We were particularly impressed by the free, unlimited access to an extensive, royalty-free library of content from Shutterstock. And when it came to exporting our test piece, we loved the simplicity of clicking the Produce button.ĬyberLink PowerDirector 365 available for Windows and Mac, and features a 100-track timeline, strong stabilisation and video correction tools, professional effects, multi-cam editing, motion tracking and surprisingly easy trimming. There's also 360-degree video editing, together with support for all the file standards and formats you can imagine. We found there were a lot of intuitive controls that speed up the process, too, including automatic gap filling and an overlay channel that sits beneath the primary video on the timeline. When we reviewed it, we found it one of the most simple, well-designed, and attractive video editing interfaces we've used to date. While beginners might still be freaked out by the apparent complexity of the interface (in which case, we'd recommend Premiere Elements, below), those who've used any type of video editing tool before will find it pretty easy to pick up and run with.
In which case, you'd be better off with a cheaper, simpler, middleweight tool.īased on our review, we rate CyberLink PowerDirector 365 as the best video editing software for non-pros who have some experience of editing video.
If you're not working as a professional video editor, but do a lot of editing (as a YouTuber, for example, or in the course of your marketing or graphic design job) Premiere Pro may be overkill. As Premiere Pro is cross-platform, we rate it as the best video editing software overall.įor more details, check out our Adobe Premiere Pro review, our guides to the best Premiere Pro tutorials, and our comparisons of Premiere Pro vs Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro vs Premiere Rush. The other is Final Cut Pro (number 5), but that's available only for Mac.
The latest update in June 2022 (version 22.5), introduces new workspaces for vertical video workspaces, the ability to add gradients to strokes and shadows for titles and graphics, and supoort for the RED V-RAPTOR camera.Īdobe Premiere Pro is one of the two industry-standard tools for video editing on our list. Like all Creative Cloud software, Premiere Pro is constantly being updated, and subscribers get all updates for free. You can work on an unlimited number of video tracks (we fired up four 4K videos in our testing), which can be imported from pretty much any source. The software supports 4K, 8K and VR formats, and trimming and editing tools give you a high degree of precision and control. Customisable keyboard shortcuts and superior collaboration features were the icing on the cake. In our experience, the automatic sync to work like a dream when you have multi-angle shots, and it's hard to fault the fine-tuning tools that really make your video stand out from the crowd. We found this to be true when testing it out on both Mac and PC. Each workspace helps manage a specific task, minimising distraction. When we reviewed the software, we loved how it enhanced our productivity by dividing everything into different workspaces, such editing, effects, and audio. Premiere Pro is routinely used to create everything from YouTube videos to Hollywood movies, such as 2021 Oscar nominee Mank. It's also commonly used in the workflow of designers, animators and VFX artists, and having extensively tested it ourselves, we can see why. At the top of each entry, we've also included key info, so you can make a quick comparison by glancing down the list. So in the article below, we outline the pros and cons of each option, and explain what kind of video editing projects it's best for. That said, no tool is perfect in every way. We've hand-tested all this video editing software ourselves, so we know they're good. Need hardware, too? Then don't miss our guides to the best monitors for video editing, best laptops for video editing and the best tablets for video editing. (If you do want to use your phone or tablet exclusively, though, you'll want our roundup of the best video editing apps.)
There are tools for Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone and Android – and some which work across all platforms. So whatever your experience, you're likely to find what you need here. In this guide, we've selected the best video editing software you have to pay for (if you have no budget, head to our best free video editing software guide). But for beginners, who may just want to edit their holiday footage or create simple clips for social media, a cheaper program, which is simpler and easier to use, will do.
Professionals will usually want to invest in the most advanced software, which comes at a premium price (either Premiere Pro or Final Cut).