Introduction¶

OpenShot Video Editor is an award-winning, open-source video editor, available on Linux, Mac, and Windows. OpenShot can create stunning videos, films, and animations with an easy-to-use interface and rich feature-set. [image]

Features¶

Screenshot¶

[image]

System Requirements¶

Video editing benefits from modern, multi-core CPUs with fast clock speeds (GHz), large amounts of memory, and fast hard disk drives. Basically, you want the best computer you can afford when video editing. Here are the minimum system requirements:

TL;DR¶

Most computers manufactured after 2017 will run OpenShot

Minimum Specifications¶

License¶

OpenShot Video Editor is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

OpenShot Video Editor is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Installation¶

The latest official stable version of OpenShot Video Editor for Linux, Mac, Chrome OS, and Windows can be downloaded from the official download page at <https://www.openshot.org/download/>. You can find our latest unstable versions (i.e. daily builds) at <https://www.openshot.org/download#daily> (these versions are updated very frequently, and often contain many improvements not yet released in our stable build).

Clean Install¶

If you are upgrading from a previous version of OpenShot or are experiencing a crash or error message after launching OpenShot, please see Reset (Default Values) <#preferences-reset-ref> for instructions on clearing the previous openshot.settings file (for a clean install with default preferences).

Windows (Installer)¶

Download the Windows installer from the official download page <https://www.openshot.org/download/> (the download page contains both 64-bit and 32-bit versions), double click it, and follow the directions on screen. Once completed, OpenShot will be installed and available in your Start menu. [image] [image]

Windows (Portable)¶

If you need to install OpenShot on Windows without Administrator permissions, we also support a portable installation process. Download the Windows installer from the official download page <https://www.openshot.org/download/>, open the command prompt, and type the following commands:

:caption: Install portable version of OpenShot (no administrator permissions required)
cd C:\Users\USER\Downloads\
OpenShot-v2.6.1-x86_64.exe /portable=1 /currentuser /noicons

Mac¶

Download the DMG file from the official download page <https://www.openshot.org/download/>, double click it, and then drag the OpenShot application icon into your Applications shortcut. This is very similar to how most Mac applications are installed. Now launch OpenShot from Launchpad or Applications in Finder. [image]

Linux (AppImage)¶

Most Linux distributions have a version of OpenShot in their software repositories, which can be installed using your package manager / software store. However, these packaged versions are often very outdated (be sure to check the version number: Help→About OpenShot). For this reason, we recommend installing an AppImage from the official download page <https://www.openshot.org/download/>.

Once downloaded, right click on the AppImage, choose Properties, and mark the file as Executable. Finally, double click the AppImage to launch OpenShot. If double clicking does not launch OpenShot, you can also right click on the AppImage, and choose Execute or Run. For a detailed guide on installing our AppImage and creating a launcher for it, see our AppImage Installation Guide <https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/wiki/AppImage-Installation>. [image]

Unable to Launch AppImage?¶

Please verify that the libfuse2 library is installed, which is required to mount and read an AppImage. On newer versions of Ubuntu (i.e. 22.04+), libfuse2 is not installed by default. You can install it with the following command:

sudo apt install libfuse2

Install AppImage Launcher¶

If you plan on using OpenShot often, you will probably want an integrated launcher for our AppImage. We recommend using AppImageLauncher, which is the officially supported way to launch (and manage) AppImage files on your Linux desktop. If you are on a Debian-based distro (Ubuntu, Mint, etc…), there is an official AppImageLauncher PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:appimagelauncher-team/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install appimagelauncher

Linux (PPA)¶

For Debian-based Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Mint, etc…), we also have a PPA (Personal Package Archive), which adds our official OpenShot software repository to your package manager, making it possible to install our latest version, without relying on our AppImages.

Stable PPA (Contains only official releases)¶

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openshot-qt python3-openshot

Daily PPA (Highly experimental and unstable, for testers)¶

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/libopenshot-daily
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openshot-qt python3-openshot

Chrome OS (Chromebook)¶

Chrome OS supports Linux apps, but this feature is off by default. You can turn it on in Settings. Once Linux is enabled, you can install and run OpenShot Linux AppImages on any x86-based Chromebook. The command below will download our AppImage and configure your system to run OpenShot successfully.

Previous Versions¶

To download old versions of OpenShot Video Editor, you can visit <https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/tags>. Click on the version number you need, and scroll to the bottom, under the release notes. You will find download links for each operating system. Download the appropriate version for your computer, and follow the installation instructions above.

NOTE: Projects (*.osp) made with newer versions of OpenShot Video Editor might not support older versions.

Uninstall¶

To fully uninstall OpenShot from your system, you must manually delete the .openshot_qt folder: ~/.openshot_qt/ or C:\Users\USERNAME\.openshot_qt\, which contains all settings and files used by OpenShot. Be sure to backup any recovery files of your existing projects first (*.osp files). Please see Reset (Default Values) <#preferences-reset-ref> for instructions on clearing the previous openshot.settings file (for a clean install with default preferences).

Windows¶

Mac¶

Ubuntu (Linux)¶

Quick Tutorial¶

Using OpenShot is very easy, and this tutorial will take you through the basics in under 5 minutes. After this tutorial, you will be able to make a simple photo slide-show with music.

Basic Terminology¶

To help understand the steps below, here are some definitions of a few basic terms used in this tutorial.

Video Tutorials¶

If you prefer to learn by watching videos instead of reading, we have many official video tutorials that cover a wide range of beginner and introductory topics. These videos are a great next step on your way to master OpenShot Video Editor!

Step 1 – Import Photos & Music¶

Before we can begin making a video, we need to import media files into OpenShot. Most video, image and music file formats will work. Drag and drop a few videos or images and a music file from your Desktop to OpenShot. Be sure to drop the files where the arrow in the illustration is pointing to. [image]

Alternative methods to add files to your projects are described in the section Import Files <#import-files-ref>. The “Show All”, “Video”, “Audio”, “Image” filters above the added files allows you to only see the file types you are interested in.

Step 2 – Add Photos to Timeline¶

Next, drag each video or photo onto a track in the timeline (as seen in the illustration). The timeline represents your final video, so arrange your photos (i.e. clips) in whatever sequence you want them to appear in your video. If you overlap two clips, OpenShot will automatically create a smooth fade between them (only affects the image, and not audio), displayed by blue rounded rectangles between the clips. Remember, you can rearrange the clips as many times as needed by simply dragging and dropping them.

You can also shorten or lengthen each clip, by clicking the left or right edge and dragging your mouse. For example, if you want a photo to last longer than 10 seconds (the default duration), simply grab the right edge of the photo (on the timeline), and drag it to the right (to increase the clip’s duration on the timeline). [image]

Step 3 – Add Music to Timeline¶

To make our creation more interesting, we need to add some music. Click on the music file that you imported in step 1, and drag it onto the timeline. If the song is too long, grab the right edge of your music clip, and resize it smaller (that will make it end earlier). You could also insert the same file multiple times, if your music is too short. [image]

Step 4 – Preview your Project¶

To preview what our video looks & sounds like, click the Play button under the preview window. You can also pause, rewind, and fast-forward your video project by clicking the corresponding buttons. [image]

Step 5 – Export your Video¶

Once you have edited your photo slide-show video, the last step is to export the project. Exporting converts your OpenShot project into a single video output file. By using the default settings, the video works on most media players (such as VLC) or websites (such as YouTube, Vimeo, …).

Click on the Export Video icon at the top of the screen (or use the File→Export Video menu). The default values will work fine, so just click the Export Video button to render your new video. [image]

Conclusion¶

You should now have a basic understanding of how OpenShot works. Importing, Arranging, Previewing, and Exporting. Hopefully this tutorial took less than 5 minutes for you to complete. Please read the rest of this guide for a more detailed understanding of OpenShot and its advanced features.

If you have any questions after reading this User Guide, please consider joining our Reddit User Community <https://openshot.org/forum> to discuss topics, ask questions, and meet with other OpenShot users.

Video Editing Basics¶

You do not need to be a trained videographer to understand how to create videos well. Simple editing can keep your viewers engaged longer, and add a professional feel, even if you are not a professional video editor.

Basically, video editing is taking footage, cutting it up, removing the pieces you do not want, and keeping the bits you do. Back in the old days, editing was slicing reels of film and piecing it together. Thankfully software makes the whole process much more manageable.

There are three main jobs of video editing:

Use these three points as a checklist as you edit.

Computer¶

Video editing does not require an expensive machine, especially if you are a beginner. However, it would be best if you had a more recent monitor and graphics card. If you have an older computer, check your system specifications against OpenShot’s System Requirements <#min-system-req-ref> to make sure it works for video editing. Unfortunately, many older computers are not fast enough for video editing, and you should upgrade your whole system, if possible.

Accessories¶

Before beginning a video project, ensure there is enough storage space on your computer to save all the necessary clips. For example, one hour of 1080i video, such as from a mini-DV camcorder, takes up nearly 11 GB of storage. If your computer’s internal storage device cannot store all the clips, the solution is to buy an external drive.

