The 5 Best Linux Video Editors of 2024 (2024)

OpenShot

OpenShot is a non-linear, multi-track video editor that offers one of the most shallow learning curves of any editor you will ever use. The interface is well designed, and the feature set is extensive.

Included out of the box, you'll find a wide range of supported formats (including video, audio, image, and 4K video), curve-based keyframe animations, integrated desktop drag and drop, unlimited tracks and layers, complex clip editing, easy-to-create transitions, real-time previews, compositing, image overlays, watermarks, title templates, keying, and effects.

OpenShot is considered an all-purpose video editor and can serve your average editing needs. If you need more complex editing tools, OpenShot might fail you. However, with the ease-of-use associated with this tool, it is suited for people with little to no experience with video editing. The one caveat to adding animations is that complicated clips take a while to render.

Because OpenShot is found in the standard repositories, installing OpenShot is simple. All you do is open your distribution's app store, search for OpenShot, and click Install.

Kdenlive

Kdenlive was born from the KDE project and is one of the best open-source alternatives to iMovie. If you're migrating from macOS, this tool is what you want.

Like OpenShot, Kdenlive is an all-purpose, multi-track, non-linear video editor that supports a range of video, audio, and image formats. Unlike OpenShot, Kdenlive offers a customizable layout, so you can make the process better fit your needs.

Kdenlive supports tiles using texts and images, built-in effects and transitions, audio and video scopes for footage balance, proxy editing, autosave, and keyframe effects.

Like OpenShot, Kdenlive can be installed from the standard repositories, so all you have to do is open your distribution's app store, search for Kdenlive, and click Install.

Shotcut

In some respects, Shotcut plays in the same field as OpenShot and Kdenlive. However, Shotcut is more advanced than the other two. Like OpenShot, Shotcut features support for 4K video, so if you're looking for a higher-resolution project with more advanced features, Shotcut might be your best bet.

The feature set for Shotcut includes a range of formats (including video, audio, and image formats), built-in timeline editing, support for different resolutions and framerate clips in a single project, audio filters and effects, video transitions and filters, multi-track timeline, unlimited redo and undo, and advanced editing tools.

Although Shotcut cannot be found in the standard repositories, it runs as an AppImage.

The biggest caveat to Shotcut is the learning curve. You won't find this tool to be quite as simple as either OpenShot or Kdenlive. However, the developers created plenty of video tutorials to help you along the way.

VidCutter

If you're looking for absolute simplicity, VidCutter shines. This tool only does one thing: split and merge video clips. It won't add transitions, effects, or anything fancy. And unlike the other tools listed here, VidCutter does not include a multi-track, non-linear timeline. You get one track, and that's it.

VidCutter includes a handy SmartClip feature, which makes it easy to select the portion of the clip you want to cut. If you're looking for a video editor that works with multiple tracks and does fancy transitions and animations, VidCutter isn't ideal, but to splice a few clips together, it gets the job done.

Although Vidcutter does support most of the common file formats, it is picky on framerate, so if you're filming at 30 fps on a GoPro, you might be out of luck with the import.

VidCutter resides on its own repository, so you'll have to add it using the following commands (on Ubuntu or other Debian-based distributions):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ozmartian/apps
sudo apt update
sudo apt install vidcutter

Flowblade

The Flowblade interface is similar in layout to OpenShot, as is the feature set. One of the highlights of Flowblade is the included extension filter set for video, audio, and images. Like OpenShot, Flowblade focuses on ease-of-use; you won't find a steep learning curve. Flowblade's bag of tricks includes drag-and-drop support, proxy editing, a range of supported formats (including video, audio, and image formats), batch rendering, watermarks, and video transitions.

Flowblade was written in Python, so you might find the application responds faster than OpenShot and Kdenlive. Flowblade is also available in the standard repositories, so installation only requires you to open your distribution's app store, search for Flowblade, and click Install.

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