Free Video Assets Galore Top Public Domain Download Sites for 2024

Free Video Assets Galore Top Public Domain Download Sites for 2024

Amelia Lv12

Free Video Assets Galore: Top Public Domain Download Sites

Best Websites to Download Public Domain Videos

author avatar

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

In historic terms, cinema is still a relatively new art, and yet the amount of footage that has been filmed since the Lumière brothers released their first film is staggering. Capturing unique materials that were never seen by the world before has become the question of prestige among the filmmakers. Nonetheless, certain genres of film are almost entirely dependent on the public domain footage. Documentaries about historic events, space or any other topic that is impossible to stage rely on the videos that entered the public domain for one reason or the other. That’s why in this article, we are going to take you through some of the best websites that let you download public domain videos.

What is Public Domain Video?

Any video that is not subject to copyright can be considered a public domain video. This means that anyone can use this footage for free without having to ask for permission to do so. Videos can enter the public domain under the following circumstances:

  • If the footage was produced by a government because governments are obligated by the law to offer the footage to the public domain.
  • In case the author of the footage has forfeited his or her copyrights and dedicated the footage to the public domain
  • A film or any other work of art becomes public domain 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. The expiration date of the copyrights is not the same in all the countries around the world, which is why you must make sure that the video you want to use is, in fact, a public domain video.

In addition, you should avoid using the footage that contains art or music that can be described as third-party intellectual property because you may unintentionally infringe copyrights.

Best Online Websites Where You Can Download Public Domain Videos

Finding free public domain footage or public movies on the Internet has never been too difficult, as you can watch thousands of public domain movies on YouTube, but you cannot download them. Over the course of the last couple of decades, the websites where you can download public domain footage have grown in number, which makes it somewhat easier to find the video clips you can use in your projects for free. Here are some of the best online destinations where you can download public domain videos.

1. Prelinger Archive

Public Domain Video Download

With more than 17,000 items in the collection, the Prelinger Archive is probably one of the largest public domain video libraries on the Internet. The archive was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger, but by 2002 it became a part of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Divison’s collection. You can download public domain video clips created by educational institutions, advertising companies, trade associations or corporations from this impressive collection. There are different download options available for each file, so you can choose the size of a file and the method you’re going to use to download a file to your computer.

2. The Public Domain Review

Public Domain Video Collections

This is an excellent resource for researchers looking for essays, books, audio recordings, images or old films. The movies are divided into different categories such as Animals&Beasts, Politics, War or Sports which makes locating and downloading public domain videos faster and easier. The Public Domain Review offers footage that is available within different public domain licenses, so you must make sure that the film you want to download can be used for the purpose you have in mind. The vast majority of the films in this archive are from the last decade of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. That’s why The Public Domain Review’s selection of films can only be useful if you are researching a topic from that era.

3. The National Screening Room

National Screening Room Public Domain Video Collection

The National Screening Room is a project created by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center with the aim of making the videos from their collection available to the viewers around the world. The vast majority of the videos in the collection were filmed during the 20th century, but there are only a few videos available that are produced outside of the United States. The National Screening Room can be a valuable asset if you are looking for videos you can use for educational or research videos that cover topics that range from the development of the arms industry to the daily life of great American inventors.

4. Pond5’s Public Domain Project

Pond 5 Public Domain Video Download

Industry professionals don’t need an introduction to the Pond5 platform, because it is probably the largest online marketplace for royalty-free media at the moment. Their Public Domain Project contains a thousand public videos that can be downloaded for free, but the duration of these videos is limited to just two minutes To make things worse, most of these public domain videos don’t have audio, so you can only use them if you already have a soundtrack for the video you’re making. The platform offers powerful search tools that enable you to look for videos based on different parameters. You can download public domain videos in HD resolution, but you must create an account on Pond5 before you can save them to your computer.

5. Pexels

Pexels Public Domain Video  Collection

Free public domain stock footage can be used on different types of projects, and it is usually a great choice if you’re looking for some extra shots that will make a scene in your video more cinematic. Pexels offers an impressive collection of free public domain stock videos, so you just have to insert a search term and pick a video clip that best fits your needs. The duration of the free videos you can find on Pexels rarely exceeds thirty seconds, which makes it difficult to make an entire video exclusively from free public domain stock footage. Hence it is better to use Pexels as a complementary source of shots in case you can’t go back to the filming location.

