The go-to editor for Mac users, iMovie is an intuitive, free, easy-to-use filmmaking software that comes built-in on Apple devices.
While it comes with all the basic editing functions to cover the needs of most creators, it might not suit advanced users looking to create more customized videos for their brand or business. Another limitation of iMovie is that it is not available for Windows PC.
In this post, let us take a look at the five best iMovie alternatives that work across operating systems to facilitate a seamless video editing experience.
1. Animoto
A cloud-based video editing tool designed to be beginner-friendly, Animoto makes a great alternative to iMovie and suits individuals and teams looking for an affordable solution.
It is mainly catered towards personal projects, allowing you to convert images and visual content into slideshow-style videos with a large number of pre-designed transitions.
What makes Animoto suitable for novice editors is its drag-drop interface that makes it easy to work with features. It also comes with pre-loaded marketing storyboards and ready-made templates with the flexibility of customization for personal and professional branding.
You can choose from a huge range of video themes, animated texts, and stock images to create everything from personal albums to social media posts and professional ads for your business.
This easy-to-use, affordable video editor facilitates a seamless video editing experience with its cross-platform support and compatibility across devices. While it lacks the creative flexibility and control you may find with some other professional editors, it is definitely a good iMovie alternative worth giving a try.
2. Filmora
As an excellent alternative to iMovie, Filmora is a fully-featured video editing software available for Mac and Windows users. It is known to be easier to use than its competitors like iMovie and Adobe Premiere Pro. The professional editing suite is aimed at intermediate to experienced filmmakers looking for a dedicated tool to work with their video projects.
First-time users are sure to be impressed with its elegant interface. Apart from basic functions like cropping, trimming, splitting, and rotating, Filmora offers advanced features like audio-editing, overlays, transitions, color tuning, brightness adjustment, mosaic-adding, image processing, speed control, and more. You can even use it to record videos with voiceovers before editing them, making it a powerful aid for end-to-end production.
Designed to stylize videos to suit your needs, Filmora offers over 200 filters and allows exporting your finished product to any of the popular formats including FLV, M4V, MP4, MOV, etc., and even to devices like Galaxy, Xbox One, PS4, and Apple TV. You can also share your videos directly to Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo. However, novices may take some time to learn using its functions.
3. InVideo
An intuitive online editing tool that facilitates creating high-quality videos in no time, InVideo is particularly useful for those who are getting started with editing. Unlike iMovie, it is a web-based editor which means there is no OS-related limitation and you can use it anywhere for seamless video editing. It boasts a huge library of pre-designed templates, a user-friendly interface, and exciting customization options that other editors offer for a price.
With over 5000 fully-customizable templates to choose from, this editor covers all the industries, audiences, and use cases. It works perfectly for new as well as seasoned creators, whether YouTubers, business owners, or digital marketers. InVideo also gives you access to a large number of stock assets to make your content more appealing. While this free tool has some restrictions on the length and size of projects, it makes the perfect iMovie alternative with everything you need to give your videos a professional touch.
4. VSDC
This free video editor is a great iMovie alternative for Windows users. It is designed to be a lightweight editing tool that runs on the slowest systems. What makes it stand out from other free editors is that it allows opening videos of any quality, codec, and frame rate including the 120 fps footage. VSDC also offers a wide range of export profiles for social media networks and devices to facilitate direct sharing for the finished product.
VSDC editor also packs a large number of useful editing functionality to suit varied projects. Apart from the basic editing operations like cropping, trimming, and rotating, you can use it to create titles, enhance audio, and apply speed effects to give your videos a professional look. Another feature that sets it apart is the ease of overlaying files and controlling opacity which means you can position any object, video, icon, or image on the footage, resize them and display as you would like. This feature is particularly beneficial when creating tutorials, reaction videos, and news clips.
Not only is VSDC a close iMovie alternative for Windows but also a robust video editor with modern effects and filters like realistic raindrops, long shadow, glitch, lens glare, Chroma key, and more. Adding to the charm is its Adjustment category that consists of powerful color correction tools like RGB, LUTs, Instagram-style filters, and H&S curves.
5. Shotcut
An open-source, free iMovie alternative with cross-platform support, Shotcut is another powerful video editor with all you need to make your videos professional-looking. One of the most amazing features of this tool is the intuitive interface that makes it ideal for beginners as well as seasoned creators and editors. You can find dockable panels with media properties, playlists with thumbnails, history view, jobs queue, recent files and search, and a simple drag-drop functionality for file selection.
Another impressive feature of Shotcut is its support for a wide range of formats including MPG, 3GP, GIF, JPEG, MOV, BMP, AVI, PNG, etc. Its multi-format timeline feature allows you to mix and match frame rates and resolutions within a project. With support for outstanding audio editing features and video effects, it makes an all-inclusive video editor to suit varied needs and projects.
Shotcut offers you 3-way color wheels for color grading and correction along with fade in/out effects, 360-degree filters, reverse and rotate clips, and wipe transitions. Apart from basic cutting and trimming, you get a wide range of advanced functionality to edit your videos to your heart’s content with unlimited undo and redo.
Final Thoughts
iMovie is a powerful tool for quick, simple editing tasks, particularly for those who work on Apple devices. However, if you are looking for more advanced features, versatility, and newer use cases, you can try other options available in the market. The iMovie alternatives listed here are all designed to help optimize your editing tasks and take your content creation to another level.
