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For those looking to actually edit video professionally on Linux you can’t really beat the free version of Davinci Resolve. Over the past 5 years it has become

For those looking to actually edit video professionally on Linux you can’t really beat the free version of Davinci Resolve. Over the past 5 years it has become an incredibly competent non-linear editor alongside being the industry standard for color grading. I’ve honestly tried everything under the sun on Linux for video editing and nothing beats it. If you’re looking to stay open source I think blender is starting to become more competent but still a bit of a task getting it setup for doing serious NLE video work.

easytiger 4y ago
I have pretty modest video editing needs and have been using shotcut on linux. I'm aware of Davinci Resolve but had always assumed (for no reason other than few commercial developers do) they wouldn't have a linux version let a lone a free one. Thanks for the tip off!
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
emptysongglass 4y ago
Or you can use Lightworks used to edit Wolf of Wall Street among other Academy features. Also be aware that Resolve does not support integrated graphics (but only on Linux, bizarrely).
- linsomniac 4y ago
  I really liked Lightworks several years ago when I was evaluating all the video editing packages, except for the pricing structure at the time. It was really easy to pick up, and worked great under Linux. My memory was at the time the only pricing option was a subscription model, and I don't do videos very frequently. I knew I'd be annoyed at paying $20/mo for the many months when I wasn't using it. More recently I've seen that they have a "buy outright" option for around $300, which I would have lept at back when I was first looking at it. But I've since moved on to Resolve.
  - Flex247A 4y ago
    Lightworks has a perpetual free licence mode too, provided you have to login every 90 days.
- belthesar 4y ago
  For clarity, this is because Resolve seems to require OpenCL support. I haven't tried it myself, but the beignet package might serve to provide OpenCL support. I had a similar issue when using the OS AMD drivers and using Resolve, which don't come with OpenCL support.
avinassh 4y ago
I have heard about Resolve for color grading, but how good it is when it comes to editing? Is it simple and intuitive enough to make few edits, add titles for YouTube videos?
- brainwipe 4y ago
  Not OP but its editing is also pretty advanced and with some YouTube tutorialling, it can muster some effects you might find in Adobe After Effects. Resolve has replaced Adobe Premiere Pro for me. I'm happy to have saved the subscription fee!
- 120photo 4y ago
  I was a old Final Cut Pro guy (never really got into the new X version). I was able to pickup resolve just fine and they make great improvements each year. If all you are doing is YT videos with titles this may be overkill, maybe Kdenlive.
- linsomniac 4y ago
  I'll echo another comment that a few Youtube videos and off you go. It's pretty easy, I'm a video editing neophyte and thought it was easy to pick up. The thing about Resolve is: You aren't going to outgrow it. It's easy enough for doing simple edits, but if you want to do fancy stuff with it, it can do it. You won't outgrow it. That said, I spent a stupid amount of time with performance issues in Resolve. My cameras output H.264 or something, and I'd have to convert it to ProRes to edit, a process that took huge amounts of space and time. This was under Windows. Even with that, performance was still pretty bad. One kids concert video took me around 40 hours of editing to get an hour of final footage. Prior to that video, my desktop machine did a better job with ProRes, but it got milk spilled on it during the home schooling of 2020. However, and this isn't a solution that everyone can or should do: Resolve on the new Macbook Pro boxes is amazing and will handle anything I throw at it, without having to go through the hoops of converting to ProRes and the like.
  - ByThyGrace 4y ago
    I've not used Resolve but I've tried pretty much all Linux NLEs. Here are some questions arising from my workflow: How about resource file support for non-standard (as in TV/cinema) parameters, such as video framerate, video resolution, video formats? How about integrating these into the timeline, including per-clip pan/zoom? Have you used Vegas Pro (for Windows)? I feel like no Linux NLE is able to replicate the flexibility Vegas Pro allows you in treating each clip as an independent, resizable, transformable asset. Instead, many NLEs enforce an "all clips must keep the same parameters as the project file" rule, where e.g. you can't incorporate a 60FPS file into a 50FPS project.
linsomniac 4y ago
Several years ago I spent several days trying to get Resolve working on Linux and had absolutely no luck. More recently I found a script that would repackage the Resolve installer as a Deb package and that seemed to work pretty slick. https://www.danieltufvesson.com/makeresolvedeb https://www.danieltufvesson.com/makeresolvedeb In my case, the machine I was trying to run it on just wasn't powerful enough.
marcodiego 4y ago
If you're not a professional (beginner, hobbyist or amateur) kdenlive is probably good enough.
skykooler 4y ago
Blender is great for compositing and visual effects, but really falls down on the audio side of video editing.
ageofwant 4y ago
That might be so, but I have been bitten with every single "Free" closed source tool I've ever used when it went away in some way or the other. Unless the free tool is totally unusable or the non-free one 5x more "good", I'd rather use the time to get good at a os tool that will just get better year after year.

easytiger 4y ago

I have pretty modest video editing needs and have been using shotcut on linux. I'm aware of Davinci Resolve but had always assumed (for no reason other than few commercial developers do) they wouldn't have a linux version let a lone a free one. Thanks for the tip off!

