How to Edit a YouTube Video with Movavi Video Editor

At a glance

Before you start: the free version's limits

Movavi Video Editor's free version exports only 60 seconds of video, with a Trial watermark (on the Mac version, a watermark and half of any audio export). That's enough to learn the steps below on a short test clip, but not to publish a full YouTube video. Two recent Trustpilot reviewers only found this out after hours of editing, so export a short test first, then decide whether to buy.

One more thing to know before you click Buy: every Movavi plan on the order page comes with a 7-day trial of the separate Movavi Effects subscription, which renews at $49.95 a month unless you cancel or untick it. Effects marked with a crown also add a watermark unless you have that subscription.

Download Movavi Video EditorDownload the Mac version

Step 1: Start a project and add your clips

Movavi Video Editor starts a new project as soon as you open it, so you can go straight to importing. To start another one later, choose File > Create New Project.

1. Click the Import icon on the left sidebar. On the File import tab, click Add Files, pick your recordings, B-roll and music, and click Open. They appear on the Project files tab.
2. Drag the files from Project files onto the Timeline at the bottom of the window, or drag them straight from Windows Explorer.
3. Drag clips left and right on the Timeline to put them in order.
4. Press Ctrl+S (File > Save Project) now and then. Movavi saves projects as .mepj files in the Videos\Movavi Video Editor\Projects folder, and keeps an autosave.mepj you can rename and open after a crash.

If you don't have intro footage, the Sample videos, Backgrounds and Intro videos tabs next to File import have built-in clips you can drag onto the Timeline.

Step 2: Cut out the mistakes

Movavi Video Editor cuts with the Split button, the scissors on the toolbar above the Timeline. To remove a fluffed take from the middle of a clip:

1. Select the clip and move the position marker to the start of the mistake. The Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons on the player (or the ← and → keys) move one frame at a time, and Shift+← and Shift+→ jump half a second.
2. Click Split.
3. Move the marker to the end of the mistake and click Split again.
4. Select the piece in between and press Delete (or the trash can button). The clips after it slide left to close the gap.

To trim only the start or end of a clip, hover over its edge and drag it toward the middle. For lots of quick cuts, Movavi also has a Blade tool.

Step 3: Remove the pauses with Silence removal

Movavi Video Editor's Silence removal cuts the dead air out of a talking-head recording in one click, which is usually the biggest time saver in a YouTube edit.

1. Select the audio clip on the Timeline.
2. Click the Silence removal button on the toolbar.
3. Choose Auto for optimal settings, or Manual to set the Volume threshold, the Duration that counts as silence and a short Delay that smooths the cuts.
4. Pick without gaps (the clips close up) or with gaps, then click Remove Silence.

Movavi Video Editor 27 with Tools > Audio > Silence removal open: the Auto and Manual options, the Remove Silence button and the highlighted Silence removal button on the timeline toolbar, above a clip called My video.mp4.

Use Manual with care: a high volume threshold can also remove quiet speech. If the room hum bothers you more than the pauses, open Tools on the left sidebar, then Audio > Noise removal, choose the Artificial intelligence (AI) method and click Apply. Digital Camera World's George Cairns found that one click "and the background noise disappeared" from his interview audio.

Step 4: Add subtitles automatically

Movavi Video Editor's Auto subtitles writes and syncs captions from your speech, so viewers watching with the sound off can follow along.

1. Select the video clip with sound (or the audio clip) on the Timeline.
2. Click the auto subtitles button on the toolbar.
3. Choose the clip's language and how many subtitle lines to show, and click Generate. The captions appear on the titles track above your video.
4. Fix any wrong words on the Phrases tab (or right in the player), pick a look on the Styles tab with Apply to all, and change position, font, color, background and outline on the Design tab.

Subtitles settings in Movavi Video Editor 27: four generated phrases on the Phrases tab, the first one shown at the bottom of the preview, and orange Auto subtitles clips on the track above the video.

You can also translate the subtitles into English with the Translate into setting, and save them as an SRT file (the Save button at the top right) to upload to YouTube as a separate caption track instead of burning them into the picture.

Step 5: Titles, music and a voiceover

Movavi Video Editor keeps titles, transitions, effects and stickers on the left sidebar: click Text, Transitions, Effects or Elements and drag what you want onto the Timeline (transitions go between two clips). For music, add a track with Add Files the same way as your video and drag it to the audio track.

To record a voiceover:

1. Connect a microphone and place the position marker where the narration should start.
2. Click Import on the left sidebar, then Record Audio on the File import tab.
3. Pick your microphone, set the volume and click Start Recording, then Stop Recording. The recording lands on the Timeline as a green clip.

Worried about copyright claims from built-in music? Movavi says you can use its music on YouTube without restrictions if you mention Movavi in the video's title, description or tags.

Step 6 (optional): Make a vertical Short from the same video

Movavi Video Editor turns a landscape clip into a vertical one with the Crop tool's Auto mode, which tracks the subject and crops to the aspect ratio you choose.

1. Save your finished project, then save a copy under a new name for the Short (File > Save Project As).
2. Trim the copy down to the highlight you want.
3. Click the aspect ratio button on the player panel and choose 9:16 (or click x:y to set your own).
4. Select the clip and click Crop on the toolbar. In Auto mode, choose the aspect ratio and click Apply; in Manual mode, drag the frame yourself.
5. If black bars remain, open Filters, choose Vertical fill under Featured filters and drag it onto the clip to fill the edges with a blur.

