• Simple Video Editing Software For Mac
• Simple Video Editing Tool
• Best Video Editing Software
• Best Video Editing Tool For Mac

The Best Video Editing Software Under $100. Is the obvious choice for the best Mac video editing software. It’s still a rock-solid choice for simple video editing. From the main menu.

1. The best video editing applications are simple to use and offer robust video tool sets. As you search for the right software for your projects, think about the basic and advanced tools each program offers, its export and production options, and the help and support the company provides.
2. As far as Mac photo editing software goes, you should be able to find a basic editing program for under $100, typically starting for as little as $30. Paying more than $100 will often land you a professional editing program with additional editing tools and presets compared to the basic versions.

Jul 24,2019• Proven solutions

If you are new to the video editing world, a free video editing software can be the best choice for you. Although most free video editors are feature limited, they are easy to use and can meet almost all of your basic video demands like cutting, trimming, cropping, or rotating. Our top 10 list focuses on the best free video editing software for Windows we could find, and it will give you an overview of what you can expect from each video editor.

Are you also looking for video editors for Mac, Linux, mobile phone, or online? Check our latest post 36 Best Video Editors for All the Platforms.

Part 1: Choosing the Right Video Editor for Windows

As we mentioned before, there are so many video editing software [free & paid] available on the market, but how to choose the right video editing software especially when you are a newbie and want a free video editing software before you dig deeper?

• Interface: For a newbie, a user-friendly interface can help you save a lot of time from learning and getting familiar with the program. Some users like to use modern and intuitive free video editor, while others just like to use old style editors.


• Formats: Make sure the software you choose enables you to export common used formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc, so that you can easily share your work on YouTube or other social media platform. Friendly reminder: generally speaking, MP4 is the most used format, so it is wiser to find a free video editor that supports MP4 at least.

Part 2: Best Video Editing Software for Beginners (Video Tutorial)

Wondershare Filmora9 - Recommended

You might find that the video editing software below are either too simple to meet your demends like audio editing and color correction, or too difficult to understand the workflow, then you should look at Wondershare Filmora9, which has significant improvement in overall performance, making the product faster, more powerful, and taking the user editing experience to a new level. It is perfect for helping beginners and intermediate users create stylish videos by providing an intuitive user interface and built-in effects.

• A wide support for different formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, AVCHD, MKV and more.
• Enables you to crop, trim, cut, split and combine in a few clicks.
• Various top-tier video effects including motion elements, animated titles, royalty-free music, and transitions.
• Make your footage look like Hollywood film with color tuning tool
• Perfect your sound with audio keyframing, background noise removal, and an audio equalizer.
• Make exciting GoPro/action cam videos with precise speed controls, video stabilization, and fish-eye lens correction.
• Real-time rendering will keep your editing experience smooth, even if you’re working with 4K footage.
• Burn to DVD or upload to YouTube, or transfer to any popular portable devices.

How to Edit Videos with Wondershare Filmora9

Import Media Files

Import media files from your computer or cameras and smart phones, and directly drag-n-drop to the program.

Edit Your Video

Easily crop, rotate, split or cut videos on the timeline. Then add effects and filters to enrich your video.

Save & Enjoy

Save your video to different formats, or upload to YouTube, Vimeo, burn to DVD and more.

Part 3: Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software for Windows

The following best video editing software list is ranked by skill level only.

1. Windows Movie Maker - Free Built-in Video Editor on Windows 7

Windows Movie Maker was once the world's most popular free video editing tool for Windows and users can make home movies by simple drag-and-drop. It contains features such as video effects, video transitions, adding titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. Although Windows Movie Maker is built for Windows 7, and if you are looking for some free video editing software for Windows 8 or Windows 10, then you should skip Windows Movie Maker to use Microsoft Windows 10 Photos app. However, Windows Movie Maker has been discontinued by Microsoft, you can still find installation packages on some third-party authoritative download sites:

After you finish video editing, you can share video directly to social media platform including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. If you don't know your computer's system requirement, you can try this one. However, you must know it won't upgrade anymore, so you are not able to enjoy some innovative and high video editing technology.

