- This is our 2023 roundup
of the best video editing software for Windows.
After a lot of research and a ton of testing,
I'm gonna share my top recommendations,
whether you're looking for free, beginner-friendly options
up to advanced pro-level video editors on Windows.
So we've made a lot of videos on this topic over the years,
but this year, this year, things are very different.
So my picks for the top two video editing software
right now on Windows
are CapCut and DaVinci Resolve,
and you can actually get both of them for free.
So I'm gonna give you a rundown on both of them,
but also cover why these two
and what makes them so powerful,
but also look at why I'm not recommending
a lot of the other options anymore as well.
So we'll start off first with CapCut.
This is an amazing, super intuitive,
really easy-to-use video editing tool
that works on Windows, it works on Mac,
it works on iOS and Android.
And this is actually part of what makes this so powerful,
in that you can use this on multiple devices
and have access to the exact same features
no matter what you're using.
But also because they started this
as a smartphone app first,
they'd really honed the interface and the workflow
and the usability of it,
so that when it's come through to desktop,
it's not built from the ground up as desktop software
like traditional editing software.
It's got a lot of the things bought over
from the smartphone world too,
which I think is absolutely amazing.
It's a different way to look at editing
for some of the things you're doing in there
and it's much more intuitive
than a lot of the ways
things were necessarily traditionally done.
And this makes it a great choice for someone,
even if you've never edited a video before,
you'd be able to jump in here,
you'd be able to figure stuff out,
start editing videos,
and create something pretty amazing really, really quickly.
Now, as you'd expect,
it supports multiple layers of video and audio.
So you can create pretty complicated projects in here.
They also make it really easy for you
to switch between the different video formats.
So maybe you start out editing
a widescreen video for YouTube.
With a click of a button,
you can now convert that into a portrait video
for YouTube shorts, for Instagram, or for TikTok.
But I also love that they've included
a lot more advanced stuff in here too,
things like adjustment layers.
Now, this is something that you'd normally only see
on much more professional software,
which essentially it's a blank video clip
that you can use in your timeline
and you can apply effects and things to
and make adjustments
and then any clip
that is underneath of that adjustment layer
will have those things applied to it.
So it's a really fast way to help you apply effects
and color grades and things
to a large group of clips
just by adding it once to your timeline.
But there's so much more in here too,
things like video stabilization,
like motion tracking,
like audio noise reduction
to help you remove background noise in your videos.
And for color correction,
there's a bunch of preset filters
that you can apply to your videos
or you also have the tools in here
to dial in and to tweak everything
and customize it up for your look and feel.
And now there's also some really cool
AI features in here as well.
One of them is auto captioning
where it will go through
and listen to what's said in your video
and it will automatically type those out for you
into titles and captions that you can use in your video.
And there's also an amazing background removal tool,
which will cut you or the subject of your video out
from the background
so that you can get really creative with your videos
without the the need to go and use a green or a blue screen.
So this is where I found it so hard now
to keep recommending a lot of the other options,
free and paid,
because of what you get access to 100% for free
inside of CapCut.
There's even a pretty random feature in here
where you type out text
and it's gonna read it out for you in a human voice
or it's gonna sing it to you if you'd like that as well.
♪ Primal Video ♪
- Even the effects and the transitions and stuff
that you find in here,
they're not just the standard, really basic looking,
run-of-the-mill stuff
that you find in the most basic editing tools.
There's actually some really cool
and really powerful ones here
that will help you make your videos more creative
if you use them right.
Now, there is a couple of things
I do wanna make you aware of.
The music inside of CapCut,
it comes with a bunch of music,
a lot of it is copyright music,
meaning that if you do use it in, say, your YouTube videos,
you're likely gonna get a copyright claim on that content.
Now, this is kind of a blanket rule
that I have across any video editing tool or app.
If there is included music,
you are much better off
using services like Artlist or Epidemic Sound,
those are the top two that we use
and that we recommend,
using those services where you know that you own the rights,
that you have the right license
so that you're not gonna have a risk
of getting a copyright claim, copyright strike,
in the future.
But yeah, the bulk of the music
that's included here in CapCut is copyright.
Now, the reason that they do include it, though,
is if you're using CapCut
to create videos for TikTok specifically,
then you can use these tracks legally in your TikToks,
upload them, and you won't have a problem.
And that's because CapCut is actually owned by
or made by the same company that makes TikTok, ByteDance.
So yes, this is a good tool
if you're going to be creating TikTok videos,
but you are not by any means limited
to just creating TikTok videos.
This is a super powerful video editing tool
for any type of video.
But don't use the included music outside of TikTok.
Now, while we're on that
and CapCut being owned by the same company that owns TikTok
and some of the privacy concerns and things
going around TikTok,
there are some of the same concerns
that people have with CapCut too,
and maybe having some questionable stuff around privacy
in their terms of service.
And apparently some countries like India
have already banned TikTok and CapCut as well.
So this is definitely not my area of expertise,
but in my experience of using it on the desktop
and using it on my smartphone,
it does seem to require more permissions
and access and stuff on the phone.
But personally for me, I really don't think it's a big deal.
The fact that we're getting access
to all these amazing features and this amazing tool
100% for free, and it is absolutely amazing,
and this beats out so many paid video editing tools
with everything that's in here.
I mean, in this kind of category before,
we'd recommend stuff like Kdenlive, like Shotcut,
and even Filmora as a good paid option.
And that's not to say you can't still use those
and get great results,
but I think CapCut here has really nailed a great balance
of an amazing feature set
with a really easy-to-use interface.
