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One of the things the Linux desktop sorely needs is a good video editor. I’ve heard of kdenlive before but never tried it. How is it (both for experienced users

One of the things the Linux desktop sorely needs is a good video editor. I’ve heard of kdenlive before but never tried it. How is it (both for experienced users doing complex editing and for newbies just wanting to trim some footage)? I’ve also seen that black magic’s editor is available for Linux, but it is an enormous package...

scoutt 8y ago
I tried to used Kdenlive to make some very simple videos (a couple of fade-in, fade-out, some overlays here and there). Even with the latest versions (and me being a very patient person) it suffered from stability problems: random crashes, file saving problems, file corruption, horrible preview mode. I don't know on Linux, but for Windows I also had to search around and manually install some codecs because otherwise it wouldn't render to a given format (I believe it was mp4). Then I've found OpenShot, that was enough for my requirements (https://www.openshot.org/ https://www.openshot.org/). It has a Linux version. Source code here: https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt
- camtarn 8y ago
  Amusingly, I had exactly the opposite experience on Windows - OpenShot crashed constantly, and Kdenlive was completely solid. I wonder whether we had different system setups, or were just using different builds?
  - tofflos 8y ago
    I had the same experience running OpenShot on Windows and could barely get it to run for five minutes straight without crashing on very basic video editing. :(
wired-voyager 8y ago
I probably fit under the 'newbie just wanting to trim some footage' category. I had to put a presentation together using Kdenlive. Nothing special or fancy, just put together a bunch of 'day-out' clips into something nice. Not once did I have to resort to Google or documentation for help -- it was all fairly intuitive. I want to reiterate that I wasn't doing anything fancy, just trimming bits and pieces off clips here and there.
schrijver 8y ago
I‘ve used it a few years ago to edit a video* and it was great. It uses the same UI paradigm as most non-linear video editing software, a timeline with tracks on which you can place, drag and trim clips. I used Final Cut Pro 7 before and had no problems to get up to speed. It was also stable. The only reason I don‘t use it at the moment is because I‘m on OS X for now. * https://vimeo.com/107907361 https://vimeo.com/107907361
nkkollaw 8y ago
It's the only non-commercial, non-toy video editor for Linux. I'm actually not aware of another one that uses proxy files on Linux, and with even cell phones shooting at 4K any video editor that doesn't is unusable in most cases. DaVinci Resolve is also extremely good (probably even better than Kdenlive), but it's a commercial software although they do have a free unlimited version.
- cjjl 8y ago
  > I'm actually not aware of another one that uses proxy files on Linux.. FYI, Blender can user proxy files, although I don't think there is an option to automatically create the proxies when you add a video clip.
- mseidl 8y ago
  probably even better than Kdenlive >>> They aren't in the same league. Resolve is used in Hollywood productions. The license is cheap, 300$, If you wanted to buy it, the free version works great. The big hardware console for Resolve is 30k.
mikekchar 8y ago
I've used Kdenlive pretty extensively (as a hobbyist). It has an impressive collections of features. Different releases tend to vary greatly in terms of stability. I've had it eat my project (and even corrupt save files). Back up frequently if you use it. The last time I used it, it was pretty stable, so possibly they are improving in that area. My biggest complaint is that the workflow is tedious. There are absolutely not enough keyboard short cuts. If you apply the same transformations over and over again with slight changes, you're going to be hugging that mouse pretty tightly. My next biggest gripe is that the sound editing was really flaky when I was using it. I eventually gave up and did all my sound editing in Audacity. I often liked to do transformations with sound and video at the same time and it was really hit or miss if you could preview it, or if it would bug out, or if it might crash things. The thing is, I really want to like Kdenlive because it is really close to being able to do what I want, but I just felt that every step of the way I had to be very creative just to figure out a workflow that would work well. I eventually moved to the video editor in Blender which has a lot fewer features, but the workflow is really exceptional. I figured that what time I saved struggling with Kdenlive I could spend using other tools for features that aren't in Blender. I don't do any video editing any more (I decided video isn't really a medium that I enjoy being expressive in), so take my comments with a grain of salt.
- ktpsns 8y ago
  > Different releases tend to vary greatly in terms of stability. Second that. Had great and worse times with Kdenlive. My general feeling: KDE software tends to be more unstable (i.e. crash or freeze more frequently) then GNOME software. But they have in general more features. Just compare the KDE office suite, Calligra, against OpenOffice (which is however not related to GNOME). It is amazing at what speed KDE software moves, in general.
  - dotancohen 8y ago
