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Best Free Video Editor
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 Read this article in Chinese |
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In a Hurry?
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 Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide |
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Introduction
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Hello and welcome to the Best Free Video Editor review page! Whether you're a professional looking to save money, a student looking for a program to help with a school project or just a person who likes making videos and needs an editor, this page is for you. I will also be here to answer as many of your questions as I can in the comments section and on our forum. So please, if you need some help picking the right program or if you are an experienced video editor and feel that a specific free editor should be reviewed, because it has worked so well for you, let me know and hopefully, together, we can help everyone find the Best Free Video Editor for them! Disclaimer: Companies like NCH and others who distribute partially restricted free versions of their primary-for-profit product or other freeware will often attempt to add other programs during install of the software you actually want. Be careful to only approve the installation of the programs you want and recognize. If you are given the choice of standard or custom installation choosing custom will often give you the opportunity to see exactly what components the software is installing and choose which parts you do or do not want. I do my best to make sure nothing recommended on this page in the main section or the comments will afflict your computer with viruses or useless programs. Downloading free software on the Internet can be risky though so ALWAYS pay attention to exactly what you are downloading and where you are downloading it from: it's for your own health! |
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Discussion
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With more than 20 built in effects and 35 transitions VideoPad comes well equipped to handle just about any basic project. You can also find and download other effects and transitions that you may need or want; and making them available on the program is as easy as clicking the Load/Unload Plugins tab at the bottom of the Effects window, finding the effect file and clicking it. Simply drag and drop video and audio files into the Media List and then to their place on the Timeline to start working on them. So far, VideoPad has had everything I've needed to crop, level and fine tune everything I've thrown at it. If you've had problems with VideoPad, or have tips for making it work even better, then please let me know in the comments section below. |
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The package is however not complete without the additional filters. A comprehensive collection of third party filters, 74 Filters for VirtualDub, is available from a French site. Just click on the "Download VD filters (1.72MB)" panel/button to download the complete set of filters (RAR pack). Once all the filters are installed, delete the "PCVideo Image Processor" filter, as the installation instructions are missing a step. |
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The software itself is very flashy and contains many useful features. However, many features are blocked and even omitted in the free version. For this reason it is not my most highly rated software. But for the user who is just looking to do simple editing, the program works fine. It comes packed with many pre-installed titles and credits. Warning: The current download for VideoSpin comes from CNET which will attempt to include other sponsored programs in your download. These programs will not damage your computer but are annoying and unnecessary to the functioning of VideoSpin. Be careful when you download to exclude and delete these extras if you do not want them. |
| Other Selections |
| This section will hold all products reviewed that did not end up on the main list. This is because of my own experiences running the programs on my computer for my projects and the evaluation I made of its efficacy as well as how easily others were able to complete projects in a satisfactory and timely manner. This may not apply to how the program will run on your system for your projects so please, do not become upset if you see a program you like below. If one of these is your favorite for your projects I am happy for you and would honestly like to hear about it in my email or the comments section below. |
 Avidemux is a free, open source, video editor written in C++ by Mean, Gruntster and Fahr. Pros: Will run on almost any operating system using minimal resources. Advanced users can customize the program. Newer distributions have a command line interface. Large selection of filters. Cons: Can be too complicated for beginners or even intermediate users who often have problems syncing sound and video in their projects as well as adding filters and adjusting the beginning and end of clips. |
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Related Products and Links
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You might want to check out these articles too: |
Get it Free: The free version is available when you click the download link directly from this page.
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Editor
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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor edwardns. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here. |
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Tags
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edit video, video editor, video editing software, free, freeware |
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Comments
Avidemux kills the sound. Whenever I tried to edit a video, the result was exported without a reasonable soundtrack.
The editor will be covering this shortly. Please be patient. :)
I like your's software it is uae full to me.
Thanking you.
You are very welcome! I am glad you find them useful :)
i lke your,s software and i love you web site
Thank you very much! We appreciate you visiting us :D
I've been looking all over, trying to find out about Video Pad, if there is a FREE version etc. I finally found out that by downloading and installing it, you then make as if to uninstall - eg, go to Add/Remove Programs list, choose Video Pad, and click Uninstall. A window will come up asking if you want to downgrade to the Free Basic Version. You check that radio button and say OK. Now when you start it again, the splash screen will inform you that you now have the free version. What is the difference? I haven't really used it enough to know, but I understand it has fewer transitions etc.
