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"[New] Elevating Success Channel Ideas to Spark Momentum"
Elevating Success: Channel Ideas to Spark Momentum
Best YouTube Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Ideas are the fuel for your YouTube channel, and you are running on empty. Out of video ideas or in need of fresh new ideas? No worries. This article is truly a definitive list of YouTube video ideas.
Bookmark this post, so whenever you need a content idea, you can quickly reference it. After you finish reading, you will be ready to make your next video.
Make Creative YouTube Videos with Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora is a great tool and known for its creativity in video files. You can always make use of features on Filmora that would help you to tweak your videos in any way. Be it the effects, overlays, or transitions, Filmora has all the tools and features available to make creative content for your YouTube channel. The best advantage of having Filmora in the tool list is that it has some inbuilt templates which are easy enough to be implemented and embed on the YouTube Videos.
1. Content Idea Resources
Before we go deeper into the search to find you the best topics for YouTube, let’s take a quick look at some tools that may help you warm up and get your creative juices flowing.
Portent’s Content Title Idea Generator: Put in one of your keywords in this content idea generator and it will come up with an interesting title for you.
We The Unicorn’s Video Idea Generator Quiz: Answer this multiple-choice quiz and allow the algorithm to suggest a YouTube video idea that best suits your style.
701 YouTube Video Ideas [eBook]: You’ll save time brainstorming, be able to post consistently, and grow your YouTube channel faster with this book of ideas.
As you can see, coming up with ideas doesn’t have to be an agonizing drag. It’s all about flexing your creativity muscle and we are here to help you do it. Are you ready to be inspired? Great! Let’s begin this list:
2. Showcase Who You Are
Talk About Yourself: Introduce yourself to the world. You can answer 10 of the most common ice breaker questions you get at social gatherings: “Who are you?” “What do you do for a living?” “What are your hobbies?” In this video, you get to decide how you want to showcase yourself to your audience.
Reviews: Do you have opinions? Of course, you do. Movie trailers, popular YouTube videos, products such as makeup, gadgets, and toys, you have thoughts on everything. It’s more than content creation, it’s critical thinking. Understanding why you like or dislike something is not only helpful for other people like you, but it’s also helpful for you to know your own preferences. It’s a little exercise in self-discovery.
Day in a Life: Bring the audience with you on a day of your life. Show people what it is like to walk in your shoes from morning to night. How do you commute to school or work? What do you have for lunch? What obstacles do you encounter throughout the day? You’ll be surprised what will happen as your day unfolds.
Top 10: People love lists because it’s a simple rundown. When you set your video as a list, the viewer knows exactly what they are getting, and familiarity with the format will make it more likely to be clicked. While you can make a top 12 or top 16 list, it is shown that picking a number ending on “0” will yield the best results .
Routines: What do you do when you get ready for school or work? What do you do before bed? Discussing your routine can inspire people to lead the life you have. A routine does not mean going to an office every day , it can mean eating a new restaurant every month, doing something impulsive once a week, or appreciating what you have on a daily basis.
Reflection: You’ve come a long way and you don’t always acknowledge it. Were there a few pivotal milestones in the last five years? Were there new friends you made or new places you’ve been to? Can’t think of anything? Well, pull out your calendar and flip back a few months and a few years. Was there something you scheduled that you’ve forgotten? It was important enough for you to mark it down at the time, reflect on how it went, and what you got out of it.
Favorites: Game, food, or sports team: when you talk about your favorite things, you allow people to take a peek into the history of you. It’s easier to get people excited when you talk about something you are passionate about, so do it! Also, talking about your favorite thing allow other people who like those things to find you. This is a great way to find and build your own community
Relatonships: Your parents, your partner, your teachers, or your friends, your relationship with each of those people are different, even though you are the same person. That’s the beauty of a relationship. This makes it a great topic to share on YouTube because it shows a unique side of who you are every time you speak about another relationship you have.
Rant: The world is out to get you… not really, but there are enough annoying situations during the week to fill a weekly rant segment for your channel. Here’s a tip about ranting that you should use to avoid sounding whiny: offer a solution at the end or be funny .
Show and Tell: Like the elementary school exercise, show and tell is a terrific way to show off something interesting you have and talk about the significance of it. An old childhood toy, a new gadget, a gift from a friend: every item has a story, show and tell it.
3. Challenge Yourself
Leave Your Comfort Zone: Do something that you didn’t think you can do and film it. It might end up being a Fail, but that is how you learn. Learn a new language and talk to a native speaker. Go bungee jumping. Offer free hugs in public. Do something that makes your heart beat faster everyday and film it.
Live On A Budget: Reduce your weekly budget to $50, can you do it? How about $10? This YouTube video idea gives you perspective into your life. How will your lifestyle change when you vastly reduce your expenses? Knowing this can actually help us prepare for the worst-case scenario.
30 Day Challenge: Usually a 30-day challenge is associated with partaking in a healthy activity such as exercise or giving up a bad habit. But all that has been done, why not challenge yourself to do something different? Cook all your meals for 30 days. Take a different route to work every day for 30 days. Have a 10-minute long conversation with someone new for 30 days.
Speed Round: You think you are good at something? Well, why not try to do it as quickly as possible? Complete a round of video games as quickly as you can. Do a MasterChef mystery box challenge in your kitchen. Run from one subway station to the next , beating the tube itself.
4. Show Your Talent
Make Music: An original song, a cover, or a remix, YouTube is a fantastic platform to showcase your musical talents. Don’t forget, some of the world’s top artists began their journey on YouTube. You might be next to join the discovered on YouTube list .
Creating: Are you an artist? Show your process in making a piece. Depending on the speed in which your project takes, use a timelapse to present what you did in the most effective way.
Unusual skill: Do you have a party trick that you would love to show everyone, but don’t have a party to go to? YouTube is the place for you. Juggle, do a magic trick, dance like Christopher Walkens, whatever unusual skill you have, share it on camera, and get the accolades you so deserve.
5. Explore Your Surroundings
Tour: Your home, your office, your city. Bring your camera and take your audience on a tour of a place you know well. Show them all the hidden gems, tell them a story about the history, and be spontaneous and discover along the way.
Special Event: In any community, there is always a special event taking place, whether it be a concert, a festival, or a conference. Film the environment, interview attendees, and share the experience.
Travel: Go on a trip and bring your camera with you. Create drama by documenting all the things that didn’t go as planned… and any memorable trip will have hiccups along the way. Discover things along the way and vocalize your thoughts through the trip.
Discuss Current Events: As the environmental climate, there is also a social and political climate. Address the current state of events in your city. Are there plans to build new infrastructure? Is there a social injustice that the public should know about? You can discuss international affairs, national politics, or keep it local to start.
6. Be An Educator
Advice: Have you been through a trying experience? Do you have advice for other people setting off on the same path? Whether it’s graduating school, starting a new job, losing weight, or practicing a new skill, creating content that offers helpful advice for those seeking it will give you credibility to speak about the topic since you have gone through the situation yourself.
How to Plan Something: Did you plan a camping trip that went really well? Did you throw a surprise birthday party that went without a hitch? It doesn’t have to be anything grand but think back to something you followed successfully and explain what you did to achieve it.
Lifehacks: Do you have lifehacks? This may be the most generous gift you can share with your audience. You can save them time, energy, and a whole lot of headaches. If you have an engineering spirit, then consider how you can simplify all the little activities that make up a day. No engineering spirit? Start with these lifehacks instead.
Time Management: The responsibility of every person is slightly different, but how you manage your daily schedule. Do you write tasks down on an agenda? Do you have a calendar? What do you do when you get distracted? What is your schedule like? Do you create your own bullet journal or use a productivity app? If so, share it!
Guided Activities: For beginners, some activities are better with a guide. If the audience is unable to join an in-person class, YouTube is a wonderful online alternative for guided activities such as yoga, meditation, and other exercise or relaxation activities.
Tutorial: Is there software you use particularly well? Are you skilled in the kitchen or the garage? Can you install appliances without reading the instructions? Give a step-by-step tutorial in completing a project.
7. Share Your Beliefs and Lifestyle
Motivation: Whatever you are pursuing, know that there are many on the same path as you. If you are an aspiring dancer create content for those that are with you on the journey. Encourage them and speak authentically about the accomplishments to come. Motivation is the energy that is in circulation. The more you send out into the universe, the more will come back to you.
Pets: If you share your home with animals, then you have no shortage of content. Point the camera at your dogs, cats, and ferrets for a while and see what ridiculous scenarios they get up to.
