Best Video Editing Software for YouTube (Windows and Mac)

At a glance: the YouTube checklist

What makes the best video editing software for YouTube

A YouTube editor is judged by different things than a home movie editor. Fancy transitions matter far less than how fast you can turn a 20-minute recording into a clean, captioned upload every week. These are the features that save the most time:

• Silence and mistake removal. Talking-head and tutorial footage is mostly pauses and retakes. A tool that finds the silent parts for you saves more time than any effect.
• Automatic captions. Many viewers watch on mute, and captions you can edit and export as an SRT file help both viewers and search.
• A vertical version for Shorts. Reframing a 16:9 video to 9:16 by hand means keyframing a crop. Auto reframe tools follow the speaker for you.
• Screen and webcam recording. Tutorial, software and gaming channels need a recorder, and having it inside the editor means one less program to learn.
• Audio cleanup. Viewers forgive soft video before they forgive a humming room or music that drowns your voice.
• Export presets and upload. A preset that already knows YouTube's formats, plus an upload button, removes the last step where beginners get stuck.

Movie and film editing software in the classic sense (multi-track timelines, transitions, titles, color correction) is still the core of all four editors here. The difference is how much of the YouTube routine around that timeline each one automates.

Wondershare Filmora: best for most YouTube creators

Wondershare Filmora covers more of the YouTube routine than any other editor here. When you start it, you choose a 16:9 or 9:16 project, and the start screen has shortcuts to Add Captions and the Screen Recorder. Its recorder captures the screen, camera, microphone and system audio in one session and keeps each source as a separate track you can still edit, and on Windows its Game Recording handles gameplay at up to 120 fps on hardware that can keep up.

For the edit itself, Silence Detection finds the pauses in spoken footage for you to review, AI Audio Denoise removes background noise, and auto ducking lowers your music under your voice. Speech to Text writes the subtitles, Dynamic Captions animates them in the bold, word-highlight style that is common on Shorts, and Filmora 16 adds a separate Subtitle Track and a Smart Text Correction tool for fixing transcription mistakes.

Shorts are where Filmora pulls ahead. Smart Short Clips scans a long video for highlights using speech and scene detection and cuts several short clips from it, Auto Reframe turns a landscape clip into a vertical one, and Wondershare's own Shorts guide recommends its Shorts preset (9:16, 1080 x 1920, MP4) and says you can log into your YouTube account in Filmora and publish directly after editing.

Filmora for Windows' Export window: Local, YouTube, TikTok and Vimeo targets on the left, MP4 with H.264 at 1280 x 720 and 50 fps in the middle, an Include Chapters on Export option, Auto Reframe and GPU Acceleration checkboxes, and a Thumbnail panel with an Edit button on the right.

That Export window is also where you set the thumbnail, next to a box for including chapters, so the last three YouTube chores happen in one place. On the Mac, the same Record menu offers Record PC Screen, Record Voiceover and Record from Webcam.

Filmora for Mac's Media panel with the Record menu open: Record PC Screen, Record Voiceover and Record from Webcam, plus Text to Video and Record PC Screen shortcuts at the bottom.

Buy Filmora for WindowsDownload Filmora FreeBuy Filmora for MacDownload Filmora for Mac

Movavi Video Suite: best for tutorial channels and older PCs

Movavi Video Suite bundles three programs a tutorial channel uses every week: Movavi Video Editor, Movavi Screen Recorder and Movavi Video Converter, opened from one launcher, plus a capture tool for webcams, camcorders and VHS players. The editor inside is the same Movavi Video Editor sold on its own, with one-click Silence removal, AI noise removal, Auto subtitles in 13 languages, background removal, and an auto crop that keeps the speaker centered when you turn a horizontal clip into a vertical one for Shorts.

The Video tab of the Movavi Video Suite launcher: Video Editor, Video Converter and Screen Recorder tiles with Launch buttons, plus capture from cameras, VHS and TV, Watch video, and Gecata (sold separately, with Buy and Try Out buttons).

Movavi Screen Recorder captures the full screen, a window or an area you draw, with system audio, your microphone and your webcam, and lets you draw arrows and shapes on the screen while you record and take screenshots. One limit to plan around: the webcam is burned into the recording, so you can't move it later. When the edit is done, Movavi Video Editor's Export window has an Upload tab that signs into YouTube and publishes the video for you, and you can also save the auto subtitles as an SRT file to upload as a separate caption track. Our step-by-step guide, How to Edit a YouTube Video with Movavi Video Editor, walks through that whole workflow.

Movavi Screen Recorder (from Movavi's version 23 guide) recording an area of the screen: the timer, microphone, system sound and settings buttons, and the Pencil panel with shapes, arrows and colors for drawing on the screen.

Movavi's lighter system requirements matter for creators on older hardware: Movavi Video Suite asks for a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 2000, half the memory Filmora wants.

Buy Movavi Video SuiteDownload Movavi Video Suite TrialBuy Movavi Video Suite for MacDownload the Mac Trial

VideoPad Video Editor: a classic movie editor with a YouTube button

VideoPad Video Editor from NCH Software is the most traditional movie editing software in this list: a multi-track timeline, over 50 transitions and effects, titles, green screen, picture-in-picture, stabilization, speed changes and narration recording. For YouTube it adds what matters most: you save your login once and upload directly to YouTube, Vimeo or Flickr from VideoPad, it exports from 720p up to 4K (1080p, 1440p, 2160p), and its automatic subtitling tools turn speech into subtitles. For thumbnails, its Snapshot button saves a still frame from your video.