It would help if you had several cables, usually Firewire or USB, to connect your computer, external hard drive, and a camera. Different computers and cameras accept other connectors, so check your manuals before buying anything.

Practical Tips¶

Becoming a great video editor isn’t effortless, but with practice and patience, you’ll be editing like a professional in no time. Here are a few of the essential tips and techniques you need to know to become a skilled video editor.

Pick the Right Computer¶

While having a great computer won’t necessarily make you a great video editor, a faster computer will allow you to focus more of your time on the story you’re trying to tell rather than your computer rendering. Everyone has their own opinions about what computer is best for editing, but it all depends on your own preferences.

Keep Shooting¶

Record more video and audio than you think you will need for your project. Include video that enhances the scene, sets a mood, or tells a story. You can use the extra video for smooth transitions in your project. If your project requires voice overs or narration, we suggest using an external application to record your microphone (since OpenShot does not include any recording capabilities yet).

Organize Your Project Files¶

Composition is the key to success, whether you are running Linux, on a Mac, or a Windows machine. Be sure to label video files, audio files, and even still images clearly and keep all your clips on the same device and in the same folder for easy access. OpenShot tries to keep up with your clips, but if you move them after your project is saved, you could lose your entire project. Organizing before you begin editing can be very advantageous.

Watch Everything¶

Watching everything is the first step in the editing process. Writer and filmmaker David Andrew Stoler says there is gold in the most unlikely of places: “Some of the most beautiful expressions you’re going to get from the actors are after the cut.”

Edit for a Story¶

Remember that as you edit, you are telling a story. Editing is so much more than merely cutting footage and adding effects. It is an opportunity to take your audience on a journey. Whether you are editing a complex narrative film or only putting together a personal video, you tell a more in-depth story.

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between and professional video editor and a novice is to simply look at how much they use the keyboard. Editors that have been in the business for some time know that a few seconds saved add up over the length of the project.

Learn the Lingo¶

Video editing is not just a hobby or a profession; it is an industry. And just like any industry, there is a ton of jargon to learn. Practically speaking, you do not need to know all the terms on the Glossary <#glossary-ref> to become a better video editor, but a fundamental knowledge of the terms may help you communicate better with other video editors or clients.

Assemble, Then Make a Rough Cut¶

Drag and drop all your video footage into a timeline and make sure your frame size and frame rates are consistent. Begin a new timeline and drag-and-drop the best clips into what becomes your assembly cut. Remember to save your work frequently, and notate the date and time of each version.

Refine Your Video¶

In this phase, your rough cut begins to resemble a cohesive project. Adjust the sound and color, make sure the dialog is audible, and add music, titles, or graphics in this phase. Color correction is the process of setting your footage to a color baseline. No matter how great your subject looks on set, you will almost always need to do some basic post-processing for a consistent video.

Refine Some More¶

A slow scene can set the mood and add tension or it can bore an audience. A fast scene can add adrenaline to your audience’s systems or it can give them headaches. Some editors cut their projects several different ways before they find the right pace. Do not let cutting your project several times discourage you.

Exporting¶

People view most of their projects on phones, tablets, or computers, so it is essential to know how to export for the web. The goal when exporting a video for the web is to create the highest quality possible with the smallest file size. Four main factors determine the file size of your finished video:

Codec¶

A codec determines the type of file format (MP4, AVI, MOV). The more compression performed by the codec, the smaller your video’s size. Videos that are smaller in file size tend to be lower in visual quality.

Resolution¶

Resolution refers to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels (dots on display) your video contains. For example, a 4K UHD (2160P) video has four times the resolution of FHD (1080P) video. A higher resolution means more information to store so that you will have larger file sizes.

Bit Rate¶

The Bit Rate is the measure of the speed of data processing of your video. A higher bit rate means higher-quality video and larger files. OpenShot allows you to manually set the Bit Rate / Quality in the Advanced tab of the Export Video window.

Frame Rate¶

The frequency (in Hz) at which consecutive images, called frames, appear on the display is the Frame Rate. Typically, you export your video in the film standard (24fps) or the TV broadcast standard of 30fps (or 25fps in PAL). While there is not much wiggle room here, you should note that if you decide to export your video in 48fps, 50fps, or 60fps, your file size doubles.

Conclusion¶

In conclusion, video editing is an accessible skill that can elevate your video content even if you’re not a professional videographer. With the ability to trim, arrange, and enhance footage, you can create engaging videos that captivate your audience. Whether you’re a beginner or on your way to becoming a skilled video editor, remember to focus on storytelling, efficient organization, and refining your project’s details. From selecting the right computer to mastering keyboard shortcuts and understanding technical aspects like codecs and resolutions, your journey in video editing can lead to polished and impactful results. As you venture into the world of video editing, keep in mind that practice, patience, and a commitment to learning are key to achieving excellence in this creative endeavor.

Main Window¶

OpenShot Video Editor has one main window which contains most of the information, buttons, and menus needed to edit your video project.

Overview¶

[image]

For step-by-step instructions on the basic usage of OpenShot, be sure to read the Quick Tutorial <#quick-tutorial-ref>.

Built-in Tutorial¶

When you first launch OpenShot, you will be presented with a friendly built-in tutorial. It will demonstrate and explain the basics. Clicking Next will jump to the next topic. You can always view this tutorial again from the Help→Tutorial menu. [image]

Tracks & Layers¶

OpenShot uses tracks to layer videos and images. The top most track is the top layer, and the bottom track is the bottom layer. If you are familiar with layers in a photo editing application, then you should be quite familiar with this concept. OpenShot will stack the layers and mix each one together, just like a photo editing application. You can have an unlimited number of tracks, but typically a simple video project will not need more than 5 tracks.

For example, imagine a 3 track video project [image]

Timeline Toolbar¶

[image]

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

Here is a list of the default keyboard shortcuts supported by OpenShot. You can configure these shortcuts in the Preferences window, which is opened by selecting Edit→Preferences from the OpenShot menu bar. (On macOS, choose OpenShot Video Editor→Preferences.) Learning a few of these shortcuts can save you a bunch of time!

Menu¶

The following menu options are available on the main window on OpenShot. Most of these options can be accessed by the keyboard shortcuts mentioned above. On some Operating Systems (such as macOS) a few of these options are renamed and/or rearranged.

Views¶

The OpenShot main window is composed of multiple docks. These docks are arranged and snapped together into a grouping that we call a View. OpenShot comes with two primary views: Simple View and Advanced View.

Simple View¶

This is the default view, and is designed to be easy-to-use, especially for first-time users. It contains Project Files on the top left, Preview Window on the top right, and Timeline on the bottom. If you accidentally close or move a dock, you can quickly reset all the docks back to their default location using the View->Views->Simple View menu at the top of the screen.

Advanced View¶

This is an advanced view, which adds more docks to the screen at once, improving access to many features that are not visible in Simple View. Once you have mastered the Simple View, we recommend giving this view a try as well. NOTE: You can also drag and drop the docks anywhere you would like, for a fully custom view.

Docks¶

Each widget on the OpenShot main window is contained in a dock. These docks can be dragged and snapped around the main window, and even grouped together (into tabs). OpenShot will always save your main window dock layout when you exit the program. Re-launching OpenShot will restore your custom dock layout automatically.

If you have accidentally closed or moved a dock and can no longer find it, there are a couple easy solutions. First, you can use the View->Views->Simple View menu option at the top of the screen, to restore the view back to its default. Or you can use the View->Views->Docks->… menu to show or hide specific dock widgets on the main window.

High DPI / 4K Monitors¶

OpenShot Video Editor provides robust support for High DPI (Dots Per Inch) monitors, ensuring that the interface looks sharp and is easily readable on displays with various DPI settings. This support is particularly beneficial for users with 4K monitors or other high-resolution displays.

Per Monitor DPI Awareness¶

OpenShot is DPI aware on a per-monitor basis, meaning it can adjust its scaling dynamically depending on the DPI settings of each connected monitor. This ensures a consistent and high-quality user experience across different displays.

DPI Scaling on Windows¶

On Windows, OpenShot rounds the scaling factor to the nearest whole value to maintain visual integrity. This rounding helps avoid visual artifacts in the UI rendering and ensures that the interface elements remain crisp and well-aligned. Due to this rounding, scaling options can sometimes lead to increased font-sizes and a feeling that the UI elements are a bit too large.

Workarounds for Fine-Grained Adjustment¶

While rounding helps maintain a clean interface, there are workarounds for users who require more precise control over the scaling. However, these methods are not recommended due to potential visual artifacts:

For more info on adjusting these environment variables, please visit <https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/wiki/OpenShot-UI-too-large>.

Files¶

To create a video, we need to make media files available to our project by importing files into OpenShot. Most media file types are recognized, such as videos, images, and audio files. Files can be viewed and managed in the Project Files panel.

