The advantages of editing software over the snip-and-tape days of linear film editing are legion, but when it comes to choosing among the dozens of tools available, well, Houston, we have a problem. The reigning king of the world isan advanced editor used by prosumers, film students and silver-screen greats. While we recommend both, if neither appeals to you, we suggest a handful of alternatives to each below. For those looking for a tool to sync and share their movies, give our guide a read. Picking the Best video editor 2019 Video Editing Software The beauty of using software to make movies is that it allows for nonlinear editing. That means editors can do their thing without altering the source material. Prior to the early 90s, before digital cameras changed the game, most editing was linear, which was a much more time-consuming process, especially when mistakes were made. Use it to add, arrange and cut clips however you want. Whether you edit the beginning scene first or start from the middle or end, time code markers will help you keep it all straight. Most editors provide additional panes above the timeline for sources and previewing clips. Important Video Editing Features Most video editing software supports 4K video, though some free video editors do not, and 360-degree video is becoming more common, even for consumer software. Multicam editing lets you work with several camera angles at once and sync footage based on time codes and audio. Image stabilization smooths out shaky footage, which is helpful for shots using an action camera such as GoPro. Motion tracking is another useful feature. It lets you isolate an object in a clip and apply effects that follow that object through the video. An example of that is brightening the colors of some elements while shifting everything else in the scene to black and white. A related effect is video masking, which enables you to blur objects or remove them entirely. Time-remapping helps you speed footage up or slow it down, while pan-and-zoom lets you add additional motion to filmed clips. To change the hue, saturation or even the colors of your work, good video editors have color-editing controls. best video editor 2019 Professional video editing software has a distinct advantage over cheaper tools in this area. Effects libraries are another feature to look for, letting you add industry-quality special effects without having to export your clips to specialized applications such as Adobe After Effects. Title tools for credits, captions and other on-screen text are usually included in editing software, too. Score stretching, meanwhile, automatically lengthens music tracks to match scene length. Those are a few important features of modern video editors. Adobe Premiere Interface The Premiere Pro interface is dark, so you can focus on your footage. The default editing layout has four panes. Workspaces can be customized to your liking with adjustable toolbars and rearrangeable panels. The panels can be removed from the main interface and spread across multiple monitors to create your own editing bay. Layout options include assembly, editing, color, effects and audio. You can switch between them quickly by clicking buttons along the top of the screen. Adobe Premiere Pro Video Editing Adobe sets the curve for features, with about twice a year, which is one reason for its popularity with professional videographers. Premiere Pro is capable of handling any video type, even cutting edge ones such as 8K and 360-degree. The software supports unlimited multicam angles, as opposed to 64 for Final Cut Pro. Audio can be synced, as well, and you can use sound to align your video clips automatically. Color manipulation is another aspect of video editing in which Adobe ranks ahead of the competition. That is partly due to its handy Lumetri Color panel. Basic adjustments such as white balancing, tone and saturation are available, as are sliders to sharpen your clip and adjust fade, saturation and vibrance. While you can use Adobe Audition to edit audio for your videos, switching between apps consumes time. Clips of audio can be highlighted and tagged as one of four specific sound types dialogue, music, special effects or ambianceeach with its own customized options. Prebuilt animation effects made with Adobe After Effects are available to impress your viewers with minimal effort on your part, too. You can keep project assets organized by creating custom bins and subfolders. Adobe Premiere Pro Pricing Adobe offers access to Premiere Pro through Adobe Creative Cloud, which is a subscription service. That means you pay few costs up front and get access to updates without having to buy upgraded software. Pay for a single month or subscribe for a year to receive a 33 percent discount. After Effects is there, too, to add visual effects to your film. For Adobe super fans, save money by subscribing to the whole shebang. Try it before subscribing with the seven-day trial offer. Apple provides a free video editor called iMovie that will satisfy hobbyists. For prosumers and professional videographers, Final Cut Pro X works well. Mac users can download a 30-day trial version. Apple Final Cut Pro X Interface Apple has engineered an interface that breaks from tradition, but provides a more intuitive user experience than you can expect from other professional tools. The big departure from other editors is a new take on the timeline. Roles help organize clips and control the arrangement of the timeline. Virtual reality support is included with 360-degree video editing, along with 3D titles. Multicam editing lets you edit and sync footage from different camera angles. Unrelated footage and photos can be grouped to create montages and image stabilization for action cameras is included, as well. Precise adjustments to your clips can be executed from a best video editor 2019 color tab. Tools include an eyedropper and curves for colors, hues and saturation. High-quality effects are available, in addition to titles and transitions, and you can add more from third-party libraries. These include libraries, ratings and tagging, each helping you use the same assets across multiple projects. Assets in libraries are automatically backed up to a separate drive. On the plus side, the cost, substantial as it may be, is for a lifetime license. From Avengers: Infinity War to Game of Thrones, Avid Media Composer has been used to edit more blockbuster films and television hits than any other software. Part of its success is that it was the software that made nonlinear, digital video editing mainstream in the 90s, meaning more professionals are familiar with it. While there are YouTube videos and guidebooks available, you may want to take a class on this one. Avid Media Composer Interface Media Composer lets you customize best video editor 2019 workspace to your liking. Single views, full-screen playback and removable panels can be used to bring a multi-monitor editing bay to life. The default looks as expected: dark gray for visibility, a timeline along the bottom and separate panes for source media and project previewing. Down the left, you can access projects and project bins. A separate source browser can help you find assets more quickly. Avid Media Composer Video Editing Features Media Composer keeps up on video technology, supporting 4K, 8K and 360-degree video editing. Built-in options include 3D warp, paint, animate, transitions