The 7 best video editing programs of 2020: beginner, advanced, and professional

Professional video editing software must offer more and more functions in order to meet different requirements and keep up with the competition: whether it’s 4K resolution, depth impression for 3D films, or 360-degree recordings for VR (virtual reality) videos. Since the corresponding hardware is becoming more and more available (like high-resolution smartphone cameras or video cameras like GoPro, for example), even amateurs need video editing programs which they can use to easily edit video material.

The good news is that even affordable video editing software now offers many of the features used in professional film editing. We will show the best video editing software of 2018 for post-production professionals, aspiring YouTubers, and amateur filmmakers.

Adobe Premiere Procan only be used on a subscription basis, which means there are regularly new editions. This investment is primarily worthwhile for professionals and semi-professional users. The Creative Cloud package enables them to use various other programs for image, sound, and video editing, depending on the scope of their subscription. The cloud server that can also be used in the package ensures better team workflows. Team members can exchange data quickly and easily on the server.

For beginners and advanced users we recommend the cheaper product option: Adobe Elements. Even its slimmer functional range should be sufficient for most semi-professionals. That having been said, Premiere Elements also offers beginners easy-to-understand functions that enable presentable results – for example, with the help of automated video editing.

When you start Adobe Pro CC for the first time, you will be greeted with an introduction. The main menu can be found at the top of the clearly arranged user interface. To select the desired workspace – from cut, color, and audio design, to effects and graphics – just select the appropriate tab. The user interface then switches to the working environment (the color correction in the above picture). Under “Learning,” the video editing program offers you a series of tutorials. In the “Assembly” area, load your media into the project directory and arrange your files there. The other tabs are assigned to various editing categories.

You have at least one preview window for your sequence on the user interface. Premiere Pro also supports a second monitor for comparing clips. Alternatively, you can see analysis visualizations such as the Lumetri Scopes in the image to the left. Below, you’ll find the timeline, where you can drag and drop clips and effect elements. Videos appear as thumbnails, and audio tracks show the timeline in wave form. To the left of it, your media is available in the minimized directory window. You can simply drag them to the desired track.

As for special effects, Adobe Premiere Pro can’t quite compete with other professional video editing programs. That’s how Final Cut Special Effects integrates without sacrificing efficiency. Premiere Pro, on the other hand, works with high-resolution video formats. For 4K videos, you need a powerful graphics card and a good processor. You won’t find special effects and graphics in Adobe Premiere Pro either. You’ll need a Creative Cloud subscription for Adobe After Effects. However, Premiere Pro’s toolbox does include 3D titles.

The split layout is especially helpful for teamwork, since different experts usually work on professional projects. The different workspaces offer specialized tools for each individual task area. Everything can then be put together in the cloud. For this purpose, the person in charge creates a team project when opening the program. However, this function is primarily used for producing complex films. This is why it’s only available to Enterprise customers.

What’s new in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 12.11:

• Competitor Cyberlink PowerDirector was one of the first to offer tools for 360-degree virtual reality. Premiere Pro also took its first steps in this direction in the 2016 version, however, they offered relatively little in comparison for 360-degree movies. Now the video editing software finally has a tool for 360-degree recordings: immersive reality. Adobe also developed suitable handset controls. This allows you to rotate and edit the image. In order to smoothly merge the image edges, Premiere Pro revised the function “VR: layer to sphere.”
• If you use the Lumetri color tools in conjunction with the second monitor, you can match the colors of two images. To do this, click on “Color Wheels & Match” > “Color Match” in the color correction tool menu and activate “Comparison View.” If you check “Face Detection,” the video editing program will capture faces. This preserves natural skin tones, even if you make major color changes in the rest of the recording.
• Another Lumetri innovation: Premiere Pro enables user-defined LUT directories.
• In addition, it is now finally possible to open two projects at the same time and adopt templates from one project for the other.
• Automatic ducking highlights dialogues and automatically reduces the volume of background music.
• The user interface of After Effects’ templates has a new layout. This is intended to make editing easier.
• New supported RAW camera formats: Canon C200, Sony Venice, IPP2 for RED.

Premiere Elementsis Adobe’s home video editing software. Beginners use it to easily create short clips, dynamic slideshows, and small videos. The library helps you find and organize videos on your hard drive.