Fitness and Food: Do you subscribe to a specific type of fitness and diet? Have you seen the results that you want to share? Yes, perfect! If no, then why not do a little experimentation. Try to include a fitness and diet regimen in your daily life and vlog about it. Who knows, it might become a healthy change.
Tattoos, Piercing, or Scars: Every tattoo, piercing, and a scar on your body probably have an interesting story behind it. Whether it is something you are proud of or something you may prefer to hide, recognizing the different marks on your body and how they represent your history is a great way to reflect and get inspired.
Document Your Journey: It’s important to set achievable goals for yourself. That’s how you can encourage progress within yourself. With a goal and a timeline in mind, it can be as simple as documenting your journey towards it. If you are working on your novel, you can do a vlog updating the viewers on your process and word count or even bringing a camera with you as your piece gets workshopped.
Holiday: We all share memories of that wonderful time of year. For some it’s a spectacle for others it’s a modest affair. How do you celebrate the holidays and is there a story to that tradition?
Career: So much of our identity is related to what we do for a living. Talking about your day job on YouTube can be tricky. Be authentic, but also use your discretion, because you don’t want to misrepresent yourself professionally to the world.
Philosophy: What is your relationship with money, weekends, and your extended family? Thinking about your values can help you explore life philosophically, thus encouraging you to live the best life possible. As you speak about your philosophy, you are bound to experience alternative views, and that is where great content materializes.
Haul: If you have some money to spend, create a haul YouTube video. Haul video involves you going on a shopping spree and bringing home a big “haul.” In essence, it is an unboxing video on steroids. This type of video generally involves fashion or groceries, but it can be related to anything in large quantity. It’s all about showing off your new stuff to the audience.
Unboxing: Got something new from Amazon? Before you open it, turn on your camera. Unboxing is an easy YouTube video idea that allows your viewers who are considering buying the item to better understand whether it is in fact the right purchase for them.
8. Nurture Your Curiosity
Build Something: IKEA furniture, a website, a LEGO miniature, a business plan. The best way to get better at something is to just do it. Use your hands and build something and capture it for YouTube.
Behind the Scenes: It’s not only the entertainment industry that offers behind the scenes content, but many businesses offer tours and open houses. Reach out to any business or organization you are curious about the inner workings and odds are there will be a day where you can pop in and have a look at what it makes the wheels turn.
Jargon and Slang: From fashion to baseball to dentistry, everything has its own set of jargon or slang. What’s a galloon? What does it mean to win the pennant? What is 3MOD? If you are interested in languages, then diving into the world of jargon and slang is an interesting one.
Deconstruct a Process: Be like Tim Ferriss by breaking down a process into parts enabling you to learn a new skill faster, whether it be language or sports or coffee . Show your viewer how to properly learn how to improve performance by simplifying.
Languages: We all want to learn a new language, but it isn’t easy. If you have a knack for languages, show it off as a skill. Help new speakers avoid common mistakes, discuss the etymology of each word, and explore all the diverse dialects.
Accents: How accents derive is a fascinating topic to explore if you are seeking good ideas for YouTube. Why do some accents sound like music while other sound abrasive? Why different neighborhoods in the same city have different accents? There are endless questions to explore. Evenconstructed languages can be analyzed for their accents.
History: Are you interested in your city, your school, or the land your office is built upon? What was it like ten years ago? A hundred years ago? An exploration of history does not have to be about Rome or Mesopotamia, it can be about your backyard
Debunking Myths: Before every MythBusters episode they warn you not to attempt any of their experiments, and we are not encouraging you to either. At least, not to their scale. There is a multitude of myths out there that can use your expert eye to explore. In your city itself, there are stories worth debunking or at least learning more about.
Compare Two Things: Need something to do on YouTube? Why not compare diets such as Paleo vs Keto, devices such as Android vs iPhone, or a remake vs an original?
Opposing Opinions: Do you have a friend who always has to argue with you about everything: films, values, politics? Well, don’t just save those conversations for private, invite him or her over and film a debate.
Deep Dive: Go down the rabbit hole on a topic you are really fascinated about. Dissect every song from an artist, read every book by an author, or learn about a different type of plant growing in your community. Everywhere you look, you should see opportunities to get obsessed over a topic.
Biography of Someone: It could be a famous person or it can be someone from your family. Tell their story in a way that only you can. Get interviews, do research, and find a personal connection. Every life is significant, now it is your chance to honor that.
Fun Facts: Grab a deck of questions from Trivial Pursuit and pick a fun fact to explore. Use it as a jumping-off point for exploring an interesting topic. Share it with viewers who might not have known that they were interested in this fact.
Timeline of a Topic: Pick any topic and trace the lineage and better understand how it has gotten to this point. Where did it begin, has it hit critical mass, and how has it evolved over the years?
9. Be a Fan and a Critic
Fanfiction: Continue a story of one of your favorite movie characters or explore the life of some secondary character in a television show that you enjoy. Use their existing storyline to guide where you toward an interesting YouTube video about how they could have evolved.
Re-edit: Use your editing skills to recreate a classic movie scene, allowing it to have a completely different tone. Or mashup footage from a variety of sources to create an original piece of video content.
Speculation of Unreleased Entertainment: There are always rumors of upcoming movies, music, and books from famous filmmakers, musicians, and authors. Speculate on what the new release can possibly be about. Generate buzz and excitement and consider what you would do if you were put into the shoes of those famous creators.
Spotlight on the Best: In every field, there are those that are considered world-class. How did they get there, what support did they get, and how are they working to stay at the top? Highlight their achievements and see what we can anticipate from them in the future.
Commentary: Can you offer insights into a particular piece of work? Share it with the world and add another dimension to what the viewers have already seen.
Spotlight on Something Not So Popular: Is there something you adore that nobody really knows about? You can be the one to help this become mainstream.
Tribute: Pay tribute to a personality or an event from the past. Help people remember the significance of what happened from the past through your YouTube video.
Shoutout: Like sending out a thank you card, use YouTube to publicly thank someone for doing something awesome! It’s like you are giving a toast to someone in front of the whole Internet, what an honor.
Summarize a Book, Movie, or TV Show: Give the Coles note summary of a book, a movie, or TV show. Challenge yourself to make a summary that is as interesting as the actual source material.
“Best of” Video: Select the best scenes from your favorite actor or the best plays from your favorite athlete and compile it into a video that highlights all the best moments.
10. Create Entertainment
Fails: Don’t get embarrassed, get views. Embrace your shortcomings and accept that everybody has failed at something. Be careful and don’t get hurt too bad though.
Parody: Channel your Key of Awesome and create your own parody of something from pop culture. If you parody something trending, it can help you catch the wave of popularity and bring in views as all eyes are currently on that topic.
Break Something: There is nothing like watching something get destroyed. Maybe that’s why the Will it Blend videos got so popular. No matter how we resist it, we enjoy seeing the destruction.
Time Lapse: The growth of a plant, the flow of traffic, the rise and fall of the sun through your eyes. In this fast pace world, it’s fun to see organized chaos at a rapid rate.
Screen Sharing: Let people watch you play a video game or give a tour of your desktop. Share your screen as you write a poem.
Cinematography: There is always a place for beautiful cinematography on YouTube. Tell a great story about your life or your city with great moving images.
Short subject documentary: Pick a topic that matters and explore in through the structure of a documentary. Remember that when making a documentary, think about it as making a movie – you are not there to lecture them. Can you get peopleriled up as Michael Moore does? Can you encourage people to take action? If yes, then you are ready to start making documentary-style YouTube videos.
Lip-sync: Can’t sing but feel you have a musical gift to give to the world, well, they will never put you on the billboards for what you can do lip-syncing, but you can make a pretty entertaining YouTube video through this medium. It doesn’t even have to be music either, take Bad Lip Reading .
Impressions: A good impression is always worth a good laugh, and a bad one is almost as good. Give it a shot, pull up videos of some of your favorite celebrities, and film yourself attempting to mimic their voice, characteristics and expressions.
Sketch Comedy, Short Film, or Role Play: Do you have characters and scenes in mind that will be perfect for SNL? Well, instead of having to go through Lorne Michaels, create the character yourself and publish your comedy sketch on YouTube.
Interview: Find a subject matter experts and ask them interesting questions about their profession and areas of interest.
Games: Play a game with your friends or other YouTubers and allow the competitiveness, frustration, and hilarity to ensue.
Okay! How do you feel?
