a video to the desired format? Easy with Freemake.
This program recognizes many film formats and you can immediately choose for which device or which website you want to make the film suitable. Make sure that no unwanted software is included during installation.
11 Handbrake
Where Freemake Video Converter has few manual settings and mainly relies on ready-made conversions, Handbrake allows you to operate all buttons and controls yourself. That makes the program a bit more difficult to understand. Fortunately, there are still a number of profiles available to quickly convert a movie for your tablet or smartphone. You can also use such a profile as a starting point, after which you can adjust all kinds of settings to your heart's content. Also very useful: Handbrake can batch convert large numbers of movies.
Handbrake converts one movie or a selection of movies to almost any format.
12 iMovie
For several years now, you get the video editor iMovie for free when you buy an iPhone or iPad. That's good news, this app is very extensive, so that you can edit and edit the most beautiful films. You choose some videos, put them in order on the timeline, determine the start and end point for each copy and add a hip filter if necessary. You are also allowed to cut a movie into shorter fragments, duplicate and adjust the playback speed. So many possibilities and that just on your mobile device from Apple.
iMovie is a very comprehensive video editor for your iPhone or iPad.
13 Adobe Premiere Clip
This app is suitable for iPad and iPhone. You can use it to edit videos and edit the image, after which you can share the result on YouTube or save it in the Camera Roll. Your work is automatically synced between iPhone and iPad, so you can decide when to use which device to work on your movies. You do need an Adobe ID here, but this account will not cost you anything.
Edit movies and improve image quality with Adobe Premiere Clip.
14 Movie Edit Touch
With this app from Magix you can edit and edit movies on an Android device. You load the films, drag them in the right order, shorten them if necessary and choose a nice transition for each film. Add some titles where necessary and adjust the exposure or contrast. Are your videos upright? No problem, you can rotate them so that everything plays in landscape orientation. The free version of the app is somewhat limited in options. Much functionality is only released after switching to the paid premium version.
Movie Edit Touch is a free editor for your Android device
15 PowerDirector Mobile
This app is called PowerDirector on Android devices and PowerDirector Mobile on Windows devices. You will immediately see uploaded videos on the timeline. You determine the order by dragging the fragments. If you want a transition effect, tap the little filmstrip icon between two films. To split a movie, first find the correct location and tap the knife icon. The start and end point of movies can also be set and you can add titles and fun playback effects. Only when you switch to the full version (approximately 5 euros) will there be no watermark on generated films.
You can give each movie in the timeline a certain playback effect in PowerDirector
16 Video Toolbox
You can use Video Toolbox's website to convert videos to another format, watermark them, or separate audio, video, and subtitles, among other things. You can also make a crop of the image, shorten films, or paste films together. The website does look quite spartan. You first upload one or more films or point to online films, after which you select the action you want to perform. You get 600MB of storage for source material and 1400MB for edited movies.
The Video Toolbox site is a bit old fashioned but works fine.
17 Magisto
Magisto is an online video service that allows you to make short films in a simple way. Just don't expect an extensive video editor, this is purely for convenience and simplicity. You choose your videos, select a theme you like and add a suitable music. Magisto then searches for a number of beautiful scenes himself and edits them into a flashy film. Instead of working via the website, you can also use an app for this on your iOS or Android device, or install Magisto as a program on your PC.
Magisto can be used via the website, an app on your phone or tablet, or a local program on your PC.
18 WeVideo
With an online video editor, you have to upload your movies first. So the shorter the films, the faster you can get started. Now with the free version of WeVideo you can only publish five minutes a month of material anyway, so that is immediately solved. After signing up, you will be presented with a simple video editor with a timeline. You can rotate, mirror and scale the videos. Various effects are also possible and you can add music. You can place your films directly on, among others, Vimeo, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Dropbox. Do you like the service? There are several plans that allow you to buy more time.
Edit your movies and immediately publish them to the desired video service with WeVideo.
19 Runner
With the online editor Loopster you get three gigabytes of space to store your movies. Upload your films and you can start editing. You can add titles, transitions and audio and determine per video where the material starts and stops. You can share the end result on YouTube or Facebook, but also save it locally. The free version does have some limitations. For example, a watermark is added and you cannot generate movies in HD quality.
Loopster looks like a simple local video editor, but you actually work online.
20 YouTube
Typically, you edit a video before sharing it online. This does not alter the fact that it is also possible to do this afterwards. This way you can always add music or subtitles on YouTube. In addition, you can optimize the image quality, such as exposure, contrast, saturation and color temperature. Conveniently, you can see the original and the edit simultaneously during playback. Other smart options include stabilizing unsettled images, playing in slow motion, speeding up a timelapse that is too slow and cropping. You can also combine multiple films and add transitions and titles.
