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Filed under: Editing •

Free Non-Linear Editing Software

I was looking for some lightweight NLE/cutting software solutions recently. Obviously Windows users have Windows Movie Maker, and Mac users have iMovie. Neither are particularly lightweight, and both have a number of feature restrictions. So in the interests of sharing info, here are a few other NLE options. Note that I haven’t had time, resources, or the inclination to thoroughly test all these software packages. Please report back in the comments if a particular solution was helpful or if you experienced any issues.

SimpleMovieX

www.aeroquartet.com/SimpleMovieX/

Free “unlimited trial” for Mac. Simple editing, similar to Quicktime Pro’s interface. Has some unique features like batch processing, auto commercial detection in TV recordings, and long-GOP keyframe detection. Demo version is full-featured, but has “slower saving.” No trial time limitation.

ZS4

www.zs4.net

Free for Mac/Windows/Linux, Ubuntu, Gentoo, etc. Video Editing/Compositing. HDV formats aren’t supported directly, but there are workarounds. Lightweight, and a Portable version is available here.

Jahshaka

jahshaka.org

Free for Mac/Windows. Editing, compositing, 3d. Looks like a very interesting option, seems quite modular and flexible.

Cinelerra

cv.cinelerra.org / heroinewarrior.com (multiple versions explanation here).

Free for Linux, Ubuntu, Gentoo, etc. Mature, full-featured digital video editing software.

Kino DV

www.kinodv.org

Free for Linux, Ubuntu, Gentoo, etc. Mature standard-definition DV editing.

LiVES

lives.sourceforge.net

Free for Linux, BSD, Unix. Windows and XBOX support via bootable live CD. Mac/Darwin support if you care to compile your own.

KDENLIVE

kdenlive.sourceforge.net

Free Linux. Seems slightly limited in scope, DV editing.

Avid FreeDV

www.avid.com/products/freedv/

Free for Mac/Windows. Avid FreeDV is no longer available from Avid, but you can still find some mirrors here and there.

VirtualDub

www.virtualdub.org

Free for Windows. Not really an NLE, does capture, processing, encoding, and has extensive filter support. The Swiss Army knife of video processing.

Avidemux

fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

Free for Mac/Windows/Linux, etc. Simple editing tools. Not really so much of a full-featured NLE as a suite of tools for working with streams and formats. A Mac alternative to VDub.

ffmpegX

homepage.mac.com/major4/

Free for Mac. Not an editor, does split, demux, crop, etc. Better at encoding, filters, handles subtitles, author DVD folders, etc. Good addition to any editor’s toolkit. Another VirtualDub-like option for Macintosh users.

Update:

DVJ Imaging

djv.sourceforge.net/index.html

Free for Mac/Windows/Linux, etc. Professional movie playback and image processing software for the film and computer animation industries.

Blender

www.blender.org

Free for Mac/Windows/Linux, etc. A mature OSS project that provides a complete suite for 3D content creation (and a great sequence editor, apparently).

This FreshDV Classic article is licensed and republished at ProVideoCoalition with permission.

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