I bet you are bursting and ready to create your next video. Onwards! Remember, whatever idea you pick, be sure to give it your own flair. That is what YouTube is all about. Got another YouTube video idea you want to share? Let the Filmora.io community know in the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Ideas are the fuel for your YouTube channel, and you are running on empty. Out of video ideas or in need of fresh new ideas? No worries. This article is truly a definitive list of YouTube video ideas.
Bookmark this post, so whenever you need a content idea, you can quickly reference it. After you finish reading, you will be ready to make your next video.
Make Creative YouTube Videos with Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora is a great tool and known for its creativity in video files. You can always make use of features on Filmora that would help you to tweak your videos in any way. Be it the effects, overlays, or transitions, Filmora has all the tools and features available to make creative content for your YouTube channel. The best advantage of having Filmora in the tool list is that it has some inbuilt templates which are easy enough to be implemented and embed on the YouTube Videos.
1. Content Idea Resources
Before we go deeper into the search to find you the best topics for YouTube, let’s take a quick look at some tools that may help you warm up and get your creative juices flowing.
Portent’s Content Title Idea Generator: Put in one of your keywords in this content idea generator and it will come up with an interesting title for you.
We The Unicorn’s Video Idea Generator Quiz: Answer this multiple-choice quiz and allow the algorithm to suggest a YouTube video idea that best suits your style.
701 YouTube Video Ideas [eBook]: You’ll save time brainstorming, be able to post consistently, and grow your YouTube channel faster with this book of ideas.
As you can see, coming up with ideas doesn’t have to be an agonizing drag. It’s all about flexing your creativity muscle and we are here to help you do it. Are you ready to be inspired? Great! Let’s begin this list:
2. Showcase Who You Are
Talk About Yourself: Introduce yourself to the world. You can answer 10 of the most common ice breaker questions you get at social gatherings: “Who are you?” “What do you do for a living?” “What are your hobbies?” In this video, you get to decide how you want to showcase yourself to your audience.
Reviews: Do you have opinions? Of course, you do. Movie trailers, popular YouTube videos, products such as makeup, gadgets, and toys, you have thoughts on everything. It’s more than content creation, it’s critical thinking. Understanding why you like or dislike something is not only helpful for other people like you, but it’s also helpful for you to know your own preferences. It’s a little exercise in self-discovery.
Day in a Life: Bring the audience with you on a day of your life. Show people what it is like to walk in your shoes from morning to night. How do you commute to school or work? What do you have for lunch? What obstacles do you encounter throughout the day? You’ll be surprised what will happen as your day unfolds.
Top 10: People love lists because it’s a simple rundown. When you set your video as a list, the viewer knows exactly what they are getting, and familiarity with the format will make it more likely to be clicked. While you can make a top 12 or top 16 list, it is shown that picking a number ending on “0” will yield the best results .
Routines: What do you do when you get ready for school or work? What do you do before bed? Discussing your routine can inspire people to lead the life you have. A routine does not mean going to an office every day , it can mean eating a new restaurant every month, doing something impulsive once a week, or appreciating what you have on a daily basis.
Reflection: You’ve come a long way and you don’t always acknowledge it. Were there a few pivotal milestones in the last five years? Were there new friends you made or new places you’ve been to? Can’t think of anything? Well, pull out your calendar and flip back a few months and a few years. Was there something you scheduled that you’ve forgotten? It was important enough for you to mark it down at the time, reflect on how it went, and what you got out of it.
Favorites: Game, food, or sports team: when you talk about your favorite things, you allow people to take a peek into the history of you. It’s easier to get people excited when you talk about something you are passionate about, so do it! Also, talking about your favorite thing allow other people who like those things to find you. This is a great way to find and build your own community
Relatonships: Your parents, your partner, your teachers, or your friends, your relationship with each of those people are different, even though you are the same person. That’s the beauty of a relationship. This makes it a great topic to share on YouTube because it shows a unique side of who you are every time you speak about another relationship you have.
Rant: The world is out to get you… not really, but there are enough annoying situations during the week to fill a weekly rant segment for your channel. Here’s a tip about ranting that you should use to avoid sounding whiny: offer a solution at the end or be funny .
Show and Tell: Like the elementary school exercise, show and tell is a terrific way to show off something interesting you have and talk about the significance of it. An old childhood toy, a new gadget, a gift from a friend: every item has a story, show and tell it.
3. Challenge Yourself
Leave Your Comfort Zone: Do something that you didn’t think you can do and film it. It might end up being a Fail, but that is how you learn. Learn a new language and talk to a native speaker. Go bungee jumping. Offer free hugs in public. Do something that makes your heart beat faster everyday and film it.
Live On A Budget: Reduce your weekly budget to $50, can you do it? How about $10? This YouTube video idea gives you perspective into your life. How will your lifestyle change when you vastly reduce your expenses? Knowing this can actually help us prepare for the worst-case scenario.
30 Day Challenge: Usually a 30-day challenge is associated with partaking in a healthy activity such as exercise or giving up a bad habit. But all that has been done, why not challenge yourself to do something different? Cook all your meals for 30 days. Take a different route to work every day for 30 days. Have a 10-minute long conversation with someone new for 30 days.
Speed Round: You think you are good at something? Well, why not try to do it as quickly as possible? Complete a round of video games as quickly as you can. Do a MasterChef mystery box challenge in your kitchen. Run from one subway station to the next , beating the tube itself.
4. Show Your Talent
Make Music: An original song, a cover, or a remix, YouTube is a fantastic platform to showcase your musical talents. Don’t forget, some of the world’s top artists began their journey on YouTube. You might be next to join the discovered on YouTube list .
Creating: Are you an artist? Show your process in making a piece. Depending on the speed in which your project takes, use a timelapse to present what you did in the most effective way.
Unusual skill: Do you have a party trick that you would love to show everyone, but don’t have a party to go to? YouTube is the place for you. Juggle, do a magic trick, dance like Christopher Walkens, whatever unusual skill you have, share it on camera, and get the accolades you so deserve.
5. Explore Your Surroundings
Tour: Your home, your office, your city. Bring your camera and take your audience on a tour of a place you know well. Show them all the hidden gems, tell them a story about the history, and be spontaneous and discover along the way.
Special Event: In any community, there is always a special event taking place, whether it be a concert, a festival, or a conference. Film the environment, interview attendees, and share the experience.
Travel: Go on a trip and bring your camera with you. Create drama by documenting all the things that didn’t go as planned… and any memorable trip will have hiccups along the way. Discover things along the way and vocalize your thoughts through the trip.
Discuss Current Events: As the environmental climate, there is also a social and political climate. Address the current state of events in your city. Are there plans to build new infrastructure? Is there a social injustice that the public should know about? You can discuss international affairs, national politics, or keep it local to start.
6. Be An Educator
Advice: Have you been through a trying experience? Do you have advice for other people setting off on the same path? Whether it’s graduating school, starting a new job, losing weight, or practicing a new skill, creating content that offers helpful advice for those seeking it will give you credibility to speak about the topic since you have gone through the situation yourself.
How to Plan Something: Did you plan a camping trip that went really well? Did you throw a surprise birthday party that went without a hitch? It doesn’t have to be anything grand but think back to something you followed successfully and explain what you did to achieve it.
Lifehacks: Do you have lifehacks? This may be the most generous gift you can share with your audience. You can save them time, energy, and a whole lot of headaches. If you have an engineering spirit, then consider how you can simplify all the little activities that make up a day. No engineering spirit? Start with these lifehacks instead.
Time Management: The responsibility of every person is slightly different, but how you manage your daily schedule. Do you write tasks down on an agenda? Do you have a calendar? What do you do when you get distracted? What is your schedule like? Do you create your own bullet journal or use a productivity app? If so, share it!
Guided Activities: For beginners, some activities are better with a guide. If the audience is unable to join an in-person class, YouTube is a wonderful online alternative for guided activities such as yoga, meditation, and other exercise or relaxation activities.
Tutorial: Is there software you use particularly well? Are you skilled in the kitchen or the garage? Can you install appliances without reading the instructions? Give a step-by-step tutorial in completing a project.
7. Share Your Beliefs and Lifestyle
Motivation: Whatever you are pursuing, know that there are many on the same path as you. If you are an aspiring dancer create content for those that are with you on the journey. Encourage them and speak authentically about the accomplishments to come. Motivation is the energy that is in circulation. The more you send out into the universe, the more will come back to you.
Pets: If you share your home with animals, then you have no shortage of content. Point the camera at your dogs, cats, and ferrets for a while and see what ridiculous scenarios they get up to.
