How to Choose the Right Video Editor

Looking for an editor that you can use to create, fix, improve or alter your videos? As you may be starting to realize there are a lot of options out there – and video editors come in many different shapes and sizes.

In order to choose the ‘right’ video editor, you should take into account several factors in particular before making a decision:

• Budget

Video editors can differ greatly in terms of cost. Some of the more basic editors are free, but tend to lack features – while on the other end of the spectrum are professional video editors that production studios use that can cost thousands of dollars.

Between both those extremes are a whole lot of editors at various price points and by defining your budget you should be able to narrow down your options effectively.

• User experience

Beginners tend to assume that more expensive editors with more features are ‘better’ – but that isn’t true. As much as they may have more powerful capabilities, such editors are a lot more complicated and beginners will often struggle to use them.

That is why you should take into account the user experience when choosing a video editor, and if you aren’t that experienced should try to find one that is user-friendly. Reading reviews and opinions from users can help, or taking advantage of free trials that may be available is a good option too.

• Input and output formats

One factor that is often overlooked are the input and output video formats that the editor supports. Although most professional-level video editors support a wide range of input and output formats, free or budget editors tend to be more limited – so you will want to take it into account.

Overall you should make sure the editor you select supports the range of formats you’re likely to want to use.

• Editing features

When it comes to editing features, it really boils down to what you’re looking for. Most editors should have basic features that let you cut, trim, and combine videos as well as crop, rotate, adjust the white balance and so on.

On top of that you can look at the types of filters, transitions, effects, and other bells and whistles that are provided. Keep in mind that as much as video editing features are important, having some basic audio tools can make a world of difference as well.

Now that you know what factors to use to select the right video editor, you can use them to evaluate your options. For example you could look at a video maker such as Movavi Video Suite and see how its features, price point, user experience and input and output formats fit your needs.

At the end of the day your goal should be to try to select an editor that provides you with the features that you need, can be used easily, and is within your budget. In short it will be the ‘right’ editor for your specific requirements.