Detailed Tips for Adequate Lighting in YouTube Video Production

How To Light Your YouTube Video

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

When it comes to sensitivity to light, no consumer-level camera sensor comes close in performance to the human eye. Many newbies to videography, though, don’t think about this when they use their camera indoors and discover that their recorded footage appears too dark.

If you want to use your camera indoors as many YouTubers do, you’ll need to have extra light. But the solution is not as simple as surrounding yourself with lamps that are all randomly placed.

Below, I’ll go into detail on how you can set up your lighting equipment to make your YouTube videos look good.

Table of Contents Using Light You Already Have Window LightingHome Lighting Home Studio Lighting Light Control3-Point Lighting4-Point Lighting

Part 1: Using Light You Already Have

Most beginner YouTubers light their videos with what they already have. That’s what I did to start as well. In the past, my video recording space consisted of natural sunlight coming from my window and ceiling light for times when the sunlight wasn’t strong enough.

1. Window Lighting

The best thing about window lighting is that it’s free. The worst thing about it is that it’s uncontrollable. The amount of light you get in your video can vary with all the changes in the weather.

Window lighting for me was especially difficult to work with because I live in a very rainy and cloudy city, Vancouver, Canada, where we pretty much just get three months of good sun.

Above are two freeze frames from one of Daniel’s past window-lit vlogs. Although these two frames are both from the same vlog, you can see that the image on the right looks brighter due to clearer skies at that moment. These varying amounts of light is what you will have to deal with if you choose to light your YouTube video with window lighting.

2. Home Lighting

Home lighting is another source of light that many new YouTubers use. In the past, when my window light wasn’t strong enough to light my video recording space, I would turn on the ceiling light.

Notice how the color of Daniel’s skin looks much more orange here (above) than the color of the skin in the two side-by-side window lighting examples? The side of the face also appears to look bluer. This all happened because he mixed up different color temperatures shining out of the two lights (cooler window light and warmer ceiling light).

Most home lighting is warmer in its color temperature. If you want to use your home lights without everything being orange-tinted, you’ll need to switch out your light bulbs for daytime LED light bulbs.

Ceiling lights are also typically situated in the center of a room in order to light an entire room evenly. This is not likely to be the best location for your filming video. Since the ceiling light was directly above the face in the above example, you can see harder shadows beneath his cheeks.

Part 2: Home Studio Lighting

If you rather not deal with all the window and home lighting challenges, you can set up studio lighting in your home.

1. Light Control

The first thing you’ll want to do to set up studio lighting in your home is to pick a room to film in and eliminate as much external lighting as you can. Use blinds, curtains, towels, or any thick fabric to block sunlight from shining into your room.

2. 3-Point Lighting

The most common setup for studio lighting is 3-point lighting. For this kind of lighting you’ll need three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a back light (also called a hair light).

Out of the three lights, the key light should be the brightest. When it is positioned to the left of you (as shown in the diagram above) your right side will have shadows.

To minimize the shadows on your right side, use a weaker light as a fill light. You don’t want your fill light to completely eliminate all your shadows or else your shot will look flat.

Lastly, a backlight positioned behind you can give an appealing highlight to the ends of your head and even help to separate your hair from blending into your background if both happen to be dark.

3. 4-Point Lighting

As a YouTuber, you may not only want yourself to be seen optimally with proper lighting, but you may also want your background to be seen optimally, especially if you’ve taken the time to decorate it for your audience.

What you’ll need to ensure that your background is sufficiently lit is 4-point lighting setup. The 4-point lighting setup is the same as a 3-point lighting setup, but with an additional light shining at your background.