Fitness and Food: Do you subscribe to a specific type of fitness and diet? Have you seen the results that you want to share? Yes, perfect! If no, then why not do a little experimentation. Try to include a fitness and diet regimen in your daily life and vlog about it. Who knows, it might become a healthy change.
Tattoos, Piercing, or Scars: Every tattoo, piercing, and a scar on your body probably have an interesting story behind it. Whether it is something you are proud of or something you may prefer to hide, recognizing the different marks on your body and how they represent your history is a great way to reflect and get inspired.
Document Your Journey: It’s important to set achievable goals for yourself. That’s how you can encourage progress within yourself. With a goal and a timeline in mind, it can be as simple as documenting your journey towards it. If you are working on your novel, you can do a vlog updating the viewers on your process and word count or even bringing a camera with you as your piece gets workshopped.
Holiday: We all share memories of that wonderful time of year. For some it’s a spectacle for others it’s a modest affair. How do you celebrate the holidays and is there a story to that tradition?
Career: So much of our identity is related to what we do for a living. Talking about your day job on YouTube can be tricky. Be authentic, but also use your discretion, because you don’t want to misrepresent yourself professionally to the world.
Philosophy: What is your relationship with money, weekends, and your extended family? Thinking about your values can help you explore life philosophically, thus encouraging you to live the best life possible. As you speak about your philosophy, you are bound to experience alternative views, and that is where great content materializes.
Haul: If you have some money to spend, create a haul YouTube video. Haul video involves you going on a shopping spree and bringing home a big “haul.” In essence, it is an unboxing video on steroids. This type of video generally involves fashion or groceries, but it can be related to anything in large quantity. It’s all about showing off your new stuff to the audience.
Unboxing: Got something new from Amazon? Before you open it, turn on your camera. Unboxing is an easy YouTube video idea that allows your viewers who are considering buying the item to better understand whether it is in fact the right purchase for them.
8. Nurture Your Curiosity
Build Something: IKEA furniture, a website, a LEGO miniature, a business plan. The best way to get better at something is to just do it. Use your hands and build something and capture it for YouTube.
Behind the Scenes: It’s not only the entertainment industry that offers behind the scenes content, but many businesses offer tours and open houses. Reach out to any business or organization you are curious about the inner workings and odds are there will be a day where you can pop in and have a look at what it makes the wheels turn.
Jargon and Slang: From fashion to baseball to dentistry, everything has its own set of jargon or slang. What’s a galloon? What does it mean to win the pennant? What is 3MOD? If you are interested in languages, then diving into the world of jargon and slang is an interesting one.
Deconstruct a Process: Be like Tim Ferriss by breaking down a process into parts enabling you to learn a new skill faster, whether it be language or sports or coffee . Show your viewer how to properly learn how to improve performance by simplifying.
Languages: We all want to learn a new language, but it isn’t easy. If you have a knack for languages, show it off as a skill. Help new speakers avoid common mistakes, discuss the etymology of each word, and explore all the diverse dialects.
Accents: How accents derive is a fascinating topic to explore if you are seeking good ideas for YouTube. Why do some accents sound like music while other sound abrasive? Why different neighborhoods in the same city have different accents? There are endless questions to explore. Evenconstructed languages can be analyzed for their accents.
History: Are you interested in your city, your school, or the land your office is built upon? What was it like ten years ago? A hundred years ago? An exploration of history does not have to be about Rome or Mesopotamia, it can be about your backyard
Debunking Myths: Before every MythBusters episode they warn you not to attempt any of their experiments, and we are not encouraging you to either. At least, not to their scale. There is a multitude of myths out there that can use your expert eye to explore. In your city itself, there are stories worth debunking or at least learning more about.
Compare Two Things: Need something to do on YouTube? Why not compare diets such as Paleo vs Keto, devices such as Android vs iPhone, or a remake vs an original?
Opposing Opinions: Do you have a friend who always has to argue with you about everything: films, values, politics? Well, don’t just save those conversations for private, invite him or her over and film a debate.
Deep Dive: Go down the rabbit hole on a topic you are really fascinated about. Dissect every song from an artist, read every book by an author, or learn about a different type of plant growing in your community. Everywhere you look, you should see opportunities to get obsessed over a topic.
Biography of Someone: It could be a famous person or it can be someone from your family. Tell their story in a way that only you can. Get interviews, do research, and find a personal connection. Every life is significant, now it is your chance to honor that.
Fun Facts: Grab a deck of questions from Trivial Pursuit and pick a fun fact to explore. Use it as a jumping-off point for exploring an interesting topic. Share it with viewers who might not have known that they were interested in this fact.
Timeline of a Topic: Pick any topic and trace the lineage and better understand how it has gotten to this point. Where did it begin, has it hit critical mass, and how has it evolved over the years?
9. Be a Fan and a Critic
Fanfiction: Continue a story of one of your favorite movie characters or explore the life of some secondary character in a television show that you enjoy. Use their existing storyline to guide where you toward an interesting YouTube video about how they could have evolved.
Re-edit: Use your editing skills to recreate a classic movie scene, allowing it to have a completely different tone. Or mashup footage from a variety of sources to create an original piece of video content.
Speculation of Unreleased Entertainment: There are always rumors of upcoming movies, music, and books from famous filmmakers, musicians, and authors. Speculate on what the new release can possibly be about. Generate buzz and excitement and consider what you would do if you were put into the shoes of those famous creators.
Spotlight on the Best: In every field, there are those that are considered world-class. How did they get there, what support did they get, and how are they working to stay at the top? Highlight their achievements and see what we can anticipate from them in the future.
Commentary: Can you offer insights into a particular piece of work? Share it with the world and add another dimension to what the viewers have already seen.
Spotlight on Something Not So Popular: Is there something you adore that nobody really knows about? You can be the one to help this become mainstream.
Tribute: Pay tribute to a personality or an event from the past. Help people remember the significance of what happened from the past through your YouTube video.
Shoutout: Like sending out a thank you card, use YouTube to publicly thank someone for doing something awesome! It’s like you are giving a toast to someone in front of the whole Internet, what an honor.
Summarize a Book, Movie, or TV Show: Give the Coles note summary of a book, a movie, or TV show. Challenge yourself to make a summary that is as interesting as the actual source material.
“Best of” Video: Select the best scenes from your favorite actor or the best plays from your favorite athlete and compile it into a video that highlights all the best moments.
10. Create Entertainment
Fails: Don’t get embarrassed, get views. Embrace your shortcomings and accept that everybody has failed at something. Be careful and don’t get hurt too bad though.
Parody: Channel your Key of Awesome and create your own parody of something from pop culture. If you parody something trending, it can help you catch the wave of popularity and bring in views as all eyes are currently on that topic.
Break Something: There is nothing like watching something get destroyed. Maybe that’s why the Will it Blend videos got so popular. No matter how we resist it, we enjoy seeing the destruction.
Time Lapse: The growth of a plant, the flow of traffic, the rise and fall of the sun through your eyes. In this fast pace world, it’s fun to see organized chaos at a rapid rate.
Screen Sharing: Let people watch you play a video game or give a tour of your desktop. Share your screen as you write a poem.
Cinematography: There is always a place for beautiful cinematography on YouTube. Tell a great story about your life or your city with great moving images.
Short subject documentary: Pick a topic that matters and explore in through the structure of a documentary. Remember that when making a documentary, think about it as making a movie – you are not there to lecture them. Can you get peopleriled up as Michael Moore does? Can you encourage people to take action? If yes, then you are ready to start making documentary-style YouTube videos.
Lip-sync: Can’t sing but feel you have a musical gift to give to the world, well, they will never put you on the billboards for what you can do lip-syncing, but you can make a pretty entertaining YouTube video through this medium. It doesn’t even have to be music either, take Bad Lip Reading .
Impressions: A good impression is always worth a good laugh, and a bad one is almost as good. Give it a shot, pull up videos of some of your favorite celebrities, and film yourself attempting to mimic their voice, characteristics and expressions.
Sketch Comedy, Short Film, or Role Play: Do you have characters and scenes in mind that will be perfect for SNL? Well, instead of having to go through Lorne Michaels, create the character yourself and publish your comedy sketch on YouTube.
Interview: Find a subject matter experts and ask them interesting questions about their profession and areas of interest.
Games: Play a game with your friends or other YouTubers and allow the competitiveness, frustration, and hilarity to ensue.
Okay! How do you feel?
I bet you are bursting and ready to create your next video. Onwards! Remember, whatever idea you pick, be sure to give it your own flair. That is what YouTube is all about. Got another YouTube video idea you want to share? Let the Filmora.io community know in the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Ideas are the fuel for your YouTube channel, and you are running on empty. Out of video ideas or in need of fresh new ideas? No worries. This article is truly a definitive list of YouTube video ideas.
