Best Free Video Editing Software (Mac, PC, Linux, Online)

While most professional video editors use one of three main programs (AVID, Adobe Premiere, or less often Final Cut Pro), those programs can oftentimes be prohibitively expensive for the rest of us, and especially for those just starting out in film and video production for the first time.

So I decided to look into what was available out there as far as free professional video editing alternatives go.

Here’s what I found, and what I recommend based on my research:

The 8 best free video editing software are…

1. Lightworks, a professional video editing software used to edit Pulp Fiction, The Wolf of Wall Street, and many others
2. OpenShot, an easy-to-use, and straightforward free video editor
3. DaVinci Resolve, a powerful video editor known for its color correction tools for advanced editors
4. HitFilm Express, a simple video editor for effects-heavy projects, 
5. Shotcut, an open-source, totally free cross-platform video editor for Windows, Linux, or Mac,
6. Blender, is a video editor that’s part of a 3D animation program that’s effective for video projects that incorporate animations
7. VSDC, a basic video editor comparable to iMovie for the PC, and
8. iMovie, if you need to edit a video in a pinch on a Mac.

A few free online video editors worth trying are…
1. YouTube’s own video editor tool
2. ClipChamp, though the free version has limited export options
3. Movie Maker Online, a solid free online editor
4. Adobe Express, a social media marketing-oriented tool with video editing options, and
5. Online Video Cutter, a bare-bones free online editor.

We’ll dive into all the best free video editing software in a moment. But first…

The Difference Between Free and Freemium

Knowing the difference between truly free and freemium software is important.

What we consider to be freemium is a program or service that is free, but only up to a certain point.

Like most software packages that are sold in price-tiers, there are certain features that are reserved solely for the paid versions of free software. The more expensive the tiers get, the more features they usually have. The free version is usually the lowest tier, meaning it has the least amount of features.

Yes, it’s still free to use, but some of the features you may need to use for your video, you may be required to upgrade and pay for.

Typical limitations include, but are not limited to, 4K exports, HDR grading, and multi-user collaboration. Be prepared no matter what service you are using and make sure you do your research. This blog will try to help!

For example, some of the options available on this list, including HitFilm, DaVinci Resolve, and VSDC, have paid versions that provide higher-end features, but those features might not be necessary for you to use, depending on how in-depth your project is.

These programs more or less have a completely free version with most everything you would need for your basic video editing functions.

There are also trial versions of paid professional software, which usually adds watermarks or limits options for exporting so you don’t work the system to make all your videos without ever having to pay.

Watermarks Are (mostly) History. Enter Advertisements and Pop-Ups Instead.

If you are looking for free video editing software, with no watermark, thankfully most of these options fit the bill.

Watermarks were the way they used to keep us from using programs for free back when I was in High School, so that was one of my main requirements in a video editing software: there had to be no watermarks on the final product.

Also, be aware that some of these programs come with internal advertisements and upgrade pop-ups.

HitFilm doesn’t push upgrades on you, but it does make you sign up to use the program through your social accounts. This makes it difficult to access your account when you switch computers, which is an attempt to cut down on multiple people all using one account.

As for DaVinci and VSDC, the free versions of their basic program includes features that are only accessible in the paid version, and don’t label them as such until you attempt to use them and get an error message with a pop-up ad to upgrade. It’s a tactic to show the customer what they are missing and try to up-sell them.

When you’re getting so much good for free, you don’t have too much room to complain, but it’s still good to be aware, as when you spend hours working on a project, these types of tiny aggravations can begin to drive you totally crazy.

What is “free” does not always come free. There is a cost to everything.

How To Pick The Right Free Video Editing Software For Your Needs

The first thing you should consider when looking for free video editing software is that not all of these programs are compatible with both Mac and PC.

Also, some video editing programs require an internet connection. I will call those out specifically, so make sure you read closely before you rush out to download something at a glance.