Video Pad free will only save your video to the following: AVI, WMV, asf & DVD.
Except for these limitations it's a very good editor and has functioned with any video format I've used.
how are you able to save as AVI output when the only option I have is VPJ?
Check out this video, it goes through all the options for saving your movie on VideoPad. If you're still finding that you cannot save to anything but .VPJ than there may have been a problem when the program files were downloaded or installed.
Ok, I have tested all the 3 recommended video editing tools and I'm very frustrated. First of all:
VideoPad Video Editor is trying to convert all my avi videos before I can do anything. The quality of the conversion is horrible and I have tried all settings I could find. So I cant use it.
VirtualDub seem ok but I cant find any feature that can crop the sides of my videos. I need to remove something on both sides that is private. I also downloaded the filters but I have no idea how to install them. This software dont let me change the resolution either so I have to use another program to reduce the size of the videos.
Pinnacle VideoSpin I have tried to download but nothing happens. The page dont start the download for some reason.
Anyway I'm a noob when it come to video editing, so all this can be my own fault. I have spent like 3-4 hours now downloading different software and testing but Im still stuck. Need help...help
This is what I try to do:
Im making ingame videos with fraps. This videos is gigantic and the sides of the movies include chat boxes with private tells.
So this is what I need:
1. Easy editing tool so I can cut away parts of the videos I dont want.
2. Some way to reduce the size of the videos, I guess that is related to reducing the resolution.
3. Possibility to hide/remove/cut/blur text boxes that is private on the sides of my movies
4. Make a start-page/intro-page/intro-text on the movies with my name and my guild name
Okay, hopefully I can address everything on your list with VideoPad. Though VirtualDub and Pinnacle VideoSpin can be useful in their own right I have done similar videos to the one you are describing on VP with ease. I'm not suggesting that VP is a free video editing cure-all, I just use it the most because I can solve the majority of my video editing issues on it. This does not mean it will work the best for YOU on YOUR system but I'd certainly like to give it a chance before I suggest something else that might have less of the features you might want or be more difficult to use for a beginner.
First off: If you unable to add .avi files and edit them in VP than we'll need to attack that problem first and separately from the others. I have been able to easily add and edit .avi's on my free version of VP so the issue maybe be with an error in download or install.
The remaining problems can be solved forthwith:
1. Easy editing tool so I can cut away parts of the videos I dont want.
- VideoPad has a easy clipping tool. Just select the clip which should make it appear in the left viewing window, then move the sliders on the timeline in that frame to adjust the size of the clip. You can also drag the sides of the clip on the main timeline to adjust them.
2. Some way to reduce the size of the videos, I guess that is related to reducing the resolution.
- You can choose output resolution when you're saving and exporting your video on VP. This video will show you the ins and outs of saving to different formats, resolutions, and specific settings for viewing in the U.S. or the U.K.
3. Possibility to hide/remove/cut/blur text boxes that is private on the sides of my movies.
- You can use the Chroma Key to overlay an image or video over your project by adding the media to the overlay track section of the main timeline and then selecting it. After that you can select Chroma Key and adjust the medias position, opacity ect..
4. Make a start-page/intro-page/intro-text on the movies with my name and my guild name.
- This can also be accomplished in VP with an overlay track placed over a blank clip. There is a button specifically for creating blank clips on the top tool bar. Overlay tracks can be added by clicking the little (usually green) plus sign to the lower left of the main timeline between the Video Track and Audio Track side bars.
If you have any trouble making these things happen let me know and I will do my best to get ya sorted out ^_^
VideoPad Video Editor is NOT unrestricted freeware.
From their website:
http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
Get it Free. A free video editor version is available for non-commercial use only. If you will be using it at home you can download the free version here.
Please update your article to reflect this.
Thank you.
Thank you for alerting me to my mistake. I had not noticed that I failed to set the proper restriction. The information has been adjusted accordingly ^_^
hi mr. editor.
i encountered a problem with VideoPad. i edited a home made video using the program and tried to play it on my dvd player but it won't play it. but when i tried to play the unedited video, the dvd player was able to play it. there might be a problem with how the program saves the file.
