Comparison of video editing software
System requirements
This table lists the operating systems that different editors can run on without emulation, as well as other system requirements. Note that minimum system requirements are listed; some features (like High Definition support) may be unavailable with these specifications. (Note: for Corel VideoStudio, see the entry under Ulead VideoStudio plus.)| Windows | Mac OS X | Unix-like | Processor | RAM | HDD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (32-bit) | Yes | Yes (as of CS3) | No | 1.4 GHz, SSE2 compatible processor | 1 GB / 2 GB when editing HD | 4 GB |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | No | multicore x86-64 compatible processor | 2 GB | 10 GB |
| Adobe Premiere Elements | Yes | Yes (as of v9) | No | 2 GHz with SSE2 support | 2 GB | 4.5 GB |
| Avid Free DV | Yes | Yes | No | 933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC | 1 GB | ? |
| Avid Media Composer | Yes | Yes | No | Pentium 4 or higher | 2 GB | 20 GB |
| Avid Xpress Pro HD | Yes | Yes | No | Pentium 4, PowerMac G5 | 1 GB | 20 GB |
| Avidemux | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| AVS Video Editor | Yes | No | No | Intel / AMD compatible at 2500 MHz or higher | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) | Yes | Yes | Yes | 300 MHz | 128 MB | 20 MB free space |
| Cinelerra | No | Yes | Yes | 500 MHz | 256 MB | ? |
| CyberLink PowerDirector | Yes | No | No | SSE2 compatible processor | 512 MB | 2 GB |
| Dayang Montage Extreme | Yes | No | No | Pentium 4 or higher | 1 GB | 20 GB |
| EDIUS | Yes | No | No | Pentium 4 3.0 GHz+ | 1 GB | 800 MB |
| Elecard AVC HD Editor | Yes | No | No | SSE-enhanced CPU (Intel® Pentium, Celeron, Xeon, AMD® Athlon, Opteron etc.) | 128 MB | 50 MB |
| Final Cut Express | No | Yes | No | 500 MHz | 384 MB | 1 GB |
| Final Cut Studio | No | Yes | No | 1.25 GHz G4, Intel Core Duo or Xeon | 1 GB | 4 GB Apps |
| FORscene | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | 256 MB | Any |
| iMovie | No | Yes | No | Intel based Macs | 1 GB | 5 GB |
| Kdenlive | No | Yes | Yes | 600 MHz | 256 MB | 1 GB |
| Kino GTK | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Lightworks | Yes | Yes (planned) | Yes | Core2Duo/Xeon/AMD | 2GBmin | 100Mb |
| LiVES | No | Yes | Yes | 800 MHz | 128 MB | 10 GB |
| MainActor | Yes | No | Yes | 700 MHz | 128 MB | ? |
| Media 100 | No | Yes | No | 1.8 GHz G5 or better | 2 GB | ? |
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | Yes | No | No | 233 MHz | 32 MB | 20 MB |
| Nero Vision Xtra/ Nero Video Premium HD | Yes | No | No | 2 GHz AMD or Intel® processor | 512 MB (1 GB for Windows Vista® or Windows® 7) / 2 GB when editing HD | 5 GB |
| OpenShot Video Editor | No | Yes | Yes | 600 MHz | 256 MB | 1 GB |
| Pinnacle Studio HD | Yes | No | No | 1.8 GHz | 1 GB | 1.7 GB |
| Pinnacle VideoSpin | Yes | No | No | 1.4 GHz | 512 MB | 150 MB |
| PiTiVi | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | 2 MB |
| Serif MoviePlus | Yes | No | No | Pentium II or AMD Athlon XP | 128 MB | 149 MB |
| Sony Vegas | Yes | No | No | 2.0 GHz | 1.0 GB | 400 MB |
| Ulead MediaStudio Pro | Yes | No | No | 800 MHz | 256 MB | 800 MB |
| Ulead VideoStudio Plus | Yes | No | No | Pentium 4 or higher, SSE2 when editing HD | 512 MB | 3 GB |
| VirtualDub | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | 3 Mb |
| WeVideo | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | 256 MB | Any |
| Windows Live Movie Maker | Yes | No | No | 1.6 GHz | 1 GB (2 GB for HD Movies) | ? |
| Windows Movie Maker | Yes | No | No | 1 GHz for best performance | 128 MB | 10 Mb |
| Windows | Mac OS X | Unix | Processor | RAM | HDD |
High definition import
The table below indicates the ability of each program to import various High Definition video formats for editing.| 720p HDV | 1080i HDV | DVCPRO HD | Uncompressed HD | IMX | AVCHD | XDCAM HD | HDV | AVC-Intra | DNxHD | REDCODE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Premiere Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes (third party via codec install) | Yes |
| Adobe Premiere Elements | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes (As of 7.0) | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Avid Media Composer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Avid Xpress Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Avidemux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| AVS Video Editor | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Blender | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Cinelerra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| CyberLink PowerDirector | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Dayang Montage Extreme | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| EDIUS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Elecard AVC HD Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Final Cut Express | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Final Cut Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (third party via codec install) | Yes |
