Video editing apps come in all shapes and sizes. I tend to spend most of my time in multi track video editors piecing together sequences from several different video clips, but there are also times where I'm just doing cuts and I want the simplicity of something like VirtualDub. According to the annual reader's poll below are the most popular video editing apps.
Reader's Choice: Windows Movie Maker leads the pack as the most popular free video editor with 34% of votes. While you could make a case that Movie Maker isn't free since you have to pay for Windows, I'd argue that you're not likely to use any of the apps listed here without Windows, so Movie Maker is a bonus and free enough to qualify for this list. It handles most video formats if you have the right codecs installed on your machine, although it's ideally suited for either MiniDV or HDV video editing (the latter being Vista only).
Editor's Choice: VirtualDub is by far the free video editor I use more than any other. Coupled with AVISynth, you can do almost anything to a single track of video. I've written numerous tutorials on VirtualDub. It's best suited for editing AVI files with various codecs, but can also be used to edit WMV, RMVB, AVCHD, and a number of other common video formats. 25% of readers selected VirtualDub as their favorite free video editor.
3) Wax from DebugMode came in third in the reader survey, with 4% of readers recommending it. The user interface is slightly reminiscent of Avid Media Composer, with the added benefit that it supports AVISynth scripts, VirtualDub plugins and Windows Movie Maker settings. I find the app frustrating to use, but 3D rendering built-in makes it an affordable compositing solution.
4) Jashaka was picked by 3.5% of readers as their favorite editor. This is an app I always thought showed real promise as a high quality video compositing and editing suite, but got stalled in development until early 2008 due to politics. It's definitely worth a look, especially if the development gets back on track.
5) ZS4 is an actively developed video compositing and editing system. I'm reasonably convinced that if more people tried this app, it would have displaced Jashaka on this list because the user experience is much better overall. 3.5% of readers voted for ZS4.
6) Avid Free DV is like a sample Avid gives away in hopes you'll switch to their editing solution later. I find the Avid interface clunky, but if you want a job as a professional editor, this is definitely a smart application to use. It's limited to MiniDV format in the free version. 3% of readers voted for Avid Free DV.
7) Avidemux received 3% of votes in the reader poll. It's handy for simple cuts editing, with native support of MPEG file editing in addition to AVI.
8) Pinnacle VideoSpin is among the easiest to use video editors I've ever tried. It's a bit weak on features, but like Avid Free DV, it's really meant to get you hooked so you upgrade to a pay product. 2% of readers voted for VideoSpin.
The remaining 22% of readers were spread across 70 different video editing solutions.
