Free video editors are typically short on the powerful features that Adobe and Apple charge hundreds of dollars for, but DaVinci Resolve is different. The entry-level version of Blackmagic Design’s video suite is packed with features, making it the only free video editor you’ll ever need.
What is DaVinci Resolve?
DaVinci Resolve is a complete video editing and processing suite, with a generous free option. It’s commonly used in the production of feature films (like Start Wars: The Last Jedi), television programming (like The Walking Dead), and other media including advertising and music production.
There are two versions of the software: DaVinci Resolve (free), and DaVinci Resolve Studio ($295). Both versions are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, plus there is a free iPad version available plus an upgraded version for $94.99. You can use the free version of DaVinci Resolve to edit video on a timeline, cut up video and audio, color grade your footage, apply visual effects, master audio, and render and share your project.
The software was initially developed in 2004 by da Vinci Systems which was later acquired by Blackmagic Design in 2009. Blackmagic Design is known for its professional cameras and editing consoles, with a DaVinci Resolve Studio license often included with such purchases.
Why DaVinci Resolve is the Best Free Video Editor
DaVinci Resolve is a professional video editing product that incorporates many of the features found in pricey apps like Adobe Premiere and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. You may find that you never require more advanced features than what DaVinci Resolve gives you in the free version, especially if you’re just starting your video production journey.
DaVinci Resolve is a complete video solution, though it does things a little differently from the competition. This is evident in the app’s layout, which uses different tabulated workspaces for different functions. Along the bottom of the app you will find seven different workspaces:
- Media: A media browser for previewing and importing media including videos, photos, and audio.
- Cut: A cutting desk for fast turnarounds.
- Edit: A complete non-linear editor with a standard timeline view, multitrack layout, and drag-and-drop approachability.
- Fusion: For adding visual effects like blur, motion graphics, 3D camera tracking, and more.
- Color: Color-correct your projects using color wheels and curves.
- Fairlight: Post-production audio mastering tools which Blackmagic Design compares to a standalone digital audio workstation (DAW).
- Deliver: Export and render projects, either individually or by adding them to a queue and rendering whenever you’re ready.
This might sound like a lot, but you don’t need to use all of what DaVinci Resolve has to offer. If you’re only interested in editing videos, you can spend your time dragging and dropping clips into the Cut or Edit workspaces, then head to Deliver to render your project when you’re done.
The Cut page is a feature that’s relatively unique to DaVinci Resolve that is aimed at speeding up your edit. It allows you to work efficiently with a full bin of footage, jump around the project timeline faster, and work with multi-camera footage by syncing. It uses a simplified layout with a single monitor for both timeline and footage.
The Edit page will be more familiar to anyone who has used a non-linear video editor in the past. It’s better suited to multiple monitor setups and features a busier interface with elements like transitions and titles taking up more of the screen. You can easily switch between the two, laying down a rough cut in the Cut workspace and then refining it and making changes in the Edit workspace.
The tools on offer in the Color, Fusion, and Fairlight sections of DaVinci Resolve are there if you need them, but you can ignore them if all you want to do is to cut together footage. If you’re progressing from a simpler video editor like iMovie or Windows’ hidden video editor, probably want more power in terms of raw editing and Resolve has it in bags.
Some of the more powerful features you have access to include the ability to sync your footage and audio. This makes it easy to work with footage captured on multiple cameras since a feature called Source Overwrite can intelligently place your cuts into the timeline. You can use a similar feature under Clip> Auto Align Clips to sync off-camera audio with video you have shot based on waveform or timecode.
These might sound like complicated processes, but they’re easy to use once you know how and way more powerful than the features you’ll find in other free editors.
Master DaVinci Resolve to Get Ahead
The key to making the most of DaVinci Resolve is learning to use it. A great place to start is the Blackmagic Design training site. Run through the introductory videos to get an idea of how the software operates.
You should ideally have the app open and some sample footage ready to play around with while you learn. You can experiment with the different tools available, particularly common tools found on the Edit page like the Blade Edit Mode tool (for splicing clips) and Snapping tool (it looks like a magnet).
One of the best things you can do in any video editor is master the keyboard shortcuts. DaVinci Resolve Studio is compatible with a large range of editing consoles that are designed to make editing and color grading fast and effortless. In the free version, you can vastly speed up your workflow with keyboard shortcuts. You’ll find these listed under the Keyboard Customization menu item.
If you’re the sort of person who prefers to learn as they go, you might prefer to jump in and solve problems as you encounter them. Since DaVinci Resolve is the best free video editor you can get from a features standpoint, there is no shortage of content out there covering both the basics and more advanced operations.
There are abridged introductions to features and workspaces, which will get you up to speed in very little time. This probably isn’t how the developers envisioned you would learn to use their video editor, but it’s a perfectly valid way of doing so.
The Free Version of DaVinci Resolve Has Limitations
You get a lot for free with DaVinci Resolve, but the full edition comes with some clear advantages. This includes support for features like Magic Mask which makes it easy to isolate objects within a clip, proper HDR support, the ability to export at higher than 4K resolution or a frame rate of 60 frames per second, and a full range of ResolveFX visual effects.
On top of this, you’ll get multiple GPU support when rendering, hardware-accelerated decode and encode of H.264 and H.265 (HEVC), and Blackmagic’s Neural Engine which uses machine learning to speed up repetitive tasks.
These are features you might crave once you’ve become a proficient DaVinci Resolve video editor, at which point you might feel like coughing up the $295 required for entry.
Other Video Editors You Can Try
Apple’s iMovie is a solid free video editor, but it’s limited to Mac and iPhone. Microsoft Video Editor is included with Windows 11 and does a similar job. Both of these freebies lack the power of something on the level of DaVinci Resolve, though they make up for it by being user-friendly. YouTube’s video editor is similarly useful for quick edits.
If you’re willing to splash some cash, editors like Final Cut Pro (which is now on the iPad) and Adobe’s Premiere Pro are powerful tools that come with price tags to match. If you have a PC then be sure to check out our roundup of the best free video edting apps for Windows (of which DaVinci Resolve is our top pick).