OpenShot is a free, open source video editor aimed at newcomers, with a drag-and-drop timeline, unlimited tracks and straightforward titles and transitions. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and all editing happens locally on your own machine.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
OpenShot
openshot.org 1 rating so far*
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Threat level
Covered
A covered pick. Anyone can use it as a private drop-in, with no setup or know-how. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
OpenShot is the gentlest on-ramp of the open source editors, and that is the whole point: if CapCut or iMovie is your reference, this feels familiar within minutes. The price of that simplicity is stability. It has a long-standing reputation for stumbling on heavier projects, so save often and do not lean on it for long, complex edits. A great place for short clips and a first-time editor to start, frustrating once your timeline gets ambitious. By then, move up to Shotcut or Kdenlive.
GitHub at a glance
OpenShot/openshot-qt
Stars
6,072
+ 172 this week
Last commit
19d ago
healthy
Latest release
v3.5.1
3mo ago
Stars, last 38d
Website at a glance
openshot.org
C score 55
Basic website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 7d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
OpenShot alternatives
Kdenlive Mature, full-featured open source video editor from the KDE project, with multi-track timelines and a deep effects library, all offline.
Shotcut Cross-platform open source video editor with native multi-format timelines, so mixed clips need no conversion.
OpenCut Open source video editor that runs in your browser and processes footage locally instead of on a server. A privacy-first CapCut alternative.
Tenacity Privacy-respecting open source audio editor forked from Audacity, with the telemetry stripped out.
Ardour Professional open source digital audio workstation for recording, mixing and mastering.
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