The Best Ubuntu video editors

1. Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities. It seems to be the most easy to use video editor for Linux. He’s on the first place in my list because of the easy to use / what it can do – ratio.

You can get the deb file from here or: sudo apt-get install avidemux (it’s in the multiverse repo)

2. Cinelerra

Cinelerra is the most advanced non-linear video editor and compositor for Linux.

How to install it:

for all x86 (full working on 32 and 64 bits), by Paolo Rampino:
deb http://akirad.cinelerra.org akirad-intrepid main

Installation notes:
- For your convenience you can install a package for detecting your version of Ubuntu, installing akirad repository and keeping it updated.
Just double click on the link http://akirad.cinelerra.org/pool/addakirad.deb and install it with GDebi Package Installer.
Alternatively, use one of the following terminal commands:
wget -q http://akirad.cinelerra.org/pool/addakirad.deb && sudo dpkg -i addakirad.deb && rm addakirad.deb && sudo apt-get update
or
echo deb http://akirad.cinelerra.org akirad-intrepid main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/akirad.list && wget -q http://akirad.cinelerra.org/dists/akirad.key -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
– 4 are the packages available in the akirad repository:

cinelerra (all computers)
cinelerra-gl (best on computer with opengl2.0 shader)
cinelerra-smp (best on multiprocessors computer, it allows also opengl2.0 shader)
cinelerra-swtc (extra Shape Wipe Transitions)

- Ubuntu Intrepid uses Pulse Audio as Sound driver. Since it comes with a PulseAudio ESD compatibility layer, Cinelerra can be set to work with PulseAudio. Simply open Cinelerra and go to Settings->Preferences->Playback->Audio Driver. Select ESound and set the following parameters:
Server:
Port: 7007
- These packages set shmmax to 0x7fffffff and add non-English language support for Cinelerra.
- Please, report any package bug to akir4d at gmail dot com

For older versions of Ubuntu, see this.

3. Kino

Kino is a non-linear DV editor for GNU/Linux. It features excellent integration with IEEE-1394 for capture, VTR control, and recording back to the camera. It captures video to disk in Raw DV and AVI format, in both type-1 DV and type-2 DV (separate audio stream) encodings.
You can load multiple video clips, cut and paste portions of video/audio, and save it to an edit decision list (SMIL XML format). Most edit and navigation commands are mapped to equivalent vi key commands. Also, Kino can export the composite movie in a number of formats: DV over IEEE 1394, Raw DV, DV AVI, still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. Still frame import and export uses gdk-pixbuf, which has support for BMG, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PPM, SVG, Targa, TIFF, and XPM. MP3 requires lame. Ogg Vorbis requires oggenc. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 require mjpegtools or ffmpeg. MPEG-4 requires ffmpeg.

To install it: sudo apt-get install kino

4. PiTiVi

Taking into account the fact that not everybody has the same knowledge of video editing, nor the same needs, PiTIVi provides several ways of creating and modifying a timeline. Ranging from a simple synopsis view (a-la iMovie) to the full-blown editing view (aka Complex View) which puts you in complete control of your editing.

Other interfaces can be added via the plugin system, aimed at more specific uses like a SlideShow creator or a subtitling editor. It is even possible to use pitivi without a user interface in order to do batch rendering.

To install it: sudo apt-get install pitivi

5. KDEnlive

Kdenlive is an intuitive and powerful multi-track video editor, including most recent video technologies. To see all the features, visit it’s homepage.

To install it (Intrepid):

1. Go to your system menu > Software sources > Third-Party Software
2. Click add and paste this line in:
   deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/baudm/ubuntu intrepid main
3. Close software source and click reload

6. LiVES

LiVES mixes realtime video performance and non-linear editing in one application. It will let you start editing and making video right away, without having to worry about formats, frame sizes, or framerates. It is a very flexible tool which can be used by both VJ’s and video editors – mix and switch clips from the keyboard, trim and edit your clips, and bring them together using the multitrack timeline. You can even record your performance in real time, and then edit it further or render it straight away as a new clip !

Here is a list of full features.

You can download the .deb files from here.

7. The Open Movie Editor

Open Movie Editor is a free and open source video editing program, designed for basic movie making capabilities. It aims do be powerful enough for the amateur movie artist, yet easy to use.

To install it (it’s in the universe repo): sudo apt-get install openmovieeditor

8.Blender

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite but it can also edit videos. For a full features list, see this page.

To install it, enable universe repo and type this in a terminal: sudo apt-get install blender

Please note that this post is called ‘best ubuntu….’ because there are install instructions specific for Ubuntu, these video editors work on any linux distros and some even on windows.