OpenShot

About

OpenShot

OpenShot is a free open-source cross-platform video editor released under the GNU General Public License and founded by American developer Jonathan Thomas in 2008. The application aims to make timeline-based video editing accessible to first-time creators through drag-and-drop clip placement, unlimited tracks, and a simplified interface, and runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux with no watermark on export.

OpenShot was founded in August 2008 by Jonathan Thomas, an American software developer who set out to build an approachable free video editor that would run natively on Linux desktops at a time when the platform lacked a beginner-friendly option. The project rapidly attracted community contributions, moved through several major architectural rewrites, and expanded to Windows and macOS builds. Thomas remains lead developer through the OpenShot Studios LLC entity that maintains the project, and the software is released under the GNU General Public License version 3, with the codebase openly developed on GitHub at openshot/openshot-qt. The editor exposes an unlimited-track timeline with drag-and-drop clip placement, animated transitions, keyframable effects, chroma keying, title templates, 3D animated titles created through an integrated Blender pipeline, audio effects and mixing, and video stabilization. OpenShot 4.0, the current major release line, moved onto a modernised Qt6 interface, added additional acceleration paths, and continued the project's long-running effort to make advanced features accessible without hiding them behind pro-only tiers. Export uses FFmpeg encoders and supports standard delivery preset ranges from vertical social video through 4K UHD, with common H.264, H.265, and image-sequence targets covered by default. OpenShot Studios distributes the application free through openshot.org, the Microsoft Store, Snap, Flathub, and platform installers, and accepts community donations to fund continued development. Documentation and translated user manuals ship alongside the application, and community channels include the OpenShot subreddit at r/OpenShot, an active user forum, the openshot GitHub organization, a YouTube tutorial channel, and social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The application is one of the most-recommended entry points for first-time video editors and has been widely used in schools, community media projects, and hobby YouTube channels since the late 2000s.