Bookmark this post, so whenever you need a content idea, you can quickly reference it. After you finish reading, you will be ready to make your next video.
Make Creative YouTube Videos with Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora is a great tool and known for its creativity in video files. You can always make use of features on Filmora that would help you to tweak your videos in any way. Be it the effects, overlays, or transitions, Filmora has all the tools and features available to make creative content for your YouTube channel. The best advantage of having Filmora in the tool list is that it has some inbuilt templates which are easy enough to be implemented and embed on the YouTube Videos.
1. Content Idea Resources
Before we go deeper into the search to find you the best topics for YouTube, let’s take a quick look at some tools that may help you warm up and get your creative juices flowing.
Portent’s Content Title Idea Generator: Put in one of your keywords in this content idea generator and it will come up with an interesting title for you.
We The Unicorn’s Video Idea Generator Quiz: Answer this multiple-choice quiz and allow the algorithm to suggest a YouTube video idea that best suits your style.
701 YouTube Video Ideas [eBook]: You’ll save time brainstorming, be able to post consistently, and grow your YouTube channel faster with this book of ideas.
As you can see, coming up with ideas doesn’t have to be an agonizing drag. It’s all about flexing your creativity muscle and we are here to help you do it. Are you ready to be inspired? Great! Let’s begin this list:
2. Showcase Who You Are
Talk About Yourself: Introduce yourself to the world. You can answer 10 of the most common ice breaker questions you get at social gatherings: “Who are you?” “What do you do for a living?” “What are your hobbies?” In this video, you get to decide how you want to showcase yourself to your audience.
Reviews: Do you have opinions? Of course, you do. Movie trailers, popular YouTube videos, products such as makeup, gadgets, and toys, you have thoughts on everything. It’s more than content creation, it’s critical thinking. Understanding why you like or dislike something is not only helpful for other people like you, but it’s also helpful for you to know your own preferences. It’s a little exercise in self-discovery.
Day in a Life: Bring the audience with you on a day of your life. Show people what it is like to walk in your shoes from morning to night. How do you commute to school or work? What do you have for lunch? What obstacles do you encounter throughout the day? You’ll be surprised what will happen as your day unfolds.
Top 10: People love lists because it’s a simple rundown. When you set your video as a list, the viewer knows exactly what they are getting, and familiarity with the format will make it more likely to be clicked. While you can make a top 12 or top 16 list, it is shown that picking a number ending on “0” will yield the best results .
Routines: What do you do when you get ready for school or work? What do you do before bed? Discussing your routine can inspire people to lead the life you have. A routine does not mean going to an office every day , it can mean eating a new restaurant every month, doing something impulsive once a week, or appreciating what you have on a daily basis.
Reflection: You’ve come a long way and you don’t always acknowledge it. Were there a few pivotal milestones in the last five years? Were there new friends you made or new places you’ve been to? Can’t think of anything? Well, pull out your calendar and flip back a few months and a few years. Was there something you scheduled that you’ve forgotten? It was important enough for you to mark it down at the time, reflect on how it went, and what you got out of it.
Favorites: Game, food, or sports team: when you talk about your favorite things, you allow people to take a peek into the history of you. It’s easier to get people excited when you talk about something you are passionate about, so do it! Also, talking about your favorite thing allow other people who like those things to find you. This is a great way to find and build your own community
Relatonships: Your parents, your partner, your teachers, or your friends, your relationship with each of those people are different, even though you are the same person. That’s the beauty of a relationship. This makes it a great topic to share on YouTube because it shows a unique side of who you are every time you speak about another relationship you have.
Rant: The world is out to get you… not really, but there are enough annoying situations during the week to fill a weekly rant segment for your channel. Here’s a tip about ranting that you should use to avoid sounding whiny: offer a solution at the end or be funny .
Show and Tell: Like the elementary school exercise, show and tell is a terrific way to show off something interesting you have and talk about the significance of it. An old childhood toy, a new gadget, a gift from a friend: every item has a story, show and tell it.
3. Challenge Yourself
Leave Your Comfort Zone: Do something that you didn’t think you can do and film it. It might end up being a Fail, but that is how you learn. Learn a new language and talk to a native speaker. Go bungee jumping. Offer free hugs in public. Do something that makes your heart beat faster everyday and film it.
Live On A Budget: Reduce your weekly budget to $50, can you do it? How about $10? This YouTube video idea gives you perspective into your life. How will your lifestyle change when you vastly reduce your expenses? Knowing this can actually help us prepare for the worst-case scenario.
30 Day Challenge: Usually a 30-day challenge is associated with partaking in a healthy activity such as exercise or giving up a bad habit. But all that has been done, why not challenge yourself to do something different? Cook all your meals for 30 days. Take a different route to work every day for 30 days. Have a 10-minute long conversation with someone new for 30 days.
Speed Round: You think you are good at something? Well, why not try to do it as quickly as possible? Complete a round of video games as quickly as you can. Do a MasterChef mystery box challenge in your kitchen. Run from one subway station to the next , beating the tube itself.
4. Show Your Talent
Make Music: An original song, a cover, or a remix, YouTube is a fantastic platform to showcase your musical talents. Don’t forget, some of the world’s top artists began their journey on YouTube. You might be next to join the discovered on YouTube list .
Creating: Are you an artist? Show your process in making a piece. Depending on the speed in which your project takes, use a timelapse to present what you did in the most effective way.
Unusual skill: Do you have a party trick that you would love to show everyone, but don’t have a party to go to? YouTube is the place for you. Juggle, do a magic trick, dance like Christopher Walkens, whatever unusual skill you have, share it on camera, and get the accolades you so deserve.
5. Explore Your Surroundings
Tour: Your home, your office, your city. Bring your camera and take your audience on a tour of a place you know well. Show them all the hidden gems, tell them a story about the history, and be spontaneous and discover along the way.
Special Event: In any community, there is always a special event taking place, whether it be a concert, a festival, or a conference. Film the environment, interview attendees, and share the experience.
Travel: Go on a trip and bring your camera with you. Create drama by documenting all the things that didn’t go as planned… and any memorable trip will have hiccups along the way. Discover things along the way and vocalize your thoughts through the trip.
Discuss Current Events: As the environmental climate, there is also a social and political climate. Address the current state of events in your city. Are there plans to build new infrastructure? Is there a social injustice that the public should know about? You can discuss international affairs, national politics, or keep it local to start.
6. Be An Educator
Advice: Have you been through a trying experience? Do you have advice for other people setting off on the same path? Whether it’s graduating school, starting a new job, losing weight, or practicing a new skill, creating content that offers helpful advice for those seeking it will give you credibility to speak about the topic since you have gone through the situation yourself.
How to Plan Something: Did you plan a camping trip that went really well? Did you throw a surprise birthday party that went without a hitch? It doesn’t have to be anything grand but think back to something you followed successfully and explain what you did to achieve it.
Lifehacks: Do you have lifehacks? This may be the most generous gift you can share with your audience. You can save them time, energy, and a whole lot of headaches. If you have an engineering spirit, then consider how you can simplify all the little activities that make up a day. No engineering spirit? Start with these lifehacks instead.
Time Management: The responsibility of every person is slightly different, but how you manage your daily schedule. Do you write tasks down on an agenda? Do you have a calendar? What do you do when you get distracted? What is your schedule like? Do you create your own bullet journal or use a productivity app? If so, share it!
Guided Activities: For beginners, some activities are better with a guide. If the audience is unable to join an in-person class, YouTube is a wonderful online alternative for guided activities such as yoga, meditation, and other exercise or relaxation activities.
Tutorial: Is there software you use particularly well? Are you skilled in the kitchen or the garage? Can you install appliances without reading the instructions? Give a step-by-step tutorial in completing a project.
7. Share Your Beliefs and Lifestyle
Motivation: Whatever you are pursuing, know that there are many on the same path as you. If you are an aspiring dancer create content for those that are with you on the journey. Encourage them and speak authentically about the accomplishments to come. Motivation is the energy that is in circulation. The more you send out into the universe, the more will come back to you.
Pets: If you share your home with animals, then you have no shortage of content. Point the camera at your dogs, cats, and ferrets for a while and see what ridiculous scenarios they get up to.
Fitness and Food: Do you subscribe to a specific type of fitness and diet? Have you seen the results that you want to share? Yes, perfect! If no, then why not do a little experimentation. Try to include a fitness and diet regimen in your daily life and vlog about it. Who knows, it might become a healthy change.
