Suppose you’ve just got home after a week of skiing in the French Alps. You recorded your adventures on a GoPro, and now you want to share your gnarly jumps and less-than-impressive crashes with the world.

The GoPro CineForm format (or codec) is the Digital Intermediate (DI) used in all GoPro Studio workflows and is one of the best in the industry—used by indie filmmakers and Hollywood studios alike. Ultimately, GoPro CineForm files are better for editing than camera source files. Free GoPro Editing Software If you’re on a Mac, you should have iMovie, and iMovie is actually a great editing platform for beginners and even beyond beginner. I have a Crash Course called Strikingly Simple Edits for iMovie, and near the end of this post, you’ll find. TOP PICKS FOR THE BEST COMPUTERS FOR GOPRO VIDEO EDITING. Now that you have learned what to look for when choosing your computer, I will now be discussing the top 11 recommendations for the best ones that are available right now. GoPro Studio is the official video editing software for GoPro videos but it is not free! If you are a Mac user and looking for a nice free video editing software for Mac to edit Gopro videos, I will highly recommend you MovieMator Free Mac Video Editor: the best free alternative to Gopro Studio.

However, before you upload your footage, you probably want to edit your GoPro footage. But which app should you use? Since GoPro Studio ceased to exist at the end of 2017, the decision has become more difficult.

In this article, we detail seven of the best free apps for editing GoPro videos.

1. GoPro Quik

Available on: Windows, Mac

GoPro Studio might not exist anymore, but GoPro Quik is alive and well.

The company has designed the app to be accessible to people who aren’t necessarily experienced video editors—though you’ll still find it useful even if you’ve worked with videos for a long time.

To start, the app will automatically import content from your device as soon as you plug it into your computer. Once your GoPro footage is on your hard drive, you can use Quik to create time-lapses, add panning effects, add sound, and a whole lot more.

If you’re an adrenaline junkie, Quik is also a great tool. It lets you add graphs, charts, and speedometers to show viewers how far, high, or fast you went.

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Lastly, because it’s an official GoPro app, Quik makes it easy to update your GoPro devices with the latest firmware.

Download:GoPro Quik

2. VSDC

Available on: Windows

VSDC is targeted at intermediate users. It’s widely considered to be one of the best free video editing apps for WindowsThe Best Free Video Editors for WindowsThe Best Free Video Editors for WindowsEveryone takes videos these days. Yet powerful free video editors remain rare. We present the absolute best free video editors available for Windows.Read More users.

The editor is non-linear. For those who don’t know, this means you can place any object in any position on the timeline, then make it any size.

The app’s most important features include:

Five categories of visual effects (color correction, object transformation, object filters, transition effects, and special effects)
Color blending
Masking (to hide, blur, or highlight certain elements of a video)
A way to upload your videos straight to YouTube and social networks

In a nod to beginners, the app also offers one-click Instagram-esque filters.

Download:VSDC

3. Avidemux

Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux

Avidemux is another beginner-friendly tool. It has fewer features, making it easier to use, even if you don’t have any video editing experience.

The app’s three core features are cutting, filtering, and encoding. The encoding is surprisingly full-featured; the app has a vast number of export options, thus giving you complete control over the encoding process. The app also offers sharpening and de-noising filters.

On the downside, Avidemux does not include any transitions or special effects, and it does not use a timeline.

As such, Avidemux is excellent for small edits and creating quick cuts of your GoPro videos. If you want to undertake a larger project, you should look elsewhere.

Download:Avidemux

4. Lightworks

Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux

Lightworks is arguably the most powerful app on this list. However, it’s also one of the most difficult for beginners to get to grips with.

In truth, it’s somewhat remarkable that Lightworks is free. The app boasts professional-quality tools that—if used correctly—can make your GoPro video look like something that’s come out of a Hollywood film studio. If you think we’re joking, keep in mind that both The King’s Speech and Road to Perdition used the Pro version of Lightworks.

Features that’ll appeal to GoPro users include quick export to MPEG4/H.264 format for uploading to the web, background importing, rendering, and exporting, high precision trimming, text effects, and the ability to add voiceovers.

Download:Lightworks

5. WeVideo

Available on: Web

WeVideo is a bit different from the four pieces of software we’ve discussed so far. Instead of being a downloadable desktop app, WeVideo is one of the many free online video editors5 No-Signup Free Online Video Editors That Keep You Anonymous5 No-Signup Free Online Video Editors That Keep You AnonymousDon't install an app for simple video editing. These free online video editors can do it without asking you to register.Read More available.

There are several paid tiers which introduce additional features. However, if you just want to do some quick on-the-go editing before you upload your GoPro creation to the web, you won’t need all the extra bells and whistles.

The free version of the app includes 1 GB of cloud storage and the ability to download your edited videos back onto your computer.

6. VideoPad

Available on: Windows, Mac

If you’re one of the many people who lamented the demise of Windows Movie Maker, VideoPad is one of the solid alternatives to Windows Movie Maker5 Free Windows Movie Maker Alternatives5 Free Windows Movie Maker AlternativesWindows Movie Maker has finally been retired, so what are you going to use now? Try one of these free Windows Movie Maker alternatives.Read More. The interface will be familiar to anyone who spent time using Microsoft’s program.

As our VideoPad tutorialHow to Edit Videos Like a Pro With VideoPad Video EditorHow to Edit Videos Like a Pro With VideoPad Video EditorVideoPad Video Editor is an excellent free option for home users. Let's take a look at what this software offers you.Read More shows, using VideoPad is easy. Just load your GoPro video and any image and sound files you want to include, then take advantage of VideoPad’s seemingly endless selection of transitional effects and filters to personalize your creation.

Even if you’re a skilled editor, you’ll find plenty of tools to play around with, including brightness, saturation, and color.

When you’ve finished editing, you can burn your video onto a DVD, save it on your hard drive, or upload it directly to Facebook and YouTube.

Download:VideoPad

7. Hitfilm Express

Available on: Windows, Mac

We’ll end with another option for experienced editors: Hitfilm Express.

Like Lightworks, Hitfilm Express is a professional-grade app. If you’re not already familiar with video editing basics, you might find its interface to be too confusing.

The editor includes cutting tools, audio filters, video filters, layers, masking, compositing options, and 3D video support. It can even create green screen effects.

If you want to do more, you can buy one of the developer’s many add-ons to extend the app’s functionality.

It’s worth mentioning that Hitfilm Express has unusually high system requirements. The developers recommend 8 GB

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