So, Premiere Elements does a lot of work for its users. Automation is the key word. Thanks to templates for color correction, editing, and audio design, even professional-looking videos can be produced in a relatively short time.

To download Adobe Premiere Elements, you don’t need cloud access, but you do need an Adobe ID to sign up for Adobe Premiere Elements. The software is available at a fixed price. Minimum download requirements are 4 GB RAM and 5 GB disk space for the app (10 GB for optional items). In the test, the installation took some time. Then the program opened with a dialog window. If you buy the complete Elements family, you can choose between Photoshop Elements, Elements Organizer, and Premier Elements.

Image editing lets you optimize your photos before you put them in a slideshow, for example. The organizer has some layout improvements over previous versions. It now allows you to organize your media with tags and a rating system. The search criteria have also been enhanced. The video editing program analyzes images and videos with artificial intelligence and face recognition. For example, if you search for people, the search function lists images and videos that show people. If you search for pictures of certain places, the program determines suitable pictures taking your metadata into consideration. The tool still has minor flaws, but they will probably be fixed in future versions.

The video editing interface has some elements in common with Premiere Pro. You’ll find four different user interfaces on the horizontal menu bar. However, Premiere Elements does not distinguish between different professional work steps. Instead, it divides the user interfaces into current Adobe Elements information (eLive), tutorials (Guided), and two editing modes: Quick and Expert. While Premiere Pro follows the aesthetics of the current cloud design, the Premiere Elements layout design seems a bit dated. However, this has hardly any effect on performance.

In Quick mode, you work with storyboard video editing. It’s a quick and easy method for beginners. The user interface is taken over by the video preview. On the timeline below, you can see the individual frames next to each other as an image preview. The track above is for text, below are audio tracks and effects. You can move clips on the timeline by dragging them with the mouse. If you click the beginning or end of a clip, you can shorten it. To trim a video element, fix the red slider at a point (the start point) and click a later point in the clip (the end point). A scissors icon appears. Click on it to trim the video.

Create your first video in minutes with video templates. The tool menu bar is on the right. Many of the fix tools work automatically. For example, the Auto Smart Tone feature improves color with a single click. Quick mode provides multiple templates to adjust the color temperature or individual tones. You can then fine-tune them with the corresponding sliders. Under “Edit” you will find image effects and scene transitions as well as a list of all applied effects. Use the “Add” feature to add text, sound, and animated graphics to your video.

In Expert mode, you work with a professional non-linear video editing environment. On the timeline, you can edit multiple video and audio tracks and add text and effects with professional tools. This mode offers more effects and transitions than the Quick mode. You’ll also have more audio editing tools to choose from. In addition to the classic video track, there is a special audio track for the timeline.

New to Adobe Premiere Elements 2018:

• Automatic video analysis identifies the best still images and takes snapshots.
• Smart Trim recognizes faces and shortens videos thanks to artificial intelligence. This feature selects the best clips and discards unnecessary elements. This feature is not new, but it works more accurately than before using modern technology.
• Bounce Back repeats certain settings and plays them back and forth several times in a row.
• Still image with dynamic titles is a feature that helps you freeze your video at a specific point (freeze frame). As long as the video is frozen, a title moves over the image. This effect isn’t new either, but Premiere Elements now gives you a tool to guide you through the process.
• A similar tool supports you when you prepare short videos with animated text for social media. It exports your project to platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
• In addition, the current version of the video editing program also creates and exports GIF files with animations.
• With action cameras you can film dynamic movements and breathtaking panoramic views – or they use special lenses like the fisheye lens. The new Premiere Elements tool window allows you to optimize even these extreme videos.
• The new version offers default settings for the video standards PAL, NTSC, and Full-HD.
• The media library has been improved. Import and export your media to this directory. You can also upload media to the network through the library. You can organize the directory using your own tags or you can search your hard disk for specific media types, albums, dates of origin, locations, persons, or events. Use the rating tool to determine the best clips for your video project.
• The media library and the fast editing mode support a touch screen function. However, the feature is still expandable. Small controllers, for example, make manual operation more difficult.

A special feature is the so-called roll tool. This unique tool helps you to organize your tracks. Each clip plays a specific role in the movie: it can be background noise, a video clip, or subtitles. Each of these roles is assigned a specific color. The tool lets you create custom roles for your project. Then assign specific colors to each role, like light green for dialogs. On the timeline, you will see colored tracks.