Your main point of consideration should be which program can offer you everything you need from a technical level that would otherwise cost you in another program.

For example, depending on the project you are working on, some of these programs may not have the features that you actually need.

If the program you like has almost every feature you need and its paid tiers only include features you wouldn’t use anyway, go for it.

But if the program you are considering offers some important features your project needs, but only at a paid level, you may want to look into your other options and see if you can’t get the same features for free on another program.

Specifically, there is a baseline of features your video editing software should include, like a timeline where you do all your cutting and placing of your video footage, a viewfinder where you can watch what you’re editing, and a library where all your footage is stored for you to skim through and drag into the video’s timeline. A basic ability to add transitions and visual effects is also a necessity.

The biggest issue plaguing free video editing software is having the right export options. The export process is notoriously obnoxious, at least in my own experience.

It’s all well and good until you get to the end of your project and find out the free version of your software won’t export your video to the optimal format and resolution you need.

That’s why you should make sure at the beginning that the free versions will provide the right export resolution for whatever your video project needs, whether it be festival submissions, theatrical screening settings, or at the bare minimum, HD resolution on YouTube or Vimeo.

Lastly, make sure you have the right computer to run your free video editing software on. Editing software, especially when dealing with high-resolution footage, usually requires a high-end computer to run smoothly.

However, a lot or most of the free software programs we’re sharing today should work fine with a consumer MacBook or Windows laptop with integrated graphics, but make sure you do a little research on the websites of each program to make sure your system has the required tech specs to run the program.

The Best Free Video Editing Software For Mac, PC, and/or Linux

All right, now that we’ve got all disclaimers and explanations out of the way, let’s dive into the good stuff – the programs!

1. Lightworks (PC, Mac, Linux)

Lightworks is the first on my list because it’s the free professional video editing software with the most “street cred.”

Apparently, Lightworks has been used for all kinds of Hollywood projects, going all the way back to Pulp Fiction, which I was shocked to learn. Other titles included The Wolf of Wall Street, LA Confidential, Shutter Island, 28 Days Later, and some titles in the Mission Impossible franchise.

All glitz and glamor aside, Lightworks is a fairly universally useful video editor, as it runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and can import nearly every file format into its program to edit.

However, Lightworks is one of the “freemium” options I warned you about in the beginning. There is a “Pro” version, which Lightworks offers both at a Yearly and Monthly rate of either $175 a year or $25 a month, but they also provide the option for you to buy the program outright for $320, which is nice if you have the cash and plan on using it again in the future.sdfa

The most impressive thing about LightWorks is how many features they actually give you as part of the free version. For example, Lightworks allows for multi-cam editing, can export directly to YouTube or Vimeo, and even has a project-share feature where you can share the timeline with your whole team.

As far as the basics go, Lightworks’ video timeline allows for a lot of control and flexibility to import, trim, and weave audio and video together in a seamless fashion, but the interface itself can be kind of tricky to navigate with all of the advanced features.

Some of those advanced features include professional-grade color correction, high precision trimming, effects rendered in real-time with GPU-accelerated support, crossover keyboard layouts so you can mimic the Avid or Final Cut Pro layouts if you prefer, and desktop video capture. Things like 4K support for sharing to YouTube and Vimeo are left out of the free version.

Okay, now the downside of Lightworks being Freemium: the main feature you don’t get is the ability to export into whatever output format you want. Instead of being able to export at 1080p even, the minimum for HD, you are capped at 720p in a MPEG-4 format only… until you pay for the upgrade, that is. 

This really isn’t ideal, even for web-based video distribution that can get away with lesser quality video resolutions. The only plus to it I see is that you can still export and send cuts of your video project to other members of your team to review at 720p and it should be relatively okay. Then, when it comes time to finish the project(s), you can pay the $25 the monthly fee and consider it a one-time “export” fee.