Tattoos, Piercing, or Scars: Every tattoo, piercing, and a scar on your body probably have an interesting story behind it. Whether it is something you are proud of or something you may prefer to hide, recognizing the different marks on your body and how they represent your history is a great way to reflect and get inspired.
Document Your Journey: It’s important to set achievable goals for yourself. That’s how you can encourage progress within yourself. With a goal and a timeline in mind, it can be as simple as documenting your journey towards it. If you are working on your novel, you can do a vlog updating the viewers on your process and word count or even bringing a camera with you as your piece gets workshopped.
Holiday: We all share memories of that wonderful time of year. For some it’s a spectacle for others it’s a modest affair. How do you celebrate the holidays and is there a story to that tradition?
Career: So much of our identity is related to what we do for a living. Talking about your day job on YouTube can be tricky. Be authentic, but also use your discretion, because you don’t want to misrepresent yourself professionally to the world.
Philosophy: What is your relationship with money, weekends, and your extended family? Thinking about your values can help you explore life philosophically, thus encouraging you to live the best life possible. As you speak about your philosophy, you are bound to experience alternative views, and that is where great content materializes.
Haul: If you have some money to spend, create a haul YouTube video. Haul video involves you going on a shopping spree and bringing home a big “haul.” In essence, it is an unboxing video on steroids. This type of video generally involves fashion or groceries, but it can be related to anything in large quantity. It’s all about showing off your new stuff to the audience.
Unboxing: Got something new from Amazon? Before you open it, turn on your camera. Unboxing is an easy YouTube video idea that allows your viewers who are considering buying the item to better understand whether it is in fact the right purchase for them.
8. Nurture Your Curiosity
Build Something: IKEA furniture, a website, a LEGO miniature, a business plan. The best way to get better at something is to just do it. Use your hands and build something and capture it for YouTube.
Behind the Scenes: It’s not only the entertainment industry that offers behind the scenes content, but many businesses offer tours and open houses. Reach out to any business or organization you are curious about the inner workings and odds are there will be a day where you can pop in and have a look at what it makes the wheels turn.
Jargon and Slang: From fashion to baseball to dentistry, everything has its own set of jargon or slang. What’s a galloon? What does it mean to win the pennant? What is 3MOD? If you are interested in languages, then diving into the world of jargon and slang is an interesting one.
Deconstruct a Process: Be like Tim Ferriss by breaking down a process into parts enabling you to learn a new skill faster, whether it be language or sports or coffee . Show your viewer how to properly learn how to improve performance by simplifying.
Languages: We all want to learn a new language, but it isn’t easy. If you have a knack for languages, show it off as a skill. Help new speakers avoid common mistakes, discuss the etymology of each word, and explore all the diverse dialects.
Accents: How accents derive is a fascinating topic to explore if you are seeking good ideas for YouTube. Why do some accents sound like music while other sound abrasive? Why different neighborhoods in the same city have different accents? There are endless questions to explore. Evenconstructed languages can be analyzed for their accents.
History: Are you interested in your city, your school, or the land your office is built upon? What was it like ten years ago? A hundred years ago? An exploration of history does not have to be about Rome or Mesopotamia, it can be about your backyard
Debunking Myths: Before every MythBusters episode they warn you not to attempt any of their experiments, and we are not encouraging you to either. At least, not to their scale. There is a multitude of myths out there that can use your expert eye to explore. In your city itself, there are stories worth debunking or at least learning more about.
Compare Two Things: Need something to do on YouTube? Why not compare diets such as Paleo vs Keto, devices such as Android vs iPhone, or a remake vs an original?
Opposing Opinions: Do you have a friend who always has to argue with you about everything: films, values, politics? Well, don’t just save those conversations for private, invite him or her over and film a debate.
Deep Dive: Go down the rabbit hole on a topic you are really fascinated about. Dissect every song from an artist, read every book by an author, or learn about a different type of plant growing in your community. Everywhere you look, you should see opportunities to get obsessed over a topic.
Biography of Someone: It could be a famous person or it can be someone from your family. Tell their story in a way that only you can. Get interviews, do research, and find a personal connection. Every life is significant, now it is your chance to honor that.
Fun Facts: Grab a deck of questions from Trivial Pursuit and pick a fun fact to explore. Use it as a jumping-off point for exploring an interesting topic. Share it with viewers who might not have known that they were interested in this fact.
Timeline of a Topic: Pick any topic and trace the lineage and better understand how it has gotten to this point. Where did it begin, has it hit critical mass, and how has it evolved over the years?
9. Be a Fan and a Critic
Fanfiction: Continue a story of one of your favorite movie characters or explore the life of some secondary character in a television show that you enjoy. Use their existing storyline to guide where you toward an interesting YouTube video about how they could have evolved.
Re-edit: Use your editing skills to recreate a classic movie scene, allowing it to have a completely different tone. Or mashup footage from a variety of sources to create an original piece of video content.
Speculation of Unreleased Entertainment: There are always rumors of upcoming movies, music, and books from famous filmmakers, musicians, and authors. Speculate on what the new release can possibly be about. Generate buzz and excitement and consider what you would do if you were put into the shoes of those famous creators.
Spotlight on the Best: In every field, there are those that are considered world-class. How did they get there, what support did they get, and how are they working to stay at the top? Highlight their achievements and see what we can anticipate from them in the future.
Commentary: Can you offer insights into a particular piece of work? Share it with the world and add another dimension to what the viewers have already seen.
Spotlight on Something Not So Popular: Is there something you adore that nobody really knows about? You can be the one to help this become mainstream.
Tribute: Pay tribute to a personality or an event from the past. Help people remember the significance of what happened from the past through your YouTube video.
Shoutout: Like sending out a thank you card, use YouTube to publicly thank someone for doing something awesome! It’s like you are giving a toast to someone in front of the whole Internet, what an honor.
Summarize a Book, Movie, or TV Show: Give the Coles note summary of a book, a movie, or TV show. Challenge yourself to make a summary that is as interesting as the actual source material.
“Best of” Video: Select the best scenes from your favorite actor or the best plays from your favorite athlete and compile it into a video that highlights all the best moments.
10. Create Entertainment
Fails: Don’t get embarrassed, get views. Embrace your shortcomings and accept that everybody has failed at something. Be careful and don’t get hurt too bad though.
Parody: Channel your Key of Awesome and create your own parody of something from pop culture. If you parody something trending, it can help you catch the wave of popularity and bring in views as all eyes are currently on that topic.
Break Something: There is nothing like watching something get destroyed. Maybe that’s why the Will it Blend videos got so popular. No matter how we resist it, we enjoy seeing the destruction.
Time Lapse: The growth of a plant, the flow of traffic, the rise and fall of the sun through your eyes. In this fast pace world, it’s fun to see organized chaos at a rapid rate.
Screen Sharing: Let people watch you play a video game or give a tour of your desktop. Share your screen as you write a poem.
Cinematography: There is always a place for beautiful cinematography on YouTube. Tell a great story about your life or your city with great moving images.
Short subject documentary: Pick a topic that matters and explore in through the structure of a documentary. Remember that when making a documentary, think about it as making a movie – you are not there to lecture them. Can you get peopleriled up as Michael Moore does? Can you encourage people to take action? If yes, then you are ready to start making documentary-style YouTube videos.
Lip-sync: Can’t sing but feel you have a musical gift to give to the world, well, they will never put you on the billboards for what you can do lip-syncing, but you can make a pretty entertaining YouTube video through this medium. It doesn’t even have to be music either, take Bad Lip Reading .
Impressions: A good impression is always worth a good laugh, and a bad one is almost as good. Give it a shot, pull up videos of some of your favorite celebrities, and film yourself attempting to mimic their voice, characteristics and expressions.
Sketch Comedy, Short Film, or Role Play: Do you have characters and scenes in mind that will be perfect for SNL? Well, instead of having to go through Lorne Michaels, create the character yourself and publish your comedy sketch on YouTube.
Interview: Find a subject matter experts and ask them interesting questions about their profession and areas of interest.
Games: Play a game with your friends or other YouTubers and allow the competitiveness, frustration, and hilarity to ensue.
Okay! How do you feel?
I bet you are bursting and ready to create your next video. Onwards! Remember, whatever idea you pick, be sure to give it your own flair. That is what YouTube is all about. Got another YouTube video idea you want to share? Let the Filmora.io community know in the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Ideas are the fuel for your YouTube channel, and you are running on empty. Out of video ideas or in need of fresh new ideas? No worries. This article is truly a definitive list of YouTube video ideas.