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

emptysongglass 4y ago

Or you can use Lightworks used to edit Wolf of Wall Street among other Academy features. Also be aware that Resolve does not support integrated graphics (but only on Linux, bizarrely).

linsomniac 4y ago
I really liked Lightworks several years ago when I was evaluating all the video editing packages, except for the pricing structure at the time. It was really easy to pick up, and worked great under Linux. My memory was at the time the only pricing option was a subscription model, and I don't do videos very frequently. I knew I'd be annoyed at paying $20/mo for the many months when I wasn't using it. More recently I've seen that they have a "buy outright" option for around $300, which I would have lept at back when I was first looking at it. But I've since moved on to Resolve.
- Flex247A 4y ago
  Lightworks has a perpetual free licence mode too, provided you have to login every 90 days.
belthesar 4y ago
For clarity, this is because Resolve seems to require OpenCL support. I haven't tried it myself, but the beignet package might serve to provide OpenCL support. I had a similar issue when using the OS AMD drivers and using Resolve, which don't come with OpenCL support.

avinassh 4y ago

I have heard about Resolve for color grading, but how good it is when it comes to editing? Is it simple and intuitive enough to make few edits, add titles for YouTube videos?

brainwipe 4y ago
Not OP but its editing is also pretty advanced and with some YouTube tutorialling, it can muster some effects you might find in Adobe After Effects. Resolve has replaced Adobe Premiere Pro for me. I'm happy to have saved the subscription fee!
120photo 4y ago
I was a old Final Cut Pro guy (never really got into the new X version). I was able to pickup resolve just fine and they make great improvements each year. If all you are doing is YT videos with titles this may be overkill, maybe Kdenlive.
linsomniac 4y ago
I'll echo another comment that a few Youtube videos and off you go. It's pretty easy, I'm a video editing neophyte and thought it was easy to pick up. The thing about Resolve is: You aren't going to outgrow it. It's easy enough for doing simple edits, but if you want to do fancy stuff with it, it can do it. You won't outgrow it. That said, I spent a stupid amount of time with performance issues in Resolve. My cameras output H.264 or something, and I'd have to convert it to ProRes to edit, a process that took huge amounts of space and time. This was under Windows. Even with that, performance was still pretty bad. One kids concert video took me around 40 hours of editing to get an hour of final footage. Prior to that video, my desktop machine did a better job with ProRes, but it got milk spilled on it during the home schooling of 2020. However, and this isn't a solution that everyone can or should do: Resolve on the new Macbook Pro boxes is amazing and will handle anything I throw at it, without having to go through the hoops of converting to ProRes and the like.
- ByThyGrace 4y ago
  I've not used Resolve but I've tried pretty much all Linux NLEs. Here are some questions arising from my workflow: How about resource file support for non-standard (as in TV/cinema) parameters, such as video framerate, video resolution, video formats? How about integrating these into the timeline, including per-clip pan/zoom? Have you used Vegas Pro (for Windows)? I feel like no Linux NLE is able to replicate the flexibility Vegas Pro allows you in treating each clip as an independent, resizable, transformable asset. Instead, many NLEs enforce an "all clips must keep the same parameters as the project file" rule, where e.g. you can't incorporate a 60FPS file into a 50FPS project.

linsomniac 4y ago

Several years ago I spent several days trying to get Resolve working on Linux and had absolutely no luck. More recently I found a script that would repackage the Resolve installer as a Deb package and that seemed to work pretty slick. https://www.danieltufvesson.com/makeresolvedeb https://www.danieltufvesson.com/makeresolvedeb In my case, the machine I was trying to run it on just wasn't powerful enough.

marcodiego 4y ago

If you're not a professional (beginner, hobbyist or amateur) kdenlive is probably good enough.

skykooler 4y ago

Blender is great for compositing and visual effects, but really falls down on the audio side of video editing.

ageofwant 4y ago

That might be so, but I have been bitten with every single "Free" closed source tool I've ever used when it went away in some way or the other. Unless the free tool is totally unusable or the non-free one 5x more "good", I'd rather use the time to get good at a os tool that will just get better year after year.