The Windows Movie Maker includes some features listed below:

• Input formats: ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, M1V, MP2, MP2V, MPE, MPEG, MPG, MPV2, WM, WMV
• Output formats: Windows Media Video (WMV) or DV AVI
• Advantages: Free, meets your basic editing demands
• Limitations: Service discontinued; No support for modern file formats; Lacks color correction tools, visual effects or any other advanced video editing options.

2.VideoPad Video Editor

VideoPad is a cross-platform software for beginners. Although the free version limits the video exporting options to just two file formats. The VideoPad's interface doesn't take much time to get used to, and it perfectly adjusted to the needs of inexperienced video editors.

This is an intuitive, feature rich and easy to use video editing platform. Beginners can enjoy easy editing with its drag and drop type timeline and the loads of transitions, effects and speed adjustment features make customization easier.

If you like to use transitions and have various video clips, VideoPad includes more than 50 transition effects. After applying transitions, you can also adjust video speed to make slow motion or fast speed video effect. For audio, you can also record narations to make your video more detailed, which is a bonus for game lovers. However, this free video editor can't be used to make slideshow, so just pass it if you really care this function.

Features of this free video editor you should know:

• Input formats: avi, wmv, mpv, divx and many more
• Output formats: WMV, AVI
• Advantages: Intuitive interface
• Limitations: Certain features become unavailable when using the free version of the software over a longer period of time.

3.Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. You can use it on Windows 10/7/8. It supports various file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.

As its interface is so clear, it lacks timeline, so you can't add filters and transitions. The whole design of Avidemux is that many functions are for practical use, not stylish purpose. If your needs is very basic, this free video editing software is a choice. For advanced video editing, it can't let you have more controls. The good thing is you can use it smoothly and learn it quicly if you are a new users in video editing industry.

Avidemux includes some features below:

• Imput formats: AVI, MPEG, MOV, MP4, etc
• Output formats: AVI, MPEG, DIVX, XVID, MP4, etc
• Advantages: Avidemux also has solid encoding options and its interface is user-friendly.
• Limitations: There are no video effects or transitions.

4.OpenShot

Another open-source video editor which offers basic video editing features like trimming and slicing. It also provide lots of transitions and audio effects to help you make simple videos.

This free video editor can offer you unlimited video tracks in timeline. You can add many videos and audio clips. It also includes tile templates and video effects, so if you want to have more touches on your video, this free video program can also help you.

For audio editing, you can use waveforms to visualize your audio. It includes more than 70 languages. This free video editor is updated regularly, so you can always use the lasted video editing technology. However, you need to fix bugs or problems on your own as it is an open source editor, and the video effects are also limited.

• Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
• Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
• Advantages: Free as well as powerful.
• Limitations: Need to install add-ons if the OS you are using doesn't meet the software's system requirements.

5.VSDC Video Editor

It has tones of features and you can start for free. There is wide range of filters, overlays, transition effects and color correction abilities. This platform is designed to serve users with smooth editing experience so that even beginners can enjoy creative media projects. Thanks to its wide format support that helps to handle all popular media files with ease.

You can also use the build-in video converter tools to freely convert video/audio format to another format. It is a non-linear tool, which means you can place video clips in the timeline freely. You can also export your video to IG, FB and YouTube, which is powerful as a free video editor. You can also edit 4K and HD videos. For this point, not every free video editor can do.

• Imput formats: AVI, QuickTime (MP4/M4V, 3GP/2G2, MOV, QT), HDVideo/AVCHD (MTS, M2TS, TS, MOD, TOD), WindowsMedia (WMV, ASF, DVR-MS), DVD/VOB, VCD/SVCD, etc
• Output formats: AVI, DVD, VCD/SVCD, MPEG, MP4, M4V, MOV, 3GP/3G2, WMV, MKV, RM/RMVB, FLV, SWF, AMV, MTV
• Advantages: Intuitive interface, friendly to beginners.
• Limitations: Technical support is not free.