Bookmark this post, so whenever you need a content idea, you can quickly reference it. After you finish reading, you will be ready to make your next video.
Make Creative YouTube Videos with Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora is a great tool and known for its creativity in video files. You can always make use of features on Filmora that would help you to tweak your videos in any way. Be it the effects, overlays, or transitions, Filmora has all the tools and features available to make creative content for your YouTube channel. The best advantage of having Filmora in the tool list is that it has some inbuilt templates which are easy enough to be implemented and embed on the YouTube Videos.
1. Content Idea Resources
Before we go deeper into the search to find you the best topics for YouTube, let’s take a quick look at some tools that may help you warm up and get your creative juices flowing.
Portent’s Content Title Idea Generator: Put in one of your keywords in this content idea generator and it will come up with an interesting title for you.
We The Unicorn’s Video Idea Generator Quiz: Answer this multiple-choice quiz and allow the algorithm to suggest a YouTube video idea that best suits your style.
701 YouTube Video Ideas [eBook]: You’ll save time brainstorming, be able to post consistently, and grow your YouTube channel faster with this book of ideas.
As you can see, coming up with ideas doesn’t have to be an agonizing drag. It’s all about flexing your creativity muscle and we are here to help you do it. Are you ready to be inspired? Great! Let’s begin this list:
2. Showcase Who You Are
Talk About Yourself: Introduce yourself to the world. You can answer 10 of the most common ice breaker questions you get at social gatherings: “Who are you?” “What do you do for a living?” “What are your hobbies?” In this video, you get to decide how you want to showcase yourself to your audience.
Reviews: Do you have opinions? Of course, you do. Movie trailers, popular YouTube videos, products such as makeup, gadgets, and toys, you have thoughts on everything. It’s more than content creation, it’s critical thinking. Understanding why you like or dislike something is not only helpful for other people like you, but it’s also helpful for you to know your own preferences. It’s a little exercise in self-discovery.
Day in a Life: Bring the audience with you on a day of your life. Show people what it is like to walk in your shoes from morning to night. How do you commute to school or work? What do you have for lunch? What obstacles do you encounter throughout the day? You’ll be surprised what will happen as your day unfolds.
Top 10: People love lists because it’s a simple rundown. When you set your video as a list, the viewer knows exactly what they are getting, and familiarity with the format will make it more likely to be clicked. While you can make a top 12 or top 16 list, it is shown that picking a number ending on “0” will yield the best results .
Routines: What do you do when you get ready for school or work? What do you do before bed? Discussing your routine can inspire people to lead the life you have. A routine does not mean going to an office every day , it can mean eating a new restaurant every month, doing something impulsive once a week, or appreciating what you have on a daily basis.
Reflection: You’ve come a long way and you don’t always acknowledge it. Were there a few pivotal milestones in the last five years? Were there new friends you made or new places you’ve been to? Can’t think of anything? Well, pull out your calendar and flip back a few months and a few years. Was there something you scheduled that you’ve forgotten? It was important enough for you to mark it down at the time, reflect on how it went, and what you got out of it.
Favorites: Game, food, or sports team: when you talk about your favorite things, you allow people to take a peek into the history of you. It’s easier to get people excited when you talk about something you are passionate about, so do it! Also, talking about your favorite thing allow other people who like those things to find you. This is a great way to find and build your own community
Relatonships: Your parents, your partner, your teachers, or your friends, your relationship with each of those people are different, even though you are the same person. That’s the beauty of a relationship. This makes it a great topic to share on YouTube because it shows a unique side of who you are every time you speak about another relationship you have.
Rant: The world is out to get you… not really, but there are enough annoying situations during the week to fill a weekly rant segment for your channel. Here’s a tip about ranting that you should use to avoid sounding whiny: offer a solution at the end or be funny .
Show and Tell: Like the elementary school exercise, show and tell is a terrific way to show off something interesting you have and talk about the significance of it. An old childhood toy, a new gadget, a gift from a friend: every item has a story, show and tell it.
3. Challenge Yourself
Leave Your Comfort Zone: Do something that you didn’t think you can do and film it. It might end up being a Fail, but that is how you learn. Learn a new language and talk to a native speaker. Go bungee jumping. Offer free hugs in public. Do something that makes your heart beat faster everyday and film it.
Live On A Budget: Reduce your weekly budget to $50, can you do it? How about $10? This YouTube video idea gives you perspective into your life. How will your lifestyle change when you vastly reduce your expenses? Knowing this can actually help us prepare for the worst-case scenario.
30 Day Challenge: Usually a 30-day challenge is associated with partaking in a healthy activity such as exercise or giving up a bad habit. But all that has been done, why not challenge yourself to do something different? Cook all your meals for 30 days. Take a different route to work every day for 30 days. Have a 10-minute long conversation with someone new for 30 days.
Speed Round: You think you are good at something? Well, why not try to do it as quickly as possible? Complete a round of video games as quickly as you can. Do a MasterChef mystery box challenge in your kitchen. Run from one subway station to the next , beating the tube itself.
4. Show Your Talent
Make Music: An original song, a cover, or a remix, YouTube is a fantastic platform to showcase your musical talents. Don’t forget, some of the world’s top artists began their journey on YouTube. You might be next to join the discovered on YouTube list .
Creating: Are you an artist? Show your process in making a piece. Depending on the speed in which your project takes, use a timelapse to present what you did in the most effective way.
Unusual skill: Do you have a party trick that you would love to show everyone, but don’t have a party to go to? YouTube is the place for you. Juggle, do a magic trick, dance like Christopher Walkens, whatever unusual skill you have, share it on camera, and get the accolades you so deserve.
5. Explore Your Surroundings
Tour: Your home, your office, your city. Bring your camera and take your audience on a tour of a place you know well. Show them all the hidden gems, tell them a story about the history, and be spontaneous and discover along the way.
Special Event: In any community, there is always a special event taking place, whether it be a concert, a festival, or a conference. Film the environment, interview attendees, and share the experience.
Travel: Go on a trip and bring your camera with you. Create drama by documenting all the things that didn’t go as planned… and any memorable trip will have hiccups along the way. Discover things along the way and vocalize your thoughts through the trip.
Discuss Current Events: As the environmental climate, there is also a social and political climate. Address the current state of events in your city. Are there plans to build new infrastructure? Is there a social injustice that the public should know about? You can discuss international affairs, national politics, or keep it local to start.
6. Be An Educator
Advice: Have you been through a trying experience? Do you have advice for other people setting off on the same path? Whether it’s graduating school, starting a new job, losing weight, or practicing a new skill, creating content that offers helpful advice for those seeking it will give you credibility to speak about the topic since you have gone through the situation yourself.
How to Plan Something: Did you plan a camping trip that went really well? Did you throw a surprise birthday party that went without a hitch? It doesn’t have to be anything grand but think back to something you followed successfully and explain what you did to achieve it.
Lifehacks: Do you have lifehacks? This may be the most generous gift you can share with your audience. You can save them time, energy, and a whole lot of headaches. If you have an engineering spirit, then consider how you can simplify all the little activities that make up a day. No engineering spirit? Start with these lifehacks instead.
Time Management: The responsibility of every person is slightly different, but how you manage your daily schedule. Do you write tasks down on an agenda? Do you have a calendar? What do you do when you get distracted? What is your schedule like? Do you create your own bullet journal or use a productivity app? If so, share it!
Guided Activities: For beginners, some activities are better with a guide. If the audience is unable to join an in-person class, YouTube is a wonderful online alternative for guided activities such as yoga, meditation, and other exercise or relaxation activities.
Tutorial: Is there software you use particularly well? Are you skilled in the kitchen or the garage? Can you install appliances without reading the instructions? Give a step-by-step tutorial in completing a project.
7. Share Your Beliefs and Lifestyle
Motivation: Whatever you are pursuing, know that there are many on the same path as you. If you are an aspiring dancer create content for those that are with you on the journey. Encourage them and speak authentically about the accomplishments to come. Motivation is the energy that is in circulation. The more you send out into the universe, the more will come back to you.
Pets: If you share your home with animals, then you have no shortage of content. Point the camera at your dogs, cats, and ferrets for a while and see what ridiculous scenarios they get up to.
Fitness and Food: Do you subscribe to a specific type of fitness and diet? Have you seen the results that you want to share? Yes, perfect! If no, then why not do a little experimentation. Try to include a fitness and diet regimen in your daily life and vlog about it. Who knows, it might become a healthy change.