Note that imported files are not copied anywhere, they remain in the physical location they were before and are simply being made available to your video project. So, they must not be deleted, renamed, or moved after adding them to your project. The “Show All”, “Video”, “Audio”, “Image” filters above the files allows you to only see the file types you are interested in. You can also toggle the view between details and thumbnails view of your files.

Import Files¶

There are many different ways to import media files into an OpenShot project. When a file is imported successfully, it will be automatically selected and scrolled into view (in the Project Files panel). Also, if the Project Files panel is not currently visible, OpenShot will automatically display the panel.

[image]

Paste from Clipboard¶

You can paste files and clipboard media straight into OpenShot. If you copied one or more files in your file manager, switch to OpenShot and press Ctrl-V in the Project Files panel to add them, just like importing.

If you copied media data (for example, Copy Image in a web browser, a pasted frame from another app, or other image/audio/video clipboard data), press Ctrl-V in OpenShot to create a file for that clipboard content. OpenShot saves a copy in a temporary folder: .openshot_qt/clipboard/. The new file is then added to your project and appears in Project Files.

File Menu¶

To view the file menu, right click on a file (in the Project Files panel). Here are the actions you can use from the file menu. [image]

Split File¶

If you need to cut a large video file into many smaller files before editing, the Split File dialog is built exactly for this purpose. Right click on a file, and choose Split File. Use this dialog to quickly separate a large file into many smaller segments. For each segment, you can select the starting and ending frame, and a title. Each segment appears as a new file in the Project Files dialog. [image]

Please refer to the section Trimming & Slicing <#clips-cutting-slicing-ref> for more ways to cut and slice clips directly in the timeline.

Export Files¶

If you want your split file segments available outside of your OpenShot project, or want to copy all your video assets to one place, you can do this with the Export Files dialog. Simply Ctrl+Click to select all the files you like, then Right Click and choose Export Files. In the dialog that appears, choose a destination folder, and click Export.

NOTE: This will export each file or file segment using its original video profile (width, height, framerate, aspect ratio, etc…). It also supports any Split File (described above). For example, if you have split a long video file into many different segments (and named them), you can now export all the segments as separate video files (using the original file’s video profile). [image]

Add to Timeline¶

In certain cases, you might need to add many files to the timeline at the same time. For example, a photo slideshow, or a large number of short video clips. The Add to Timeline dialog can automate this task for you. First, select all files you need to add, right click, and choose Add to Timeline. [image]

Properties¶

To view the properties of any imported file in your video project, right click on the file, and choose File Properties. This will launch the file properties dialog, which displays information about your media file. For certain types of images (i.e. image sequences), you can adjust the frame rate on this dialog also. [image]

Remove from Project¶

This will remove a file from the project. It will not delete the underlying physical file though, so removing a file from the project merely makes it unavailable for this video project.

Project Assets Folder¶

OpenShot creates and uses a few temporary working folders while you edit. These live under .openshot_qt/ in your user profile and hold project-specific files that OpenShot generates for you:

When you choose File→Save As, OpenShot copies these folders into your project directory, inside a single folder named PROJECTNAME_Assets. For example: MyProject_Assets/clipboard will contain any media you pasted from the clipboard.

As part of this process, all paths inside your *.osp project file are updated to be relative to your project folder. This keeps everything self-contained and easy to move or back up as one folder.

Cleanup behavior¶

Starting a new project or opening an existing project clears the temporary .openshot_qt working folders so you begin with a clean slate. Your saved projects are not affected, and any assets previously copied into a PROJECTNAME_Assets folder remain in that project’s directory.

Missing Files¶

When you create and save a project in OpenShot, any files imported into the software (such as videos, audio, and images) must remain accessible throughout the project’s duration. This means that these imported files should not be renamed, deleted, or moved to different folders. Additionally, the full path where these files are located should not be renamed either. This principle applies to other video editing software as well.

For example, users might move or delete folders, unplug their USB devices, or move or delete their project files. Any of these examples cause a Missing File message, in which OpenShot prompts you to locate the folder of the missing file(s). Depending on the number of files you added to your project, OpenShot could prompt you many times to find the missing files.

When OpenShot saves a project, all file paths are converted to relative file paths. As long as you keep all assets organized in the same parent folder (including the *.osp project file), you will be able to move your project folder without triggering any missing file(s) prompts. You can even move a self-contained project folder to another computer without any issues.

Everyone has their unique way of organizing files, and it’s crucial to remember not to make changes to file paths, rename files, or delete files when working with video editors, as it can lead to missing file issues. For a detailed guide on missing file(s), see The Case of “Missing Files”! <https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/wiki/Missing-File-Prompt>

Clips¶

In OpenShot, when you add project files (videos, images, and audio) to the timeline, they appear as clips represented by rounded rectangles. These clips come with different properties that influence how they’re rendered and composited. These properties include the clip’s position, layer, scale, location, rotation, alpha, and composite (blend mode).

You can examine a clip’s properties by either right-clicking and selecting Properties or by double-clicking the clip. The properties are listed alphabetically in the Property dock, and you can use the filter options at the top to find specific properties. See Clip Properties for a list of all clip properties.

To make adjustments to a property:

Clip properties play a vital role in the Animation <#animation-ref> system. Whenever you modify a clip property, a key-frame is automatically created at the current playhead position. If you want a property change to apply throughout the entire clip, ensure the playhead is positioned at or before the clip’s start, before making adjustments. You can easily find a clip’s start by using the next/previous marker feature on the Timeline toolbar. [image]

Trimming & Slicing¶

OpenShot provides multiple ways to adjust the start and end trim positions of a clip (also known as trimming). The most common method is to click and drag the left or right edge of a clip. Trimming can be used to remove unwanted sections from the beginning or ending of a clip.

To slice a clip into smaller sections, OpenShot offers several options, including dividing or slicing a clip at the play-head (vertical playback line) position. Trimming and slicing clips are powerful tools that allow users to rearrange sections of video and remove unwanted parts.

Here is a list of all methods for cutting and/or trimming clips in OpenShot:

Keep in mind that the above cutting methods also have Keyboard Shortcuts <#keyboard-shortcut-ref>, to save even more time.

Selections¶

Selecting clips and transitions on the timeline is an essential part of editing in OpenShot. Multiple selection methods are available to streamline your workflow, enabling efficient editing of clips and transitions.

Here is a list of all methods for selecting clips in OpenShot:

Mastering these selection techniques will streamline your editing process, especially when dealing with complex projects. For more advanced tips on selection and editing, refer to the Trimming & Slicing section.

Context Menu¶

OpenShot has tons of great preset animations and clip properties, such as fading, sliding, zooming, reversing time, adjusting volume, etc… These presets can be accessed by right-clicking on a clip, revealing the context menu. A preset sets one (or more) clip properties for the user without needing to manually set the key-frame clip properties. See Clip Properties.

Some presets allow the user to target either the start, end, or entire clip, and most presets allow the user to reset a specific clip property. For example, when using the Volume preset, the user has the following menu options:

Fade¶

The Fade preset enables smooth transitions by gradually increasing or decreasing the clip’s opacity. It creates a fade-in or fade-out of the clip image, ideal for introducing or concluding clips. See Alpha key-frame.

Animate¶

The Animate preset adds dynamic motion to clips, combining zooming and sliding animations. It animates a clip by zooming in or out while sliding across the screen. It can slide in many specific directions, or slide and zoom to a random location. See Location X and Location Y and Scale X and Scale Y key-frames.

Rotate¶

The Rotate preset introduces easy rotation and flipping of clips, enhancing their visual appeal. It enables orientation adjustment, by rotating and flipping a clip for creative visual transformations. See Rotation key-frame.

Layout¶

The Layout preset adjusts the size of a clip and snaps it to a chosen corner of the screen. It resizes a clip and anchors it to a corner or the center, useful for picture-in-picture or watermark effects. See Location X and Location Y and Scale X and Scale Y key-frames.

Time¶

The Time preset manipulates clip playback speed, allowing for reverse playback or time-lapse effects. It alters the speed and direction of a clip’s playback, enhancing visual storytelling. See Time key-frame.

Repeat¶

Use Time → Repeat to play a clip multiple times, without building the time curve by hand. OpenShot writes the needed Time keyframes for you (you can edit them later).

Menu path

Counts are finite (2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 8x, 10x, or a custom number). Example: “Forward then Back and stop” = Ping-Pong → Forward → 2x.

What gets repeated

Keyframes during Repeat

Custom Repeat (dialog options)

Reset

Timing Tool¶

Another way to change a clip’s speed is with the Timing tool on the timeline toolbar. Enable the clock icon and drag a clip’s edges. Lengthening the clip slows playback, while shotening it speeds the clip up. All keyframes on the clip and its effects are scaled so their relative positions remain intact.

Volume¶

The Volume preset controls audio properties, facilitating smooth volume adjustments. It manages audio volume, including fading in/out, reducing/increasing volume, or muting. See Volume key-frame.