    What features does Calligra have that are lacking in LibreOffice? LibreOffice's word processor is actually one of the most feature-rich Linux software that I can think of. The presentation and spreadsheet do need some work, though.
phosphophyllite 8y ago
Linux desktop needs consistency and freedom (yes, open source desktop needs freedom). Freedom of updating and installing newer versions of software without waiting for maintainer/distro half of year to build new package (outdated next week because it's STABLE package). This is main problem of any linux desktop initiative - linux users get newer gimp after windows users. Hope snaps/flatpack/appimage solve this problem in future (snap versions of apps look ugly now).
- jcastro 8y ago
  The flatpak on flathub is 18.12.2, which appears to be the latest version.
- beojan 8y ago
  > Freedom of updating and installing newer versions of software without waiting for maintainer Then use Arch, or some other rolling release distro. > Hope snaps/flatpack/appimage solve this problem in future These are terrible solutions, not least due to the theming issue. Rolling release is the real solution.
  - phosphophyllite 8y ago
    MacOS model is real solution. Like really. Windows + chocolatey or macos + brew (cask) is better than any repository with dependencies on linux. Also, do not want Arch or any <distro-name> - I just want LINUX (or Desktop Linux). One predictable system, instead of many kinds/variants of basically the same programs - one system to hate, one system to deal with. (Arch wiki is good though)
    - bibyte 8y ago
      > Also, do not want Arch or any <distro-name> - I just want LINUX (or Desktop Linux). What do you mean ? How can you have Linux without using a distro ? Are you saying there should be one official distro instead of many ?
      - 8y ago
darkpuma 8y ago
I prefer blender as an NLE (in fact I know jack shit about 3d modeling, so blender is just a video editor to me.)
- snazz 8y ago
  So do I. You’ll need the manual or some YouTube videos, since it isn’t the traditional UI paradigm, but if you take the time to learn Blender you’ll find that it is a very capable video editor.
  - IshKebab 8y ago
    It doesn't even let you do frame rate conversion though.
    - snazz 8y ago
      I haven’t needed to do this (it’s an ffmpeg task IMO), but apparently it is possible: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14999/how-to-change-the-frame-rate-of-video https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14999/how-to-cha...
      - darkpuma 8y ago
        To my knowledge it doesn't let you go in the other direction with motion interpolation though. Maybe there is a way to get blender to run a video through ffmpeg's minterpolate filter, but I haven't looked into that.
        darkpuma 8y ago
        late edit: if any Blender developers are by chance reading this, my greatest gripe with Blender is that it doesn't use ffmpeg for encoding, making it infeasible to leverage ffmpeg's many desirable features and supported output codecs and formats (at least not without the inefficiency of going through a lossless format. ick!)
      - 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
maeln 8y ago
I use it a bit for small things and more in-depth for a 30 minutes montage. For a free (as in free beer) software, it is really good. It support a wide variety of feature that can be extended through plug-ins, has a decent UX (even though some stuff required me to look in the documentation) and has a decent documentation (although some of it is outdated). Overall, if you are looking for a free video editor, my experience is that KDenLive is the best you will get (as of 2019). It has some obvious drawback (last time I used it, it was crashing fairly frequently, but a lot has been fixed), but if you are looking to do some amateur/semi-pro video-editing, KDenLive should do it for you.
boudin 8y ago
When I had the need for a video editor a few years ago, i was quite happy with OpenShot. I have nod idea how it evolved though, but back then I found it was the best balance between being easy/efficient and not crashing with the hours and hours of raw videos I had.
CyberDildonics 8y ago
Linux has a GREAT video editor, though it is not open source. Davinci Resolve is fantastic and my favorite video editor over Premiere, Vegas, Kdenlive etc. by a large margin.
mtzaldo 8y ago
Davinci Resolve is your answer
imsesaok 8y ago
I have a 5 years of experience in tinkering with After Effects (which doesn't mean that much but I can get around doing stuff) I tackled various realm of creative production, namely motion graphics and electronic music. This all started when I was using Windows and pirated program of famous tools like AE, but I was able to get around in Linux with FOSS tools. I use LMMS like a pro. I even used GIMP on Windows. This was NOT the case with video production. I was making a simple lyrics video on kdenlive, but I had to scrap the project because every time I tried to add a little bit of effect, it was half-baked or simply impossible. I cannot change size of the video without having a major headache on anchor points. I cannot "crop" a content right on kdenlive. The problem? Kdenlive is actually the most feature-rich video editor I ever tried on Linux. If you only do light editing it may work for you, but ONLY light editing. You can't have custom stuff going on as video creation tool is basically not there. I also use it as a subtitle tool... which basically sums up what your expectation should be.