For more information on lighting equipment, check out my Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Touch Up YouTube Videos with Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software for YouTube beginners to start the YouTube channel. So, if you find the lighting isn’t perfect after recording, you can use the Auto Color Enhancement feature in Filmora to adjust the color with one-click. Or, you can change the white balance, Light, color, and HSL manually. Filmora also features some presets and LUTs templates , which allows you to apply pre-programmed effects to video for color correction faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Review: Best Practices for YouTube Video Trimming

YouTube Video Editor Guide and Review

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has had a video editor for a long time, but over time it has changed for the better. 2010 was when the first major overhaul happened, and since then more and more features have been added. There is still the question if the YouTube Video Editor is good, and if it replaces desktop editors. Hopefully, our YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if you want to use the editor.

---

Want to make your YouTube video more attractive and beautiful? here I recommend an easy-to-use video editing software - Wondershare Filmora which not only allows you cut, crop, rotate, and split your videos in minutes, but also simplify the advanced video editing like green screen effect and PIP. You can also find over 300 video effects like Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Education, etc.

---

YouTube Video Editor Review

Note: From 20th September 2017 users will no longer be able to use the complimentary editing suite. Check the best YouTube video editor alternatives from this complete guide.

In the early days of the YouTube Video Editor , all you could do was trim video clips, arrange the clips on a timeline, add in basic transitions, and add music. Now the YouTube video editor is able to add video effects to the video and create multiple projects at the same time. While the editor can do more, it has stayed a simple tool.

This simplicity makes it very easy and quick to use. Unlike desktop editors, the YouTube Editor processes much faster. Since the tool is designed to be easy to use, you can learn to use the YouTube Editor in very little time. However, due to its simplicity, it does not offer all the same features. Some of the features that are missing means that it is not suited for every project.

The Basic Features

1.The editor

The YouTube Video Editor does come with some standard video editing functions like video splicing, Audioswap, and cropping videos. The video editor needs to have the videos already uploaded to YouTube. Along with using your own videos, you have the option to use videos that are part of the Creative Commons library. There transitions, and other features that other standard video editors have. Audioswap is easy to use, and there is access to the Creative Commons library in the editor.

2. The Enhancements

The Enhancements that are included in the YouTube Video Editor are not the best tools, but they are still pretty good overall. Enhancements can be found by clicking on a video picture after it has been added to the project. Enhancements are broken into four categories: Quick Fixes, Filters, Text, and Audio. Quick fixes are basic adjustments for small issues like the contrast and saturation of the video. YouTube added an auto-fix button and stabilize video button to make it quick to fix these issues. The filters, text, and audio, are about the same that you would find with any other video editing software.

Related: Want to know how to use the Enhancements feature in YouTube? Check this tutorial to know more: How to use YouTube Enhancements.

Pros and Cons of the YouTube Video Editor

The Pros of the YouTube Editor are that is it is free and has a huge library of free video clips and music. It is also super easy to learn. If you have a Google+ account, you can photos to your video straight from your cloud storage. You also have access to all the videos that you have uploaded to YouTube. All the features are easy to use, and many can be dragged and dropped making editing easy. Google is still improving the YouTube Video Editor to have more features and run smoother.

Related: Want to know YouTube alternatives? Check this article to know more: YouTube Video Editor Alternatives

The major con for YouTube Video Editor is that it only has the basic video editing features at the moment. Another major con is that the video editor is fully online. This means that a refresh is needed to see the changes that you have made. After the refresh of the video, the video jumps back to the beginning of the video making it frustrating to edit the end of a video. There is also no real way of shortening music in the editor at the moment. Unlike many desk top video editors, you cannot overlap music or video clips. This means that some of the transitions are choppy.

The Bottom Line

Since Google is still working on the YouTube Video Editor, hopefully, most of kinks will be worked out soon. While the YouTube Video Editor is getting better, it is still have the most basic features. The easy to use nature of the editor may mean that it stays more of a simple to use video tool. This does make it easy to edit, and it’s good for most projects. Millions of people use this editor because it is so easy to use. However, more advanced projects are still going to need a desktop video editor. We are hoping to see more advanced features in the future.