6. Vidsplay

All video clips you can find on this platform are free, so you just have to select one of the categories and start browsing through the available public domain stock footage. The only condition to use the stock footage on private or commercial projects for free is to credit the Vidsplay platform in the end credits, on the website or in the description of the videos you upload to your social media channels. All stock videos on Vidsplay are available in HD or 4K resolution, and you simply have to click on the Download button below a particular video to save it.

7. The Moving Image Archive

This is yet another archive of public domain videos you can find on the Arhive.org that features countless collections of texts, images, and videos. Within the Moving Image Archive, you can find different collections that contain full feature movies, art videos, animations, cartoons or television footage. The public domain videos hosted on The Moving Image Archive cover a broad range of topics, but some of them can be in poor resolution. The Moving Image Archive can be an excellent source of footage for anyone who wants to download public domain video clips and use them in their commercial or non-commercial projects.

8. PublicDomainFootage

BBC, National Geographics or NBC are just a few among many famous television networks that use the services of PublicDomainFootage. All content on the platform is divided into Archival Footage and Historic Newsreels sections that contain categories like Atomic Age, Civil Rights or Pop Culture. You can also use PublicDomainFootage to research a particular topic and request content that is not uploaded to the website. You can download a public domain video after you pay a one time fee that enables you to use that video as many times as you want. The platform’s YouTube channel provides an easy way of searching for public domain videos you are going to use in your next documentary film.

Space exploration is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics of our era, so if you are looking for some space public domain videos NASA’s website is the best place to start. Like all other government institutions, NASA is obligated by the law to offer all images and videos to the public domain. This means that all content you download from their website is free to use. Simply insert the search term and browse the results until you find the video clip you want to save to your computer. However, most public domain videos you can download from NASA’s website last only a couple of minutes.

10. Motion Elements

The collection of free public domain stock footage, this website offers contains more than 4,000 clips. Categories like Cityscape, Animals or Water contain hundreds of stock videos, so you just have to open one of the available categories and locate the video clip you want to download. However, you must first create an account on Motion Elements before you can save video files to your computer. In addition, the platform doesn’t allow you to make more than five downloads per week and you must invite your friends to join the platform if you want to increase the weekly number of downloads. Even so, Motion Elements is a great source of stock footage you can use without any restrictions.

Is It Okay to Use Public Domain Videos for Commercial Purposes?

All public domain videos can be used for both commercial and non-commercial projects, but you must approach using public domain videos for commercial purposes with caution. Crediting the author or providing the source from which you acquired the footage will reduce the likelihood of legal complications. The public domain videos that feature famous actors or third party intellectual property can also be a subject of legal disputes, which is why it is better to avoid using them on commercial projects.

What Should You Do If You Can’t Find Public Domain Footage for Your Project?

Opting for videos that are protected by the Creative Commons licenses is probably the safest option if you’re struggling to find the public domain footage you’d like to use in your project. Respecting the terms of the license under which a video is protected is of utmost importance, since failing to properly credit the author of the video, for instance, can have legal consequences. There are several different types of Creative Commons licenses and you must find out which one covers the video you’d like to use, before publishing your video. You can find more information about Creative Commons licenses at the FAQ .

Conclusion

Public domain videos cover very different topics, which means that the nature of your project determines the source from which you’ll acquire the footage. If you are researching the early days of cinema, then you’ll have no trouble downloading the public domain videos, but if the topic you’re exploring is more contemporary, finding the content you can use without any restrictions can prove to be troublesome. Which website do you like to use the most to download public domain videos? Leave a comment and share your opinions with us.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

In historic terms, cinema is still a relatively new art, and yet the amount of footage that has been filmed since the Lumière brothers released their first film is staggering. Capturing unique materials that were never seen by the world before has become the question of prestige among the filmmakers. Nonetheless, certain genres of film are almost entirely dependent on the public domain footage. Documentaries about historic events, space or any other topic that is impossible to stage rely on the videos that entered the public domain for one reason or the other. That’s why in this article, we are going to take you through some of the best websites that let you download public domain videos.