So it is a great option for someone absolute beginner
right through to sort of an intermediate level,
someone who's not looking
for all the super advanced, really pro features,
but someone who wants to create amazing videos
without spending a huge amount of time doing it.
That brings us next to DaVinci Resolve,
which is another mind-blowing app
with what you get access to in here,
again, totally for free.
There is a free version that you can use.
You do need to register for free on their website
to be able to download it,
but this is something
that for a very large percentage of people out there,
you're not gonna need to jump up to the paid version,
the Studio version of DaVinci Resolve.
The free version could be everything that you need.
So DaVinci Resolve obviously works on Windows,
it works on Mac,
there is a Linux version as well,
and there's also now an iPad version too
and you can actually move your projects between them
using the DaVinci Resolve Cloud
or just transferring your projects
between the different devices.
But the big difference here with something like CapCut
is that this is literally pro-grade software.
This is the stuff that they're using
to create Netflix shows, documentaries, Hollywood movies.
This is seriously pro-grade tools.
Now, in terms of the overall usability
and the interface and the experience using it,
it's not gonna be as easy to use as something like CapCut.
But again, this is pro-grade software.
But it's also not as complicated
as some of the other pro tools out there either.
And one of the things
I absolutely love about DaVinci Resolve
is it's not just a video editing tool,
a video editing suite.
It is a pro motion graphics and animation tool.
It is a pro audio tool
and a pro color grading tool and video editing as well.
And they've broken it down into what they call pages
or different sections of the video creation workflow.
So the first one is your Media page.
This is where you can access all your files,
import them into your project.
From there, you move on to the Cut page
and this is where you can do some simple edits,
cut down a bunch of footage really, really quickly,
all to then jump onto the next page,
which is the Edit page,
where you're gonna edit in much more detail.
And this is where you can really get into
that frame-by-frame accurate editing,
where you get access
to all of those editing tools and features and stuff.
This is the main page that I use,
and you don't need to jump through all of them,
but you do have the option to jump between them
as and when you'd like.
Next on from there is the Fusion page,
and this is, again, its own essentially standalone app
for motion graphics, for animations and titles and stuff.
You could really think of this
as DaVinci Resolve's answer to Adobe After Effects
but completely built in to DaVinci Resolve as well.
The next one is the Color page.
So this is everything color correction, color grading,
really setting the look and feel of your videos.
That's all done in here.
Now, this is such a powerful tool
that even people editing documentaries and movies and stuff
on other platforms,
a lot of them will bring that content into DaVinci Resolve,
into this Color area,
and adjust all the colors and everything in here.
And this is where DaVinci Resolve really started
was it was an amazing color grading, color correction tool,
or video finishing tool, essentially.
You've also got Fairlight,
which is the next one across.
So this is everything audio, everything sound,
and again, it's another essentially full-featured,
pro-grade app.
And the last one is your Deliver page.
This is all your export settings
and how you get stuff out of Resolve.
There is a lot in here,
and I don't want this to freak you out
because you don't need to use it all.
Like I said, most of my time in here
is only spent on that Edit page.
That to me, is essentially a Final Cut
or essentially an Adobe Premiere.
But you also have access
to all of these other tools in here as well
as and when you need them,
but you may never need them.
And again, absolutely ridiculous
that you're getting access to all of this for free.
So on that, you can upgrade to DaVinci Resolve Studio,
which is $295 as a one-time purchase.
So not like Adobe Premiere
where you're on a monthly subscription
or some of the others out there now too.
This is a one-time purchase that you pay
and you can unlock more features,
but you also unlock more performance as well.
Now, in terms of the system requirements,
DaVinci Resolve is a bit of a beast,
meaning that you're probably not gonna be able to run this
or run it well
on an older or a lower powered computer.
You will want to have something fairly modern
with a bit of power behind it
to get the best out of this.
So I suggest you check out
their recommended computer requirements
and I'll have that linked in the description below.
So then comparing DaVinci Resolve
to the previous winner for years in these videos,
which was Adobe Premiere,
which I'm still a big fan of,
but is becoming so much harder to recommend Adobe Premiere
when what you're getting in DaVinci Resolve
is absolutely amazing and it's free
or it's a one-time purchase
instead of a rolling monthly subscription.
I'm not by any means saying that Premiere is bad,
but one of the biggest reasons that I loved Premiere before
and what I used it for
was collaborating with teams
and working with remote editors.
But this is now something
that DaVinci Resolve does really, really well as well.
So I really love the innovation, the growth, the direction.
Again, it's not saying
that the others aren't doing those things as well,
but Resolve seems to be doing it faster.
Now, if you're someone who's already ingrained
in the Adobe ecosystem,
maybe you've got that subscription for Photoshop
or you use After Effects,
then yeah, it would make sense to continue with that.
It's still an amazing option.
But for anyone starting today,
anyone looking right now,
or if I was starting again today,
DaVinci Resolve would be my top pick.
So if you are a beginner,
if you are someone who wants to create
amazing videos really fast
without needing to learn
how to use professional grade software,
but still wanna have access to a ton of effects
and controls and stuff,
then CapCut is an amazing option.
But if you're someone who is looking
for more advanced features and control,
if you're someone who wants to learn pro-grade software
and have access to that full suite of tools,
it's gonna be really hard to go past DaVinci Resolve.
So that's why they're my top two picks this year.
Now, the fastest and most efficient way
for you to edit your videos
is to follow a process.
So check out the video linked on screen
where I take you through our editing process
to help you get the best results
and the most amazing looking videos
in the least amount of time.
And also, if you wanna learn
how to use DaVinci Resolve or CapCut,
check out the links down in the description
'cause we got those there too.