| FORscene | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| iMovie HD | Yes | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Lightworks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LiVES | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| PiTiVi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Kdenlive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Kino GTK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MainActor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Nero Vision Xtra/ Nero Video Premium HD | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Pinnacle Studio | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Serif MoviePlus | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Sony Vegas | Yes | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (as of Pro 9) |
| Ulead MediaStudio Pro | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Ulead VideoStudio Plus | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| VirtualDub | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WeVideo | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Windows Live Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Windows Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| 720p HDV | 1080i HDV | DVCPRO HD | Uncompressed | IMX | AVCHD | XDCAM HD | HDV | AVC-1 | DNxHD | REDCODE |
Feature set
| High Definition support | Non-destructive editing | Full-screen playback | Storyboard mode | Video tracks | Audio tracks / max channels | Linear timecode display | GPGPU with OpenCL acceleration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Premiere Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes, on separate monitor | Yes | 99 | 99 | Yes | No (CUDA on CS5 with few Nvidia card only) |
| Adobe Premiere Elements | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 99 | 99 | Yes | ? |
| Avid Xpress Pro Media Composer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 24 tracks, unlimited layers | 24 tracks, unlimited layers | Yes | ? |
| Avidemux | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | 1 | 2 / ? | ? | ? |
| AVS Video Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 | 1+ | Yes | ? |
| Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | ? |
| Cinelerra | Yes (any resolution) |
Yes | Yes | No | Unlimited | Unlimited / 16 | Yes | ? |
| Corel VideoStudio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6 | 4 | Yes | Yes |
| CyberLink PowerDirector | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100 | 100 | Yes | Yes |
| Dayang Montage Extreme | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 99 per sequence | 99 per sequence | Yes | ? |
| EDIUS | Yes | Yes | Yes, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime | No | unlimited realtime layers | unlimited realtime layers | Yes | ? |
| Elecard AVC HD Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| Final Cut Express | Yes | Yes | Yes, with "external video" | Yes, in the Media Browser | 99 per sequence | 99 / 2 per sequence | No | ? |
| Final Cut Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes, | Yes, in the Media Browser | 99 per sequence | 99 / 24 per sequence | Yes | Yes |
| FORscene | Input only | Yes | Yes (podcasts) | Beta test | 2 | 4 | Yes | ? |
| iMovie HD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 | 2 | Yes | ? |
| PiTiVi | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Unlimited | Unlimited | ? | ? |
| Kdenlive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | ? |
| Kino GTK | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Lightworks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | Planned |
| LiVES | Yes (any resolution) |
Yes (multitrack mode) |
Yes (on first, second or all monitors, configurable) |
No | Unlimited | audio per video track + backing audio / 2 channels | Yes | ? |
| MainActor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 | 3 | Yes | ? |
| Nero Vision Xtra/Nero Video Premium HD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Yes (CUDA) |
| OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | ? |
| Serif MoviePlus | Yes | Yes | Yes, & on separate monitor or TV | Yes, partial | Unlimited | Unlimited | No | ? |
| Sony Vegas Pro | Yes
(any resolution) |
Yes | Yes | No | Unlimited | Unlimited/Max Channel 16 | Yes | Template:Yes(from version 11) |
| Pinnacle Studio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 2 (3 via glitching the system) | 4 | Yes | ? |
| Ulead MediaStudio Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes, on separate monitor | ? | 99 | ? | Yes | ? |
