Comparison of video editing software

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Comparison of video editing software

This is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.

General information
System requirements
High definition import
Feature set
Output options
Target market
See also
External links

General information

This table gives basic general information about the different editors:

	Developer	Year of first release	Year of latest release	Latest version	List price (USD)	License
Adobe Premiere/Premiere Pro	Adobe Systems	1991	2008	CS4	$799	Proprietary
Adobe Premiere Elements	Adobe Systems	2004	2007	4.0	$100	Proprietary
Avid Free DV	Avid	?	?	1.8	Free (No Longer Available)	Proprietary
Avid Xpress DV	Avid	2000	?	4.8	No longer Available	Proprietary
Avid Xpress Pro Studio HD	Avid	2003	?	5.8	$1695	Proprietary
Avid Liquid	Avid	2003	?	7.2	$999	Proprietary
Avid Media Composer	Avid	1989	2008	3.0	$2495	Proprietary
Avidemux			2008	2.43	Free	GPL
Cinelerra	Heroine Virtual	2002	2008	4.0	Free	GPL
Edius	Canopus / Grass Valley	2002	2008	5.0	$799	Proprietary
Final Cut Express	Apple	2003	2007	4	$199	Proprietary
Final Cut Pro/Studio	Apple	1999	2007	6	$1299	Proprietary
Avid Free DV	CyberLink PowerDirector	2001	2008	7	$69.95, $119.95	Proprietary
FORscene	Forbidden Technologies	2004	?	15 April 2007	from $2/hour	Proprietary
iMovie	Apple	1999	2007	7.1.4	$79 (as part of the iLife suite); free on new Macs	Proprietary
Kdenlive	Open Source Community	2002	2007	0.5	Free	GPL
Kino	Open Source Community	2000	2008	1.3.0	Free	GPL
LiVES	Salsaman	2002	2008	0.9.9.2	Free	GPL
MainActor	MainConcept	2004	2007	5.5	$199 (No longer available)	Proprietary
Media 100	Media 100 (now part of Boris FX)	2006	?	11.6.3	$1495.00	Proprietary
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite	Pinnacle Systems (now part of Avid)	2000	2007	11	$129.99	Proprietary
Pinnacle Studio	Pinnacle Systems	2007	2008	12.1	$129.99	Proprietary
Serif MoviePlus	Serif (Europe) Ltd.	2003	2008	X3 (6.0.1)	$79.99	Proprietary
Sony Vegas	Sony Media Software	?	2007	8.0c	$449.96	Proprietary
Ulead MediaStudio Pro	Ulead Systems (now part of Corel Corporation)	?	?	8.1	$399.99	Proprietary
Ulead VideoStudio Plus	Ulead Systems (now part of Corel Corporation)	2000	2007	11	$99.99	Proprietary
VideoThang TM	VideoThang LLC	2007	2008	2.0.1	Free	Proprietary
VirtualDub	Avery Lee	2000	2008	1.8.6	Free	GPL
VirtualDubMod		2002	2006	1.5.10.2 b2542	Free	GPL
Windows Movie Maker	Microsoft	2000	?	6.0.6000.16386	Bundled with Windows	Proprietary
	Developer	Year of first release	Year of last release	Latest version	List price (USD)	License

System requirements

This table lists the operating systems that different editors can run on without emulation, as well as other system requirements. Note that minimum system requirements are listed; some features (like High Definition support) may be unavailable with these specifications.

	Windows	Mac OS X	nix	Processor	RAM	HDD
Adobe Premiere Pro				1.4 GHz, SSE2 compatible processor	1 GB / 2 GB when editing HD	4 GB
Adobe Premiere Elements				SSE2 compatible processor	512 MB	4.5 GB
Avid Free DV				933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC	1 GB	?
Avid Xpress DV				933 MHz Pentium, 667 MHz PPC	1 GB	20 GB
Avid Xpress Pro HD				Pentium 4, PowerMac G5	1 GB	20 GB
Avid Liquid				Pentium 4 or higher	1 GB	20 GB
Avid Media Composer				Pentium 4 or higher	2 GB	20 GB
Cinelerra				500 MHz	256 MB	?
EDIUS				Pentium 4 3.0 GHz+	1 GB	800 MB
Final Cut Express				500 MHz	384 MB	1 GB
Final Cut Studio				1.25 GHz G4, Intel Core Duo or Xeon	1 GB	4 GB Apps
FORscene				N/A	256 MB	Any
iMovie HD				PPC G4 or faster, Intel based Macs	256 MB	10 GB
LiVES				800 MHz	128 MB	10 GB
Kdenlive				600 MHz	256 MB	1 GB
Kino GTK
MainActor				700 MHz	128 MB	?
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite				1.4 GHz	512 MB	1.7 GB
Pinnacle VideoSpin				1.4 GHz	512 MB	150 MB
Serif MoviePlus				Pentium II or AMD Athlon XP	128 MB	149 MB
Sony Vegas				1.0 GHz	1.0 GB	200 MB
Ulead MediaStudio Pro				800 MHz	256 MB	800 MB
Ulead VideoStudio Plus				Pentium 4 or higher	256 MB	1 GB
Merging Technologies VCube				Pentium 4 or higher	512 MB	800 MB
VideoThang TM				Pentium 4 or higher	512 MB	300 MB
Video Edit Magic / Express				500 MHz or higher	256 MB	200 MB
Windows Movie Maker				1 GHz for best performance	128 MB	2 GB
	Windows	Mac OS X	Unix	Processor	RAM	HDD

"Unix" includes the similar Linux, BSD and Unix-like operating systems.