Separate Audio¶

The Separate Audio preset splits the audio from a clip, creating detached audio clips positioned below the original clip on the timeline. This preset can either create a single detached audio clip (positioned on a layer below the original clip) or multiple detached audio clips (one per audio track, positioned on multiple layers below the original clip).

Slice¶

The Slice tool lets you cut a clip at the position of the play-head (the vertical line that shows your current position in the timeline). This will split the clip into two separate parts at the exact point where the play-head is.

Slicing is a key feature for making precise edits and rearranging sections of your video. You can slice a clip and choose to keep one side or both, and with the ripple option, you can automatically shift other clips on the same track to fill any gaps caused by the cut.

Slicing Options:

Tips for Beginners:

For a complete guide to slicing and all available keyboard shortcuts, see the Trimming & Slicing section.

Transform¶

The Transform preset activates the transform tool for a clip, allowing for quick adjustments to location, scale, rotation, shear, and rotation origin point.

To quickly adjust the location, scale, rotation, and shear of a clip, select a clip on the timeline to activate the transform tool. By default, the selected clip appears in the preview window with transform controls (blue lines and squares). You can select multiple clips at once with Ctrl or Shift. The preview shows a single set of handles surrounding all selected clips, and any move, scale or rotation affects them together. Or if the transform tool is disabled, right click on a clip and choose Transform.

Note: Pay close attention to the play-head position (red playback line). Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help quickly create animations. If you want to transform a clip with no animation, be sure the playhead is positioned before (to the left) of your clip. You can also manually adjust these same clip properties in the property editor, see Clip Properties. [image]

Crop¶

The Crop preset adds a crop effect to the selected clip and displays interactive crop handles in the video preview. The submenu offers:

Drag the blue handles to adjust the crop boundaries, move the cropped area around, or move the center handle to reposition the image inside the cropped area.

Display¶

The Display preset toggles the display mode of a clip on the timeline, showing either its waveform or thumbnail.

Properties¶

The Properties preset opens the properties panel for a clip, allowing quick access for adjustments to clip properties, such as location, scale, rotation, etc… See Clip Properties.

Copy / Cut / Paste¶

The Copy / Paste preset allows copying and pasting keyframes, effects, or duplicating an entire clip along with its keyframes. Paste will create a new clip at the position of your mouse. If you select 1 or more clips before pasting, you can paste “over” those clips with your current clip.

Remove Gaps¶

The Remove Gap and Remove All Gaps options help you quickly eliminate gaps between clips on the timeline by rippling (i.e., shifting) subsequent clips to close the gap. These options can be accessed via the context menu and are only available when gaps are detected.

Remove Clip¶

The Remove Clip option lets you delete a clip from the timeline. Removing clips is an essential part of organizing your project and getting rid of unwanted sections. Removing a clip can also impact the surrounding clips. If you want to clean up the gap that remains after deleting a clip, you have a few options to automatically adjust your timeline.

How to Remove a Clip: To delete a clip, simply select it and press Delete on your keyboard, or right-click the clip and choose Remove Clip from the context menu. You can also select multiple clips at once by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on additional clips, then remove them all at once.

Ripple Delete: If you want to delete a clip and automatically remove the empty space (gap) it leaves behind, use the Ripple Delete feature by pressing Shift+Delete. This will shift all the remaining clips and transitions on the track to the left, filling in the gap and keeping your timeline smooth and continuous.

Remove Gap: After deleting a clip, if you have gaps left in your timeline that you want to remove, simply right-click in the empty space and choose Remove Gap. This action will shift all clips and transitions to the left, closing the gap and maintaining the flow of your video.

Tips for Beginners:

For more advanced editing options and shortcuts, refer to the Trimming & Slicing section.

Effects¶

In addition to the many clip properties which can be animated and adjusted, you can also drop an effect directly onto a clip from the effects dock. Each effect is represented by a small colored letter icon. Clicking the effect icon will populate the properties of that effect, and allow you to edit (and animate) them. For the full list of effects, see Effects <#effects-ref>. [image]

Clip Properties¶

Below is a list of clip properties which can be edited, and in most cases, animated over time. To view a clip’s properties, right click and choose Properties. The property editor will appear, where you can change these properties. You can select multiple clips, transitions or effects at once. The dropdown at the top of the dock shows entries for each item plus an entry such as 2 Selections. Pick that entry to edit all selected items together, only properties they share will be visible. If a field is blank, the values differ between items, but you can still change it or insert a keyframe for all of them.

Note: Pay close attention to where the play-head (i.e. red playback line) is. Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help quickly create animations.

When animating clip properties, you can fade a clip from opaque to transparent with alpha, slide a clip around the screen with location_x and location_y, scale a clip smaller or larger with the scale_x and scale_y, fade the volume of a clip quieter or louder with volume, and much more. If you want to set a single, static clip property with no animation, be sure the playhead is positioned at the start of your clip (to the left) when adjusting the property value.

See the table below for a full list of clip properties.

Composite (Blend Mode)¶

The Composite (Blend Mode) property controls how the pixels of this clip mix with the clips on lower tracks. If you are new to this, start with Normal. Switch modes when you want a quick creative change without adding an effect.

Beginner tips

Common modes (recommended)

Notes

Alpha¶

The Alpha property is a key-frame curve that represents the alpha value, determining fading and transparency of the image in the clip. The curve ranges from 1 (fully opaque) to 0 (completely transparent).

Channel Filter¶

The Channel Filter property is a key-frame curve used for audio manipulation. It specifies a single audio channel to be filtered while clearing all other channels.

Channel Mapping¶

The Channel Mapping property is a key-frame curve that defines the output audio channel for the clip. This property works in conjunction with the “Channel Filter” property and specifies which channel is retained in the output.

Frame Number¶

The Frame Number property specifies the format in which the frame numbers are displayed within the clip, if applicable.

Duration¶

The Duration property is a float value indicating the length of the clip in seconds. This is a Read-only property. This is calculated by: End - Start. To modify duration, you must edit the Start and/or End clip properties.

End¶

The End property defines the trimming point at the end of the clip in seconds, allowing you to control how much of the clip is visible in the timeline. Changing this property will impact the Duration clip property.

Gravity¶

The Gravity clip property sets the initial display position coordinate (X,Y) for the clip, after it has been scaled (see Scale). This affects where the clip picture is initially displayed on the screen, for example Top Left or Bottom Right. The default gravity option is Center, which displays the picture in the very center of the screen. The gravity options are:

Enable Audio¶

The Enable Audio property is an enumeration that overrides the default audio setting for the clip. Possible values: -1 (undefined), 0 (no audio), 1 (audio enabled).

Enable Video¶

The Enable Video property is an enumeration that overrides the default video setting for the clip. Possible values: -1 (undefined), 0 (no video), 1 (video enabled).

ID¶

The ID property holds a randomly generated GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) assigned to each clip, ensuring its uniqueness. This is a Read-only property, and assigned by OpenShot when a clip is created.

Track¶

The Track property is an integer indicating the layer on which the clip is placed. Clips on higher tracks are rendered above those on lower tracks.

Location X and Location Y¶

The Location X and Location Y properties are key-frame curves that determine the relative position of the clip, expressed in percentages, based on the specified gravity. The range for these curves is -1 to 1. See Transform.

Volume Mixing¶

The Volume Mixing property is an enumeration that controls how volume adjustments are applied before mixing audio. Options: None (no adjustment), Reduce (volume lowered to 80%), Average (volume divided based on the number of concurrent clips).

Mixing audio involves adjusting volume levels so that overlapping clips do not become too loud (creating audio distortion and loss of audio clarity). If you combine particularly loud audio clips on multiple tracks, clipping (a staccato audio distortion) may occur. To avoid distortion, OpenShot might need to reduce the volume levels in overlapping clips. The following audio mixing methods are available:

For quickly adjusting the volume of a clip, you can use the simple Volume Preset menu. See Context Menu. For precise control over the volume of a clip, you can manually set the Volume Key-frame. See Volume.

Origin X and Origin Y¶

The Origin X and Origin Y properties are key-frame curves that define the rotation origin point’s position in percentages. The range for these curves is -1 to 1. See Transform.

Clip Parent¶

The Parent property of a clip sets the initial keyframe values to the parent object. For example, if many clips all point to the same parent clip, they will inherit all their default properties, such as location_x, location_y, scale_x, scale_y, etc… This can be very useful in certain circumstances, such as when you have many clips that need to move or scale together.

Position¶

The Position property determines the clip’s position on the timeline in seconds, with 0.0 indicating the beginning.

Rotation¶

The Rotation property is a key-frame curve that controls the rotation angle of the clip, ranging from -360 to 360 degrees. You can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. Quickly adjust the orientation angle of a clip (sideways, upside down, right side up, portrait, landscape), flip a clip, or animate the rotation. See Transform.