6.Kdenlive - Free and Open-source Video Editing Software

Kdenlive is an open-source video editing software which is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. This video editing software combines the simplicity of entry-level video editors with advanced video editing tools frequently used by experienced professionals.

As a free video editor, it is popular at first on Linux, but now you can also use it on Windows. It includes multi-track timeline to use, so you can import various video and audio clips onto timeline. For some special situation, say crash, Kdenlive can back up your file automatically, so no worries about file missing. From online forum and community, you can ask them questions if you have any questions, but sometimes you won't get answered as there is no support team.

• Imput formats: QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, etc
• Output formats: mpeg, avi, mp4, mov, etc
• Advantages: Allows you to extend your capability with free add-ons.
• Limitations: No technical support.

7.Blender - Free & Open-source & Professional Animated Film Toolset

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation which supports all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Blender has many advanced features, such as modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material, etc. and is one of the best video editors for both Windows and Mac.

As a beginner users, it is difficult to use as it is designe for pros. It is totally free to use and distribute. The interface is customizable and flexible color settings. On the other hand, if you a semi-pros or want to improve your video edting to a higher level, this free video editor is best for you. The thing is you need to spend many time and energy to learn it. You can have a try to see if you like it or not.

• Input formats: latest audio and video formats
• Output formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, WebM.
• Advantages: A lot of advanced features, perfect for advanced users
• Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners; Very limited learning resources.

Learn more about Blender >>

8.DaVinci Resolve - Free Professional Video Editing & Color Correction software

If you had access to the video editing pro level, then you must try DaVinci Resolve 14. Except for multi-camera editing, 3D editing, motion blur effects, and spatial noise reduction which are only available on the paid version DaVinci Resolve Studio, you can almost do any professional video/audio editing and color correction with DaVinci Resolve 14.

• Supported formats: ARI, MTS, MXF, AVI, CIN, DNG, DPX, CDX, MP4, MXF, EXR, MOV
• Advantages: Stunning image quality. Color correction and audio editing are also excellent in Davinci Resolve.
• Limitations: Learning curve is steeper for beginners.

9.HitFilm Express - Popular Free Video Editor & Compositor

HitFilm Express is a good alternative to Adobe After Effects, it offers users with many visual effect compositing options, and it lets you use semi-professional video editing tools for free. But beginners may find the software's interface difficult to navigate.

• Imput formats: AVCHD, AVI, DV, MP4, MPEG, MOV, MMV
• Output formats: AVI, MP4
• Advantages: Offers a wide spectrum of transitions and video effects.
• Limitations: Feature limited while exporting video files, not friendly to beginners.

10.Lightworks - Powerful Free Video Editor

Lightworks is a great free video editor featured with many video effects. It can edit up to 256 video, audio, and still image clips. But the user interface is very technical so many people find it hard to use. The pro version costs $25 a month.

Lately, it comes a new version 14.5. For more than 25 years, many movie makers use it as a professional tools to edit videos. You can use it to edit YouTube video and 4K films. Speaking of 4K, you can use proxy for smooth 4K video editing experience. If you want to edit 4K videos, this one is best for you.

• Imput formats: latest audio and video formats
• Output formats: mp4, MXF, Quicktime, AVI, mts, mpg, m2t
• Advantages: Well designed interface, many advanced features.
• Limitations: Not for beginners.

Check this video to see more best video editing software in the market!

This is the article about free video editing software for Windows, please check some free video editing for mac here. We do love to hear from you in the comment below if there are some other awesome free video editing software for Windows which are worth mention.

Easy-to-use and powerful video editor for all creators.

Bring up your video to a professional level with straightforward tools.