and timewarp. Color correction tools, such as color curves, hue offsets and luma range are best video editor 2019 to quickly change the feel of clips. Built-in audio editing and sounds effects are available, too. Features include an audio mixer, audio ducking, audio punch-on for voice-overs, subframe editing, multimix and sample rate changes. Media Composer can only sync video and audio for single takes, meaning one video clip and one audio clip. Unlike Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro X, more complex syncing requires the use of third-party software, such as. Avid Media Composer Pricing You can get Media Composer with a subscription or perpetual license. Support is available as long as your subscription remains active. The learning curve will be too steep for hobbyists, but Media Composer First is a good choice for students trying to learn the trade. Plus, the learning curve is steep since the software comes with many features meant for pros. Like Adobe, Corel makes many products that have been around since the 80s does anyone still use WordPerfect. Corel VideoStudio Interface The simplicity of VideoStudio will appeal to those looking to learn the basics and get to editing quickly. Clear buttons and tooltips make it intuitive. The edit view is where most of the action happens. best video editor 2019 Break out the video preview window and you can move best video editor 2019 to a separate monitor. Multicam editing is supported for four or six angles depending on whether you buy VideoStudio Pro or VideoStudio Ultimate. VideoStudio 2018 added split-screen video to incorporate multiple videos into one frame. Several templates will help you get the effect right. Two other new features are distortion correction for action cameras and 3D titles. Pan-and-zoom, multipoint motion tracking, time-remapping and video masking are other features of note. While there are some misses, such as no storage bins, and other elements could be more developed, the editing capabilities provided by VideoStudio make it a bargain when you take the cost into account. Corel VideoStudio Pricing How much you pay for Corel VideoStudio will depend on whether you buy VideoStudio Pro or VideoStudio Ultimate. The latter has more movie-making features, but both are priced affordably. In fact, a lifetime VideoStudio license costs about the same as three months of an Adobe Premiere Pro subscription. Corel provides a generous 30-day free trial of VideoStudio, with no credit card required. CyberLink PowerDirector is one of the easiest video editors to use, while still providing enough features that amateurs should have no trouble producing impressive creations for YouTube, Wistia or Vimeo. It also has one-click exports that let you share videos to Facebook for your friends and family to enjoy. CyberLink PowerDirector Interface PowerDirector has two interfaces for making videos: a timeline look and an innovative storybook mode. The timeline mode mimics the classic video-editing interface with assets and a video preview on the top half and a timeline best video editor 2019 along the bottom. Buttons down the left let you switch between rooms designed to control various effects. There are rooms for general effects, video overlay, titles, transitions, audio mixing and voice-overs, among others. With storybook mode, you can drag and drop thumbnails of media files to construct a narrative. You have to switch to the timeline view for more advanced features such as effects, though. It also supports 4K video. You can sync multiple videos shot from different angles at the same time using a multicam designer and automatically align shots using audio. CyberLink lets you add many different effects, including voice-overs, titles and transitions. There are over 500 built-in visual effects, too. Rooms built for visual effects let you preview them first, then drag them onto your timeline best video editor 2019 apply them. Other features of note include image stabilization and motion and object tracking. CyberLink PowerDirector License Costs Approximate : PowerDirector Ultra PowerDirect Ultimate Cost: CyberLink runs frequent sales. Licenses are good for life, with discounts available for upgrades. The trial is good for 30 days, which should be plenty of time to play with the software and produce a Hollywood blockbuster or two. Pinnacle Studio Interface The appearance of Pinnacle Studio has undergone many improvements over the years but it still feels a little distracting, even with a dark-gray background. Part of the problem is that many on-screen elements, taking the focus away from the work itself. The layout includes a timeline along the bottom, a preview pane on the top right and source content on the top left. You can pull panels off and rearrange them. The timeline is magnetic, as with Apple Final Cut Pro X, letting you drag clips and snap them into place. Navigation buttons down the left let you switch to the audio mixer, play with effects and add transitions and titles. Pinnacle Studio Video Editing Features Both 360-degree video and 4K video are supported, though the latter requires the more expensive Pinnacle Studio Ultimate edition. Multicam editing is possible, but only up to six camera angles at once, which also requires Ultimate. Pinnacle Studio Plus allows just four angles to work with. Camera angles can be aligned using audio or time codes and markers. To make editing easier, assets can be rated and tagged to find them more quickly in your library. Project bins let you sort clips, photos and sound files. Keyframing is a newer feature for Pinnacle Studio that lets you precisely time effects such as filters, panning and zooming. Pinnacle Studio comes with a nice selection of transitions and over 2,000 special effects to dress up your videos. It has 3D title editing, too, which is another cool and somewhat unusual feature. Other video editing features include motion tracking and stop-motion editing to create animated videos using objects. Pinnacle has nice audio editing features, including a mixer. Pinnacle Studio Pricing While there are two cheaper software packages, if you want to edit 4K video, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate is the way to go. Pinnacle Studio Plus adds 24-track and 3D video editing. Other added features include screen-recording software and professional audio tools. In addition to 4K video editing, Ultimate includes more effects, titles and templates. A few added effects include paint effects, morph best video editor 2019 and motion tracking. Downloads and discs are available. We rank Lightworks Free as the best free video editor, beating out some capable alternatives such as and. The interface looks professional, making it a great tool to train on before investing in more expensive video editing software. There are a few features that require athough, including 4K and 360-degree video editing. For a full list of included features, check out the page. Final Thoughts Choosing the best video editing software is a matter of needs. Subscribe Those with less money to spend should look to. Let us know your own thoughts on video editing software in the comments below, including what software you like and what features you look for most. Not one to sit still for too long, Joseph joined the team because cloud technology and hopping from place to place go hand in hand. He has roots in Belgrade, Maine.