The non-marking, magnetic timeline is another innovation. Classic, nonlinear timelines have several loose tracks, Final Cut has one main track. Like a tree diagram, audio tracks and effects branch off. If you move a clip with a connected audio track, that track follows it along the timeline. The magnet function attaches successive clips to each other. If you shorten one clip, all the others move up. To link multiple clips to form a unit, use the connect clips function. This allows you to keep your timeline very clear, even when working on large film projects. If, on the other hand, you want to separate the audio and video tracks of a clip, simply double click the clip.

Final Cut Pro Xincludes a remarkable number of video and audio effects (more than a hundred each). These include 3D titles and frames. You can customise each of the effects. If you integrate additional special effects functions through plugins, Final Cut integrates them directly into the user interface.

New with Final Cut Pro X 10.4in 2018:

• Apple offers new features for its ProRes format. For example, if you import a HDR video or 4K formats directly from your camera, you can edit them as ProRes RAW in the original RAW image quality. At the same time, the new ProRes format saves storage space. To get the most out of it, you need a HDRcapable camera and a monitor that correctly displays the HDR colours.
• Just like Adobe Premiere Pro, the new colour correction consists of colour wheels. This allows you to change brightness, colours, and intensity. The tool distinguishes between shadows, highlights, and midtones. You can also adjust the entire image, and use sliders to edit shading and colour temperature. You can use colour curves to correct individual colour values. Final Cut allows you to customise the desktop according to your needs and shortens work steps with keyboard shortcuts.
• More and more film producers are integrating subtitles for different languages or the hearing impaired into their online videos.In the current Final Cut update, the subtitle tool makes this work easier. You can create text directly in the program or import text files – even for multiple languages. Simply connect clips and subtitles on the timeline. If you adjust the layout, changes are displayed directly in the preview window. Final Cut also lets you easily upload your finished video to video platforms. The video editing programs supports Vimeo and YouTube for this purpose.
• Final Cut Pro Xtakes the lead in 360degree video editing. Unlike Premiere Pro, it even offers users a fullfeatured stitching tool. This tool lets you merge your allround view. The tool even masters the detailed textures of grass, for example. You can also use the patch tool to remove your equipment from the image – which is unusual for a video editing software to offer. If your computer has enough computing power, you can even use the video editing software to edit 60degree recordings with up to 8K resolution. Use the appropriate filters or the horizon correction.
• The latest version of Final Cut Pro X also allows you to import and export XML formats. This allows you to continue working on your project with other applications. You can use DaVinci Resolve, which has its strengths in colour correction, and then continue working with Final Cut. XML also makes it easier to transfer projects from mobile systems like iOS.
• However, Final Cut X Pro 10is not natively backward compatible with earlier versions of Final Cut Pro (7 and older). To import projects from it, you will need a plugin like the paid SentToXplugin.

The special mode for action cameras makes Filmorainteresting for filmmakers who enjoy shooting sports or working with handheld devices. See your video clip on a track in storyboard format and preview. The toolbar has three categories: “Repair,” “Speed,” and “Color.” In the “Repair” category, for example, you can adjust the lens curvature and image format. Under “Preferences” you will find a lot of common action cameras. When you select a camera, Filmora will optimize the video based on the pre-set lens settings. You can improve shaky videos with noise by clicking on the noise reduction checkbox.

Use the speed tool to set the scene for stunts. Slow-motion plays movements slower, which are otherwise too fast for the eye. You can play back a scene faster, but some shots only get the speed effect you feel at the moment they are shot. Every video editing software should also have a color corrector. This is also available in action cam mode. Filters and vignettes allow quick adjustment, but you can also adjust colors manually and specifically.

The program gives tips when you use the tool for the first time. Beginners in particular will find this feature useful. Although the user interface offers intuitively understandable tools, the program is mainly aimed at a professional target group. Laypersons must first familiarize themselves with the program and work with tools on a professional level. Settings for color correction, for example, can be made precisely in the “VFX” tab. You can also adjust titles according to your wishes.

Under the preview windows, edit metadata and cue markers (white square brackets as start and end points of a scene) in the “Edit” tab on the timeline.