What is Public Domain Video?

Any video that is not subject to copyright can be considered a public domain video. This means that anyone can use this footage for free without having to ask for permission to do so. Videos can enter the public domain under the following circumstances:

  • If the footage was produced by a government because governments are obligated by the law to offer the footage to the public domain.
  • In case the author of the footage has forfeited his or her copyrights and dedicated the footage to the public domain
  • A film or any other work of art becomes public domain 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. The expiration date of the copyrights is not the same in all the countries around the world, which is why you must make sure that the video you want to use is, in fact, a public domain video.

In addition, you should avoid using the footage that contains art or music that can be described as third-party intellectual property because you may unintentionally infringe copyrights.

Best Online Websites Where You Can Download Public Domain Videos

Finding free public domain footage or public movies on the Internet has never been too difficult, as you can watch thousands of public domain movies on YouTube, but you cannot download them. Over the course of the last couple of decades, the websites where you can download public domain footage have grown in number, which makes it somewhat easier to find the video clips you can use in your projects for free. Here are some of the best online destinations where you can download public domain videos.

1. Prelinger Archive

Public Domain Video Download

With more than 17,000 items in the collection, the Prelinger Archive is probably one of the largest public domain video libraries on the Internet. The archive was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger, but by 2002 it became a part of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Divison’s collection. You can download public domain video clips created by educational institutions, advertising companies, trade associations or corporations from this impressive collection. There are different download options available for each file, so you can choose the size of a file and the method you’re going to use to download a file to your computer.

2. The Public Domain Review

Public Domain Video Collections

This is an excellent resource for researchers looking for essays, books, audio recordings, images or old films. The movies are divided into different categories such as Animals&Beasts, Politics, War or Sports which makes locating and downloading public domain videos faster and easier. The Public Domain Review offers footage that is available within different public domain licenses, so you must make sure that the film you want to download can be used for the purpose you have in mind. The vast majority of the films in this archive are from the last decade of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. That’s why The Public Domain Review’s selection of films can only be useful if you are researching a topic from that era.

3. The National Screening Room

National Screening Room Public Domain Video Collection

The National Screening Room is a project created by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center with the aim of making the videos from their collection available to the viewers around the world. The vast majority of the videos in the collection were filmed during the 20th century, but there are only a few videos available that are produced outside of the United States. The National Screening Room can be a valuable asset if you are looking for videos you can use for educational or research videos that cover topics that range from the development of the arms industry to the daily life of great American inventors.

4. Pond5’s Public Domain Project

Pond 5 Public Domain Video Download

Industry professionals don’t need an introduction to the Pond5 platform, because it is probably the largest online marketplace for royalty-free media at the moment. Their Public Domain Project contains a thousand public videos that can be downloaded for free, but the duration of these videos is limited to just two minutes To make things worse, most of these public domain videos don’t have audio, so you can only use them if you already have a soundtrack for the video you’re making. The platform offers powerful search tools that enable you to look for videos based on different parameters. You can download public domain videos in HD resolution, but you must create an account on Pond5 before you can save them to your computer.

5. Pexels

Pexels Public Domain Video  Collection

Free public domain stock footage can be used on different types of projects, and it is usually a great choice if you’re looking for some extra shots that will make a scene in your video more cinematic. Pexels offers an impressive collection of free public domain stock videos, so you just have to insert a search term and pick a video clip that best fits your needs. The duration of the free videos you can find on Pexels rarely exceeds thirty seconds, which makes it difficult to make an entire video exclusively from free public domain stock footage. Hence it is better to use Pexels as a complementary source of shots in case you can’t go back to the filming location.

6. Vidsplay

All video clips you can find on this platform are free, so you just have to select one of the categories and start browsing through the available public domain stock footage. The only condition to use the stock footage on private or commercial projects for free is to credit the Vidsplay platform in the end credits, on the website or in the description of the videos you upload to your social media channels. All stock videos on Vidsplay are available in HD or 4K resolution, and you simply have to click on the Download button below a particular video to save it.