Luckily, LightWorks has a good support system built around it, with lots of helpful tutorial videos and a bustling community sharing advice in the forums (Lightworks is open source, which is very useful for generating user input, feedback, and helpful guides).

Lightworks can be challenging to master with a steep learning curve, despite the fact that the user interface is well organized. It asks for some tech-savvy tendencies of the user to really get rolling.

Bottom line, you should use this if you know your way around other editing programs and are comfortable jumping into a more advanced program – and you don’t mind spending $25 for a monthly upgrade rate to export your video at the end of it.

2. OpenShot (PC, Mac, Linux)

OpenShot is another in-demand free video editing software that’s available for Mac, PC, and Linux, making it one of the most versatile cross-platform editing software on the list. I also wanted to include it second because it’s on the easier side to pick up and start editing with right away.

Walking a delicate line between an easy-to-use interface and advanced features, OpenShot boasts an interface that’s very user-friendly. It has a bit of an iMovie feel to it, for those Apple users out there, since it uses a simple drag and drop interface, but Openshot is actually a lot more versatile than the free Apple video editor.

You can use OpenShot to resize, re-cut, scale, trim, composite, overlay, or rotate video clips, and you can add scrolling credits at the end. As mentioned above, OpenShot integrates with your desktop to allow you to easily drag and drop clips and files from your desktop, and the timeline can support an unlimited amount of additional tracks and layers to lay on top of each other, with frame-stepping, time-mapping, and audio-mixing features.

OpenShot also provides a curve-based keyframe animation system, which is fairly straightforward to use, even with a rudimentary understanding of animation, as well as animated titles and effects you can add, which you generate previews for in real-time. You can also add your own custom watermark to your videos – a fun reversal of fortune.

The OpenShot software is also open-source, which means that any user who downloads it can view the source code and make changes to it.

And guess what? Many do.

The community around this software is great, particularly because of the customization available via its open-source nature.

Some red flags to be aware of: the application can take multiple steps to set up. It can be kind of glitchy, with some lag. Also, there aren’t a lot of video tutorials to go along with OpenShot, but that may be because of how simple it is to use.

Bottom line, you should use this if: You’re a first-time editor looking to get into video editing with a simple-to-use interface similar to iMovie.

3. DaVinci Resolve

Many in the commercial and independent film world will know DaVinci Resolve, which is made by Blackmagic Design, as a top-notch color correction tool. It is actually a free video editing software, and while it is known for its powerful color correction and, surprisingly to me, its audio editing tools, it can actually be used for more than that.

If you don’t already know how DaVinci works, DaVinci’s color tools include your standard primary color wheels and curve editors for color grading but take it a step further by offering facial recognition and tracking, which allows for skin tones and facial features to be mapped out and adjusted separately from the rest of the shot.

This program is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, and in addition to color correction, can be used for video editing, visual effects, motion graphics, and even audio mixing.

There are currently two versions of it available, the DaVinci Resolve 15 and DaVinci Resolve 16 (Beta). Both versions have video cutting and trimming capabilities, as well as the capacity to add motions graphics and 3D titles.

DaVinci Resolve 16 in particular has a new cut page, a dual timeline to help you edit and trim the entire edit without all the wasted time spent scrolling back and forth, and simplifies your source footage into one “single tape” so you can scroll through and select individual shots without going through folders and folders worth of footage, along with a wealth of other features like quick exporting, importing, and portable editing meant to help you use DaVinci on smaller laptop screens.

The most surprising part to me about DaVinci was that it could be used for audio editing. This was the first time I’ve heard of using DaVinci for audio, but apparently, you can mix your audio and master around one thousand channels using a Fairlight add-on, which is a high-end audio mixing and editing suite.

The best and most unbelievable part about DaVinci Resolve is that it is 100% free. No watermarks, and no feature limitations. Because Blackmagic makes DaVinci and primarily sells cameras and other equipment, it seems to me that the company sees DaVinci Resolve as more like an add-on tool to get the optimal use out of their other products. In a way, it’s a marketing and customer service tool as well as a standalone product.