Movavi's help covers this for Instagram Stories, which use the same 9:16 shape.

Step 7: Export and upload to YouTube

Movavi Video Editor can upload to YouTube itself, so you don't have to save a file and open YouTube Studio separately.

1. Click Export under the player to open the Export Settings window.
2. Click the Upload icon on the left, choose YouTube (Vimeo, Google Drive and TikTok are there too) and click Sign in. Log in to your Google account in the browser and click Allow.
3. Type a Title and Description, add tags (separated by commas, each starting with #), choose a Category, and set Privacy to Private, Public or Unlisted.
4. Click Browse if you want the file saved somewhere other than the default folder, then click Upload. Movavi saves the video to your computer first, then uploads it.

The Upload section of Movavi Video Editor's Export Settings window: YouTube, Google Drive, Vimeo and TikTok icons, the Upload to YouTube panel and its Sign In button.

Prefer to upload by hand? In Export Settings, choose MP4, name the file, pick a folder and the quality, and click Start. The Advanced button changes resolution and aspect ratio. Unlike YouTube, Instagram can't be posted to directly, so a vertical Short for Instagram has to be saved as MP4 and uploaded from your phone or browser.

Movavi Video Editor

Movavi Video Editor is built around one-click fixes: Silence removal, AI Noise removal and Auto subtitles do in seconds what takes a beginner an hour by hand, and the tools sit where you'd look for them. TechRadar's Steve Paris called the editor "clean, simple, well organised," and said it "gives you access to all the tools you need quickly and efficiently." It isn't a professional editor: color grading, multicam and audio mixing are well behind Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. The yearly plan includes updates; Digital Camera World's 2026 review says the outright purchase "won't be updated," so expect to pay again for a future major version.

Download Free TrialBuy Movavi Video Editor

Movavi Video Editor for Mac

Movavi Video Editor for Mac has the same YouTube toolkit as the Windows version: automatic subtitles, silence removal, auto-tracked cropping for vertical videos, noise removal, plus the version 27 Templates and Blocks, pre-edited segments you fill with your own clips. It's $15 a year cheaper than the Windows plan. It's a separate product, so a Windows license doesn't cover it. The steps above come from Movavi's Windows help; the Mac version uses the same tools, though some menu and keyboard shortcuts follow Mac conventions.

Download Free Trial for MacBuy Movavi for Mac

When you need more: Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is the step up when Movavi starts to feel small. Its Camera Tracking follows a head or body and reframes a wide shot into a vertical one with no hand-made keyframes, multicam editing syncs and switches camera angles for podcasts, and Multi-Source Recording and Game Recording capture your screen, game, camera and mic in one take. Dynamic Captions highlight words as they're spoken. PCMag (July 2026, 4.0 out of 5) liked its "fast rendering speeds" and "clear user experience." The trade-offs: Filmora needs 8 GB of RAM (16 GB for HD and 4K), Trustpilot reviewers report slowdowns on long, complex projects, and its AI tools spend credits that don't refill on the perpetual license.

Download Filmora for WindowsBuy Wondershare FilmoraDownload Filmora for MacBuy Filmora for Mac

What it costs

Movavi or Filmora for YouTube?

Who should skip both: if your channel is long documentary-style videos with color grading and multi-track audio mixing, or you edit with a team, go straight to a professional editor such as DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro. And if you only post the odd 30-second clip, Movavi's free version may never need paying for, as long as you can live with the watermark.

What commonly goes wrong

FAQs

Can Movavi Video Editor upload directly to YouTube?

Yes. Movavi Video Editor uploads to YouTube from the Export Settings window: click Upload, choose YouTube, sign in to your Google account, fill in the title, description, tags, category and privacy, and click Upload. It saves a copy to your computer first.

Is Movavi Video Editor's free version enough for YouTube?

Not for full videos. Movavi Video Editor's free version adds a Trial watermark and exports only 60 seconds of video, so it's for learning the editor and making very short clips. A full YouTube video needs a paid plan.

Will Movavi's built-in music get my video a copyright claim?

Movavi says its built-in music can be used on YouTube without restrictions if you mention Movavi in the video's title, description or tags.

Can I upload Movavi's auto subtitles to YouTube as captions?

Yes. Movavi Video Editor exports auto subtitles as an SRT file (the Save button in the subtitle settings, or right-click the subtitle on the timeline and choose Export), which you can upload to YouTube as a caption track.

Can Movavi Video Editor make YouTube Shorts?

Yes. Movavi Video Editor sets a 9:16 aspect ratio from the player panel, and its Crop tool's Auto mode tracks the subject and crops to that ratio. Save the result as MP4, or use the YouTube upload in Export Settings.

Is Filmora or Movavi better for gaming videos?

Wondershare Filmora is the better fit for gaming. Filmora detects your game window and records it with your mic and webcam, and its multicam and Camera Tracking help with face-cam edits. Movavi Video Editor has screen recording but no dedicated game recording.

Does one Movavi license cover Windows and Mac?

No. Movavi Video Editor and Movavi Video Editor for Mac are sold separately, with their own prices ($69.95 and $54.95 a year). Wondershare's Filmora Basic and Advanced subscriptions are the option that covers both platforms with one plan.

Can I get a refund if Movavi doesn't work for me?

Movavi offers a 14-day money-back guarantee if you have technical or other problems that can't be solved. Some Trustpilot reviewers were refused, so test the free version on your own footage before buying.