7. The Moving Image Archive

This is yet another archive of public domain videos you can find on the Arhive.org that features countless collections of texts, images, and videos. Within the Moving Image Archive, you can find different collections that contain full feature movies, art videos, animations, cartoons or television footage. The public domain videos hosted on The Moving Image Archive cover a broad range of topics, but some of them can be in poor resolution. The Moving Image Archive can be an excellent source of footage for anyone who wants to download public domain video clips and use them in their commercial or non-commercial projects.

8. PublicDomainFootage

BBC, National Geographics or NBC are just a few among many famous television networks that use the services of PublicDomainFootage. All content on the platform is divided into Archival Footage and Historic Newsreels sections that contain categories like Atomic Age, Civil Rights or Pop Culture. You can also use PublicDomainFootage to research a particular topic and request content that is not uploaded to the website. You can download a public domain video after you pay a one time fee that enables you to use that video as many times as you want. The platform’s YouTube channel provides an easy way of searching for public domain videos you are going to use in your next documentary film.

Space exploration is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics of our era, so if you are looking for some space public domain videos NASA’s website is the best place to start. Like all other government institutions, NASA is obligated by the law to offer all images and videos to the public domain. This means that all content you download from their website is free to use. Simply insert the search term and browse the results until you find the video clip you want to save to your computer. However, most public domain videos you can download from NASA’s website last only a couple of minutes.

10. Motion Elements

The collection of free public domain stock footage, this website offers contains more than 4,000 clips. Categories like Cityscape, Animals or Water contain hundreds of stock videos, so you just have to open one of the available categories and locate the video clip you want to download. However, you must first create an account on Motion Elements before you can save video files to your computer. In addition, the platform doesn’t allow you to make more than five downloads per week and you must invite your friends to join the platform if you want to increase the weekly number of downloads. Even so, Motion Elements is a great source of stock footage you can use without any restrictions.

Is It Okay to Use Public Domain Videos for Commercial Purposes?

All public domain videos can be used for both commercial and non-commercial projects, but you must approach using public domain videos for commercial purposes with caution. Crediting the author or providing the source from which you acquired the footage will reduce the likelihood of legal complications. The public domain videos that feature famous actors or third party intellectual property can also be a subject of legal disputes, which is why it is better to avoid using them on commercial projects.

What Should You Do If You Can’t Find Public Domain Footage for Your Project?

Opting for videos that are protected by the Creative Commons licenses is probably the safest option if you’re struggling to find the public domain footage you’d like to use in your project. Respecting the terms of the license under which a video is protected is of utmost importance, since failing to properly credit the author of the video, for instance, can have legal consequences. There are several different types of Creative Commons licenses and you must find out which one covers the video you’d like to use, before publishing your video. You can find more information about Creative Commons licenses at the FAQ .

Conclusion

Public domain videos cover very different topics, which means that the nature of your project determines the source from which you’ll acquire the footage. If you are researching the early days of cinema, then you’ll have no trouble downloading the public domain videos, but if the topic you’re exploring is more contemporary, finding the content you can use without any restrictions can prove to be troublesome. Which website do you like to use the most to download public domain videos? Leave a comment and share your opinions with us.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

In historic terms, cinema is still a relatively new art, and yet the amount of footage that has been filmed since the Lumière brothers released their first film is staggering. Capturing unique materials that were never seen by the world before has become the question of prestige among the filmmakers. Nonetheless, certain genres of film are almost entirely dependent on the public domain footage. Documentaries about historic events, space or any other topic that is impossible to stage rely on the videos that entered the public domain for one reason or the other. That’s why in this article, we are going to take you through some of the best websites that let you download public domain videos.

What is Public Domain Video?

Any video that is not subject to copyright can be considered a public domain video. This means that anyone can use this footage for free without having to ask for permission to do so. Videos can enter the public domain under the following circumstances:

  • If the footage was produced by a government because governments are obligated by the law to offer the footage to the public domain.
  • In case the author of the footage has forfeited his or her copyrights and dedicated the footage to the public domain
  • A film or any other work of art becomes public domain 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. The expiration date of the copyrights is not the same in all the countries around the world, which is why you must make sure that the video you want to use is, in fact, a public domain video.

