OpenShot — The Complete Guide: Simple Open-Source Video Editing for Beginners
OpenShot is an open-source (GPL-3.0) video editor built so that someone who has never edited video can finish a clip within an hour. It is free for any use including commercial, with no subscription and no watermark, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
OpenShot Video Editor
OpenShot Studios
A simple open-source video editor with unlimited tracks, keyframe animation, effects and colour tools, for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- A simple timeline — drag clips, cut and arrange them, with unlimited tracks.
- Titles and transitions — the project name, test date or a short explanation on screen.
- Keyframes — animate position, scale and opacity, for example zooming in on a failure zone in the footage.
- Green screen and colour tools — chroma key, colour wheels, curves, LUTs and scopes.
- Direct recording — screen, webcam and microphone straight into the project.
Who it suits
OpenShot suits a short explainer, lab test documentation or a student project presentation, where the main thing is finishing quickly. On long projects with many high-resolution clips it becomes slow and less stable, and there a heavier editor is the better choice. Save the project often.
Related tools
For a more stable and richer open-source editor — Shotcut or Kdenlive. For studio-grade work with advanced colour grading — DaVinci Resolve.
Shotcut
Meltytech
A free video editor — cut, caption, add callouts and export tutorial and site-inspection videos.
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Kdenlive
KDE
A multi-track non-linear video editor — for longer training videos and project presentations, with automatic subtitles.
Get it from the vendor
DaVinci Resolve
Blackmagic Design
A professional video editor combining editing, colour grading, effects and audio in one program; the free edition works up to 4K with no watermark.
Get it from the vendor
OBS Studio
OBS Project
Screen recording and streaming — software tutorials, model walkthroughs and recorded lectures in high quality.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
The easiest way to start editing video for free: a clear interface, all the basic tools and no licence limits. When projects grow, move up to a stronger editor.