There is a paid version of DaVinci, called DaVinci Resolve Studio that is available for $299, which enables multi-user collaboration compatibility, allowing multiple people to all work on the same project at one time. The Studio version of DaVinci Resolve 16 also includes other special effects, including audio effects, HDR grading, and stereoscopic 3D tools, and I believe the Studio version of DaVinci Resolve 15 has special effects too.

If you need more options for 3D composing and effects, you can always later purchase Blackmagic Fusion, which is Blackmagic’s powerful alternative to Adobe After Effects.

One big red flag for this product is that it does require a higher-end computer to edit higher quality footage, like 4K and beyond, and while the user interface is fairly straightforward, there can be a fairly steep learning curve.

I found this resource from PremiumBeat to be a good place to start if you’re looking for help.

Bottom line, you should use this if you are an advanced editor, or if you already use DaVinci for color correction, you might as well try completing your project from start to finish using this powerful editor. If you haven’t tried it yet, but plan on learning how to do your own color correction, you might as well download it and try using it for all your video editing needs, since it is such a powerful and free tool.

4. Hitfilm Express

HitFilm Express was a program that was new to me, but I found it full of features worthy of including on this list. Available for Windows and Mac only, HitFilm Express is slightly more limited than the other options so far as it doesn’t include a version for Linux users.

HitFilm Express is a free video editing software that includes a timeline editor with playback, where you can cut, trim, and even edit audio. HitFilm also allows you to continue editing while you export your video, which is a nice feature if you’re working across multiple projects and don’t want to wait.

HitFilm Express has an animation keyframing feature, compositing and masking, and exporting. HitFilm supports 4K footage and provides plenty of features to create hundreds of visual effects, such as 3D effects, motion blurs, video filters, as well as lens distortion correction, and 360-degree video editing capabilities.

There are also several audio filters included.

You can export into MP4 and H.264 formats, or directly onto YouTube.

The downside to HitFilm’s 3D effects is that some of them are provided separately as part of extension packs for anywhere from $7- $9.99, and there is a $299 Pro version that makes this program fall under the freemium category.

Another red flag is that the video encoding through this program isn’t the fastest. It’s a trade-off for getting the program for free, but it’s worth noting if you are trying to turn around an effects-heavy video in a short amount of time.

Also, some options for playing back your footage will remove the effects that you put on your footage, making it difficult to watch back your work from time to time.

Another trade-off: in order to download the program, you have to log in through your social media and post an update about the company. It’s kind of weird, but in exchange for getting the program for free, I’d say it’s small potatoes.

Luckily, I’ve read the community around HitFilm Express is very helpful and provides a lot of tutorials, especially on how to composite and work with the 3D effects available to you in the software. There are a lot of resources for using HitFilm as a first-timer, so the learning curve shouldn’t be too intense. 

Bottom line, you should use this if you are relatively new to editing, but are working on projects that tend to be effects-heavy, especially popular effects like lightsaber effects for parody or fan-made trailer videos for YouTube or elsewhere. 

5. Shotcut

Shotcut is an open-source, totally free cross-platform video editor for Windows, Linux, or Mac that is great for basic video editing projects, especially first-time short films or limited-scope commercial projects.

Shotcut’s defining feature is a customizable, simple-to-use interface that allows for docking and undocking different panels so you can create the optimal window setting for you.

In addition to your standard editing tools like cutting, merging, and splicing, Shotcut provides filters and special effects that are easy to implement into your video project.

Shotcut also makes it easy to screen-capture, and record directly from your webcam or audio mic directly onto your timeline, so it could be good for more online-based projects, like if you’re creating content for a Twitch channel or a daily YouTube show.