In addition, you should avoid using the footage that contains art or music that can be described as third-party intellectual property because you may unintentionally infringe copyrights.

Best Online Websites Where You Can Download Public Domain Videos

Finding free public domain footage or public movies on the Internet has never been too difficult, as you can watch thousands of public domain movies on YouTube, but you cannot download them. Over the course of the last couple of decades, the websites where you can download public domain footage have grown in number, which makes it somewhat easier to find the video clips you can use in your projects for free. Here are some of the best online destinations where you can download public domain videos.

1. Prelinger Archive

Public Domain Video Download

With more than 17,000 items in the collection, the Prelinger Archive is probably one of the largest public domain video libraries on the Internet. The archive was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger, but by 2002 it became a part of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Divison’s collection. You can download public domain video clips created by educational institutions, advertising companies, trade associations or corporations from this impressive collection. There are different download options available for each file, so you can choose the size of a file and the method you’re going to use to download a file to your computer.

2. The Public Domain Review

Public Domain Video Collections

This is an excellent resource for researchers looking for essays, books, audio recordings, images or old films. The movies are divided into different categories such as Animals&Beasts, Politics, War or Sports which makes locating and downloading public domain videos faster and easier. The Public Domain Review offers footage that is available within different public domain licenses, so you must make sure that the film you want to download can be used for the purpose you have in mind. The vast majority of the films in this archive are from the last decade of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. That’s why The Public Domain Review’s selection of films can only be useful if you are researching a topic from that era.

3. The National Screening Room

National Screening Room Public Domain Video Collection

The National Screening Room is a project created by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center with the aim of making the videos from their collection available to the viewers around the world. The vast majority of the videos in the collection were filmed during the 20th century, but there are only a few videos available that are produced outside of the United States. The National Screening Room can be a valuable asset if you are looking for videos you can use for educational or research videos that cover topics that range from the development of the arms industry to the daily life of great American inventors.

4. Pond5’s Public Domain Project

Pond 5 Public Domain Video Download

Industry professionals don’t need an introduction to the Pond5 platform, because it is probably the largest online marketplace for royalty-free media at the moment. Their Public Domain Project contains a thousand public videos that can be downloaded for free, but the duration of these videos is limited to just two minutes To make things worse, most of these public domain videos don’t have audio, so you can only use them if you already have a soundtrack for the video you’re making. The platform offers powerful search tools that enable you to look for videos based on different parameters. You can download public domain videos in HD resolution, but you must create an account on Pond5 before you can save them to your computer.

5. Pexels

Pexels Public Domain Video  Collection

Free public domain stock footage can be used on different types of projects, and it is usually a great choice if you’re looking for some extra shots that will make a scene in your video more cinematic. Pexels offers an impressive collection of free public domain stock videos, so you just have to insert a search term and pick a video clip that best fits your needs. The duration of the free videos you can find on Pexels rarely exceeds thirty seconds, which makes it difficult to make an entire video exclusively from free public domain stock footage. Hence it is better to use Pexels as a complementary source of shots in case you can’t go back to the filming location.

6. Vidsplay

All video clips you can find on this platform are free, so you just have to select one of the categories and start browsing through the available public domain stock footage. The only condition to use the stock footage on private or commercial projects for free is to credit the Vidsplay platform in the end credits, on the website or in the description of the videos you upload to your social media channels. All stock videos on Vidsplay are available in HD or 4K resolution, and you simply have to click on the Download button below a particular video to save it.

7. The Moving Image Archive

This is yet another archive of public domain videos you can find on the Arhive.org that features countless collections of texts, images, and videos. Within the Moving Image Archive, you can find different collections that contain full feature movies, art videos, animations, cartoons or television footage. The public domain videos hosted on The Moving Image Archive cover a broad range of topics, but some of them can be in poor resolution. The Moving Image Archive can be an excellent source of footage for anyone who wants to download public domain video clips and use them in their commercial or non-commercial projects.

