Nine video editing programs for Linux compared
Show Time
In a comparison test, we checked out nine free video editing programs: Cinelerra, Flowblade, Kdenlive, Kino, Lightworks, LiVES, OpenShot, Pitivi, and Shotcut.
Video technology has exploded in the past several years: Video capability is now a standard feature on most high-end mobile phones, and a menagerie of other inexpensive video devices now inhabit the high-tech landscape. But eye-witness footage alone does not make for a compelling film. The new legions of camera users need editing tools to cut out the rough parts and assemble the snippets into polished products. No fewer than nine free video editing programs vie for the favor of Linux-conscious filmmakers. All these tools are capable of editing videos, arranging them into a new work of art, and furnishing them with effects.
The proprietary but free Lightworks joined the lineup at the start of 2014. In this article, I explore the crowded field of Linux video editing alternatives, including Cinelerra, Flowblade, Kdenlive, Kino, Lightworks, LiVES, OpenShot, Pitivi, and Shotcut. Most of these tools are guided by the methods of professional video editing programs like Adobe Premiere Pro: You drag and drop movie snippets on a timeline to create your video, and when you're finished editing, you export the video into a new file.
Cinelerra
Adam Williams attaches great importance to a stable program. He therefore updates his video editing program Cinelerra [1] only once a year, and each version has only a few new features. Williams's website provides an archive with a binary version for the 64-bit version of Ubuntu 14.04, whereas users of other distributions have to compile the source text themselves.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.