Microsoft has deprecated Windows Movie Maker officially earlier this year. If you have a new machine or reinstalled Windows from scratch, chances are there isn’t a free video editor that you can get from Microsoft, unless you have upgraded your Windows 10 to the latest this year’s Fall Creators update, in which, the Photos app gained more video editing functions that are similar to what you would find previously in Windows Movie Maker. Having said that, if your Windows isn’t running on Windows 10 or doesn’t have the latest update, your choice for a free video editor is limited but not restricted to only Microsoft freeware.
Shotcut is a relatively new open-source video editor that works across all three major desktop platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s completely free, without ads or bundled adware. If we say Shotcut is an alternative to Microsoft’s Movie Maker, it is an understatement. It’s way more powerful in feature compared to Microsoft’s free video editor.
Shotcut has a look and feel of high-end video editors like Adobe’s Premiere and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. You have rich Timeline for video clip mixes, a dedicated Peak Meter to control overall audio level. Dive deep you will find that almost all pre-filters have advanced customizations you can tweak to your exact need.
In addition to video editing, you can use Shotcut purely as a video player. It has a built-in playlist and by default will play everything from the playlist just like a VLC player.
Shotcut can also be used as a video encoder. There are presets for all kinds of video export formats you would ever need. If you are still using Handbrake as your go-to video encoder, you can give Shotcut a try for visualizing the video while exporting to YouTube or other platforms.
Shotcut is a great example that proves, in order to make great video editing you don’t need to break the bank. Give it a try if you are just starting to explore this area.