Many YouTubers and everyday people like the YouTube Video Editor, for its ease of use and the quick video editing that it provides. However, if it is right for you, depends greatly on what you are trying to do. If you plan on doing any editing past cropping videos, adding type and transitions, and switching music, you are better off using a desktop video editor. Hopefully, this YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if YouTube’s editor is the right one of your projects.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has had a video editor for a long time, but over time it has changed for the better. 2010 was when the first major overhaul happened, and since then more and more features have been added. There is still the question if the YouTube Video Editor is good, and if it replaces desktop editors. Hopefully, our YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if you want to use the editor.

---

Want to make your YouTube video more attractive and beautiful? here I recommend an easy-to-use video editing software - Wondershare Filmora which not only allows you cut, crop, rotate, and split your videos in minutes, but also simplify the advanced video editing like green screen effect and PIP. You can also find over 300 video effects like Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Education, etc.

---

YouTube Video Editor Review

Note: From 20th September 2017 users will no longer be able to use the complimentary editing suite. Check the best YouTube video editor alternatives from this complete guide.

In the early days of the YouTube Video Editor , all you could do was trim video clips, arrange the clips on a timeline, add in basic transitions, and add music. Now the YouTube video editor is able to add video effects to the video and create multiple projects at the same time. While the editor can do more, it has stayed a simple tool.

This simplicity makes it very easy and quick to use. Unlike desktop editors, the YouTube Editor processes much faster. Since the tool is designed to be easy to use, you can learn to use the YouTube Editor in very little time. However, due to its simplicity, it does not offer all the same features. Some of the features that are missing means that it is not suited for every project.

The Basic Features

1.The editor

The YouTube Video Editor does come with some standard video editing functions like video splicing, Audioswap, and cropping videos. The video editor needs to have the videos already uploaded to YouTube. Along with using your own videos, you have the option to use videos that are part of the Creative Commons library. There transitions, and other features that other standard video editors have. Audioswap is easy to use, and there is access to the Creative Commons library in the editor.

2. The Enhancements

The Enhancements that are included in the YouTube Video Editor are not the best tools, but they are still pretty good overall. Enhancements can be found by clicking on a video picture after it has been added to the project. Enhancements are broken into four categories: Quick Fixes, Filters, Text, and Audio. Quick fixes are basic adjustments for small issues like the contrast and saturation of the video. YouTube added an auto-fix button and stabilize video button to make it quick to fix these issues. The filters, text, and audio, are about the same that you would find with any other video editing software.

Related: Want to know how to use the Enhancements feature in YouTube? Check this tutorial to know more: How to use YouTube Enhancements.

Pros and Cons of the YouTube Video Editor

The Pros of the YouTube Editor are that is it is free and has a huge library of free video clips and music. It is also super easy to learn. If you have a Google+ account, you can photos to your video straight from your cloud storage. You also have access to all the videos that you have uploaded to YouTube. All the features are easy to use, and many can be dragged and dropped making editing easy. Google is still improving the YouTube Video Editor to have more features and run smoother.

Related: Want to know YouTube alternatives? Check this article to know more: YouTube Video Editor Alternatives

The major con for YouTube Video Editor is that it only has the basic video editing features at the moment. Another major con is that the video editor is fully online. This means that a refresh is needed to see the changes that you have made. After the refresh of the video, the video jumps back to the beginning of the video making it frustrating to edit the end of a video. There is also no real way of shortening music in the editor at the moment. Unlike many desk top video editors, you cannot overlap music or video clips. This means that some of the transitions are choppy.

The Bottom Line

Since Google is still working on the YouTube Video Editor, hopefully, most of kinks will be worked out soon. While the YouTube Video Editor is getting better, it is still have the most basic features. The easy to use nature of the editor may mean that it stays more of a simple to use video tool. This does make it easy to edit, and it’s good for most projects. Millions of people use this editor because it is so easy to use. However, more advanced projects are still going to need a desktop video editor. We are hoping to see more advanced features in the future.