Scale¶

The Scale property is the initial resizing or scaling method used to display the picture of a clip, which may be further adjusted by the Scale X and Scale Y clip properties (see Scale X and Scale Y). It is recommended to use assets with the same aspect ratio as your project profile, which allows many of these resizing methods to fully scale your clip up to the size of the screen, without adding any black bars on the edges. The scale methods are:

Scale X and Scale Y¶

The Scale X and Scale Y properties are key-frame curves that represent horizontal and vertical scaling in percentages, respectively. The range for these curves is 0 to 1. See Transform. OpenShot limits the max scale values based on the file type and the project size, to prevent crashes and performance issues.

Shear X and Shear Y¶

The Shear X and Shear Y properties are key-frame curves that represent X and Y shear angles in degrees, respectively. See Transform. OpenShot limits the max shear values based on the file type and the project size, to prevent crashes and performance issues.

Start¶

The Start property defines the trimming point at the beginning of the clip in seconds. Changing this property will impact the Duration clip property.

Time¶

The Time property is a key-frame curve that represents frames played over time, affecting the speed and direction of the video. You can use one of the available presets (normal, fast, slow, freeze, freeze & zoom, forward, backward), by right clicking on a Clip and choosing the Time menu. Many presets are available in this menu for reversing, speeding up, and slowing down a video clip, see Context Menu. The same adjustments can be made interactively with the Timing toolbar button by dragging a clip’s edges; OpenShot adds the necessary time keyframes and scales all other keyframes automatically.

Optionally, you can manually set key-frame values for the Time property. The value represents the frame number at the position of the key-frame. This can be tricky to determine and might require a calculator to find the needed values. For example, if the beginning of your Clip sets a time value of 300 (i.e. frame 300), and the end of your clip sets a time value of 1 (frame 1), OpenShot will play this clip backwards, starting at frame 300 and ending at frame 1, at the appropriate speed (based on where these key-frames are set on the timeline). NOTE: To determine the total number of frames in a clip, multiply the duration of the file with the FPS of the project (for example: 47.0 sec clip duration X 24.0 Project FPS = 1128 total frames).

This allows for some very complex scenarios, such as jump cutting inside a clip, reversing a portion of a clip, slowing down a portion of a clip, freezing on a frame, and much more. See Animation <#animation-ref> for more details on manual key-frame animations.

Volume¶

The Volume property is a key-frame curve that controls audio volume or level, ranging from 0 (mute) to 1 (full volume). For automatic adjustment of volume, see Volume Mixing.

Wave Color¶

The Wave Color property is a key-frame curve that represents the color of the audio waveform visualization.

Waveform¶

The Waveform property is a boolean that determines whether a waveform visualization is used instead of the clip’s image.

More Information¶

For more info on key frames and animation, see Animation <#animation-ref>.

Transitions¶

A transition is used to gradually fade (or wipe) between two clip images. In OpenShot, transitions are represented by blue, rounded rectangles on the timeline. They are automatically created when you overlap two clips, and can be added manually by dragging one onto the timeline from the Transitions panel. A transition must be placed on top of a clip (overlapping it), with the most common location being the beginning or end of a clip.

NOTE: Transitions do not affect audio, so if you are intending to fade in/out the audio volume of a clip, you must adjust the volume clip property. See Clip Properties <#clip-properties-ref>

Overview¶

[image]

Direction¶

Transitions adjust the alpha/transparency of the overlapping clip image (i.e. the clip under the transition), and can either fade from opaque to transparent, or transparent to opaque (does not affect the audio). Right click and choose Reverse Transition to change the direction of the fade. You can also manually adjust the Brightness curve, animating the visual fade in any way you wish. [image]

Transparency¶

If transitions are used on images or videos that contain transparency (i.e. alpha channel) this will result in the original clip disappearing abruptly (or popping out of existence), since OpenShot’s transition system expects the 2nd clip to fully cover up the first clip. For example, if the 2nd clip does not fully cover the first clip, a transition might not be the best tool to use. Instead, you should consider adjusting the alpha property of the first clip to make it fade out where needed, see Clip Properties <#clip-properties-ref> or Context Menu <#clip-presets-ref>. Alternatively, you can combine a transition and alpha fade when using transparent clips to more smoothly fade between then.

Cutting & Slicing¶

OpenShot has many easy ways to adjust the start and end trim positions of a transition (otherwise known as cutting or trimming). The most common method is simply grabbing the left (or right) edge of the transition and dragging. For a complete guide to slicing and all available keyboard shortcuts, see the Trimming & Slicing <#clips-cutting-slicing-ref> and Keyboard Shortcuts <#keyboard-shortcut-ref> sections.

Mask¶

In video editing, masks are powerful tools that allow you to selectively display specific areas of a video clip. Similar to masking in image editing, video masks define a region where changes will be applied while leaving other parts of the video unaffected.

A mask can be thought of as a shape or path that outlines the area you want to target. Commonly used shapes include rectangles, circles, and freeform paths. The masked area is referred to as the “masked region.”

Masks can be animated, allowing you to change the shape or position over time. This enables dynamic effects like revealing hidden elements or transitioning between different visual states. In OpenShot, you can convert a transition to a mask, by customizing the Brightness key-frame curve. Keeping a static (unchanging) value of brightness, will maintain a fixed mask location. Combine this with custom transition images, or even custom image sequences, to create animated, complex masks.

Custom Transition¶

Any greyscale image can be used as a transition (or mask), by adding it to your ~/.openshot_qt/transitions/ folder. Just be sure to name your file something that is easily recognizable, and restart OpenShot. Your custom transition/mask will now show up in the list of transitions.

Transition Properties¶

Below is a list of transition properties which can be edited, and in most cases, animated over time. To view a transition’s properties, right click and choose Properties. The property editor will appear, where you can change these properties. NOTE: Pay close attention to where the play-head (i.e. red playback line) is. Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help create animations.

NOTE: Transitions do not affect audio, so if you are intending to fade in/out the audio volume of a clip, you must adjust the volume clip property. See Clip Properties <#clip-properties-ref>.

Duration¶

The Duration property is a float value indicating the length of the transition in seconds. This is a Read-only property. This is calculated by: End - Start. To modify duration, you must edit the Start and/or End transition properties.

End¶

The End property defines the trimming point at the end of the transition in seconds, allowing you to control how much of the transition is visible in the timeline. Changing this property will impact the Duration transition property.

ID¶

The ID property holds a randomly generated GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) assigned to each transition, ensuring its uniqueness. This is a Read-only property, and assigned by OpenShot when a transition is created.

Track¶

The Track property is an integer indicating the layer on which the transition is placed. Transitions on higher tracks are rendered above those on lower tracks.

Effects¶

Effects are used in OpenShot to enhance or modify the audio or video of a clip. They can modify pixels and audio data, and can generally enhance your video projects. Each effect has its own set of properties, most of which can be animated over time, for example varying the Brightness & Contrast of a clip over time.

Effects can be added to any clip by dragging and dropping them from the Effects tab onto a clip. Each effect is represented by a small colored icon and the first letter of the effect name. Note: Pay close attention to where the play-head (i.e. red playback line) is. Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help create animations quickly.

To view an effect’s properties, right-click on the effect icon, revealing the context menu, and choose Properties. The property editor will appear, where you can edit these properties. Properties appear alphabetically in the dock, with filter options available at the top. Hold Ctrl and click multiple effect icons to select them all, the Properties dock will show an entry such as 3 Selections so you can adjust their common settings in one step. See Clip Properties <#clip-properties-ref>.

To adjust a property:

Effect properties are integral to the Animation <#animation-ref> system. When you modify an effect property, a keyframe is generated at the current playhead position. For a property to span the entire clip, position the playhead at or before the clip’s start before making adjustments. A convenient way to identify a clip’s start is by utilizing the ‘next/previous marker’ feature on the Timeline toolbar. [image]

List of Effects¶

OpenShot Video Editor has a total of 27 built-in video and audio effects: 18 video effects and 9 audio effects. These effects can be added to a clip by dragging the effect onto a clip. The following table contains the name and short description of each effect.

Effect Properties¶

Below is a list of common effect properties, shared by all effects in OpenShot. To view an effect’s properties, right click and choose Properties. The property editor will appear, where you can change these properties. Note: Pay close attention to where the play-head (i.e. red playback line) is. Key frames are automatically created at the current playback position, to help quickly create animations.

See the table below for a list of common effect properties. Only the common properties that all effects share are listed here. Each effect also has many unique properties, which are specific to each effect, see Video Effects for more information on individual effects and their unique properties.

Duration¶

The Duration property is a float value indicating the length of the effect in seconds. This is a Read-only property. This is calculated by: End - Start. To modify duration, you must edit the Start and/or End effect properties.

NOTE: Most effects in OpenShot default the effect duration to the clip duration, and hide this property from the editor.

End¶

The End property defines the trimming point at the end of the effect in seconds, allowing you to control how much of the effect is visible in the timeline. Changing this property will impact the Duration effect property.

NOTE: Most effects in OpenShot default this property to match the clip, and hide this property from the editor.