• Choosing Video Editing Software
• Video Editing Tips

Edit Video on Your PC

Nothing makes an impression like moving pictures with sound. That's why digital video continues to grow in importance online. Couple that trend with the ever-increasing availability of devices capable of high-resolution video recording—phones, GoPros, DSLRs—and the case for ever-more powerful video editing software becomes clear. Further, the software must be usable by nonprofessionals, and it has to keep up with newer formats such as HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) and 360-degree VR video, and it has to be able to handle 4K and higher resolution.

Increasingly, new capabilities trickle down from professional-level software to the consumer category. That's a good thing for nonprofessional movie editors, since the more consumer-oriented software tends to make easier procedures that can sometimes be pretty tricky in the pro-level software. Read on for a survey of the latest trends in video editing software along with our top picks in the field.

Multicam, Motion Tracking, and Yet More Motion

Advanced abilities continue to make their way into accessible, affordable, and consumer-friendly video editing software as each new generation of software is released. For example, multicam editing, which lets you switch among camera angles of the same scene shot with multiple video cameras, used to be a feature relegated to pro-level software. Now this and many other advanced effects are available in programs designed for use by nonprofessional enthusiasts.

Another impressive effect that has made its way into consumer-level video editing software is motion tracking, which lets you attach an object or effect to something moving in your video. You might use it to put a blur over the face of someone you don't want to show up in your video. You specify the target face, and the app takes care of the rest, tracking the face and moving the effect to follow it. This used to be the sole province of special effects software such as Adobe After Effects. Corel VideoStudio was the first of the consumer products to include motion tracking, and it still leads the pack in the depth and usability of its motion-tracking tool, though several others now include the capability.

The 4K Video Factor

Support for 4K video source content has become pretty standard in video editing software, but the support varies among the products. For example, some but not all of the applications can import Sony XAVC and XAVC-S formats, which are used by Sony's popular DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, camcorders, and professional video cameras. The same holds true for the H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. Most of the applications here now can import and export HEVC, though there are still a few holdouts.

360-Degree VR Support

Several of the products here (Adobe Premiere Elements is a notable exception) still support 3D video editing if that's your thing, though the this has been replaced by 360-degree VR footage like that shot by the Samsung Gear 360 as the current home-theater fad. As is often the case, our Editors' Choice, CyberLink PowerDirector was the first product in this group to offer support for this new kind of video media.

Other programs have jumped on board with 360 VR support, including Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro X, and Magix Movie Edit Pro. Support varies, with some apps including 360-compatible titles, stabilization, and motion tracking. PowerDirector is notable for including those last two. Final Cut offers a useful tool that removes the camera and tripod from the image, often an issue with 360-degree footage.

Video Editing 101

Simple Video Editing Software For Mac

Of course, none of the extras matter if an app can't do the most basic editing tasks. At this point, however, all of the products included here do a good job of letting you join, trim, and split video clips. They also let you make use of special effects such as animated transitions, picture-in-picture (PiP), chroma-key (the technique that lets you place a subject against any background, often known as green screening), and filters that enhance colors or apply creative effects and distortions. With most of them you can add a multitude of timeline tracks that can accommodate video clips, effects, audio, and text overlays.

A tool coming to the latest versions of video editing applications is support for seamless transitions. Picture a scene showing people at a beach, and suddenly the sky zooms in and your in Rome or Paris, but it looks like you're in the same place because the transition glued the two scenes together using the sky. There are plenty of other examples of seamless transition; this magnificent video shows a good selection of them, and is partly responsible for starting the trend.

Color, LUTs and CLUTs

One of the capabilities that has been making its way into consumer-level video editing software is more-detailed color grading. Color wheels, curves, and histograms give editors control over the intensity of every shade. Related to this is support for LUTs (lookup tables), also known as CLUTs (color lookup tables). This staple of pro-level software lets you quickly change the look of a video to give it a specific mood. For example, think of the dark blue look of thriller movies like The Revenant. You can download LUTs for free from several sites or use those included with some video software to give your video a specific look. One well-known LUT type is the kind that can make a daytime scene look like it was shot at night.