8. PublicDomainFootage

BBC, National Geographics or NBC are just a few among many famous television networks that use the services of PublicDomainFootage. All content on the platform is divided into Archival Footage and Historic Newsreels sections that contain categories like Atomic Age, Civil Rights or Pop Culture. You can also use PublicDomainFootage to research a particular topic and request content that is not uploaded to the website. You can download a public domain video after you pay a one time fee that enables you to use that video as many times as you want. The platform’s YouTube channel provides an easy way of searching for public domain videos you are going to use in your next documentary film.

Space exploration is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics of our era, so if you are looking for some space public domain videos NASA’s website is the best place to start. Like all other government institutions, NASA is obligated by the law to offer all images and videos to the public domain. This means that all content you download from their website is free to use. Simply insert the search term and browse the results until you find the video clip you want to save to your computer. However, most public domain videos you can download from NASA’s website last only a couple of minutes.

10. Motion Elements

The collection of free public domain stock footage, this website offers contains more than 4,000 clips. Categories like Cityscape, Animals or Water contain hundreds of stock videos, so you just have to open one of the available categories and locate the video clip you want to download. However, you must first create an account on Motion Elements before you can save video files to your computer. In addition, the platform doesn’t allow you to make more than five downloads per week and you must invite your friends to join the platform if you want to increase the weekly number of downloads. Even so, Motion Elements is a great source of stock footage you can use without any restrictions.

Is It Okay to Use Public Domain Videos for Commercial Purposes?

All public domain videos can be used for both commercial and non-commercial projects, but you must approach using public domain videos for commercial purposes with caution. Crediting the author or providing the source from which you acquired the footage will reduce the likelihood of legal complications. The public domain videos that feature famous actors or third party intellectual property can also be a subject of legal disputes, which is why it is better to avoid using them on commercial projects.

What Should You Do If You Can’t Find Public Domain Footage for Your Project?

Opting for videos that are protected by the Creative Commons licenses is probably the safest option if you’re struggling to find the public domain footage you’d like to use in your project. Respecting the terms of the license under which a video is protected is of utmost importance, since failing to properly credit the author of the video, for instance, can have legal consequences. There are several different types of Creative Commons licenses and you must find out which one covers the video you’d like to use, before publishing your video. You can find more information about Creative Commons licenses at the FAQ .

Conclusion

Public domain videos cover very different topics, which means that the nature of your project determines the source from which you’ll acquire the footage. If you are researching the early days of cinema, then you’ll have no trouble downloading the public domain videos, but if the topic you’re exploring is more contemporary, finding the content you can use without any restrictions can prove to be troublesome. Which website do you like to use the most to download public domain videos? Leave a comment and share your opinions with us.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

In historic terms, cinema is still a relatively new art, and yet the amount of footage that has been filmed since the Lumière brothers released their first film is staggering. Capturing unique materials that were never seen by the world before has become the question of prestige among the filmmakers. Nonetheless, certain genres of film are almost entirely dependent on the public domain footage. Documentaries about historic events, space or any other topic that is impossible to stage rely on the videos that entered the public domain for one reason or the other. That’s why in this article, we are going to take you through some of the best websites that let you download public domain videos.

What is Public Domain Video?

Any video that is not subject to copyright can be considered a public domain video. This means that anyone can use this footage for free without having to ask for permission to do so. Videos can enter the public domain under the following circumstances:

  • If the footage was produced by a government because governments are obligated by the law to offer the footage to the public domain.
  • In case the author of the footage has forfeited his or her copyrights and dedicated the footage to the public domain
  • A film or any other work of art becomes public domain 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. The expiration date of the copyrights is not the same in all the countries around the world, which is why you must make sure that the video you want to use is, in fact, a public domain video.

In addition, you should avoid using the footage that contains art or music that can be described as third-party intellectual property because you may unintentionally infringe copyrights.

Best Online Websites Where You Can Download Public Domain Videos

Finding free public domain footage or public movies on the Internet has never been too difficult, as you can watch thousands of public domain movies on YouTube, but you cannot download them. Over the course of the last couple of decades, the websites where you can download public domain footage have grown in number, which makes it somewhat easier to find the video clips you can use in your projects for free. Here are some of the best online destinations where you can download public domain videos.

