8 Best Video Editing Softwares I Discovered for Linux

It has been a long known fact that there is a larger variety of software products for Windows and Macs compared to Linux. And even though Linux is continuously growing it is still hard to find some specific software. We know many of you like editing videos and that you often need to switch back to Windows in order to make some easy video editing tasks.

8 Best Linux Video Editing Softwares

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This is why we have gathered a list of the best Linux video editing software so you can easily manage your videos in Linux environment.

1. Open Shot

We start our list with OpenShot,is a feature rich, multiplatform video editor that can be used on Linux, Windows and Macs. OpenShot is written in Python and it supports many different audio and video formats and also includes drag-n-drop feature.

To get a better understanding of the features that OpenShot has, here is a more detailed list:

1. Supports large variety of video, audio and image formats based on ffmpeg.
2. Easy Gnome integration and support for drag and drop.
3. Video resizing, scaling, trimming and cutting.
4. Video transitions
5. Include watermarks
6. 3D animated titles
7. Digital zooming
8. Video effects
9. Speed changes

Installation of OpenShot

The installation of this video editor is performed via PPA and it’s only supports Ubuntu 14.04 and above. To complete the installation, you can run the following commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install openshot-qt

Once installed, OpenShort will be present in the applications menu.

OpenShot Video Editor 2. Pitivi

Pitivi is another great free, open source video editing software. It uses Gstreamer framework for importing/exporting and rendering of media. Pitivi supports simple tasks such as:

1. Trimming
2. Cutting
3. Snapping
4. Splitting
5. Mixing

Audio and video clips can be linked together and managed as single clip. Another thing that I personally find useful is that Pitivi can be used in different languages and has a very extended documentation. Learning how to use this software is easy and doesn’t require much time. Once you get used to it, you will be able to edit video and audio files with high precision.

Installation of Pitivi

Pitivi is available for download via the Ubuntu software manager or via:

$ sudo apt-get install pitivi

To install on other Linux distributions, you need to compile it from source using distro-agnostic all-in-one binary bundle, the only requirement is glibc 2.13 or higher.

Just download the distro-agnostic bundle, extract the executable file, and double-click on it launch.

Pitivi Video Editor 3. Avidemux

Avidemux is another free open source video editing software. It was originally designed mainly for cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. Avidemux is available on Linux, Windows and Mac. It is ideal for the afford mentioned tasks, but if you want to do something a bit more complex, you may want to check the rest of the editors in this list.

Installation of Avidemux

Avidemux is available for install from the Ubuntu software center and it can also be installed via:

$ sudo apt-get install avidemux

Avidemux Video Editor

For other Linux distributions, you need to compile it from source using source binary packages available from Avidemux download page.

4. Blender

Blender is an advanced open source video editing software, that has many useful features, which is why it might be a preferred choice from people who are looking for a more professional video editing solution.

Here are some of the features in question:

1. 3D modeling
2. Grid and bridge fill
3. N-Gon support
4. Physically accurate shaders
5. Open Shading Language for developing custom shaders
6. Automatic skinning
7. Animation toolset
8. Sculpting
9. Fast UV Unwrapping

Installation of Blender

Blender is available for download via the Ubuntu software manager or installed via:

$ sudo apt-get install blender

Blender Video Editor

Download source binary packages for other Linux distributions from Blender download page.

5. Cinelerra

Cinelerra is a video editor that was released in 2002 and has millions of downloads ever since. It’s designed to be used from both beginners and advanced users. According to developer’s page, CineLerra is designed from artists for artists.

Some of the main features of Cinelerra are:

1. UI designed for professionals
2. Build in frame-renderer
3. Dual-Link
4. Deck control
5. CMX compliant EDL functionality
6. Different effects
7. Audio editing with unlimited amount of layers
8. Render farm that renders and transcodes compressed and uncompressed frames

Installation of Cinelerra

For installation of Cinerella, use the instructions provided at official Cineralla installation instructions.

Cinerella Video Editor 6. KDEnlive

Kdenlive is another open source video editing software. It relies on few other projects such as FFmpeg and MLT video framework. It is designed to cover basic needs to semi-professional tasks.

With Kdenlive you receive the following features:

1. Mix video, audio and image formats
2. Create custom profiles
3. Support for wide range of comcorders
4. Multitrack edition with a timeline
5. Tools to crop, edit, move and delete video clips
6. Configurable keyboard shortcuts
7. Different effects
8. Option to export to standard formats

Installation of Kdenlive

Kdenlive is available for download from the Ubuntu software center or alternately you can install by typing the following commands in a terminal:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/kdenlive-release 
$ sudo apt-get update 
$ sudo apt-get install kdenlive

If you want to install it for Fedora/RHEL based operating systems, you can download the require page from Kdenlive download page.

Kdenlive Video Editor 7. Lightworks

Lightworks is a professional video editing tool designed for everyone. It has a free and paid version, both of which are quite feature rich. It’s multi-platform and can be used on Linux, Windows and Mac. It has plenty of features that you can use.

We will mention some of the highlights, but keep in mind that there are much more:

1. Vimeo export
2. Wide container support
3. Import and export functions (batches supported as well)
4. Transcode on import
5. Drag-n-drop replace editing
6. Replace, fit to fill
7. Advanced realtime multicam editing
8. Frame accurate capture tool
9. Trimming
10. Wide variety of effects

Installation of Lightworks

The installation of Lightworsks is completed via .deb or .rpm packages that can be downloaded from Lightworks for Linux page.

Lightworks Video Editor 8. LiVES

LiVES is a video editing system designed to me powerful and yet simple for use. It can be used across multiple platforms and it is expendable via RFX plugins. You can even write your own plugins in Perl, C or C++ or python. Other languages are supported as well.

Here are some of the main features LiVES:

1. Loading and editing of almost every video format via mplayer
2. Smooth playback at variable rates
3. Frame accurate cutting
4. Saving and re-encoding of clips
5. Lossless backup and restore
6. Real time blending of clips
7. Supports fixed and variable frame rates
8. Multiple effects
9. Customizable effects and transitions
10. Dynamic loading of effects

Installation of LiVES

LiVES is available for download for different Linux operating systems. You can download the appropriate package from LiVES download page.

LiVES Video Editor Conclusion

As you saw above, video editing in Linux is now a fact and even though not all Adobe products are supported in Linux, there are very good alternatives that are ready to provide same functionality.

If you have any questions or comments related to the video editing software described in this article, please do not hesitate to submit your opinion or comment in the comment section below.