With a redesigned interface and more customization options, Windows 11 has gradually made its way into home computers. What about the Windows 11 video editor? For starters, the default video editor stays the same, without any interface or feature revamp. Though Windows 11 does include a new video editor out of the box: Clipchamp, acquired by Microsoft and run as PWA.
Besides Clipchamp and the built-in Windows 11 Video Editor, there are other nice choices with more features. Newcomers or advanced users, you will find these free Windows 11 video editors come in handy. No matter it's for home videos, YouTube videos, tutorials, mini movies, music videos, slideshows, or vlogs.
VideoProc Vlogger
Best For: Video editing beginners, owners of GoPro, DJI cameras and drones, anyone trying to edit home videos, vlogs, or easily polish videos for YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Supported System: Windows: Microsoft Windows 7 or higher; Mac: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher.
Hardware Requirements: 1GB RAM, 512MB GPU VRAM or higher, 2 GHz Intel® or AMD® processor.
Before VideoProc Vlogger was released, there was a dilemma that free video editors on Windows, such as Kdenlive, OpenShot, and VSDC, are either intimidating for beginners to learn or crash-prone. VideoProc Vlogger is built with utmost stability to take in demanding formats, including 4K HEVC videos from iPhone, GoPro, DSLRs, and mirrorless cameras. With a concise interface, even a total beginner can navigate easily with the built-in speed editor, color editor, motion editor (keyframes), audio editor, and editing tools to trim, split, crop video and use the chroma key (green screen).
To ease the work for beginners, there are a plethora of templates for transitions, video effects, titles, color filters, audio effects, voice changer presets, all can be applied in one-click with real time previewing and adjusting.
Advanced beginners and power users will also find VideoProc Vlogger an interesting program to create cinematic videos. There are unique features to create speed ramping videos by adjusting the curves, imitate camera movements with the motion editor, cut to the music beat more efficiently with beat-detection markers, and composite with blend mode.
Truly free: VideoProc Vloggers support exporting video in custom resolution, 1080p, 4K, horizontal video, square video, and anything you want. It is truly a forever free video editor for Windows 11/10/8/7 and macOS, as there is no watermark or any other restrictions.
Key Features:
- Unlimited number of tracks, no watermark, truly free, 4K smooth
- Templates: VFX, transitions, titles, texts, color filters and LUTs
- Audio editing: effects, EQ presets, voice changer, add background music…
- Green screen, keyframe motion, color grading, picture-in-picture
Click the buttons below to free download VideoProc Vlogger:
Windows 11 Video Editor App
Best For: Novices and beginners looking for the very basic editing features.
Supported System: Windows 11/10.
Hardware Requirements: Not specified by Microsoft.
If you only need very basic editing features, the Default Windows 11 Video Editor app is the go to choice. As it is already included in the Windows OS installation, you can fire it up from the start menu, without all the hassle of downloading and installing the app.
For polishing a single video, Windows 11 Video Editor offers tools to trim, split, and rotate videos. You can also use the filters to touch up the footage, or adjust speed to add a sense of impact. For merging multiple videos and photos into one, Windows 11 Video Editor adopts the Storyboard design. Users can drag and drop footage or pictures into the card to form the storyboard.
Free as it is, Windows 11 Video Editor doesn't support 4K export, with the highest specs being 1920x1080. Another dealbreaker is the lack of cropping features. If that's your main goal, then you will be needing alternative tools to crop a video on Windows computer.
Key Features:
- Storyboard mode to combine multiple videos
- Add 3D effects, text, filters to the video
- Trim, split, rotate video, set video duration
- 6 Themes to unify text, music and filter styles
Clipchamp
Best For: Budding content creators, beginners, small business to create short duration videos.
Supported System: Windows 11(PWA based app), and it also has an online version.
Hardware Requirements: 8 GB of RAM or higher, 64-bit OS and 64-bit version of Chrome or Edge.
Clipchamp was bought by Microsoft on Sep. 7 2021 and was built into the insider release of Windows 11. Since then, many users also consider it as the default Windows 11 video editor, besides the traditional one hidden inside the Photos app.
The most attractive feature is the Start with a Template option. There are themes from various social media and topics, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook ads, marketing, gaming, Halloween, real estate templates, catering to content creators and casual users.