scoutt 8y ago

I tried to used Kdenlive to make some very simple videos (a couple of fade-in, fade-out, some overlays here and there). Even with the latest versions (and me being a very patient person) it suffered from stability problems: random crashes, file saving problems, file corruption, horrible preview mode. I don't know on Linux, but for Windows I also had to search around and manually install some codecs because otherwise it wouldn't render to a given format (I believe it was mp4). Then I've found OpenShot, that was enough for my requirements (https://www.openshot.org/ https://www.openshot.org/). It has a Linux version. Source code here: https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt

camtarn 8y ago
Amusingly, I had exactly the opposite experience on Windows - OpenShot crashed constantly, and Kdenlive was completely solid. I wonder whether we had different system setups, or were just using different builds?
- tofflos 8y ago
  I had the same experience running OpenShot on Windows and could barely get it to run for five minutes straight without crashing on very basic video editing. :(

wired-voyager 8y ago

I probably fit under the 'newbie just wanting to trim some footage' category. I had to put a presentation together using Kdenlive. Nothing special or fancy, just put together a bunch of 'day-out' clips into something nice. Not once did I have to resort to Google or documentation for help -- it was all fairly intuitive. I want to reiterate that I wasn't doing anything fancy, just trimming bits and pieces off clips here and there.

schrijver 8y ago

I‘ve used it a few years ago to edit a video* and it was great. It uses the same UI paradigm as most non-linear video editing software, a timeline with tracks on which you can place, drag and trim clips. I used Final Cut Pro 7 before and had no problems to get up to speed. It was also stable. The only reason I don‘t use it at the moment is because I‘m on OS X for now. * https://vimeo.com/107907361 https://vimeo.com/107907361

nkkollaw 8y ago

It's the only non-commercial, non-toy video editor for Linux. I'm actually not aware of another one that uses proxy files on Linux, and with even cell phones shooting at 4K any video editor that doesn't is unusable in most cases. DaVinci Resolve is also extremely good (probably even better than Kdenlive), but it's a commercial software although they do have a free unlimited version.

cjjl 8y ago
> I'm actually not aware of another one that uses proxy files on Linux.. FYI, Blender can user proxy files, although I don't think there is an option to automatically create the proxies when you add a video clip.
mseidl 8y ago
probably even better than Kdenlive >>> They aren't in the same league. Resolve is used in Hollywood productions. The license is cheap, 300$, If you wanted to buy it, the free version works great. The big hardware console for Resolve is 30k.

mikekchar 8y ago

I've used Kdenlive pretty extensively (as a hobbyist). It has an impressive collections of features. Different releases tend to vary greatly in terms of stability. I've had it eat my project (and even corrupt save files). Back up frequently if you use it. The last time I used it, it was pretty stable, so possibly they are improving in that area. My biggest complaint is that the workflow is tedious. There are absolutely not enough keyboard short cuts. If you apply the same transformations over and over again with slight changes, you're going to be hugging that mouse pretty tightly. My next biggest gripe is that the sound editing was really flaky when I was using it. I eventually gave up and did all my sound editing in Audacity. I often liked to do transformations with sound and video at the same time and it was really hit or miss if you could preview it, or if it would bug out, or if it might crash things. The thing is, I really want to like Kdenlive because it is really close to being able to do what I want, but I just felt that every step of the way I had to be very creative just to figure out a workflow that would work well. I eventually moved to the video editor in Blender which has a lot fewer features, but the workflow is really exceptional. I figured that what time I saved struggling with Kdenlive I could spend using other tools for features that aren't in Blender. I don't do any video editing any more (I decided video isn't really a medium that I enjoy being expressive in), so take my comments with a grain of salt.

ktpsns 8y ago
> Different releases tend to vary greatly in terms of stability. Second that. Had great and worse times with Kdenlive. My general feeling: KDE software tends to be more unstable (i.e. crash or freeze more frequently) then GNOME software. But they have in general more features. Just compare the KDE office suite, Calligra, against OpenOffice (which is however not related to GNOME). It is amazing at what speed KDE software moves, in general.
- dotancohen 8y ago
  What features does Calligra have that are lacking in LibreOffice? LibreOffice's word processor is actually one of the most feature-rich Linux software that I can think of. The presentation and spreadsheet do need some work, though.