ID¶

The ID property holds a randomly generated GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) assigned to each effect, ensuring its uniqueness. This is a Read-only property, and assigned by OpenShot when an effect is created.

Track¶

The Track property is an integer indicating the layer on which the effect is placed. Effects on higher tracks are rendered above those on lower tracks.

NOTE: Most effects in OpenShot default this property to match the clip, and hide this property from the editor.

Effect Parent¶

The Parent property of an effect sets the initial keyframe values to a parent effect. For example, if many effects all point to the same parent effect, they will inherit all their initial properties, such as font size, font color, and background color for a Caption effect. In the example of many Caption effects using the same Parent effect, it is an efficient way to manage a large number of these effects.

NOTE: The parent property for effects should be linked to the same type of parent effect, otherwise their default initial values will not match. Also see Clip Parent <#clip-parent-ref>.

Position¶

The Position property determines the effect’s position on the timeline in seconds, with 0.0 indicating the beginning.

NOTE: Most effects in OpenShot default this property to match the clip, and hide this property from the editor.

Start¶

The Start property defines the trimming point at the beginning of the effect in seconds. Changing this property will impact the Duration effect property.

NOTE: Most effects in OpenShot default this property to match the clip, and hide this property from the editor.

Sequencing¶

Effects are normally applied before the Clip processes keyframes. This allows the effect to process the raw image of the clip, before the clip applies properties such as scaling, rotation, location, etc… Normally, this is the preferred sequence of events, and this is the default behavior of effects in OpenShot. However, you can optionally override this behavior with the Apply Before Clip Keyframes property.

If you set the Apply Before Clip Keyframes property to No, the effect will be sequenced after the clip scales, rotates, and applies keyframes to the image. This can be useful on certain effects, such as the Mask effect, when you want to animate a clip first and then apply a static mask to the clip.

Video Effects¶

Effects are generally divided into two categories: video and audio effects. Video effects modify the image and pixel data of a clip. Below is a list of video effects, and their properties. Often it is best to experiment with an effect, entering different values into the properties, and observing the results.

Analog Tape¶

The Analog Tape effect emulates consumer tape playback: horizontal line wobble (“tracking”), chroma bleed, luma softness, grainy snow, a bottom tracking stripe, and short static bursts. All controls are key-framable and the noise is deterministic (seeded from the effect’s ID with an optional offset), so renders are repeatable.

Usage notes

Alpha Mask / Wipe Transition¶

The Alpha Mask / Wipe Transition effect leverages a grayscale mask to create a dynamic transition between two images or video clips. In this effect, the light areas of the mask reveal the new image, while the dark areas conceal it, allowing for creative and custom transitions that go beyond standard fade or wipe techniques. This effect only affects the image, and not the audio track.

Bars¶

The Bars effect adds colored bars around your video frame, which can be used for aesthetic purposes, to frame the video within a certain aspect ratio, or to simulate the appearance of viewing content on a different display device. This effect is particularly useful for creating a cinematic or broadcast look.

Blur¶

The Blur effect softens the image, reducing detail and texture. This can be used to create a sense of depth, draw attention to specific parts of the frame, or simply to apply a stylistic choice for aesthetic purposes. The intensity of the blur can be adjusted to achieve the desired level of softness.

Brightness & Contrast¶

The Brightness & Contrast effect allows for the adjustment of the overall lightness or darkness of the image (brightness) and the difference between the darkest and lightest parts of the image (contrast). This effect can be used to correct poorly lit videos or to create dramatic lighting effects for artistic purposes.

Caption¶

Add text captions on top of your video. We support both VTT (WebVTT) and SubRip (SRT) subtitle file formats. These formats are used to display captions or subtitles in videos. They allow you to add text-based subtitles to video content, making it more accessible to a wider audience, especially for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Caption effect can even animate the text fading in/out, and supports any font, size, color, and margin. OpenShot also has an easy-to-use Caption editor, where you can quickly insert captions at the playhead position, or edit all your caption text in one place.

:caption: Show a caption, starting at 5 seconds and ending at 10 seconds.
00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000
Hello, welcome to our video!

Chroma Key (Greenscreen)¶

The Chroma Key (Greenscreen) effect replaces a specific color (or chroma) in the video (commonly green or blue) with transparency, allowing for the compositing of the video over a different background. This effect is widely used in film and television production for creating visual effects and placing subjects in settings that would be otherwise impossible or impractical to shoot in.

Color Map / Lookup¶

The Color Map effect applies a 3D LUT (Lookup Table) to your footage, instantly transforming its colors to achieve a consistent look or mood. A 3D LUT is simply a table that remaps every input hue to a new output palette. With separate keyframe curves for red, green, and blue channels, you can precisely control, and even animate, how much each channel is influenced by the LUT, making it easy to fine-tune or blend your grade over time.

LUT files (.cube format) can be downloaded from many online resources, including free packs on photography blogs or marketplaces, such as <https://freshluts.com/>. OpenShot includes a selection of popular LUTs designed for Rec 709 gamma out of the box.

Gamma and Rec 709¶

Gamma is the way video systems brighten or darken the midtones of an image. Rec 709 is the standard gamma curve used for most HD and online video today. By shipping with Rec 709 LUTs, OpenShot makes it simple to apply a grade that matches the vast majority of footage you’ll edit.

If your camera or workflow uses a different gamma (for example a LOG profile), you can still use a LUT made for that curve. Simply use a .cube file designed for your gamma under the Color Map effect’s LUT Path. Just be sure your footage gamma matches the LUT gamma—or the colors may look incorrect.

The following Rec 709 LUT files are included in OpenShot, organized into the following categories:

Cinematic & Blockbuster¶

[image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

Dark & Moody¶

[image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

Film Stock & Vintage¶

[image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

Teal & Orange Vibes¶

[image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

Utility & Correction¶

[image] [image] [image]

Vibrant & Colorful¶

[image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

Color Saturation¶

The Color Saturation effect adjusts the intensity and vibrancy of colors within the video. Increasing saturation can make colors more vivid and eye-catching, while decreasing it can create a more subdued, almost black-and-white appearance.

Color Shift¶

Shift the colors of an image up, down, left, and right (with infinite wrapping).

Each pixel has 4 color channels:

The Color Shift effect simply “moves” or “translates” a specific color channel on the X or Y axis. Not all video and image formats support an alpha channel, and in those cases, you will not see any changes when adjusting the color shift of the alpha channel.

Crop¶

The Crop effect removes unwanted outer areas from the video frame, allowing you to focus on a particular part of the shot, change the aspect ratio, or remove distracting elements from the edges of the frame. This effect is the primary method for cropping a Clip in OpenShot. The left, right, top, and bottom key-frames can even be animated, for a moving and resizing cropped area. You can leave the cropped area blank, or you can dynamically resize the cropped area to fill the screen.

You can quickly add this effect by right-clicking a clip and choosing Crop. When active, blue crop handles appear in the video preview so you can adjust the crop visually.

Deinterlace¶

The Deinterlace effect is used to remove interlacing artifacts from video footage, which are commonly seen as horizontal lines across moving objects. This effect is essential for converting interlaced video (such as from older video cameras or broadcast sources) into a progressive format suitable for modern displays.

Hue¶

The Hue effect adjusts the overall color balance of the video, changing the hues without affecting the brightness or saturation. This can be used for color correction or to apply dramatic color effects that transform the mood of the footage.

Lens Flare¶

The Lens Flare effect simulates bright light hitting your camera lens, creating glowing halos, colored rings and gentle glares over your footage. Reflections are automatically placed along a line from the light source toward the center of the frame. You can animate any property with keyframes to follow your action or match your scene.

Negative¶

The Negative effect inverts the colors of the video, producing an image that resembles a photographic negative. This can be used for artistic effects, to create a surreal or otherworldly look, or to highlight specific elements within the frame.

Object Detector¶

The Object Detector effect employs machine learning algorithms (such as neural networks) to identify and highlight objects within the video frame. It can recognize multiple object types, such as vehicles, people, animals, and more! This can be used for analytical purposes, to add interactive elements to videos, or to track the movement of specific objects across the frame.

Class Filters & Confidence¶

To adjust the detection process to your specific needs, the Object Detector includes properties for class filters and confidence thresholds. By setting a class filter, such as “Truck” or “Person,” you can instruct the detector to focus on specific types of objects, limiting the types of objects tracked. The confidence threshold allows you to set a minimum level of certainty for detections, ensuring that only objects detected with a confidence level above this threshold are considered, which helps in reducing false positives and focusing on more accurate detections.

How Parenting Works¶

Once you have tracked objects, you can “parent” other Clips <#clips-ref> to them. This means that the second clip, which could be a graphic, text, or another video layer, will now follow the tracked object as if it’s attached to it. If the tracked object moves to the left, the child clip moves to the left. If the tracked object grows in size (gets closer to the camera), the child clip also scales up. For parented clips to appear correctly, they must be on a Track higher than the tracked objects, and set the appropriate Scale <#clip-scale-ref> property.