1. Prelinger Archive

Public Domain Video Download

With more than 17,000 items in the collection, the Prelinger Archive is probably one of the largest public domain video libraries on the Internet. The archive was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger, but by 2002 it became a part of the Library of Congress Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Divison’s collection. You can download public domain video clips created by educational institutions, advertising companies, trade associations or corporations from this impressive collection. There are different download options available for each file, so you can choose the size of a file and the method you’re going to use to download a file to your computer.

2. The Public Domain Review

Public Domain Video Collections

This is an excellent resource for researchers looking for essays, books, audio recordings, images or old films. The movies are divided into different categories such as Animals&Beasts, Politics, War or Sports which makes locating and downloading public domain videos faster and easier. The Public Domain Review offers footage that is available within different public domain licenses, so you must make sure that the film you want to download can be used for the purpose you have in mind. The vast majority of the films in this archive are from the last decade of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. That’s why The Public Domain Review’s selection of films can only be useful if you are researching a topic from that era.

3. The National Screening Room

National Screening Room Public Domain Video Collection

The National Screening Room is a project created by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center with the aim of making the videos from their collection available to the viewers around the world. The vast majority of the videos in the collection were filmed during the 20th century, but there are only a few videos available that are produced outside of the United States. The National Screening Room can be a valuable asset if you are looking for videos you can use for educational or research videos that cover topics that range from the development of the arms industry to the daily life of great American inventors.

4. Pond5’s Public Domain Project

Pond 5 Public Domain Video Download

Industry professionals don’t need an introduction to the Pond5 platform, because it is probably the largest online marketplace for royalty-free media at the moment. Their Public Domain Project contains a thousand public videos that can be downloaded for free, but the duration of these videos is limited to just two minutes To make things worse, most of these public domain videos don’t have audio, so you can only use them if you already have a soundtrack for the video you’re making. The platform offers powerful search tools that enable you to look for videos based on different parameters. You can download public domain videos in HD resolution, but you must create an account on Pond5 before you can save them to your computer.

5. Pexels

Pexels Public Domain Video  Collection

Free public domain stock footage can be used on different types of projects, and it is usually a great choice if you’re looking for some extra shots that will make a scene in your video more cinematic. Pexels offers an impressive collection of free public domain stock videos, so you just have to insert a search term and pick a video clip that best fits your needs. The duration of the free videos you can find on Pexels rarely exceeds thirty seconds, which makes it difficult to make an entire video exclusively from free public domain stock footage. Hence it is better to use Pexels as a complementary source of shots in case you can’t go back to the filming location.

6. Vidsplay

All video clips you can find on this platform are free, so you just have to select one of the categories and start browsing through the available public domain stock footage. The only condition to use the stock footage on private or commercial projects for free is to credit the Vidsplay platform in the end credits, on the website or in the description of the videos you upload to your social media channels. All stock videos on Vidsplay are available in HD or 4K resolution, and you simply have to click on the Download button below a particular video to save it.

7. The Moving Image Archive

This is yet another archive of public domain videos you can find on the Arhive.org that features countless collections of texts, images, and videos. Within the Moving Image Archive, you can find different collections that contain full feature movies, art videos, animations, cartoons or television footage. The public domain videos hosted on The Moving Image Archive cover a broad range of topics, but some of them can be in poor resolution. The Moving Image Archive can be an excellent source of footage for anyone who wants to download public domain video clips and use them in their commercial or non-commercial projects.

8. PublicDomainFootage

BBC, National Geographics or NBC are just a few among many famous television networks that use the services of PublicDomainFootage. All content on the platform is divided into Archival Footage and Historic Newsreels sections that contain categories like Atomic Age, Civil Rights or Pop Culture. You can also use PublicDomainFootage to research a particular topic and request content that is not uploaded to the website. You can download a public domain video after you pay a one time fee that enables you to use that video as many times as you want. The platform’s YouTube channel provides an easy way of searching for public domain videos you are going to use in your next documentary film.