Besides importing video clips from the camera, Clipchamp video editor has nice integration with cloud storage services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. This Windows 11 video editor has a simple user interface, with a barrage of Stock video, images, graphics, transitions and sound effects neatly grouped on the side bar. You can apply simple edits to footage on the timeline, using features to adjust the layout, filters, colors, or transform the video clips to the desired shape, length, and aspect ratio.
Free account users are allowed to export video up to 1080p for free, there will be a watermark if the video contains premium stock contents.
Note:
Clipchamp runs as a PWA (Progressive Web App) on Windows 11, which is slightly different from other desktop-based software. Yet we still exclude it from the online video editors list below, as PWA is not exactly the same as online video editors.
Key Features:
- Themed editing templates for social media videos, holiday videos, and other topics
- Trendy transitions such as glitch reveal, cross fade and spin
- Large graphic library with GIPHY integration to add memes and GIFs to video
HitFilm Express (HitFilm Free)
Best For: Visual effects enthusiasts, avid hobbyists with an interest to create home-made Hollywood-style movies.
Supported System: Windows: Microsoft Windows 10/11 (64-bit); macOS 10.14 Mojave or higher (64-bit).
Hardware Requirements: RAM 8GB (16GB Recommended), 2GB video memory, 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 AMD Ryzen 5 or newer; 1.2 GB free hard disk space for installation.
HitFilm by Artlist offers free and paid versions, namely HitFilm Free (previously HitFilm Express), HitFilm Creator, HitFilm Pro. Since our roundup here are best free Windows 11 video editors, the reviews focus on the free version, with occasional comparisons when needed.
Besides its aspiration to help users create block-bluster movies – as its name suggests – this free video editor also aim to enhance videos for content creators. Comparing to beginner-level software, HitFilm is more of a complete video editing suite with essential tools and professional ones. Besides split, trim, crop and rotate tools, there are slip-an-slide tools for precise timing involved in professional editing.
HitFilm is programmed with nice support for 360-degree video and 2D and 3D composition tools. It also support importing 3D models without installing plug-ins. The only dealbreaker is, the Free and Creator version will place watermarks on 3D objects videos. For VFX enthusiasts, there are true to life particle effects, such as lightening, gunfire, blood and more.
Designed as the editor-compositor combo, HitFilm is baked with compositing tools for chroma keying, motion blur, masking, and bonus motion graphics feature. There are rich templates for text, transitions, colors, and stock library for music, sound FX and stock clips. The free version has 127 VFX presets.
Targeting an advanced user-base, it rings true that using HitFilm video editor requires steep learning curve. Thankfully, Fxhome maintained an active Discord and online Forum for fellow creators to seek help.
Key Features:
- Advanced video editing suite with professional tools
- Support 3D text, 360-degree video, and 32bit color
- Ability to import 3D objects, add particles and create compositions
- Parameters for motion graphics such as gravity, throw, acceleration
Adobe Premiere Rush
Best For: Content creators or beginners willing to grow with Adobe system.
Supported System: Windows: Microsoft Windows 10 with 64-bit support (Version 1903 or later), Windows 11 (Premiere Rush v1.5.62 or later); Mac: macOS X v10.14 or later; iOS 12 or later, Android 9.0 or later.
Hardware Requirements: 8 GB of RAM, 8 GB of available hard-disk space for installation.
Initially released in 2018, Adobe Premiere Rush as a cross-platform editing software has quickly grown into a productive tool for quick editing, as its name suggests. Version v1.5.62 or later supports Windows 11, as long as the NVidia driver is updated to version 472.12 or higher.
This Windows 11 video editor from Adobe targets at the social media crowd, with a simple layout that was less intimidating than the busy interface of Premiere Pro, and ready-to-use templates to up your games easily. You can enjoy some deep toolset that are available on Premiere Pro.
The best thing about titles is the motion graphics integration. Just as Premiere Pro, there is a motion graphic panel in Premiere Rush, with support to import mogrts templates from online resources. It's easy to add animated titles and customize it to your style.
Auto Reframe is a unique feature that other Windows 11 video editors seldom support. Inherited from Premiere Pro, Auto Reframe makes it easy for content creators to change video aspect ratio while keeping the main action in the center. It is time-saving because you don't need to motion track videos and add keyframes manually to change horizontal videos to vertical ones. 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 square videos, 4:5 Facebook videos, every shape you want can be easily cut now.