Where the Action Is

Simple Video Editing Tool

Many video editing apps now include tools that cater to users of action cameras such as the GoPro Hero7 Black. For example, several offer automated freeze-frame along with speedup, slowdown, and reverse time effects. CyberLink PowerDirector's Action Camera Center pulls together freeze frame with stabilization, slo-mo, and fish-eye correction, and color correction for underwater footage. Magix Movie Edit Pro Premium includes the third-party NewBlue ActionCam Package of effects. And Wondershare Filmora lets you subscribe to new effect packs on an ongoing basis.

Titles That Zing

I've been seeing a lot of attention paid to creating title effects in the applications over the past year. Apple Final Cut Pro X has added 3D title creation, which is pretty spiffy, letting you extrude 2D titles and rotate them on three axes. Corel VideoStudio in its latest version also adds 3D Titling, though not as powerful as Apple's. PowerDirector's Title Designer offers transparency, gradient color, border, blur level, and reflection in titles; Magix has impressive title templates, complete with animations. Premiere Elements offers a nifty title effect in which your video fills the text characters, and Corel recently followed suit in VideoStudio 2019. Look for an application that lets you edit titles in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) mode, so that you can type, format, and time it right over the video preview.

Gathering Speed

Video editing is one of the most computing-intensive activities around, so you'll want the best laptop or desktop you can afford if you're serious about cutting your own movies. Most applications help speed up the editing process by creating a proxy file of lower resolution, so that normal editing and previewing aren't slowed down by the huge full-resolution files.

Particularly intensive is the process of rendering your finished product into a standard video file that will by playable on the target device of choice, be that an HDTV, a laptop, or a smartphone. Most of the software can take advantage of your computer's graphics processor to speed this up. Be sure to check the performance section in each review linked here to see how speedy or slow the application is. In rendering speed testing, CyberLink and Pinnacle have been my perennial champs.

Other measures of performance include startup time and simple stability. Again, video editing is a taxing activity for any computer, involving many components. In the past, video editing programs took longer than most other apps to start up, and unexpected shutdowns were unfortunately common, even in top apps from top developers such as Adobe and Apple. The stability situation has greatly improved, but the complexity of the process, which increases as more powerful effects are added, means crashes will likely never be fully eliminated, and they often raise their ugly heads after a program update, as I found with the latest version of Pinnacle Studio.

Free Video Editing Software

If you don't want to invest a lot of money and effort into your video editing exploits, there are a few free options. Of course, if you use a Mac, the excellent iMovie comes with it. For PC users, Windows 10's Photos app (as of the Fall Creators Update) lets you join, trim, and even add background music, 3D animated effects, and titles to video.

There are also some free video apps on the Windows Store, including Movie Moments, PowerDirector Mobile, Movie Maker, and Magix Movie Edit Touch. Some of these are quite basic, but the Magix app is fairly capable, with clip joining, transitions, and effects, in a very touch-friendly interface.

Free video editing software often comes with legal and technical limitations, however. Some widely used codecs require licensing fees on the part of the software maker, meaning they can't offer free software that can handle these standard file formats. That said, the impressive open-source Shotcut does a lot of the same things that the paid applications in this roundup do, including things like chroma-keying and picture-in-picture. Shotcut is completely open-source and free, while another free option, Lightworks has paid options that remove a 720p output resolution limit. Note also that both Shotcut and Lightworks run on Linux as well as Windows and Mac.

What About Apple?

Though Mac users don't have the sheer number of software choices available for PCs, Apple fans interested in editing video are well served, by four products in particular. At the entry level, the surprisingly capable and enjoyable-to-use iMovie comes free with every Mac sold since at least 2011. iMovie only offers two video tracks, but does good job with chroma-keying, and its Trailers feature makes it easy to produce slick, Hollywood-style productions.

