Shotcut Video Editor Review for Windows 11/10 PC – 2024
Shotcut is a lightweight, easy-to-use free and open-source video editing software for Windows. But, how effective is it at editing videos? We’ll dive into details in this post.
Not very long ago, video editing was confined to skilled professionals. For the simple reason that the tools of trade at that time weren’t very easy to understand and often required a lot of learning and practice.
Enter tools like Shotcut – free and open source, and packed with loads of features. As someone who wishes to foray into video editing, Shotcut can be a great tool with which you can edit videos. Here we have outlined the various aspects of Shotcut based on our personal experience.
System Requirements
To ensure that Shotcut runs smoothly on your Windows PC, here are some basic system requirements –
- Windows OS – Windows 11/10 (64-bit)
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- Current version: 24.06.26
- CPU: Intel or AMD (x86-64). Needs a minimum of 2 GHz for SD videos, 4 GHz for HD, and 8 GHz for 4K videos.
- RAM: Minimum of 4 GB for editing SD videos, 8 GB for HD, and 16 GB for 4K videos.
- GPU: OpenGL 2.0, and Direct3D 11 on Windows.
How To Use Shotcut?
While there is a lot to explore, let’s get started with the basics. Here is how you can begin editing videos in Shotcut on your Windows computer-
Step 1 – Download Shotcut on your PC and run the installation file. While running the setup, we’d urge you to select Create Desktop Shortcut for easy access.
Step 2 – Once you launch the program, begin with the video editing project. Assuming this is your first time working with Shotcut, give your file a name, choose the location where you want to save your project files and the video mode. You can start by selecting the Automatic mode. Once you are done, click on the Start button.
Step 3 – To import video clips that you wish to edit, click on the Open File button under the menu bar. Head to the location where you have saved the clips and select the ones you want to use.
The Playlist also happens to be the area where you can manage your video clips, change their order, or even remove the ones that you don’t need.
Step 4 – For individual clips, you can also choose the in and out time. It means that you can set the duration of the video clip that you want to edit. To do that, double-click on the video clip, and on the right-hand side choose the in and out time.
Step 5 – Drag the clips that you want to edit into the Timeline area as shown in the screenshot below.
Interface
Interface
Compared to other video editors, you may take some time to get accustomed to Shotcut’s interface, especially if you are a beginner. That said, the interface is basic and not very flashy.
When you open Shotcut you can see a “New Project” and “Recent Projects” window. Under the “New Project” window you can choose a custom resolution for your project, rename it, and also change the default location where your project file will be saved. The right-hand “Recent Projects” window enlists all your recently created projects.
On the top of the interface, you can see the various menus such as the File menu, Edit menu, Settings, etc. Beneath the various menus shown above, you have buttons. These let you access and get things in other panes.
The middle section of the interface houses the playlist area where you can import all your clips, the preview pane where you can preview your video clips, and the section that shows you the history of actions you have performed.
Under the preview section is the timeline where you can drag and drop your clips and add filters or perform other operations. All the panels are adjustable and you can customize your workspace as per your preference.
Features
Despite being free and open source, Shotcut packs an extensive feature set, capable of producing decent results. Some of these features are mentioned below –
– Non-Linear Editing
The video editing software supports non-linear editing. This means you can easily edit your video clips in any order regardless of their sequence. You can freely trim, manipulate, and arrange video clips on a multi-track timeline. It is also one of the video editors that lets you split screen.
– Adding Keyframes
Shotcut makes it simple to add keyframes to create precise and dynamic animations. The keyframes allow you to manipulate various properties of your clip such as scale, position, opacity, and much more. This feature comes in handy when creating titles, motion graphics, or when adding visual effects.
– Audio Mixing
Sometimes you may not want to go with the audio that is already present in the video. It could be that the existing audio is way too noisy. In such an event, you can turn off the audio and instead add a new audio track. Once you have added the audio of your choice, you can combine it with various audio filters.
– Markers
Let’s say you are working on a video with complex edits. Things can get tricky if you are working with others. In that case, you can add markers at specific points in your video editing. You can, maybe, come back to it at a later stage.
What’s more? You can change the marker’s color, rename the marker, or assign a range to it.
– Video Filters and Effects
Shotcut has a vast library of filters, video effects, and transitions. These let you add a visual appeal and creative flair to your projects. Here you won’t just find video filters but audio filters as well. Plus, what we liked is that there are time-related filters as well. For example, you can apply slow motion to your video.
– Adding Text and Titles
How about adding a spectacular title to your video or captions that stand out? With Shotcut on your PC, you can add 3D text to your videos. Once you have added the text, you can change its color, and font, adjust its dimensions, add depth, tilt it, and do a lot more
Speed
While there are no major performance issues, occasional lags tend to surface sometimes, especially if you are trying to edit an HD or 4K video with lower PC specs. Also, some users complained that Shotcut became slow after an update. In that case, you can further check for an update, or as one of the users said, you can try and remove Shotcut registry settings. Although this option is not advisable for beginner users.
If you intend to remove the registry, we urge you to use registry cleaner software since such utilities let you clean the registry safely while also offering you the facility to take backups.
Pricing
Shotcut is a free and open-source software.
Customer Support
While there may not be a dedicated customer support team, that doesn’t change the fact that there are enough resources that can help you if ever get stuck. There are tutorials, how-to guides and much more using which you can learn video editing using the Shotcut video editor.
On the help page, you will mostly find answers to frequently asked questions and some of the common errors that users face while using Shotcut on PC. Also, there is a very helpful forum that comprises like-minded video editors like you. You can post your queries there as well.
Start Your Video Editing Journey With Shotcut
Shotcut is a powerful, free, and open-source video editor that offers a wide range of features. It supports hundreds of audio and video formats. Initially, you may face a slight learning curve but it shouldn’t take you long to learn the ropes.
What’s even better, even after being free software, Shotcut gets an upgrade in features with every update. Do give it a try and share your experience in the comments section below. For more such content keep reading Top10PCSoftware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Is Shotcut good to use?
Amongst the heavyweight (and often paid) video editing utilities, if you are looking for a video editor that packs in advanced video editing features, Shotcut can be an option, you should consider installing.
Q2. Is Shotcut Free?
Shotcut is a free and open source video editing software. It is not just available for Windows PC, but also on Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.
Q3. Which one should I choose OpenShot or Shotcut?
Both OpenShot and Shotcut are free and open source, and both are efficient video editors. However, when it comes to editing 4K videos, Shotcut proves to be a slightly better choice.
Q4. How safe is it to install Shotcut?
We installed Shotcut on our PC and it wasn’t flagged off as a malware by our Antivirus software. Shotcut itself pledges that their downloads are free of malware, spyware or even adware provided the software is downloaded from their website.
