9 Best Video Editors for Linux of 2026

Kdenlive is the editor most Linux users should install first. It is part of the KDE community, free and open source, and its Linux builds come as an AppImage and a stable Flatpak on Flathub, which makes setup on Ubuntu, Fedora or Mint straightforward. The feature list goes well past basic trimming: multicam and 3-point editing, nested sequences, markers, and proxy clips so 4K footage plays back on modest laptops. Hundreds of keyframeable effects, LUT support and a full set of scopes (histogram, vectorscope, RGB parade and waveform) cover most color work, and subtitles can be generated with automatic transcription. Audio mixers and voiceover recording are built in, and automatic backups guard against crashes. Releases arrive often; 26.08.3 shipped on November 7, 2026. The tradeoffs are that support comes from a volunteer community and forum, and colorists who need node-based grading or high-end delivery formats will still want something heavier.

DaVinci Resolve is the most capable editor that runs on Linux. Blackmagic Design builds editing, color grading, Fusion visual effects and Fairlight audio into one application, and the free version handles virtually all 8-bit formats at up to 60fps in Ultra HD, with multi-user collaboration and HDR grading included. The cut page suits fast turnarounds, while the edit page offers full trimming, proxies, keyframes and subtitles. Studio, sold for $236 one-time at the time we checked (listed as was $295), adds the DaVinci Neural Engine, up to 120fps at 32K, more Resolve FX and accelerated H.264 and H.265 hardware decoding and encoding, with OpenCL and CUDA GPU support on Linux. The catch for Ubuntu users is that Blackmagic's spec pages name Rocky Linux 8.6 as the Linux release, so Ubuntu installs are outside the official list. Resolve also has a steep learning curve and expects a strong GPU.

OpenShot is the easiest editor on this list to pick up. It began in 2008 as an effort to build a free, simple, open source editor for Linux and now also runs on Mac and Windows. The timeline supports unlimited tracks with thumbnails, waveforms and snapping, and you can drag video, audio and images straight onto it. Keyframes animate position, scale, rotation, opacity, volume and effect settings with linear, constant or Bezier curves. It ships with more than 400 transition patterns and more than 40 editable title templates, and can render 3D animated titles through Blender. Newer releases added color wheels, curves, LUTs and scopes, interactive video masks, and in version 4.1 automatic optimization for heavy 4K footage and a command-line interface. OpenShot is fine for family videos, school projects and short social clips, but its feature list does not mention multicam or nested sequences, which longer projects benefit from.

Shotcut is a strong free alternative to Kdenlive with an unusually deep feature list. It edits media natively through FFmpeg with no import step, and a single timeline can mix resolutions and frame rates. Recent versions added HDR10 and HLG support with tone mapping to SDR, 10-bit processing end to end and linear color, which few free editors match. The audio side is thorough: loudness and peak meters, a spectrum analyzer, dozens of filters including noise reduction, automatic ducking, and speech to subtitle conversion. The video filter list includes a motion tracker, 3D LUTs, chroma keys and color wheels. Linux support is explicit: the download page lists Ubuntu and Pop!_OS 22.04 and newer, Mint, Debian, Fedora and others, with portable tar, AppImage and Snap packages. The interface uses many dockable panels, which is flexible but can feel busy at first, and plugin support for VST2 and LV2 is still in progress.

Cinelerra-GG Infinity is the most technical of the free Linux editors. It is made for Linux only and ships as an AppImage that runs on all major distributions, in x86_64 and i386 builds. The specifications are impressive for a free tool: timelines up to 8K, 8-bit, 10-bit and 16-bit float color, more than 100 container formats, and hardware acceleration through OpenGL, VAAPI and VDPAU. Multicam editing syncs angles with automatic audio alignment, and grading tools include an RGB parade, vectorscope and histogram. Audio supports unlimited tracks with LV2 and LADSPA plugins. The project has more than 15 years of development behind it and a release dated March 2026. The cost is usability. The workspace is dense, the learning curve is steep, and the community is small, so answers come from the manual and forum. It rewards editors who want control more than convenience.

Flowblade is a Linux-first editor built for speed. Its workflow centers on six edit tools (Move, Insert, Spacer, Multitrim, Cut and Keyframe), and many timeline behaviors can be configured, which suits editors who like working from the keyboard. It reads any media FFmpeg can open on a Linux system, offers proxy editing for heavy files, and includes a Range Log for marking and grouping useful parts of long clips. Compositors and most filters are keyframeable, the G'MIC tool adds advanced image filtering, and the Titler supports multiple text layers. Rendering runs in a separate process, and the Batch Render Queue lets you close Flowblade while exports continue. Install it from Flathub or your distribution's repository, though repository versions may be older. Limits are real: the timeline caps out at 9 combined video and audio tracks, and there are no Windows or macOS builds, so collaborators must also use Linux.

Lightworks brings a commercial, film-proven editor to Linux. For more than thirty years it has been used on films such as Pulp Fiction, Braveheart and The Departed, and it has won two Emmy Awards. The free plan is not a time-limited trial: it includes the professional timeline, color correction, multitrack audio and exports up to 1080p with no watermark. Create adds 4K export, BRAW and ProRes decoding and NewBlue Titler Pro, while Pro adds up to 8K, 10-bit and HDR editing, full scopes and ProRes encoding. Background processing and instant auto-saving help on long projects, and AAF, XML, OMF and EDL support help when you hand off to other tools. Linux users should read the fine print. Lightworks says some Linux functionality may be restricted by third-party limitations, and its feature list marks advanced titles, advanced transitions and some correction effects as not available on Linux. Prices on its page showed in euros from our location, so the USD price is pending.

Blender is best known for 3D, but it includes a video sequence editor that handles real editing work. You can cut and splice clips, mask, grade color with a live luma waveform, chroma vectorscope and histogram, and mix, sync and scrub audio with visible waveforms. There are up to 32 slots for video, images, audio, scenes, masks and effects, along with speed control, adjustment layers, transitions and keyframes. The real advantage is integration: 3D scenes, compositing and VFX live in the same file as the edit, so motion graphics and titles never leave the program. On Linux, Blender runs on any 64-bit distribution with glibc 2.28 or newer and works portably without installation. The drawbacks are that the editor sits inside a large and complex 3D interface, and the minimum hardware is 8 GB of RAM and a 2 GB GPU with OpenGL 4.3. For pure editing, dedicated tools are quicker to learn.

Pitivi is a tidy, Linux-native editor that fits naturally on a GNOME desktop. It is built on GStreamer and GStreamer Editing Services and follows the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, which gives it a clean, uncluttered look. It accepts any format GStreamer supports well and does not require all footage in a project to share a frame rate. Editing tools include ripple and roll edits, grouping, snapping and realtime trimming previews, and more than 70 transitions and over a hundred effects can be animated with keyframes. Accurate waveforms help with cutting to music and syncing claps. Automatic checkpoints are a highlight: Pitivi offers to restore your project even after a crash or power cut, and proxies and thumbnails build in the background. The concern is pace. The newest release on the project's site is 2023.03, published in August 2023, so it trails the other open source editors here on features and updates.