Hello secretlife,
VideoPad offers a relatively large selection of options for saving your file and I find with VP that if you don't pick just the right one the saved movie file can have issues with upload or playback. When you clicked the Save Movie button and set the output for file type and quality what did you choose?
P.S. - Other VP users have had problems with burning to DVDs. There are some excellent solutions here to different problems which you may or may not share. Here you will find a good tutorial for saving VideoPad projects in the best format. Though the video is about saving the file for an upload to youtube it will walk you through the save options and hopefully, if by chance you were just saving it improperly, you can fix your problem by changing the settings you save with.
Good luck! Let me know if any of this helps or if there is more I can do to help.
I'm not sure if this was a problem with the program, but only minutes after I installed VideoPad my computer shut down on me.
And from what I did see of the program, it didn't do what I set out for it to do.
It might be that you inadvertently invoked a restart function to complete the install but that's about the only thing that could shut it down associated with VideoPad. What kind of project are you working on? Maybe I can suggest another program that will work better.
Does anyone know a video editor that can slow down videos? Like if I have a video shot at 60fps, slow it down so that it plays at 25fps? Thanks in advance!
I would suggest giving VideoPad a try. It comes with a very easy to use effect to slow down or speed up video.
Just to update, this is a CRITICAL UPDATE... Videopad is NOT free anymore, I don't know when that happened, but NCH No longer provides free software
I just downloaded and installed VideoPad for free on my other computer 5 mins ago from this link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html.
Just hit the 'Download Now' button, open the exe file and follow the directions. I checked over the NCH site as well and didn't see anything about the changes you mentioned but that doesn't mean its not happening. Would you mind posting a link to where on the NCH site you saw the changes so I can see what your talking about?
I know this is a couple of months later, but this comment is correct - Videopad is NOT free, although this is something that you won't know at first because NCH uses an underhanded way of informing the user .... you'll get a notice that your "free trial" is about to end, and when the 'trial' ends, there's an option to downgrade to the free version. Frankly, I wouldn't waste my money on it though. [edit] Commercial software reference removed.
NCH has a that free non commercial version of VideoPad available here that you can download directly for home use. As it is not a free trial of the full version and just the slightly stripped free version you wont have to downgrade in order to keep it. Though you do indeed have to pay for the full version the free version can deftly handle a wide variety of projects for personal and even in some cases professional use. This as well as the ease at which many people can pick up and use free VideoPad I feel qualifies it as useful and pertinent freeware in its own right.
You are correct though in pointing out that the full program is not free. I will adjust the review and listing of it adding "Free Version" or something similar in order to make the distinction.
I installed Videopad, and as near as I can tell, it's the slowest editor on the planet - by a factor of five or maybe ten! And hour and a half to convert a twenty minute edit?
Freemake is much easier to use, and takes four minutes, although it does lack effects if that's important to you.
Interesting, that is waaaaaay to long to wait for conversion. If you don't mind my asking, what OS were you running VideoPad on? I have seen posts voicing similar problems on the VideoPad forum from Windows 7 users. So if you use it that may have something to do with the brutal lag. I'm glad Freemake is working so much better for you ^_^
Yes, I am using Win 7. But if that's the problem, it's theirs, and they must be aware of it.
Since I wrote the above, I've had a chance to use Videopad, and the results were as good as Freemake ( overlooking the unbearable slowness of being Videopad), but it seems that Viceopad's only redeeming feature is the availability of effects which I rarely need. Otherwise the VP interface is big, busy, and confusing whereas Freemake is simple, and almost mistake-proof. So why would I use anything else? Because Freemake has no viable crop feature, volume normalizing, or fading (you can it to fade, but it's not very controllable. On the other hand, you can edit multiple files at once and thus process about twenty files while ViOdeopad is processing just one.
Which of the Freemake programs are you using? If I am on the correct website (unable to post URL - triggers SPAM filter), it shows
Freemake Video Converter
Freemake Video Downloader
Freemake Audio Converter
Freemake Music Box
It's Freemake Video Converter.
That's always the battle with free software. Some of it has a couple of the features you want but not others while another one might have those features but then run too slow. Though I find it very useful for what I need to do VideoPad is certainly not going to work for everyone. If you haven't already tried them give Wax or Movica a shot and see if they work better for your projects.