Shotcut is an open-source video editor for multitrack cutting, filtering, color processing, audio mixing, subtitles, proxy editing, screen capture, hardware-assisted workflows, and exporting finished media projects.
Shotcut is a cross-platform nonlinear video editor for cutting, arranging, filtering, processing, and exporting video and audio through a multitrack timeline. It supports native editing of many formats through FFmpeg, reducing the need for a separate import or transcoding stage before common projects can begin. Editors can trim source clips, perform insert or overwrite edits, ripple-delete sections, detach audio, group clips, synchronize material by audio, and organize media in playlists or bins. Shotcut also provides keyframeable filters, transitions, subtitles, audio mixing, recording, scopes, proxy editing, and configurable export presets for projects ranging from simple social clips to higher-resolution productions.
Shotcut 26.8.1 adds an Elements panel with bundled emoji stickers, sounds, animated text, overlay transitions, and graphics while refining stability across color processing, subtitles, motion tracking, and audio plugins. Editors working with demanding footage can combine low-resolution proxies with preview scaling to reduce real-time decoding and effects workload before final export uses the original sources. Users comparing open-source editors such as Mixxx can keep music-focused workflows separate while using this application for timeline-based video assembly and finishing. Recent releases also support HDR10, HLG, 10-bit processing, tone mapping, graphics-adapter selection on supported systems, and expanding VST2 or LV2 audio-plugin workflows.
Shotcut gives editors a capable production environment without requiring proprietary licensing or a mandatory media-import conversion workflow. Native timeline editing can save setup time when source formats are already supported, while proxy files and preview scaling help keep larger projects responsive on less powerful systems. Its multitrack tools support detailed clip placement, synchronized audio, transitions, grouped edits, and timeline ranges without forcing users into a rigid project structure. Shotcut also combines video filters, audio processing, subtitles, recording, keyframes, scopes, HDR workflows, and export controls in one application, reducing the need to move routine tasks between several utilities. Smart bins, playlist searching, markers, notes, and configurable layouts help organize complex projects, while hardware decoding and GPU-aware options can improve suitable workflows when compatible devices are available. Because it runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, creators can maintain a broadly similar editing process across different desktop environments.
Shotcut provides a multitrack timeline with thumbnails, waveforms, ripple editing, insert and overwrite operations, clip grouping, track locking, muting, and flexible reordering. Editors can split, move, nudge, synchronize, and organize clips directly on the timeline, giving both short projects and longer productions precise control over timing and arrangement.
Low-resolution proxy files can replace original media during editing to reduce decoding, scaling, and effects workload in real time. Proxy editing works especially well with Preview Scaling, allowing smoother navigation through demanding footage while restoring the original or optimized source files automatically when the project is exported at final quality.
Recent versions support HDR10 using PQ, HLG high-dynamic-range workflows, tone mapping from HDR to SDR, full-range video options, and end-to-end 10-bit processing. These capabilities help editors handle modern camera and phone footage with greater control over brightness and color while preparing output for compatible HDR or conventional SDR displays.
Many filter parameters can be controlled with keyframes and easing functions, allowing properties to change progressively throughout a clip. Editors can animate transforms, opacity, color adjustments, masks, audio levels, and other supported effects without leaving the timeline, making controlled motion and evolving visual treatments possible inside a single editing workflow.
Audio features include multitrack mixing, loudness and peak meters, waveform and spectrum analysis, equalizers, compression, limiting, noise reduction, reverb, pitch adjustment, channel tools, fades, and surround configurations. Shotcut also supports timeline voice recording and expanding VST2 or LV2 plugin workflows for users who need additional audio processing options.
Subtitle workflows include dedicated timeline subtitle handling, burn-in filtering, and speech-to-text capabilities for converting spoken material into text. These tools help creators prepare captions for tutorials, interviews, presentations, and accessibility-focused projects, while editable subtitle timing allows corrections before subtitles are exported separately or permanently rendered into the video.
Playlists act as media bins and support searching, sorting, filtering, custom folders, smart bins, thumbnails, comments, and batch export. Timeline markers, ranges, project notes, and the integrated file browser provide additional organization, helping editors manage larger collections of footage without relying entirely on external file-management tools during production.
Version 26.8 introduces an Elements panel containing a compact bundled library of emoji stickers, sounds, animated text, overlay transitions, and graphics. These assets can accelerate common presentation, social-media, and decorative tasks by providing reusable visual or audio elements directly inside the editor instead of requiring users to source every component separately.
It is used for nonlinear video editing, including trimming, multitrack assembly, transitions, filters, audio mixing, subtitles, recording, proxy workflows, HDR processing, and exporting finished video projects.
Yes. Proxy editing creates lower-resolution working media to reduce processing demands during editing, while the original source files are used again for final-quality export.
Yes. Current releases support HDR10, HLG, 10-bit processing, tone mapping from HDR to SDR, and related color-processing options for compatible source material and workflows.
Yes. Audio can be recorded directly to the timeline for uses such as voiceovers, and the editor also provides numerous mixing, filtering, metering, and channel-processing tools.
Yes. The editor includes subtitle timeline support, subtitle burn-in processing, and speech-to-text functionality that can help generate caption text from spoken content.
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