Many YouTubers and everyday people like the YouTube Video Editor, for its ease of use and the quick video editing that it provides. However, if it is right for you, depends greatly on what you are trying to do. If you plan on doing any editing past cropping videos, adding type and transitions, and switching music, you are better off using a desktop video editor. Hopefully, this YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if YouTube’s editor is the right one of your projects.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has had a video editor for a long time, but over time it has changed for the better. 2010 was when the first major overhaul happened, and since then more and more features have been added. There is still the question if the YouTube Video Editor is good, and if it replaces desktop editors. Hopefully, our YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if you want to use the editor.

---

Want to make your YouTube video more attractive and beautiful? here I recommend an easy-to-use video editing software - Wondershare Filmora which not only allows you cut, crop, rotate, and split your videos in minutes, but also simplify the advanced video editing like green screen effect and PIP. You can also find over 300 video effects like Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Education, etc.

---

YouTube Video Editor Review

Note: From 20th September 2017 users will no longer be able to use the complimentary editing suite. Check the best YouTube video editor alternatives from this complete guide.

In the early days of the YouTube Video Editor , all you could do was trim video clips, arrange the clips on a timeline, add in basic transitions, and add music. Now the YouTube video editor is able to add video effects to the video and create multiple projects at the same time. While the editor can do more, it has stayed a simple tool.

This simplicity makes it very easy and quick to use. Unlike desktop editors, the YouTube Editor processes much faster. Since the tool is designed to be easy to use, you can learn to use the YouTube Editor in very little time. However, due to its simplicity, it does not offer all the same features. Some of the features that are missing means that it is not suited for every project.

The Basic Features

1.The editor

The YouTube Video Editor does come with some standard video editing functions like video splicing, Audioswap, and cropping videos. The video editor needs to have the videos already uploaded to YouTube. Along with using your own videos, you have the option to use videos that are part of the Creative Commons library. There transitions, and other features that other standard video editors have. Audioswap is easy to use, and there is access to the Creative Commons library in the editor.

2. The Enhancements

The Enhancements that are included in the YouTube Video Editor are not the best tools, but they are still pretty good overall. Enhancements can be found by clicking on a video picture after it has been added to the project. Enhancements are broken into four categories: Quick Fixes, Filters, Text, and Audio. Quick fixes are basic adjustments for small issues like the contrast and saturation of the video. YouTube added an auto-fix button and stabilize video button to make it quick to fix these issues. The filters, text, and audio, are about the same that you would find with any other video editing software.

Related: Want to know how to use the Enhancements feature in YouTube? Check this tutorial to know more: How to use YouTube Enhancements.

Pros and Cons of the YouTube Video Editor

The Pros of the YouTube Editor are that is it is free and has a huge library of free video clips and music. It is also super easy to learn. If you have a Google+ account, you can photos to your video straight from your cloud storage. You also have access to all the videos that you have uploaded to YouTube. All the features are easy to use, and many can be dragged and dropped making editing easy. Google is still improving the YouTube Video Editor to have more features and run smoother.

Related: Want to know YouTube alternatives? Check this article to know more: YouTube Video Editor Alternatives

The major con for YouTube Video Editor is that it only has the basic video editing features at the moment. Another major con is that the video editor is fully online. This means that a refresh is needed to see the changes that you have made. After the refresh of the video, the video jumps back to the beginning of the video making it frustrating to edit the end of a video. There is also no real way of shortening music in the editor at the moment. Unlike many desk top video editors, you cannot overlap music or video clips. This means that some of the transitions are choppy.

The Bottom Line

Since Google is still working on the YouTube Video Editor, hopefully, most of kinks will be worked out soon. While the YouTube Video Editor is getting better, it is still have the most basic features. The easy to use nature of the editor may mean that it stays more of a simple to use video tool. This does make it easy to edit, and it’s good for most projects. Millions of people use this editor because it is so easy to use. However, more advanced projects are still going to need a desktop video editor. We are hoping to see more advanced features in the future.