Shotcut supports hundreds of video and audio file formats thanks to something known as the FFmpeg project, including support for 4K footage. This means you don’t have to import and transcode your footage, and instead can begin editing it right away (known as native editing) and create multi-format timelines, resolutions, and frame rates within a single project without having to set all your format settings individually.

This is because Shotcut is open source, and is completely free with no features limited by paid tiers. Technically, this program was designed for Linux first, which is why it has a more Linux feel to it.

That being said, with anything that is open source, the community around Shotcut is active in the forums on the Shotcut website and is constantly providing updates on bugs that need fixing, tutorials that need creating, or any questions that need answering under the sun.

In fact, I found this thread about why one would use Shotcut over some of the other free video editing software options out there, which I thought was very informative. Here’s an excerpt from one user named Austin on the pros and cons of going with Shotcut:

“For narrative filmmaking (movie and documentary-style stuff), the main tools you’d miss are color curves, hue-vs-hue filter, and true multi-cam editing. Granted, those are higher-end tools. All of these can be approximated by other tools, like color grading wheels and LUTs for color adjustments, and simple track stacking on the timeline for multi-cam. Aside from that, Shotcut is essentially feature-complete… Shotcut is excellent for simple video (and even complex video if it’s narrative style) and probably ideal as a teaching tool because you won’t have licensing issues and it is very lenient about input video formats thanks to FFmpeg.”

Austin also linked to another thread with a lot of good info if you want to learn more about why Shotcut users choose Shotcut over the competition!

Bottom line, you should use this if: You are a YouTube hobbyist making tutorial videos, and need a solid video editor to put together your videos, especially if you use Linux and create videos in the DIY tech space. See the thread above for more use-cases.

6. Blender

You may have heard of Blender before, but in a different context: It’s widely known as a tool for creating 3D animations. However, Blender is a video editing software as well and is another great open-source option that is readily available for Windows, Mac, or Linux systems.

Entirely free to use, Blender was originally designed to be a 3D animation suite, but the video editor they developed to go along with it is so useful that many video editors have come to use it as a standalone free video editing software.

Blender includes a timeline that allows for adding up to 32 layers of videos, images, audio, and effects. The basic functionality includes editing tools like cutting, splicing, video masking, audio mixing, syncing and scrubbing, speed control, layers, transitions, and filters.

Then there’re the animation-specific toolsets like modeling, animating, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, and others. There’s also the capability to create live previews, and use advanced features like chroma vectorscope, luna waveforms, and histogram displays – many things that I barely understand myself, but sound cool!

Because the program is open-source, there’s a large community of developers who create code scripts for extensions that can do things like generating new terrain or objects like trees and clouds, fracture objects, import and export formats from third-party programs like Adobe After Effects or Unreal Game Engine, and plenty more. There’s even an extension listed on their website to help with 3D Printing!

Blender is good for advanced video editors who can make use of all the features and aren’t thrown by a somewhat more cluttered and advanced-looking user interface.

Speaking of the UI, Blender doesn’t adhere to common designs of user interfaces that we’ve grown used to. The logic within the program UI is completely unique to Blender and has a tendency to throw people off. But once you get used to it and understand the logic, you’ll be able to work just as fast in Blender as in all other programs.

This is largely due to the 3D animation features, which you can make use of if you plan to use 3D animation in your project.

The massive amount of features does give Blender a steeper learning curve, which is why it’s lower on this list. The tutorials for Blender tend to be more focused on the 3D animation and modeling aspects of the program, so as such, the resources are a lot more limited as far as tutorials for helping video editors navigate Blender as a simple video editing program go.

Bottom line, you should use if you are looking for free video editing software, but have a familiarity with other video editing programs, and your current projects may involve 3D animation or effects at some point in the process.

7. VSDC

VSDC made the list as a free video editor but is next to last on our list specifically because it is solely available to Windows users. VSDC is definitely a free video editing program meant more to be used for editing home movies of the family, simpler video projects that might go directly online, or video editing projects for work.