See Clip Parent <#clip-parent-ref>.

Properties¶

Outline¶

The Outline effect adds a customizable border around images or text within a video frame. It works by extracting the image’s alpha channel, blurring it to generate a smooth outline mask, and then combining this mask with a solid color layer. Users can adjust the outline’s width as well as its color components (red, green, blue) and transparency (alpha), allowing for a wide range of visual styles. This effect is ideal for emphasizing text, creating visual separation, and adding an artistic flair to your videos.

Pixelate¶

The Pixelate effect increases or decreases the size of the pixels in the video, creating a mosaic-like appearance. This can be used to obscure details (such as faces or license plates for privacy reasons), or as a stylistic effect to evoke a retro, digital, or abstract aesthetic.

Sharpen¶

The Sharpen effect enhances perceived detail by first blurring the frame slightly and then adding a scaled difference (the un-sharp mask) back on top. This boosts edge contrast, making textures and outlines appear crisper without changing overall brightness.

Modes¶

Channels¶

Properties¶

Shift¶

The Shift effect moves the entire image in different directions (up, down, left, and right with infinite wrapping), creating a sense of motion or disorientation. This can be used for transitions, to simulate camera movement, or to add dynamic motion to static shots.

Spherical Projection¶

The Spherical Projection effect flattens 360° or fisheye footage into a normal rectangular view, or generates fisheye output. Steer a virtual camera with yaw, pitch, and roll. Control the output view with FOV. Choose the input type (equirect or one of the fisheye models), pick a projection mode for the output, and select a sampling mode that balances quality and speed. This is ideal for keyframed “virtual camera” moves inside 360° clips and for converting circular fisheye shots.

Usage notes

Stabilizer¶

The Stabilizer effect reduces unwanted shake and jitter in handheld or unstable video footage, resulting in smoother, more professional-looking shots. This is particularly useful for action scenes, handheld shots, or any footage where a tripod was not used.

Tracker¶

The Tracker effect allows for the tracking of a specific object or area within the video frame across multiple frames. This can be used for motion tracking, adding effects or annotations that follow the movement of objects, or for stabilizing footage based on a tracked point.When tracking an object, be sure to select the entire object, which is visible at the start of a clip, and choose one of the following Tracking Type algorithms. The tracking algorithm then follows this object from frame to frame, recording its position, scale, and sometimes rotation.

Tracking Type¶

How Parenting Works¶

Once you have a tracked object, you can “parent” other Clips <#clips-ref> to it. This means that the second clip, which could be a graphic, text, or another video layer, will now follow the tracked object as if it’s attached to it. If the tracked object moves to the left, the child clip moves to the left. If the tracked object grows in size (gets closer to the camera), the child clip also scales up. For parented clips to appear correctly, they must be on a Track higher than the tracked objects, and set the appropriate Scale <#clip-scale-ref> property.

See Clip Parent <#clip-parent-ref>.

Properties¶

Wave¶

The Wave effect distorts the image into a wave-like pattern, simulating effects like heat haze, water reflections, or other forms of distortion. The speed, amplitude, and direction of the waves can be adjusted.

Audio Effects¶

Audio effects modify the waveforms and audio sample data of a clip. Below is a list of audio effects, and their properties. Often it is best to experiment with an effect, entering different values into the properties, and observing the results.

Compressor¶

The Compressor effect in audio processing reduces the dynamic range of the audio signal, making loud sounds quieter and quiet sounds louder. This creates a more consistent volume level, useful for balancing the loudness of different audio sources or for achieving a particular sound characteristic in music production.

Delay¶

The Delay effect adds an echo to the audio signal, repeating the sound after a short delay. This can create a sense of space and depth in the audio, and is commonly used for creative effects in music, sound design, and audio post-production.

Distortion¶

The Distortion effect intentionally clips the audio signal, adding harmonic and non-harmonic overtones. This can create a gritty, aggressive sound characteristic of many electric guitar tones and is used for both musical and sound design purposes.

Echo¶

The Echo effect, similar to delay, repeats the audio signal at intervals, but with a focus on creating a distinct repetition of sound that mimics natural echoes. This can be used to simulate acoustic environments or for creative sound effects.

Expander¶

The Expander effect increases the dynamic range of audio, making quiet sounds quieter and leaving loud sounds unaffected. This is the opposite of compression and is used to reduce background noise or increase the dynamic impact of audio.

Noise¶

The Noise effect adds random, equal-intensity signals across the frequency spectrum to the audio, simulating the sound of white noise. This can be used for sound masking, as a component in sound design, or for testing and calibration purposes.

Parametric EQ¶

The Parametric EQ (Equalizer) effect allows for precise adjustments to the volume level of specific frequency ranges in the audio signal. This can be used for corrective measures, such as removing unwanted tones, or creatively, to shape the tonal balance of the audio.

Robotization¶

The Robotization effect transforms the audio to sound mechanical or robotic, by applying a combination of pitch modulation and synthesis techniques. This effect is widely used for character voices in media, creative music production, and sound design.

Whisperization¶

The Whisperization effect transforms the audio to mimic a whispering voice, often by filtering out certain frequencies and adding noise. This can be used for artistic effects in music, sound design for film and video, or in audio storytelling to convey secrecy or intimacy.

For more info on key frames and animation, see Animation <#animation-ref>.

Export¶

Exporting converts your OpenShot project (clips, effects, animations, titles) into a single video output file (using a process called video encoding). By using the default settings, the exported video will be compatible with most media players (such as VLC) and websites (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook) and creates a MP4 (h.264 + AAC) formatted video file. See MP4 (h.264) <#profiles-mp4-h264-ref>.

Click on the Export Video icon at the top of the screen (or use the File→Export Video menu). The default values will work fine, so just click the Export Video button to render your new video. You can also create your own custom export profiles, see Profiles <#profiles-ref>.

Simple Mode¶

While video encoding is very complicated, with dozens of interrelated settings and options, OpenShot makes it easy, with sensible defaults, and most of this complexity hidden away behind our Simple tab, which is the default export view. [image]

Advanced Mode¶

Most users will never need to switch to the Advanced tab, but if you need to customize any of the video encoding settings, for example, custom bitrates, different codecs, or limiting the range of frames exported, this is the tab for you.

Advanced Options¶

[image]

Profile¶

A video profile is a collection of common video settings (size, frame rate, aspect ratio). Profiles are used during editing, previewing, and exporting to provide a quick way to switch between common combinations of these settings. The Export Dialog will default to the same profile used by the project.

NOTE: It is important to choose a **Profile* with the same aspect ratio used when editing your project. If you are exporting at a different aspect ratio, it might stretch the image, crop the image, add black bars, or otherwise introduce an issue which changes the exported video, making it appear differently than the Preview inside OpenShot.* [image]

Image Sequence Settings¶

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Video Settings¶

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Audio Settings¶

[image]

Animation¶

OpenShot has been designed specifically with animation in mind. The powerful curve-based animation framework can handle most jobs with ease, and is flexible enough to create just about any animation. Key frames specify values at certain points on a clip, and OpenShot does the hard work of interpolating the in-between values.

Overview¶

[image]

Key Frames¶

To create a key frame in OpenShot, simply position the play-head (i.e. playback position) at any point over a clip, and edit properties in the property dialog. If the property supports key frames, it will turn green, and a small icon (circle=Bézier, diamond=linear, square=constant) will appear on the bottom of your clip at that position. Move your play-head to another point over that clip, and adjust the properties again. All animations require at least 2 key frames, but can support an unlimited number of them.

Use the Next Marker and Previous Marker toolbar buttons to step through the selected item’s keyframes. They follow whichever clip, effect, or transition is selected. When an effect is selected, navigation also stops at the start and end of its parent clip.

To adjust the interpolation mode, right click on the small graph icon next to a property value.

For more info on creating key frames for location, rotation, scale, shear, and location, see Transform <#clip-transform-ref>.
For more info on preset animations, see Context Menu <#clip-presets-ref>.
For a full list of key frames, see Clip Properties <#clip-properties-ref>.

Timing¶

Changing how fast a clip plays is done with the Time property and the Timing tool.

Repeating¶

To play a clip multiple times, use Right-Click → Time → Repeat.

OpenShot writes the Time curve for you, and you can edit those keyframes just like any other. See more: Repeat <#clip-time-repeat-ref>.

Bézier Presets¶

When using a Bézier curve for animation, OpenShot includes more than 20 curve presets (which affect the shape of the curve). For example, Ease-In has a more gradual slope at the beginning, making an animation move slower at the beginning, and faster at the end. Ease-In/Out (Back) has a gradual beginning and ending, but actually goes past the expected value and then back (producing a bounce effect).

To choose a curve preset, right click on the small graph icon next to a key frame. [image]

Image Sequences¶

If you have a sequence of similarly named images (such as, cat001.png, cat002.png, cat003.png, etc…), you can simply drag and drop one of them into OpenShot, and you will be prompted to import the entire sequence. OpenShot will playback these sequential images rapidly, as if they are frames in a video. The rate or speed in which these images are displayed is based on their frame rate.