The AUDIO user interface provides a larger timeline view for audio tracks. To the left of the preview window, you’ll find some audio tools, like the “Crossfade” and “Noise Correction” tools. Compared to the previous versions, some new tools have been added, like the “Wind Noise Compensator” (reduces wind noise from outdoor recordings) and 50Hz and 60Hz hum removal. By clicking on “Apply effect,” you can adjust these effects more precisely to your needs.

The free version exports finished videos directly to the social video platforms Vimeo and YouTube – as MP4 files with up to 720p picture quality. Of course, you can also save your video locally. The video gets a watermark. You can burn your video on CD or Blu-Ray only with the full version with costs.

The video editing software DaVinci Resolve Studio by Blackmagic is a real professional tool that Hollywood directors work with to cut video. DaVinci Resolve combines editing, sound editing, effects, and color correction in one application. The functions are sophisticated, but require a certain amount of prior knowledge. The version DaVinci Resolve 15 Beta is currently (as of 06.30.2018) even available for free. All you have to do is register before downloading. Blackmagic also offers editing professionals hardware compatible with the video editing software – for example, special grading control panels for professional color correction.

The video editing program surprises in its new version with a feature upgrade. DaVinci Resolve 15 now integrates the special effects program Fusionnatively into its user interface. DaVinciResolve 14 was already linked to the audio editing program Fairlight. The current beta version integrates the tool even better. The program combines video and sound editing with functions for special effects and animation on a single platform.

The download takes a little longer because the software needs a lot of memory space, due to its impressive range of functions. However, the installation runs smoothly. As one of the few professional video editing tools, DaVinci Resolve does not just work cross-platform on macOS, Linux, and Windows. IT also enables a smooth transition to work with its biggest competitors in the professional segment: Final Cut and Adobe Premiere Pro using XML, EDL, or AAF.

When you start the video editing program for the first time, it checks whether your graphics card has sufficient computing power. DaVinci Resolve 15 Beta still needs a lot of RAM, which will probably be improved in the final version. Afterwards, Resolve recommends a corresponding image quality. As you go through the project setup, you can make settings from SD quality to Ultra HD.

Order for large data collections: the smart-bins automatically evaluate your media files’ metadata. The media libraries help you to categorize large amounts of data.

The video editing program offers numerous tools and features: from timeline stacks to audio track controls to precise transitions even with time distortion. Accordingly, a number of toolbars are assembled on the user interface. If you don’t need a tool, simply minimize it. Two preview windows allow you to control your work. Below these, you will find the timeline. There, you can edit several clips on the video track at the same time by selecting them with the mouse. In the selected timeline packages, you can cut several scenes at once. The context-sensitive trimming tool helps you to set the best cut. The multi-camera tool also lets you capture multiple perspectives in a scene. The tracking tool tracks objects. Both tools let you seamlessly merge multi-camera scenes. The free version works with a frame rate of 60fps (full version: 120fps).

3D video editing already existed in the previous version. Add titles in 2D or 3D. Fairlight integration also enables 3D sound distribution. Use the newly integrated fusion application to animate entire 3D environments. There is no separate editor for 360-degree videos, but you can edit them. However, make sure your video’s resolution and frame rate match your timeline settings.

If you have enough RAM on your device, you can also use the free video editing program to edit HD videos with up to 4K quality (8K with the full version) – the same applies to native RAW formats from various manufacturers (like Panasonic, Canon, Nikon) and action cams.

If you click on the scene in the video track, different image editing tools appear. If you select the audio track, sliders for different audio tracks will appear. Use sliders on the timeline to set interfaces. You design transitions using the transition templates (flash icon).

On the right in the mark, you see your film preview. The slim menu bar on the far left contains your toolbox. After clicking on one of the icons, all effect templates and editing options are displayed in the free area next to it. Under “fx” you will find simple filters. Drag your desired effect (“Old movie” with sepia sound in the picture) onto the corresponding track to apply it to a clip. Text elements such as titles (such as “river journey” in the above image) or credits can be dragged onto the text track. If you select the microphone icon, you can voice in comments. Add music and effect sounds to the music track.

You can render the finished video quite quickly with the video editing program. PowerDirector also offers several menu templates. You can use them to create a user interface for DVDs or Blu-Rays you have burned yourself. Alternatively, you can share your work on online platforms like YouTube or Vimeo.

Slideshows can also be created in just a few steps. First, import the desired images, then select a playback style (motion, camera, normal) and add appropriate music. Check your work in preview. Then render or share the slideshow.