In the midrange, there's Adobe Premiere Elements, which is cross-platform between Macs and PCs, and offers a lot more features and lots of help with creating effects. Professionals and prosumers have powerful, though pricey options in Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro. Final Cut is a deceptively simple application that resembles iMovie in its interface and ease of use, but it offers massively deep capabilities, and many third-party apps integrate with it for even more power. It also makes excellent use of the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro, as shown in photo above. Premiere Pro uses a more traditional timeline and adds a large ecosystem of companion apps and plug-ins. It also excels in collaboration features.

Audio Editing

We still live in the days of talkies, so you want to be able to edit the audio in your digital moves as well as the images. Most of the products included here offer canned background music, and many, such as Pinnacle Studio, can even tailor the soundtrack to the exact length of your movie. All of these programs can separate audio and video tracks, and most can clean up background noise and add environmental audio effects such as concert hall reverb. A couple of the products have an auto-ducking feature, which lowers background music during dialog—a definite pro-level plus.

What's Not Here

There are more video editing software applications than we can fit into this roundup of the best options, which includes only software rated three stars and higher. The best known among them is probably Vegas Movie Studio, which was recently acquired by Magix from Sony. Sony's product used a very cluttered interface that more resembled high-end professional video editing software from the early days of the craft. Magix has made some progress in simplifying it and bringing it up to par with the competition, but more work is needed for it to be included here.

Another program, VSDC Video Editor Pro, simply has too outdated an interface, making common tasks difficult. Longtime pro video editors will note the absence of Avid Media Composer, which is simply too unwieldy for PCMag's primarily consumer audience. There are a couple of more interesting applications—NCH VideoPad and AVS Video Editor among them—that we simply haven't tested yet.

The Finish Line

The video editing application you choose depends on your budget, the equipment you're using, and how serious you are. Fortunately, you're spoiled for choice with the products available. Peruse our in-depth reviews of enthusiast-level video editing software reviews linked below to see which is the right one for you.

One final note about the features table at the top of this story: Check marks represent differentiating, above-the-call-of-duty features, rather than essential ones. So, just because Nero Video and Wondershare Filmora don't have any checks, it doesn't mean they're not good choices. In fact, both offer decent basic editing on a budget.

Best Video Editing Software

Best Video Editing Software Featured in This Roundup:

Best Video Editing Tool For Mac

• Adobe Premiere Pro CC Review

  
  MSRP: $19.99
  

  Pros: Clear, flexible interface. Lots of organizational tools. Responsive speed. Ultimate power in video editing. Rich ecosystem of video production apps. Excellent stabilization. Unlimited multi-cam angles.

  Cons: No keyword tagging for media. Some techniques require additional applications such as After Effects or SpeedGrade.

  Bottom Line: An expansive professional-level digital video editing program, Premiere Pro CC has everything today's pro video editor needs, particularly when it comes to collaboration.

  Read Review

• CyberLink PowerDirector Review

  
  MSRP: $129.99
  

  Pros: Fast rendering. Clear interface. Loads of effects. The most 360-degree video capabilities of any video editor. Multicam editing. 3D and 4K capability. Motion tracking. Screen recording.

  Cons: No trimming in source panel. Number of options can make interface overwhelming. Weak color matching.

  Bottom Line: PowerDirector is one of the fastest and most capable consumer-level video editing apps for Windows around, and the first to support 360-degree VR footage.

  Read Review

• Corel VideoStudio Ultimate Review

  
  MSRP: $99.99
  

  Pros: Wide selection of fun video-creation tools. Clear, simple interface. Fast rendering. Support for 360-degree VR, 4K Ultra HD, and 3D media. Multipoint Motion tracking. Multicam editing. HTML5 video page creation. Stop-motion tool.

  Cons: No keyword tagging for media.

  Bottom Line: Corel VideoStudio remains one of the most feature-packed consumer video editing packages around. The 2019 update adds powerful color-grading tools, seamless transitions, and text masks.