High definition import

The table below indicates the ability of each program to import various High Definition video formats for editing.

	720p HDV	1080i HDV	DVCPRO HD	Uncompressed HD	IMX	AVCHD	XDCAM HD	HDV	AVC-1	DNxHD	REDCODE
Adobe Premiere Pro					(3rd party)	(3rd party)	?		?	?	?
Adobe Premiere Elements							?	?	?	?	?
Avid Media Composer					?
Avid Xpress DV						?	?	?	?	?	?
Avid Xpress Pro							?	?	?	?	?
Avid Liquid						?	?	?	?	?	?
Cinelerra			?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?
EDIUS Neo
EDIUS										?	?
Final Cut Express							?	?	?	?	?
Final Cut Studio										?
FORscene						?	?	?	?	?	?
iMovie HD			(3rd party)				?	?	?	?	?
LiVES			?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Kdenlive			?		?		?	?	?	?	?
Kino GTK
MainActor	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite						?	?	?	?	?	?
PowerDirector	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Serif MoviePlus						?	?	?	?	?	?
Sony Vegas			(3rd party)				?		?	?	?
Ulead MediaStudio Pro			?			?	?	?	?	?	?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus			?				?	?	?	?	?
Merging Technologies VCube						?	?	?	?	?	?
Video Edit Magic	?	?		?		?	?	?	?	?	?
Windows Movie Maker							?		?	?	?
! 720p HDV	1080i HDV	DVCPRO HD	Uncompressed	IMX	AVCHD	XDCAM HD	HDV	AVC-1	DNxHD	REDCODE

Feature set

	High Definition support	Non-destructive editing	Full-screen playback	Storyboard mode	Video tracks	Audio tracks / max channels	Timecode display
Adobe Premiere Pro			, on separate monitor		99	99
Adobe Premiere Elements					99	99
Avid Xpress DV	?				8 tracks, unlimited layers	8 tracks, unlimited layers
Avid Xpress Pro					24 tracks, unlimited layers	24 tracks, unlimited layers
Blender	(via ffmpeg)				Unlimited	Unlimited / 2
Cinelerra	(any resolution)				Unlimited	Unlimited / 16
EDIUS Neo					unlimited realtime layers	unlimited realtime layers
EDIUS			, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime		unlimited realtime layers	unlimited realtime layers
Final Cut Express				, in the Media Browser	99 per sequence	99 / 2 per sequence
Final Cut Studio				, in the Media Browser	99 per sequence	99 / 24 per sequence
FORscene	Input only		(podcasts)	Beta test	2	4
iMovie HD					1	2
Kdenlive					Unlimited	Unlimited
Kino GTK
LiVES	(any resolution)	(multitrack mode only)			Unlimited	audio per video track + backing audio / 2 channels
MainActor	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Serif MoviePlus			, & on separate monitor or TV	, partial	Unlimited	Unlimited
Sony Vegas	(any resolution)				Unlimited	Unlimited/Max Channel 16
Pinnacle Studio					2	4
Ulead MediaStudio Pro			, on separate monitor	?	99	?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus					7	9
Merging Technologies VCube			, on both PC & TV monitors in realtime		Unlimited Tracks and Layers	Unlimited / 16
Video Edit Magic / Express	?				2 / 1 (Express)	2 / 1 (Express)
Windows Movie Maker					1	1
! HD	Non-destructive	Full-screen	Storyboard	Video tracks	Audio tracks	Timecode display

Output options

	DVD	High Definition	Smart phone	Java phone	QuickTime	Windows Media	MPEG-4	XML/EDL	Print to tape	Web, not hosted	Web, hosted	Podcasting
Adobe Premiere Pro		(Blu-Ray)	?									?
Adobe Premiere Elements		(Blu-Ray)
Avid Xpress DV												?
Avid Xpress Pro		(Blu-Ray)										?
Blender
Cinelerra		?	?	?					?		?	?
EDIUS			?									?
Final Cut Express						(3rd party)		(as of 2.5)			?
Final Cut Studio						(3rd party)					?
FORscene					(MPEG 2)	(MPEG 2)
iMovie HD						(3rd party)					(with .Mac)
Kdenlive												?
Kino GTK
LiVES												?
Serif MoviePlus												?
Sony Vegas		(Blu-Ray)										?
Pinnacle Studio
Ulead MediaStudio Pro												?
Ulead VideoStudio Plus			(via plug-in)	(via plug-in)							(with DropShot)	?
Merging Technologies VCube												?
Video Edit Magic
Windows Movie Maker										(WMV only)
! DVD	High Definition	Smart phone	Java phone	QuickTime	Windows Media	MPEG-4	XML/EDL	Print to tape	Web, not hosted	Web, hosted	Podcasting

Target market

	Consumer	Prosumer	Professional
Least expensive Most expensive	Kino Pinnacle VideoSpin CyberLink PowerDirector Avid Free DV Windows Movie Maker Clesh iLife Ulead VideoStudio Grass Valley EDIUS Neo Sony Vegas Studio iMovie Adobe Premiere Elements Pinnacle Studio	LiVES Kdenlive MainActor Final Cut Express Avid Xpress DV Grass Valley EDIUS	Blender Cinelerra FORscene Ulead MediaStudio Pro Sony Vegas Adobe Premiere Pro Grass Valley EDIUS Final Cut Studio Avid Xpress Pro Merging Technologies VCube Avid Media Composer