{"slug": "openshot", "name": "OpenShot", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 8, "commenters": 11, "warners": 1, "score": 6.565, "rising": 5.35, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-08-31", "why": "OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 8, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "openshot.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.openshot.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["OpenShot", "Openshot"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792226832, "item_id": 49514177, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514177", "by": "peter_d_sherman", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "great job!", "excerpt": "Looks good! I decided to have a quick, cursory, \"first-glance\" look at OpenShot's software architecture... It apparently (and again, someone correct me if I am wrong here) uses FFmpeg (https://www.ffmpeg.org/ https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.git https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg), more specifically the FFmpeg libraries (libavutil, libavcodec, libavformat, libavdevice, libavfilter, libswscale, libswresample). Nothing wron", "context": "", "use_case": "video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792159024, "item_id": 49509939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49509939", "by": "prmoustache", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can just install it from your distro's software repos or as a flatpak", "excerpt": "FWIW you can just install it from your distro's software repos or as a flatpak[1] and never ever visit the official website. [1] https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.openshot.OpenShot", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792137410, "item_id": 49508588, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508588", "by": "Joel_Mckay", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenShot is simple, Shotcut works everywhere", "excerpt": "In general, DaVinci Resolve on Linux desktops handles Dlog/HDR camera and drone LUTs like a champ (KDE plasma handles HDR10.) When they run the budget speed-editor promos you get the studio license card for free. If you needed gyroflow because your cameraman has a thorazine stomp, there are few completely FOSS options around. For old or no GPU, there are a few other options: OpenShot is simple, Shotcut works everywhe", "context": "", "use_case": "simple video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792130881, "item_id": 49508180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508180", "by": "Matl", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing.", "excerpt": "I use and pay for DaVinci Resolve Studio on Linux myself, so yes I have tried them and yes, they're obviously more feature packed and polished than OpenShot is. OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing. If you want a step above that and still FLOSS then Kdenlive is a better choice. What makes your original comment useless is that it reads like an American saying, 'I be", "context": "", "use_case": "casual video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792129856, "item_id": 49508116, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508116", "by": "zikani_03", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Nice, looks like a great release.", "excerpt": "Nice, looks like a great release. UI looks like it got a nice touch up and also cool to see that the project has AI powered object masking using onnx models: https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-onnx.", "context": "", "use_case": "video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 774348817, "item_id": 48396801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48396801", "by": "samuell", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "much more robust and performant than openshot", "excerpt": "I'll second looking at KdenLive. You might want to stay away from very recent major versions for stability, but it is a very capable editor that is also much more robust and performant than openshot. I haven't compared with Blender VSE though.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "DaVinci Resolve 21"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["video editing", "simple video editing", "casual video editing"], "compared": [{"slug": "kdenlive", "name": "Kdenlive", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "davinci-resolve", "name": "DaVinci Resolve", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "shotcut", "name": "Shotcut", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "avidemux", "name": "Avidemux", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49507822", "title": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor", "mentions": 8}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45864732", "title": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48384482", "title": "DaVinci Resolve 21", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815118", "title": "State of Kdenlive", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 2}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 792226832, "item_id": 49514177, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514177", "by": "peter_d_sherman", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "great job!", "excerpt": "Looks good! I decided to have a quick, cursory, \"first-glance\" look at OpenShot's software architecture... It apparently (and again, someone correct me if I am wrong here) uses FFmpeg (https://www.ffmpeg.org/ https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.git https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg), more specifically the FFmpeg libraries (libavutil, libavcodec, libavformat, libavdevice, libavfilter, libswscale, libswresample). Nothing wron", "context": "", "use_case": "video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792216816, "item_id": 49513551, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49513551", "by": "haunter", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Sourceforge works or Github https://github.com/mean00/avidemux2/releases/tag/2.8.1", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792159024, "item_id": 49509939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49509939", "by": "prmoustache", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can just install it from your distro's software repos or as a flatpak", "excerpt": "FWIW you can just install it from your distro's software repos or as a flatpak[1] and never ever visit the official website. [1] https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.openshot.OpenShot", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792141312, "item_id": 49508832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508832", "by": "chrisandchris", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Like the animated GIF on the landing page?", "excerpt": "Like the animated GIF on the landing page? [1] https://www.openshot.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792137410, "item_id": 49508588, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508588", "by": "Joel_Mckay", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenShot is simple, Shotcut works everywhere", "excerpt": "In general, DaVinci Resolve on Linux desktops handles Dlog/HDR camera and drone LUTs like a champ (KDE plasma handles HDR10.) When they run the budget speed-editor promos you get the studio license card for free. If you needed gyroflow because your cameraman has a thorazine stomp, there are few completely FOSS options around. For old or no GPU, there are a few other options: OpenShot is simple, Shotcut works everywhe", "context": "", "use_case": "simple video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792130881, "item_id": 49508180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508180", "by": "Matl", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing.", "excerpt": "I use and pay for DaVinci Resolve Studio on Linux myself, so yes I have tried them and yes, they're obviously more feature packed and polished than OpenShot is. OpenShot is however significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing. If you want a step above that and still FLOSS then Kdenlive is a better choice. What makes your original comment useless is that it reads like an American saying, 'I be", "context": "", "use_case": "casual video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792129856, "item_id": 49508116, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508116", "by": "zikani_03", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Nice, looks like a great release.", "excerpt": "Nice, looks like a great release. UI looks like it got a nice touch up and also cool to see that the project has AI powered object masking using onnx models: https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-onnx.", "context": "", "use_case": "video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 792128208, "item_id": 49508013, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508013", "by": "Maken", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Just check the documentation: https://zh.openshot.org/files/user-guide/color.html", "excerpt": "Just check the documentation: https://zh.openshot.org/files/user-guide/color.html", "context": "", "use_case": "Video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenShot 4.0 \u2013 Open-source video editor"}, {"id": 774348817, "item_id": 48396801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48396801", "by": "samuell", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "much more robust and performant than openshot", "excerpt": "I'll second looking at KdenLive. You might want to stay away from very recent major versions for stability, but it is a very capable editor that is also much more robust and performant than openshot. I haven't compared with Blender VSE though.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "DaVinci Resolve 21"}, {"id": 765542688, "item_id": 47846418, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846418", "by": "davidgerard", "date": "2026-04-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it 'cos it's super simple and so easy to use", "excerpt": "Openshot is alive and well and actively developed, but it's still buggy as hell. I use it 'cos it's super simple and so easy to use, but e.g. I use a specific daily build 'cos release 3.5.1 broke libopus again.", "context": "", "use_case": "Video editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of Kdenlive"}, {"id": 733841411, "item_id": 45865088, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865088", "by": "haunter", "date": "2025-11-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "FOSS options (KDEnlive, Openshot, Shotcut, Avidemux etc)", "excerpt": "An immutable distro, probably Fedora Kinoite https://www.fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/ >In windows when a child goes searching the web for a \u201cmovie maker for windows\u201d they are going to be in a world of hurt either finding expensive commercial options or super scammy sites promising the world. It's funny that you use that example because the state of video editors on Windows have never been better from in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?"}, {"id": 733840481, "item_id": 45865030, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865030", "by": "croisillon", "date": "2025-11-09", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Nowadays I use Openshot on Windows", "excerpt": "Windows Movie Maker used to be such a gem, pity it has been discontinued! Nowadays I use Openshot on Windows", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?"}]}