  Read Review

• Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Review

  
  MSRP: $129.95
  

  Pros: Clear interface. Edits 360-degree VR content. Fast rendering performance in testing. Tons of effects. Multicam editing. 4K and H.265 support. Tagging and star ratings for media. Good audio tools.

  Cons: Motion tracking issues on one test PC. Occasional crashes in testing. Uneven 360-degree VR implementation.

  Bottom Line: Pinnacle Studio is a fast, full-featured, near-professional-level video-editing application with support for 360-degree VR, 3D, and multicam edits. New color grading and four-point editing make it even more appealing, though our testing uncovered some instabilities.

  Read Review

• Magix Movie Edit Pro Premium Review

  
  MSRP: $129.99
  

  Pros: Lots of video effects. Multicam. Good titling tools. Trailer-like movie templates. Solid audio editing tools. Strong disc authoring. Fast rendering. Good stability. 360-degree media support.

  Cons: Not much help with difficult procedures. Lacks import and organization tools. Extra costs and coded downloads for some video formats.

  Bottom Line: Now with faster rendering, Movie Edit Pro offers solid stability, up-to-date support for 4K, 360-degree, and multicam editing, but it trails other video editing software in ease-of-use.

  Read Review

• Adobe Premiere Elements Review

  
  MSRP: $99.99
  

  Pros: Clear, simple interface. Guided Edits ease basic and advanced projects. Lots of video effects. Solid text tools. Powerful Audio editing. Good control over stabilization. 4K support.

  Cons: No 360-degree VR or 3D editing. No multicam feature or screen recording capability. Slow rendering speeds. No HEVC support in Windows.

  Bottom Line: Adobe's consumer video editing app adds a new start page, Auto Creations, a redesigned quick-editing interface, and faster performance.

  Read Review

• Wondershare Filmora Review

  
  MSRP: $59.99
  

  Pros: Pleasing interface. Inexpensive. Lots of effects and overlays. Good title tool.

  Cons: Action Cam and Cutter modes only allow one clip at a time. No search for effects or transitions. No motion tracking. No DVD menu or chapter authoring. Not a touch-friendly interface.

  Bottom Line: Wondershare's Filmora video editing software may not have multicam or the hottest new VR tools, but it does have a pleasing interface and lots of effects.

  Read Review

• Apple Final Cut Pro X Review

  
  MSRP: $299.99
  

  Pros: Magnetic, trackless timeline. Superior organization tools, including libraries, ratings, tagging, auto analysis for faces, scenes. Support for 360-degree footage and HDR. Multicam support. Fast performance. MacBook Touch Bar support.

  Cons: Nontraditional timeline-editing may turn off longtime editors. Can't import projects from previous versions without a third-party plug-in. No stabilization or motion tracking for 360-degree video.

  Bottom Line: Apple's professional-level video editing software, Final Cut Pro X, brings a wealth of power in an interface simple for pros and consumers alike. Recent highlights include rich support for 360-degree content and improved stability.

  Read Review

• Nero Video Review

  
  MSRP: $49.99
  

  Pros: Inexpensive. Plenty of video effects. Good audio tools. Solid file format support, including H.265. Compatible with 4K content. Burns DVD, Blu-ray, and AVCHD.

  Cons: Light on features. Outdated, unconventional interface. No 360 or 3D support. No motion tracking. No direct output to social networks.

  Bottom Line: For less money than the competition, Nero offers a wide array of enthusiast-level video editing capabilities, but the interface is dated and it trails in support for new formats and techniques.

  Read Review

• Apple iMovie Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Beautifully simple interface. Color matching for consistent movie looks. Classy themes. Great chroma-keying tool. Lots of audio tools. Theater feature shares movies to all your Apple gear.

  Cons: Not as flexible as some PC video editors. In the name of simplicity, some useful controls are missing. Does not support tagging. Lacks multicam or motion tracking capabilities. Limited to two video tracks.

  Bottom Line: Apple's excellent entry-level desktop video editing application can turn your footage and photos into impressive productions.

  Read Review