Tattoos, Piercing, or Scars: Every tattoo, piercing, and a scar on your body probably have an interesting story behind it. Whether it is something you are proud of or something you may prefer to hide, recognizing the different marks on your body and how they represent your history is a great way to reflect and get inspired.
Document Your Journey: It’s important to set achievable goals for yourself. That’s how you can encourage progress within yourself. With a goal and a timeline in mind, it can be as simple as documenting your journey towards it. If you are working on your novel, you can do a vlog updating the viewers on your process and word count or even bringing a camera with you as your piece gets workshopped.
Holiday: We all share memories of that wonderful time of year. For some it’s a spectacle for others it’s a modest affair. How do you celebrate the holidays and is there a story to that tradition?
Career: So much of our identity is related to what we do for a living. Talking about your day job on YouTube can be tricky. Be authentic, but also use your discretion, because you don’t want to misrepresent yourself professionally to the world.
Philosophy: What is your relationship with money, weekends, and your extended family? Thinking about your values can help you explore life philosophically, thus encouraging you to live the best life possible. As you speak about your philosophy, you are bound to experience alternative views, and that is where great content materializes.
Haul: If you have some money to spend, create a haul YouTube video. Haul video involves you going on a shopping spree and bringing home a big “haul.” In essence, it is an unboxing video on steroids. This type of video generally involves fashion or groceries, but it can be related to anything in large quantity. It’s all about showing off your new stuff to the audience.
Unboxing: Got something new from Amazon? Before you open it, turn on your camera. Unboxing is an easy YouTube video idea that allows your viewers who are considering buying the item to better understand whether it is in fact the right purchase for them.
8. Nurture Your Curiosity
Build Something: IKEA furniture, a website, a LEGO miniature, a business plan. The best way to get better at something is to just do it. Use your hands and build something and capture it for YouTube.
Behind the Scenes: It’s not only the entertainment industry that offers behind the scenes content, but many businesses offer tours and open houses. Reach out to any business or organization you are curious about the inner workings and odds are there will be a day where you can pop in and have a look at what it makes the wheels turn.
Jargon and Slang: From fashion to baseball to dentistry, everything has its own set of jargon or slang. What’s a galloon? What does it mean to win the pennant? What is 3MOD? If you are interested in languages, then diving into the world of jargon and slang is an interesting one.
Deconstruct a Process: Be like Tim Ferriss by breaking down a process into parts enabling you to learn a new skill faster, whether it be language or sports or coffee . Show your viewer how to properly learn how to improve performance by simplifying.
Languages: We all want to learn a new language, but it isn’t easy. If you have a knack for languages, show it off as a skill. Help new speakers avoid common mistakes, discuss the etymology of each word, and explore all the diverse dialects.
Accents: How accents derive is a fascinating topic to explore if you are seeking good ideas for YouTube. Why do some accents sound like music while other sound abrasive? Why different neighborhoods in the same city have different accents? There are endless questions to explore. Evenconstructed languages can be analyzed for their accents.
History: Are you interested in your city, your school, or the land your office is built upon? What was it like ten years ago? A hundred years ago? An exploration of history does not have to be about Rome or Mesopotamia, it can be about your backyard
Debunking Myths: Before every MythBusters episode they warn you not to attempt any of their experiments, and we are not encouraging you to either. At least, not to their scale. There is a multitude of myths out there that can use your expert eye to explore. In your city itself, there are stories worth debunking or at least learning more about.
Compare Two Things: Need something to do on YouTube? Why not compare diets such as Paleo vs Keto, devices such as Android vs iPhone, or a remake vs an original?
Opposing Opinions: Do you have a friend who always has to argue with you about everything: films, values, politics? Well, don’t just save those conversations for private, invite him or her over and film a debate.
Deep Dive: Go down the rabbit hole on a topic you are really fascinated about. Dissect every song from an artist, read every book by an author, or learn about a different type of plant growing in your community. Everywhere you look, you should see opportunities to get obsessed over a topic.
Biography of Someone: It could be a famous person or it can be someone from your family. Tell their story in a way that only you can. Get interviews, do research, and find a personal connection. Every life is significant, now it is your chance to honor that.
Fun Facts: Grab a deck of questions from Trivial Pursuit and pick a fun fact to explore. Use it as a jumping-off point for exploring an interesting topic. Share it with viewers who might not have known that they were interested in this fact.
Timeline of a Topic: Pick any topic and trace the lineage and better understand how it has gotten to this point. Where did it begin, has it hit critical mass, and how has it evolved over the years?
9. Be a Fan and a Critic
Fanfiction: Continue a story of one of your favorite movie characters or explore the life of some secondary character in a television show that you enjoy. Use their existing storyline to guide where you toward an interesting YouTube video about how they could have evolved.
Re-edit: Use your editing skills to recreate a classic movie scene, allowing it to have a completely different tone. Or mashup footage from a variety of sources to create an original piece of video content.
Speculation of Unreleased Entertainment: There are always rumors of upcoming movies, music, and books from famous filmmakers, musicians, and authors. Speculate on what the new release can possibly be about. Generate buzz and excitement and consider what you would do if you were put into the shoes of those famous creators.
Spotlight on the Best: In every field, there are those that are considered world-class. How did they get there, what support did they get, and how are they working to stay at the top? Highlight their achievements and see what we can anticipate from them in the future.
Commentary: Can you offer insights into a particular piece of work? Share it with the world and add another dimension to what the viewers have already seen.
Spotlight on Something Not So Popular: Is there something you adore that nobody really knows about? You can be the one to help this become mainstream.
Tribute: Pay tribute to a personality or an event from the past. Help people remember the significance of what happened from the past through your YouTube video.
Shoutout: Like sending out a thank you card, use YouTube to publicly thank someone for doing something awesome! It’s like you are giving a toast to someone in front of the whole Internet, what an honor.
Summarize a Book, Movie, or TV Show: Give the Coles note summary of a book, a movie, or TV show. Challenge yourself to make a summary that is as interesting as the actual source material.
“Best of” Video: Select the best scenes from your favorite actor or the best plays from your favorite athlete and compile it into a video that highlights all the best moments.
10. Create Entertainment
Fails: Don’t get embarrassed, get views. Embrace your shortcomings and accept that everybody has failed at something. Be careful and don’t get hurt too bad though.
Parody: Channel your Key of Awesome and create your own parody of something from pop culture. If you parody something trending, it can help you catch the wave of popularity and bring in views as all eyes are currently on that topic.
Break Something: There is nothing like watching something get destroyed. Maybe that’s why the Will it Blend videos got so popular. No matter how we resist it, we enjoy seeing the destruction.
Time Lapse: The growth of a plant, the flow of traffic, the rise and fall of the sun through your eyes. In this fast pace world, it’s fun to see organized chaos at a rapid rate.
Screen Sharing: Let people watch you play a video game or give a tour of your desktop. Share your screen as you write a poem.
Cinematography: There is always a place for beautiful cinematography on YouTube. Tell a great story about your life or your city with great moving images.
Short subject documentary: Pick a topic that matters and explore in through the structure of a documentary. Remember that when making a documentary, think about it as making a movie – you are not there to lecture them. Can you get peopleriled up as Michael Moore does? Can you encourage people to take action? If yes, then you are ready to start making documentary-style YouTube videos.
Lip-sync: Can’t sing but feel you have a musical gift to give to the world, well, they will never put you on the billboards for what you can do lip-syncing, but you can make a pretty entertaining YouTube video through this medium. It doesn’t even have to be music either, take Bad Lip Reading .
Impressions: A good impression is always worth a good laugh, and a bad one is almost as good. Give it a shot, pull up videos of some of your favorite celebrities, and film yourself attempting to mimic their voice, characteristics and expressions.
Sketch Comedy, Short Film, or Role Play: Do you have characters and scenes in mind that will be perfect for SNL? Well, instead of having to go through Lorne Michaels, create the character yourself and publish your comedy sketch on YouTube.
Interview: Find a subject matter experts and ask them interesting questions about their profession and areas of interest.
Games: Play a game with your friends or other YouTubers and allow the competitiveness, frustration, and hilarity to ensue.
Okay! How do you feel?
I bet you are bursting and ready to create your next video. Onwards! Remember, whatever idea you pick, be sure to give it your own flair. That is what YouTube is all about. Got another YouTube video idea you want to share? Let the Filmora.io community know in the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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The Best 8 Free Editing Programs to Streamline Your YouTube Projects
The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube (Top 8 Reviews)
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
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