phosphophyllite 8y ago

Linux desktop needs consistency and freedom (yes, open source desktop needs freedom). Freedom of updating and installing newer versions of software without waiting for maintainer/distro half of year to build new package (outdated next week because it's STABLE package). This is main problem of any linux desktop initiative - linux users get newer gimp after windows users. Hope snaps/flatpack/appimage solve this problem in future (snap versions of apps look ugly now).

jcastro 8y ago
The flatpak on flathub is 18.12.2, which appears to be the latest version.
beojan 8y ago
> Freedom of updating and installing newer versions of software without waiting for maintainer Then use Arch, or some other rolling release distro. > Hope snaps/flatpack/appimage solve this problem in future These are terrible solutions, not least due to the theming issue. Rolling release is the real solution.
- phosphophyllite 8y ago
  MacOS model is real solution. Like really. Windows + chocolatey or macos + brew (cask) is better than any repository with dependencies on linux. Also, do not want Arch or any <distro-name> - I just want LINUX (or Desktop Linux). One predictable system, instead of many kinds/variants of basically the same programs - one system to hate, one system to deal with. (Arch wiki is good though)
  - bibyte 8y ago
    > Also, do not want Arch or any <distro-name> - I just want LINUX (or Desktop Linux). What do you mean ? How can you have Linux without using a distro ? Are you saying there should be one official distro instead of many ?
    - 8y ago

darkpuma 8y ago

I prefer blender as an NLE (in fact I know jack shit about 3d modeling, so blender is just a video editor to me.)

snazz 8y ago
So do I. You’ll need the manual or some YouTube videos, since it isn’t the traditional UI paradigm, but if you take the time to learn Blender you’ll find that it is a very capable video editor.
- IshKebab 8y ago
  It doesn't even let you do frame rate conversion though.
  - snazz 8y ago
    I haven’t needed to do this (it’s an ffmpeg task IMO), but apparently it is possible: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14999/how-to-change-the-frame-rate-of-video https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14999/how-to-cha...
    - darkpuma 8y ago
      To my knowledge it doesn't let you go in the other direction with motion interpolation though. Maybe there is a way to get blender to run a video through ffmpeg's minterpolate filter, but I haven't looked into that.
      - darkpuma 8y ago
        late edit: if any Blender developers are by chance reading this, my greatest gripe with Blender is that it doesn't use ffmpeg for encoding, making it infeasible to leverage ffmpeg's many desirable features and supported output codecs and formats (at least not without the inefficiency of going through a lossless format. ick!)
    - 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

maeln 8y ago

I use it a bit for small things and more in-depth for a 30 minutes montage. For a free (as in free beer) software, it is really good. It support a wide variety of feature that can be extended through plug-ins, has a decent UX (even though some stuff required me to look in the documentation) and has a decent documentation (although some of it is outdated). Overall, if you are looking for a free video editor, my experience is that KDenLive is the best you will get (as of 2019). It has some obvious drawback (last time I used it, it was crashing fairly frequently, but a lot has been fixed), but if you are looking to do some amateur/semi-pro video-editing, KDenLive should do it for you.

boudin 8y ago

When I had the need for a video editor a few years ago, i was quite happy with OpenShot. I have nod idea how it evolved though, but back then I found it was the best balance between being easy/efficient and not crashing with the hours and hours of raw videos I had.

CyberDildonics 8y ago

Linux has a GREAT video editor, though it is not open source. Davinci Resolve is fantastic and my favorite video editor over Premiere, Vegas, Kdenlive etc. by a large margin.

mtzaldo 8y ago

Davinci Resolve is your answer

imsesaok 8y ago

I have a 5 years of experience in tinkering with After Effects (which doesn't mean that much but I can get around doing stuff) I tackled various realm of creative production, namely motion graphics and electronic music. This all started when I was using Windows and pirated program of famous tools like AE, but I was able to get around in Linux with FOSS tools. I use LMMS like a pro. I even used GIMP on Windows. This was NOT the case with video production. I was making a simple lyrics video on kdenlive, but I had to scrap the project because every time I tried to add a little bit of effect, it was half-baked or simply impossible. I cannot change size of the video without having a major headache on anchor points. I cannot "crop" a content right on kdenlive. The problem? Kdenlive is actually the most feature-rich video editor I ever tried on Linux. If you only do light editing it may work for you, but ONLY light editing. You can't have custom stuff going on as video creation tool is basically not there. I also use it as a subtitle tool... which basically sums up what your expectation should be.