NOTE: Be sure your image sequence starts at 0 or 1, or you will likely receive an error when importing it into OpenShot. For example, if your sequence starts at cat222.png, or has missing images in the sequence, OpenShot will struggle to understand the sequence. An easy work-around is to renumber the images so they start with 1. [image]

To adjust the frame rate of the animation, right click and choose File Properties in the Project Files panel, and adjust the frame rate. Once you have set the correct frame rate, drag the animation onto the timeline. [image]

Text & Titles¶

Adding text and titles is an important aspect of video editing, and OpenShot comes with an easy-to-use Title Editor. Use the Title menu (located in the main menu of OpenShot) to launch the Title Editor. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T.

Titles are simply vector image files with transparent backgrounds (*.svg). OpenShot comes with many easy-to-use templates, but you can also create your own or import new templates into OpenShot. These templates allow you to quickly change the text, font, size, color, and background color. You can also launch an advanced, external SVG editor for further customizations (if needed). Once the title is added to your project, drag and drop the title on a Track above a video clip. The transparent background will allow the video below to appear behind the text.

Overview¶

[image]

Title Templates¶

OpenShot includes a variety of vector title templates that can be used to enhance your video projects. Below is a table listing the available titles and their descriptions:

Custom Title Templates¶

OpenShot can use any vector SVG image file as a custom title template in the Title Editor dialog. Just add an SVG image file to your ~/.openshot_qt/title_templates/ folder, and it will appear the next time you launch the Title Editor dialog. You can also right click on any SVG files in your Project Files panel, and choose Edit Title or Duplicate Title.

Note: These SVG templates are only used by the Title Editor dialog, and not Animated Title dialog.

3D Animated Titles¶

Adding a 3D animated title is just as easy, using our Animated Title dialog. Use the Title menu (located in the main menu of OpenShot) to launch the Animated Title editor. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B. Note: Blender must be installed and configured before this feature will work in OpenShot. See Installing Blender. [image]

3D Animated Templates¶

OpenShot includes a variety of 3D animated templates that can be used to add dynamic and engaging elements to your video projects. Below is a table listing the available templates and their descriptions:

Importing Text¶

You can generate text & titles in many different programs, such as Blender, Inkscape, Krita, Gimp, etc… Before you can import text into OpenShot, you must first export the text from these programs into a compatible image format that contains a transparent background and alpha channel.

The SVG format is a great choice for vector graphics (curves, shapes, text effects and paths), however it is not always 100% compatible with OpenShot. Thus, we recommend using PNG format, which is a great web-based image format that can include a transparent background and alpha channel. A transparent background and alpha channel are needed for OpenShot to allow the text to not cover up videos and images on the timeline below them.

For information on importing animated sequences into OpenShot, please see Image Sequences <#animation-image-seq-ref>.

Installing Inkscape¶

The Advanced Editor feature in the Title Editor dialog requires the latest version of Inkscape (<https://inkscape.org/release/>) be installed and the OpenShot Preferences updated with the correct path to the Inkscape executable. See the General <#preferences-general-ref> tab in Preferences.

Installing Blender¶

The Animated Title feature in OpenShot requires the latest version of Blender (<https://www.blender.org/download/>) be installed and the OpenShot Preferences updated with the correct path to the Blender executable. See the General <#preferences-general-ref> tab in Preferences. NOTE: The minimum supported version of Blender is 5.0+. Older versions of Blender are not compatible with OpenShot Video Editor.

For a detailed guide on how to install these dependencies, see Blender & Inkscape Guide <https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/wiki/Blender-and-Inkscape-Guide>.

Profiles¶

A video profile is a collection of common video settings (size, frame rate, aspect ratio). Profiles are used during editing, previewing, and exporting to provide a quick way to switch between common combinations of these settings.

If you often use the same profile, you can set a default profile: Edit→Preferences→Preview.

Project Profile¶

The project profile is used when previewing your project and editing. The default project profile is HD 720p 30fps. It is best practice to always switch to your target profile before you begin editing. For example, if you are targeting 1080p 30fps, switch to that profile before you begin editing your project. For a full list of included profiles see Profile List.

Tip: To quickly select a profile, you can right-click on any file in your Project Files, and select the Choose Profile option (see File Menu <#file-menu-ref>). [image]

Choose Profile Dialog¶

[image]

Edit/Duplicate Profile¶

To create a custom profile, right-click on any profile in OpenShot and choose Duplicate to open up the Profile Editor. Custom profiles also include an Edit and Delete option, if you need to customize them further. You can edit the description, resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, and pixel ratio of the custom profile. NOTE: It is important that each custom profile has a unique profile name.

The custom profiles are saved in the ~/.openshot_qt/profiles/ or C:\Users\USERNAME\.openshot_qt\profiles folder. [image]

Converting Profiles¶

When switching profiles (or exporting to a different profile), OpenShot will do it’s best to convert all clip, transition, and keyframe data to the new framerate (FPS). Certain properties, such as position, start, end, and keyframes will be updated to match the new framerate precision. For example, if moving from 30 FPS to 25 FPS, these properties will be changed from increments of 1/30 seconds to increments of 1/25 seconds. In order to preserve the overall timing accuracy of the timeline, OpenShot will match the position and start trim as closely as possible, and any tiny gaps (1-3 frames big) caused due to rounding or precision changes, will be resolved automatically by adjusting the end trim. This should result in a seamless conversion for most video projects (with no noticeable black gaps between clips).

However, the destructive nature of this conversion is why we recommend always editing in your target profile, or at least your target FPS, in order to avoid converting between profiles as much as possible.

Export Profile¶

The export profile always defaults to your current project profile, but can be changed to target different profiles. [image]

Custom Profile¶

Although OpenShot has more than 400 profiles (Profile List) included by default, you can also create your own custom profiles. Create a new text file in the ~/.openshot_qt/profiles/ or C:\Users\USERNAME\.openshot_qt\profiles folder.

NOTE: See Edit/Duplicate Profile for an alternative method of duplicating an existing profile.

Use the following text as your template (i.e. copy and paste this into the new file):

description=Custom Profile Name
frame_rate_num=30000
frame_rate_den=1001
width=1280
height=720
progressive=1
sample_aspect_num=1
sample_aspect_den=1
display_aspect_num=16
display_aspect_den=9

Once you restart OpenShot, you will see your custom profile appear in the list of Profiles.

Preset List¶

OpenShot includes many export presets, which combine our list of common profiles and their associated video export settings (video codec, audio codec, audio channels, audio sample rate, etc…), which target specific output formats, websites, and devices. The default export preset used by OpenShot is MP4 (h.264 + AAC), see MP4 (h.264).

All Formats¶

AVI (h.264)¶

AVI (mpeg2)¶

AVI (mpeg4)¶

GIF (animated)¶

MKV (h.264 dx)¶

MKV (h.264 nv)¶

MKV (h.264 qsv)¶

MKV (h.264 va)¶

MKV (h.264 videotoolbox)¶

MKV (h.264)¶

MKV (h.265)¶

MOV (h.264)¶

MOV (mpeg2)¶

MOV (mpeg4)¶

MP3 (audio only)¶

MP4 (AV1 rav1e)¶

MP4 (AV1 svt)¶

MP4 (HEVC va)¶

MP4 (Xvid)¶

MP4 (h.264 dx)¶

MP4 (h.264 nv)¶

MP4 (h.264 qsv)¶

MP4 (h.264 va)¶

MP4 (h.264 videotoolbox)¶

MP4 (h.264)¶

This is the default export preset used by OpenShot. This format is compatible with most media players (such as VLC) and websites (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook).

MP4 (h.265)¶

MP4 (mpeg4)¶

MPEG (mpeg2)¶

OGG (theora/flac)¶

OGG (theora/vorbis)¶

WEBM (vp9)¶

WEBM (vp9) lossless¶

WEBM (vpx)¶

WEBP (vp9 va)¶

Device¶

Apple TV¶

Chromebook¶

Nokia nHD¶

Xbox 360¶

Web¶

Flickr-HD¶

Instagram¶

Metacafe¶

Picasa¶

Twitter¶

Vimeo¶

Vimeo-HD¶

Wikipedia¶

YouTube HD¶

YouTube HD (2K)¶

YouTube HD (4K)¶

YouTube HD (8K)¶

YouTube Standard¶

Blu-Ray/AVCHD¶

AVCHD Disks¶

DVD¶

DVD-NTSC¶

DVD-PAL¶

Profile List¶

OpenShot includes over 400 built-in video profiles. These profiles match the most common video project sizes and frame rates used around the world. It is recommended to edit your project using the same profile as you intend to export. You can also edit your project with different profiles which match your target aspect ratio, for example: all 16:9 profiles are generally compatible with each other. Sometimes it can be useful to edit a project in a lower resolution profile, and export in a higher resolution profile. A full list of profiles is provided below.

Profile Definitions¶