Many YouTubers and everyday people like the YouTube Video Editor, for its ease of use and the quick video editing that it provides. However, if it is right for you, depends greatly on what you are trying to do. If you plan on doing any editing past cropping videos, adding type and transitions, and switching music, you are better off using a desktop video editor. Hopefully, this YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if YouTube’s editor is the right one of your projects.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has had a video editor for a long time, but over time it has changed for the better. 2010 was when the first major overhaul happened, and since then more and more features have been added. There is still the question if the YouTube Video Editor is good, and if it replaces desktop editors. Hopefully, our YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if you want to use the editor.

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YouTube Video Editor Review

Note: From 20th September 2017 users will no longer be able to use the complimentary editing suite. Check the best YouTube video editor alternatives from this complete guide.

In the early days of the YouTube Video Editor , all you could do was trim video clips, arrange the clips on a timeline, add in basic transitions, and add music. Now the YouTube video editor is able to add video effects to the video and create multiple projects at the same time. While the editor can do more, it has stayed a simple tool.

This simplicity makes it very easy and quick to use. Unlike desktop editors, the YouTube Editor processes much faster. Since the tool is designed to be easy to use, you can learn to use the YouTube Editor in very little time. However, due to its simplicity, it does not offer all the same features. Some of the features that are missing means that it is not suited for every project.

The Basic Features

1.The editor

The YouTube Video Editor does come with some standard video editing functions like video splicing, Audioswap, and cropping videos. The video editor needs to have the videos already uploaded to YouTube. Along with using your own videos, you have the option to use videos that are part of the Creative Commons library. There transitions, and other features that other standard video editors have. Audioswap is easy to use, and there is access to the Creative Commons library in the editor.

2. The Enhancements

The Enhancements that are included in the YouTube Video Editor are not the best tools, but they are still pretty good overall. Enhancements can be found by clicking on a video picture after it has been added to the project. Enhancements are broken into four categories: Quick Fixes, Filters, Text, and Audio. Quick fixes are basic adjustments for small issues like the contrast and saturation of the video. YouTube added an auto-fix button and stabilize video button to make it quick to fix these issues. The filters, text, and audio, are about the same that you would find with any other video editing software.

Related: Want to know how to use the Enhancements feature in YouTube? Check this tutorial to know more: How to use YouTube Enhancements.

Pros and Cons of the YouTube Video Editor

The Pros of the YouTube Editor are that is it is free and has a huge library of free video clips and music. It is also super easy to learn. If you have a Google+ account, you can photos to your video straight from your cloud storage. You also have access to all the videos that you have uploaded to YouTube. All the features are easy to use, and many can be dragged and dropped making editing easy. Google is still improving the YouTube Video Editor to have more features and run smoother.

Related: Want to know YouTube alternatives? Check this article to know more: YouTube Video Editor Alternatives

The major con for YouTube Video Editor is that it only has the basic video editing features at the moment. Another major con is that the video editor is fully online. This means that a refresh is needed to see the changes that you have made. After the refresh of the video, the video jumps back to the beginning of the video making it frustrating to edit the end of a video. There is also no real way of shortening music in the editor at the moment. Unlike many desk top video editors, you cannot overlap music or video clips. This means that some of the transitions are choppy.

The Bottom Line

Since Google is still working on the YouTube Video Editor, hopefully, most of kinks will be worked out soon. While the YouTube Video Editor is getting better, it is still have the most basic features. The easy to use nature of the editor may mean that it stays more of a simple to use video tool. This does make it easy to edit, and it’s good for most projects. Millions of people use this editor because it is so easy to use. However, more advanced projects are still going to need a desktop video editor. We are hoping to see more advanced features in the future.

Many YouTubers and everyday people like the YouTube Video Editor, for its ease of use and the quick video editing that it provides. However, if it is right for you, depends greatly on what you are trying to do. If you plan on doing any editing past cropping videos, adding type and transitions, and switching music, you are better off using a desktop video editor. Hopefully, this YouTube Video Editor Review helps you figure out if YouTube’s editor is the right one of your projects.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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