What is Shotcut?
Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor. Its main author is Dan Dennedy, and it is licensed under GPLv3. Binaries are regularly built and are available from the Shotcut download page, and the project site has feature and roadmap pages.
Shotcut's direct dependencies are MLT, a multimedia authoring framework, Qt 6 (6.4 minimum) for the application and UI, FFTW, FFmpeg for multimedia format and codec libraries, Frei0r for video plugins and SDL for cross-platform audio playback. A credits page lists indirect and bundled dependencies.
The repository has continuous build workflows for Linux, macOS and Windows. Building from source uses CMake, and the README warns that building is reserved for beta testers or contributors who know what they are doing. Translations are managed on Transifex.
Shotcut screenshots
Explore the interface. Open a screenshot to view it at full size.
Source: official Shotcut project page.
Key capabilities
- Timeline editing Arrange clips across tracks, split clips and work with transitions and keyframes.
- Video filters Apply masking, size, position and rotation filters, including filters shared through adjustment clips.
- Audio controls Adjust track volume, monitor audio levels and apply automatic audio ducking.
- Subtitles Import subtitle files and edit subtitle items on the timeline.
- Export Render edited projects through export jobs, with multimedia format and codec support provided by FFmpeg.
- External plugins Allow external plugins explicitly, with automatic disabling after a detected startup stall.
Where Shotcut fits
Shotcut fits desktop workflows that involve assembling video clips, adding subtitles, applying visual filters and balancing audio before export. Its track controls and adjustment clips support editing projects that combine multiple video and audio tracks.
Before deployment, users should test their media, export settings and any required external plugins on the intended operating system. External plugins require explicit enabling and may cause startup, shutdown or export problems. Teams building from source must also satisfy the documented dependencies and install the application so that its runtime QML files can be found.
Install
cmake --install .Reviews of Shotcut
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