VSDC has all the basic tools, including a timeline where you can cut, merge, filter, and color correct video files with stylish, Instagram-worthy filters, blurs, masking tools, and built-in color correction. VSDC is also able to export to a wide range of different formats, and surprisingly for a more simple video editor, there are even audio transitions and audio filters you can add to your audio files.

As one of the least advanced options on our list, VSDC is best for working with GoPro footage or creating video presentations for work, which seem to be the two main use-cases outside of family projects.

The GoPro angle is due to the consumer-oriented nature of the editor, as well as to the built-in video stabilizer that helps reduce shaky cam syndrome when filming action shots with a first-person perspective, like when snowboarding, or skateboarding, or catching waves.

As for workplace presentations, VSDC lets you take screen-capture videos to record videos from your desktop computer. This is especially useful if you are creating video tutorials on how to use a program, like say, how to use VSDC!

Let’s talk about exports for a minute. VSDC export to basic video files like AVI and MPG, but better yet, you can make it so your video will be exported to optimize for whatever device it will be shown on.

The best thing about VSDC is it supports 4K footage! Not all of these programs do, so it was a bit of a surprise to find that VSDC was capable of supporting 4K.

There isn’t much in the way of downsides for VSDC, besides the more limited scope of tools available. For example, VSDC doesn’t come with some of the more exciting features like motion tracking, multi-cam editing, or 360-degree footage capabilities that some other programs on this list do.

VSDC falls under the Freemium category, as there is in fact a Pro version for $19.99, which includes the image stabilization for GoPro footage I mentioned above. Also, you have to pay an extra $9.99 for one month of technical support, or you can shell out an extra five bucks for a full year at $14.99. 

8. iMovie

While you may have already been using iMovie or Windows Movie Maker for your video projects in the past, it’s always good to keep them in the back of your mind as an option if you are in a pinch and need free editing software.

While Windows Movie Maker is no more (as of a few short years ago), iMovie is still alive and well, and definitely worth giving a shot if you own a Mac computer. The latest versions support 4K video, but there’s still no support for 360-degree video or multi-cam editing.

The best thing about iMovie (besides it being pre-loaded onto your Mac computer already) is that it has a simple interface, has plenty of audio editing tools, and provides professional-quality themes, trailers, and video effects that don’t come off as amateur unless you know enough to know where they come from. Plus, video encoding is very fast since the program has been built into the Mac computer as a core product.

Like a few other options on this list, you can upload your finished videos to YouTube or Vimeo directly from iMovie, or upload them directly to the cloud to be able to watch your videos simultaneously through any of your Apple devices. Hosting a screening and having an Apple TV? Your videos can be shared in a pitch – no hard drive or old-school DVD required.

As I mentioned above, iMovie works with a simple drag and drop system, where you can drag audio, video, and image files from your desktop directly onto the iMovie project timeline. If you are an app developer, I also read that you can create previews for an app you’ve created in iMovie, but I don’t know exactly how to do that.

Bottom line, you should use this if you are a first-time video creator enlisted to help out on a video project, or an experienced video editor who needs a quick program for a simple project and have only a short period of time to put something together with nothing but a freshly bought Macbook and the source video footage.

Online Video Editing Options

Let’s say you’ve tried all of the above options, and none of them seem to work for you. There are also web-based video editing options available to you.

I’ll go over just a handful of them so you know your options, but we may come back and revisit some of these options in another article down the line.

1. YouTube

If you didn’t know it already, you can use YouTube to edit your videos online. There’s an option called the Video Editor on YouTube that you can get to by logging into your YouTube Studio account, uploading your footage, and clicking on the Editor option after selecting your footage from the Uploads section.

In the YouTube editor, you can trim the ends of your video, or even cut clips out of the middle of your video with a split tool. You can then preview and save it to make sure that you have edited it the right way and everything flows the way you want it to. From there, you can add an ending YouTube screen where you can direct viewers to click on your other related videos.

