Top free YouTube video editors for beginners [2023 Updated]

To be successful with YouTube videos several factors come into play like the content of the video, it's presentation, visuals, audio, post-production, and editing. Even well-conceptualized video needs editing to make them look impressive and catchy and for this, a good video editor is needed. The choice for these programs is huge but the majority of them are paid.

So, if you are a beginner or on a budget, free YouTube video editor can also be considered that come with decent and basic features. Let’s learn about these free options in the following parts of the article.

Part 1. Top Free YouTube Video Editors

A decent number of free editing tools are available that help you customize your YouTube videos using features like joining clips, trimming, cropping, adding filters, importing music, and more. If you too have been searching for one video editor for YouTube, the below content will be an apt read as we have shortlisted the top 5 in the category.

1. OpenShot

This is free and open-source software available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems apt for beginners. Being lightweight, it occupies very little space on your system and offers a variety of useful features like color adjustment, animations, pre-set effects, an option for removing the background, and more. Unlike most of the other free tools, OpenShot does not bear any watermark on the processed files. Further, the uncluttered interface makes the overall functioning of the tool simple and quick.

2. Lightworks

This is another widely used tool that comes with a free version with having a decent list of supported features. With multi-platform compatibility, the software can work on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems and is easy to use. Some of the interesting features that you can use with the free version include batch video import, real-time font preview, adding vice to the timeline, 720p video export, motion graphics, and more. This is a great tool for beginners who are new to editing but wish to take it to an advanced level. Several free tutorials for the software are available to help you learn its functioning and features.

3. Avid Media Composer First

This is another decent beginner-friendly free editing tool that can work with most of your Windows and Mac systems. The software is simple to use and allows you to publish your edited videos directly to YouTube. In addition to the basic ones, some of the additional features that can be used are frame flex, audio ducking, time code tool, and more.

Part 2. Best Alternative to Free YouTube Video Editor

Several free YouTube video editing tools are available including the above-mentioned offering basic and a few other advanced features to take care of your editing requirements. Though good for beginners and users on a budget, there are several limitations of using these free tools like a watermark on the processed files, limited format support, lack of advanced features, lagging issues, and similar others.

So, if you too have used a free tool and faced one or more of these issues and looking for a pocket-friendly alternative Wondershare Filmora is the best video editor that we recommend. Available in multiple pricing and subscription plans starting at $49.9 per year, this tool works seamlessly on all the latest Windows and Mac, iPad and allows editing videos like a pro in a hassle-free manner.

This editing software for YouTube videos supports all the basic and advanced features that along with drag and drop interface make the entire video processing task effortless. Create impressive YouTube footage with excellent animations using Wondershare Filmora.

Part 3. Key Features of Wondershare Filmora

Let’s check out some of the wonderful features of this software that will let you unleash your creativity and take editing to an all-new level.

Instant Mode:

Understanding the editing features and using them is one of the most common issues faced by most beginners and for this, the Instant Mode feature of the tool is simply superb. Using the function, you can use more than 115 video templates to create the desired footage in no time. The video highlights are automatically recognized by the tool for creating the footage.

Making and Blending:

Why go with the regular videos when you can take creativity to a whole new level by creating magical footage using the mask and blend feature of the software? You can choose specific video parts or even overlay them to duplicate, modify, or reveal the footage. Multiple shapes can be selected here to make the video look interesting. You can even combine multiple clips efficiently using the tool.

Speech To Text:

Using the feature, the voice in the video is automatically identified by the software and transcribed into a text to be used as subtitles. The editing of this text can also be done if needed. Additionally, you can also add external text and SRT files to the video.

Video Effects (NewBlue FX and Boris FX):

There is no dearth of interesting effects that can be added to your videos using the software as it comes packed in with more than 900 effects including transitions, motion tracking, and more. The latest NewBlue FX and Boris FX are plugins that offer multiple effects that are designed especially for the tool.

Auto Beat Sync:

The software comes with the first even auto montage maker using which the footage is matched with the music clips automatically. The unwanted parts of the video are also identified by the feature and removed automatically and then matched with the music.

Audio Ducking:

This is another useful feature for YouTube makers where the volume of one track can be automatically lowered to make the other one sound clearer. This feature works great when you are making tutorial and explanatory types of videos.

Color Match:

If you are using multiple clippings in your video with different colors, this feature will be a good option to make them look crisp and consistent by matching all the colors across the clips. There is also an option to choose the color match level between 1-100%.

Final Words

Free YouTube Video editing tools are good for beginners but also have several limitations. So, to make your videos look professionally created and get the attention of the viewers, invest in a good-featured and hassle-free tool like Wondershare Filmora. The software with its multiple pricing options will surely fit into your budget and will offer all the advanced features in one place.