| Ulead VideoStudio Plus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7 | 9 | Yes | ? |
| VirtualDub | ? | Yes | No | No | 1 | 1 | Yes | ? |
| WeVideo | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | Unlimited | No | ? |
| Windows Live Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Windows Movie Maker | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 1 | 2 | Yes | ? |
| HD | Non-destructive | Full-screen | Storyboard | Video tracks | Audio tracks | Timecode display | GPGPU with OpenCL acceleration |
Output options
Please note that recording to Blu-ray does not imply 1080*50p . Most only support up to 1080i 25 frames per second recording. Also not all formats can be output, so for instance Premiere Pro cannot export AVCHD.| DVD | High Definition | Smart phone | Java phone | QuickTime | Windows Media | MPEG-4 | XML/EDL | Print to tape | Web, not hosted | Web, hosted | Podcasting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Premiere Pro | Yes | Yes (Blu-ray) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Adobe Premiere Elements | Yes | Yes (Blu-ray) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Avid Xpress Pro | Yes | Yes (Blu-ray) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Avidemux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| AVS Video Editor | Yes | Yes(Blu-ray) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes[1] | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Cinelerra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| CyberLink PowerDirector | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dayang Montage Extreme | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No |
| EDIUS | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Elecard AVC HD Editor | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes (Part 10) | No | No | No | No | No |
| Final Cut Express | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | Yes | No (as of 2.5) | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Final Cut Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| FORscene | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (MPEG 2) | Yes (MPEG 2) | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iMovie HD | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (3rd party) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (with .Mac) | Yes |
| PiTiVi | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | ? |
| Kdenlive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Kino GTK | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Lightworks | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| LiVES | Yes | Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
| MPEG Video Wizard DVD | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Nero Vision Xtra/Nero Video Premium HD | Yes | Yes (AVCHD, Blu-ray) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Serif MoviePlus | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Sony Vegas | Yes | Yes (Blu-ray) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Pinnacle Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ulead MediaStudio Pro | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Ulead VideoStudio Plus | Yes | Yes | Yes (via plug-in) | Yes (via plug-in) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (with DropShot) | ? |
| Blu-ray Slideshow | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| VirtualDub | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| WeVideo | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Windows Live Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
| Windows Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes (WMV only) | No | No |
| DVD | High Definition | Smart phone | Java phone | QuickTime | Windows Media | MPEG-4 | XML/EDL | Print to tape | Web, not hosted | Web, hosted | Podcasting |
Target market
| Consumer | Prosumer | Professional | High-End Movie Production | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Least expensive Most expensive |
WeVideo Kino Avidemux PiTiVi LiVES Windows Live Movie Maker Pinnacle VideoSpin Adobe Premiere Express iMovie Nero Vision Xtra Nero Video Premium MAGIX Movie Edit Pro Avid Free DV Windows Movie Maker AVS Video Editor MPEG Video Wizard DVD Ulead VideoStudio Elecard AVC HD Editor Pinnacle Studio Sony Vegas Movie Studio |
WeVideo LiVES PiTiVi[2] OpenShot Video Editor CyberLink PowerDirector Final Cut Express(discontinued) Final Cut Pro Adobe Premiere Elements Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum HD Ulead MediaStudio Pro(discontinued) |
WeVideo Cinelerra Blender(VSE) LiVES Kdenlive Dayang Montage Extreme FORscene Grass Valley EDIUS Avid Xpress Pro (discontinued) Final Cut Studio Sony Vegas Pro Adobe Premiere Pro |
Lightworks Avid, Media Composer |
