Movies have been a long time favorite pastime for millions of people. With the launch of YouTube many amateur filmmakers have popped up and uploaded their most recent films. Along with independent films gaining a cult following, amateur film creators are contributing their visions to the movie viewing community.
If you are one of these filmmakers, a YouTube video creator, or even just like editing video files in your spare time, you need good software that is easy to use and cheap. There is no better price than free and there is plenty of free easy to use video editing software available. Here are just a few.
1. Windows Movie Maker
We can’t discuss free video editors without discussing the editor included on many Windows operating systems. Windows Movie Maker is one of the easiest free video editors out there. Designed for the home user, it allows video transitions, cropping, blending, audio timelines and much more. For basic video editing this is the first choice for many at home users. However, with creativity and experience your Windows Movie Maker can assist in creating a variety of different effects.
2. AviTricks Classic:
When talking about free video editing, you may hear the name AviTricks. This software allows many adjustable effects for creating professional videos. It provides an unlimited combination of filters and overlays, a timeline adjustment for blending video and audio files, and real-time preview. The user interface is easy to use if you are used to Windows Movie Maker. Whether you are creating a training video for your office or blending videos of your children’s birthday parties together, this is great software to get it done.
3. Zwei-Stein
If you are looking for an editor with plenty of effects this is the software you need. It allows up to 64 video effects per video clip. You can blend up to 512 video clips each with their own tracks and sub tracks. Other features include opacity generators, cropping, matrix effects, image distortion and color and opacity mapping. This is a solid software that is easy to learn and allows for your video editing creativity to show.
4. Wax
If you are constantly editing video files, you may benefit from highly customizable software. Wax is completely flexible, high performing, and can be used as a standalone application or a plugin to other video editors. Wax allows you to create 2D and 3D special effects with features such as RotoMate, Shatter, ModelLoader, Particle Generator and Text 3D. If you find yourself using the same filters, features and effects, you can set them as a preset as well as download presets from their site.
5. Avidemux
If you are just looking for simple features such as cutting, filtering and encoding, Avidemux is the software for you. It supports many of the popular file types such as AVI, DVD, MP4 and MPEG, and uses a variety of codecs. You can automate your editing with projects, a job queue, and scripting capabilities. This is intended to offer the basic functions of home video editing and is easy to learn as well as being free.