It’s a simple tool with not a lot of options for editing, and if you have a video with a lot of takes, you will have to upload them to YouTube before you can edit them together, so this option might only be ideal for minor final edits instead of larger assembly edits.

2. ClipChamp

ClipChamp has a pretty legitimate reputation and a long list of partners for an online video editor, which is why it’s number two on this list behind YouTube. Arguably ClipChamp should be your first choice when assembling free video edits online, as it is great for editing, compressing, and converting video files in a quick and easy way. Once you upload your video, you can cut, trim, crop, flip, or rotate the footage as needed.

ClipChamp is a freemium option, meaning there’s a basic plan that’s free and paid tiers starting from $9 a month and up. The basic plan includes unlimited exports but limits those exports to 480p, which is pretty weak for everything other than posting to social media. The basic plan also stipulates that it can only be used for personal use, so I would probably advise upgrading to at least to the $9 a month Creator version if you plan to use this service pretty regularly since it allows for unlimited 720p exports.

3. Movie Maker Online

Not to be confused with Windows Movie Maker, Movie Maker Online is an ad-supported web-based video editor with a decent amount of functionality.

You simply upload your video files, and drag and drop them into a timeline to cut them together.

You can add music and images, or choose to add to your project from Movie Maker Online’s own royalty-free media library of audio, video, and image files.

The ads are a particular nuisance, and it seems like you have to keep your ad-blocker turned off in order to use the site, but other than the obnoxious ads, it’s completely free to use.

The layout of the website can be confusing when navigating for your first time, and the export options are extremely limited to only MP4 file formats, so I would use this only for simple video edits if you’re trying to upload a project online while on the go.

4. Adobe Express

If you plan to create videos for social media, Adobe Express (formerly known as Adobe Spark) could be a solid alternative for you due to it’s an easy-to-use and quick turnaround for video creation. Adobe Spark isn’t just for editing videos but is more like a marketing tool where you can create all kinds of things, usually meant to promote a small business with supplementary social posts.

There are two ways to edit your videos with Adobe Spark – you can create from an Adobe-specific template or upload your videos and start from there.

Depending on what type of video you are creating, you can record audio directly into the Spark editor, apply titles and themes, or add music from their stock library.

You are limited as far as your video editing capabilities, so I would suggest using this only for one-off video clips that you plan to post to Instagram – especially since you can export directly in a square format.

One last thing about Adobe Spark – the videos you create with it does have a watermark. I almost didn’t include Adobe Spark on here for that reason alone but decided to include it because it’s a bit of a hack to edit using Adobe after all.

5. Online Video Cutter

Online Video Cutter is functional and straightforward, which is why I want to use it last to round out this list of the best free online video editors. You simply choose your video file or drag and drop your video into the starting screen, and then you can cut, crop, trim, rotate, and export your video into “any format you can think of”.

Like the other options on this list, Online Video Cutter allows you to edit, cut, and export your video files directly in your web browser, but there is a limit of file sizes supported only up to 500 Mb.

The video files you upload are automatically deleted a few hours later, so they aren’t being stored in a cloud somewhere. That does mean you’ll need to start from scratch if you lose your edited video, but I think I prefer that to not knowing who has my video on a server somewhere.

It’s a straightforward video editor with not much else as far as functionality goes, but if you don’t need much else, this is a perfect free online video editor you can use in a pinch.

Have Suggestions? Let us know!

There were plenty of other free video editing software options I found and decided not to include.

Is there another program you love and would recommend? Let us know in the comments and I’ll look into including it.

Also, if you’ve had a bad experience with one of these free video editors, we’re open to hearing about that as well.

These days everybody loves to take down a villain, so if we hear enough negative feedback on a selection, you know we’re going to pay attention.

That’s all! Good luck, try everything you can if you don’t find what you like right away, and happy video editing!

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