VideoPad Professional's main window from NCH's screenshot page (an older version): image files in the media bin, the Sequence Preview with Split and Snapshot buttons, and a timeline with three video tracks and one audio track.

VideoPad's weak spots are the AI-style shortcuts. There is no automatic silence removal or auto reframe for Shorts, so you crop vertical versions by hand, and reviewers found its speech-to-text captions less reliable than the rest of the program. NCH also sells a separate screen recorder rather than building one in, though VideoPad can capture from a webcam or camcorder. The free version is generous for a hobby channel, but NCH limits it to non-commercial use.

Download VideoPad for Windows

VideoProc Vlogger: the best free option for a new channel

VideoProc Vlogger from Digiarty is a free timeline editor with no watermark, which already puts it ahead of most free options for a channel that hasn't earned anything yet. It handles 4K, 8K and HDR footage with hardware acceleration, has speed ramping with a visual curve, motion crop with automatic keyframes (handy for a vertical crop that follows the action), 3D LUTs, green screen, lens correction for GoPro and drone footage, audio denoise and a 10-band equalizer. Its Export panel lets you pick H.264 or HEVC and a frame rate from 15 up to 120 fps.

VideoProc Vlogger's Video export settings: Medium quality, the H264 codec and the FPS list open with options from 15 to 120, including 59.94 and 60.

The price of free is the YouTube routine around the edit. VideoProc Vlogger has no automatic captions (Digiarty's own guide tells you to extract the audio, transcribe it with an online service and import the SRT file), no screen recorder, no silence removal and no upload button, so you export an MP4 and upload it in your browser. The 1.4 update, announced in March 2022, is still the latest version on the product page, although the installer was rebuilt in May 2026.

Download VideoProc Vlogger Free

Hobby channel or earning channel: what you'll pay

A channel that earns money may need a different license, because the vendors' terms differ as much as their prices. Here is what each vendor's terms say about monetized YouTube videos, as of November 5, 2026:

Which should you choose?

Who should skip each one:

• Skip Wondershare Filmora if your computer has 4 GB of RAM, or if you switch between Windows and Mac (the perpetual license covers one platform; only the yearly plans cover both).
• Skip Movavi Video Suite if you only edit camera footage and already have a screen recorder: Movavi Video Editor on its own costs less, and the suite's yearly price comes back every year.
• Skip VideoPad Video Editor if your channel lives on Shorts and captions, since you'll crop and fix subtitles by hand.
• Skip VideoProc Vlogger if you make talking-head or tutorial videos: without captions, silence removal or a recorder, you'll need extra tools for the parts that take longest.

FAQs

What is the best video editing software for YouTube beginners?

Wondershare Filmora is the best video editing software for most YouTube beginners, because it handles recording, captions, Shorts and uploading without a second program, for $79.99 once. If your budget is zero, start with VideoProc Vlogger and move to a paid editor when captions and silence removal start costing you hours.

What do most YouTubers use to edit their videos?

Most YouTubers use either a professional editor built for film work or an easier consumer editor such as Wondershare Filmora or Movavi Video Editor. The consumer editors trade some depth for speed: auto captions, silence removal and templates do in a click what professional editors leave to you, and they cost far less.

Can I upload to YouTube directly from the editor?

Yes, from three of the four. Wondershare Filmora, Movavi Video Editor (in Movavi Video Suite) and VideoPad Video Editor all sign into your YouTube account and upload from the export step. VideoProc Vlogger exports an MP4 that you upload in your browser.

Which editor makes YouTube Shorts from a long video?

Wondershare Filmora does it most automatically: Smart Short Clips picks highlights from a long video and Auto Reframe turns them vertical, and Wondershare recommends exporting Shorts at 9:16, 1080 x 1920, MP4. Movavi Video Editor's auto crop also follows the speaker when you change a clip to 9:16.

Can I make money on YouTube with videos made in a free editor?

VideoProc Vlogger is free with no watermark and has no paid tier, so there's nothing to upgrade to. VideoPad's free version is for non-commercial use only, so buy the Home or Master's Edition once your channel earns money. With a paid license, Movavi's personal license allows monetized YouTube videos if you credit Movavi and link to movavi.com in the description, and Filmora's individual license allows them if the description says "Video is made by Filmora".

What's the best video editing program for a PC with 4 GB of RAM?

Movavi Video Suite is the best paid video editing program for a 4 GB PC: it asks for 4 GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 2000, and still includes auto subtitles and a screen recorder. VideoProc Vlogger runs on even less (1 GB minimum) but needs 4 GB for HD editing. Wondershare Filmora needs 8 GB.

Which YouTube video editing software works on a Mac?

All four work on a Mac. Wondershare Filmora for Mac needs macOS 10.15 or later, Movavi Video Suite for Mac needs macOS 12 or later, VideoPad has a Mac version for macOS 10.5 or later, and VideoProc Vlogger runs on Mac OS X 10.11 or later, natively on Apple silicon. Note that Filmora's and Movavi's Windows and Mac licenses are sold separately.

Is film or movie editing software different from a YouTube editor?

Not really: film and movie editing software and YouTube editors share the same timeline, cuts, titles and color tools. What a YouTube-focused editor adds is the routine around the edit, such as screen recording, auto captions, vertical Shorts and a YouTube upload button. VideoPad Video Editor is the closest to a classic movie editor here, while Wondershare Filmora leans furthest toward YouTube.

How do I make a YouTube thumbnail with these editors?

Wondershare Filmora has a Thumbnail panel with an Edit button right in its Export window, and VideoPad's Snapshot button saves any frame of your video as an image you can turn into a thumbnail. For text-heavy thumbnails, most creators still finish the image in a photo editor.