Best Linux Video Editing Software 2016

Ubuntu, and Linux in general, is not known as the go-to platform for multimedia production. Instead, Apple Mac systems are probably the most popular system for graphic designers, video editors, and music production specialists, with Windows PC’s coming a close second. But here are a few Linux video editing software review.

Why is this? Marketing aside, Ubuntu (or any Linux distribution) makes perfect sense. It is cheap (most distributions are free of charge with free community support), it is stable (Ubuntu is rock-solid), and it is secure. (An article on The Register shows that only poorly-secured Linux servers run by incompetent admins are vulnerable to the “Linux.Lady1” trojan, while the more famous “Hand of Thief” requires user interaction before it can infect a Linux system.)
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So, a good case for using Ubuntu, yet the market penetration it and all Linux distributions remains low. Again, why?
The easiest answer is perhaps the lack of commercial applications for desktop Linux, even for a popular distribution like Ubuntu. There is no shortage of quality desktop apps like LibreOffice, Firefox, and even GIMP and VLC – even Minecraft runs perfectly well with OpenJDK Java – but when it comes to multimedia creation, Linux desktop distributions still left behind.

With no Photoshop, After Effects, Ableton Live, or Premiere Pro for Linux, we have to turn to other alternatives. For image editing, GIMP and Inkscape have Linux pretty well covered, while Bitwig and Ardour meet most Linux audio editing needs.

​Video editing, on the other hand, is a more complex task, and the options are fewer and not as mature.
Thus, here follows my review of a few readily available Linux video editing software (I tested them on an up-to-date Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit system.) This list is not in order from best to worse or vice-verca. As I completed the test for one Linux video editor, I wrote it down and ranked it based on my experiences.

​Best Linux Video Editing Software

​OpenShot

The most promising or also often called best Linux video editor of all, OpenShot has a long history of development and should be mature and stable. I downloaded the latest Openshot from its PPA, since the one in the main Ubuntu repositories is, rather perplexingly, a very old and outdated version.

Once OpenShot is opened, it appears very easy to use. The default layout is simple and intuitive, and there are even hints that pop up the first time you use it! I drag-and-dropped a few videos I had taken in preparation for this post, and boy, was I disappointed with this so called best Linux video editing software.

​Far from the “it just works” dream, this program just does not work. I have a relatively fast i7 laptop with plenty of RAM, but OpenShot slowed my entire system to a crawl as soon as I started to edit some video. Firefox became unresponsive and OpenShot crashed, or at least appeared to do so, since a crash report window opened but OpenShot did not close.

Verdict: OpenShot opens just fine, and looks good, but it is completely unable to effectively edit any video.
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Score: 1/10

Pitivi

Pitivi has been around for a few years too. This Linux video editor is a GNOME application and is designed to fit into the GNOME desktop, but works just fine under Unity. (I assume it will work just fine in KDE or XFCE too.) Installing it requires the use of Flatpak, but they give rather easy-to-use instructions on the Pitivi website, and I had no problems at all.

Drag-and-drop seems to be well supported, and it first transcodes videos before they can be used, which takes a few minutes or seconds, depending on the size of each, but it appears the videos can still be used during this process.

The layout of the Pitivi window is simple. Moving clips around is easy, and most basic functions are done without hassle. The only thing that is a bit difficult is creating a new layer, but I figured it out in less than 2 minutes.
Adding and removing effects is done in a way I’ve not encountered before, and it isn’t very intuitive, but the transitions are a dream to use. Titles are also done in a way I’ve never seen before, but they are also very easy to use.

There aren’t really any advanced features, but for simple home videos, Pitivi is great!
Verdict: Mostly stable, good-looking, with many built-in effects, but is lacking advanced features.

Score: 7/10

LiVES

LiVES is supposed to be mature, feature-rich and ready for more professional use-cases and even video jockeying. Both the website and the Wikipedia pages seem promising.

​However, although I was able to install and open it just fine, it refused to resize properly and did not import a single video. (If there is a “proper” way to import video’s, apart from the way the program makes it possible for users, then I was unable to find it.)

Verdict: Does not import videos to edit.

Score: 0/10

ShotCut

I downloaded Shotcut from its website, following the instructions, but I could not get it to work or open.

​Score: 0/10

Kino

This Linux video editing software is an interesting one. Kino is not your typical iMovie-style non-linear video editor. It appears to have been created in order to primarily cut a single video, or maybe a couple videos, to make a home video.

It works pretty well, but it requires one to use only standard NTSC or PAL formats, with their respective framerates and video sizes. All in all, it is stable and easy to use, but very limited.

Verdict: Nice to use, but severely lacking useful features.

Score: 4/10​

Kdenlive

The ubiquitous Kdenlive strikes again. It has been around for years, and is used by many people. I tried to use it a few months ago, but it was completely unusable. It often didn’t start, and when it did, it crashed and refused to export properly. However, for this article, I installed the latest version from the Kdenlive PPA and tried it out.

Things have changed. Oh my, how things have changed.

Read More - ​Kdenlive Easy To Use Video Editor Review

It is much more stable, and appears to be able to handle almost anything I throw at it. Videos are imported instantly via drag-and-drop, effects work well and simply, and larger files no longer crash my computer.

The layout of the main window is rather simple, but things don’t seem to scale well and overlap at medium and small sizes. You will probably need a big screen if you want to use it effectively.

For most cases, however, it seems to “just work”. There are a lot of options and many advanced features.

The only criticism I might have for Kdenlive is that it looks like an open source program. It isn’t the most user-friendly application to work with, and appears to have been programmed by someone who knows what they are doing, but expects you to also know what they are doing. It isn’t the most polished experience, and some things seem to be a bit obtuse to do.

It also isn’t smooth. At all. Playback during editing judders, and anything more than one track at a time really slows everything down – a whole lot.

But the most important thing, perhaps, is that it works, and seems to work well. I haven’t done too much heavy-duty film editing and compositing, but throwing a home movie of one of my cats together was rather simple.

Verdict: Much more stable, with advanced features. UX and stability could both use work, however.

Score: 7/10

Summary

So, there you have it. If you just want to throw a small home video of your cat together, I suggest you use Pitivi, and if you really want to go at it, try Kdenlive. Either way, you should be just fine.

But, to answer the real question, which is, “Which is the best video editor on Ubuntu?”, I would probably have to say Kdenlive, overall. Pitivi is great Linux video editor – really great – but Kdenlive is a little bit better. It has great features, and its stability is increasing with every release.

Verdict: Try Kdenlive!

​If you think that I missed something then please let me know in the comment section below. Also if you like this article, don't forget to share it with your friends on your social media pages.