Color editing in this Windows 11 video editor caters to both the uninitiated and skilled hands. There are quick presets and filters to use in a click, and fine-tune tools. You can adjust exposure, contrast, hue as such following the processing method.
Key Features:
- Cross-platform for a seamless editing experience on the go
- Stock library of royalty-free sound effects and loops (1000s)
- Support auto-reframe, motion graphics, and custom speed adjustments
- The Premiere Rush Starter plan is free to use, with unlimited exports
DaVinci Resolve Video Editor
Best For: Users willing to invest time and effort to learn professional video editing software, or even make a living by video editing and color correction.
Supported System: Windows: Windows 10 Creators Update; Mac: macOS 10.15 Catalina or higher.
Hardware Requirements: 16 GB of system memory (32 GB when using Fusion) , 2GB VRAM or higher.
Beginners or advanced users, if you have decided to invest 3 to 6 month to learn the basics of video editing, and be more specialized in one or some aspects such as sound design, color grading, VFX, then DaVinci Resolve comes as a nice choice to grow with.
Starting off as dedicate color grading software, DaVinci Resolve has grown into a fully-fledged video editing suite that rivals industry-leading Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, while being the only free Windows 11 video editor among them.
To accommodate different editing stages, DaVinci Resolve supports custom workspaces – known as pages – for video editing, VFX, motion graphics, color correction and audio editing. Audio post-post production can be accessed on the Fairlight page, and VFX & motion graphics on the Fusion page.
For a simple workflow, you can assemble and trim video clips on the timeline, add text and titles, use transitions from stock library, and add DaVinci Resolve effects via OpenFX or third-party plugins.
There are sophisticated color correction tools, including color wheels, curves, HSL qualifiers to adjust color for technical and aesthetic concerns. Color match and custom LUTS are other aspects are ease the life of the creator.
Key Features:
- Support up to 2000 tracks for editing with realtime FX
- Text+ features with 2D to 3D scenes, lighting, and particle effects
- Neural engine powered to support magic mask, smart reframing, facial recognition…
- Support multi-cam editing with a standalone interface
Clipify
Best For: Beginners trying to create home videos quickly on Windows 11.
Supported System: Windows 11/10/8/7.
Hardware Requirements: 2 GB RAM or higher; At least 500 MB hard disk space; 1 GHz or faster (Intel, AMD).
Key Features:
The archaic user interface of Clipify is reminiscent of the obsolete Windows Movie Maker, but the features outshine the abandoned video editor. As a lightweight Windows 11 video editor, Clipify offers the novices a quick and fast editing experience, the automatic video creation as it claims.
It has a built-in Video Wizard for beginners to create videos from start to the end, with templates to create video greeting cards and themed videos. Weddings, X-mas, holidays, birthday party videos, all the important moments can be turned into home videos easily.
For video enhancement, Clipify can fix shaky footage with auto-stabilization feature, remove black bars from the video, and recolor video. Aesthetically, there are 150+ color filters to change the overall look, with color themes for retro videos and black & white videos for the vintage vibe. You can even recreate the color scheme of popular films.
To spice up the content, there are 200 royalty-free tracks, grouping by genre, tempo and mood for a quick selection. Moreover, Clipify allows you to add stickers and clip arts on top of the video. The final output can be delivered as MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI in HD quality for social media such as Facebook and YouTube.
Key Features:
- Free music library, color filters, and transitions to use
- Option to add stickers, cliparts, title cards for cinematic videos
- Support webcam capture to create Picture in Picture videos
- Designed to be an automatic video editor for quick editing
FAQs
Does Windows 11 have a video editor?
Yes, there is a default video editor in Windows 11. It can be accessed as the hidden video editor inside the photos app, or from the Start Menu directly with the name Video Editor. This app itself is no difference from the default video editor on Windows 10. Apart from that, Windows 11 includes a new video editor, Clipchamp in the form of PWA (Progressive Web App).
Is Windows video editor still available?
By Windows video editor, if you are referring to the good old Windows Movie Maker, it is not included in the Window 11 update, nor does it survive the Windows 10 update. However, you can still download Windows Movie Maker installer that was archived online.