Space exploration is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics of our era, so if you are looking for some space public domain videos NASA’s website is the best place to start. Like all other government institutions, NASA is obligated by the law to offer all images and videos to the public domain. This means that all content you download from their website is free to use. Simply insert the search term and browse the results until you find the video clip you want to save to your computer. However, most public domain videos you can download from NASA’s website last only a couple of minutes.

10. Motion Elements

The collection of free public domain stock footage, this website offers contains more than 4,000 clips. Categories like Cityscape, Animals or Water contain hundreds of stock videos, so you just have to open one of the available categories and locate the video clip you want to download. However, you must first create an account on Motion Elements before you can save video files to your computer. In addition, the platform doesn’t allow you to make more than five downloads per week and you must invite your friends to join the platform if you want to increase the weekly number of downloads. Even so, Motion Elements is a great source of stock footage you can use without any restrictions.

Is It Okay to Use Public Domain Videos for Commercial Purposes?

All public domain videos can be used for both commercial and non-commercial projects, but you must approach using public domain videos for commercial purposes with caution. Crediting the author or providing the source from which you acquired the footage will reduce the likelihood of legal complications. The public domain videos that feature famous actors or third party intellectual property can also be a subject of legal disputes, which is why it is better to avoid using them on commercial projects.

What Should You Do If You Can’t Find Public Domain Footage for Your Project?

Opting for videos that are protected by the Creative Commons licenses is probably the safest option if you’re struggling to find the public domain footage you’d like to use in your project. Respecting the terms of the license under which a video is protected is of utmost importance, since failing to properly credit the author of the video, for instance, can have legal consequences. There are several different types of Creative Commons licenses and you must find out which one covers the video you’d like to use, before publishing your video. You can find more information about Creative Commons licenses at the FAQ .

Conclusion

Public domain videos cover very different topics, which means that the nature of your project determines the source from which you’ll acquire the footage. If you are researching the early days of cinema, then you’ll have no trouble downloading the public domain videos, but if the topic you’re exploring is more contemporary, finding the content you can use without any restrictions can prove to be troublesome. Which website do you like to use the most to download public domain videos? Leave a comment and share your opinions with us.

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Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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Mastering VLC: How to Watch Videos in Slow Mo

While the files of the most common formats like MP4, WAV, etc. may look identical, they might be compiled using varied codecs which may or may not support any random player that you install on your PC. The reason why VLC media player is used by the majority of users worldwide is the versatility in the codecs that it supports natively.

Furthermore, the app is available for almost every platform, i.e., Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, and is absolutely free to download and use.

With that said, the following sections explain how to manage the playback speed of a video while using VLC media player to add a slow motion effect to video. Here you will learn how to play slow motion on VLC on Windows, Mac, and iOS/Android, and also how to set the default speed for the app so that every time a video is played, the speed remains according to your preference.

In this article

01 How to Play Video in Slow Motion Effects on Windows with VLC?

02 How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

03 How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

04 How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

Part 1: How to Play Video in Slow Motion Effects on Windows with VLC?

VLC is one of the best media players to play videos in slow motion . You can follow the instructions that are given below to learn how to play a video in slow motion in VLC on a Windows PC:

Step 1: Start Video Playback

Launch VLC on your Windows computer (a Windows 11 PC is used here for illustrations), click Media from the menu bar at the top, click Open File from the menu, and locate and open a video that you want to watch in slow motion. If VLC is your default media player, simply double-clicking the clip automatically opens the file in the app.

open file to play slow motion on vlc

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements of 0.10x)

Once the playback begins, press the Spacebar on the keyboard to pause the video. Next, go to the Playback menu from the top, go to Speed, and click Slower (fine) once. This will reduce the speed to 0.90x. Clicking Slower (fine) again will further slow down the video to 0.80x speed. You can repeat this process until you reduce the speed to your desired level. Press Spacebar again to resume the playback in slow motion.

Note: The lowest speed that you can go to using this process is 0.03x.

vlc playback slower slow motion

Step 3: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements in Percentage)

Pause the playback and go to Playback > Speed as explained in the previous step. From the list that comes up, click Slower (the last option). This will reduce the speed to 0.67x. Click Slower again and the speed will further go down to 0.50x. You can repeat this process until you reach your desired playback speed. Press Spacebar to resume the playback in slow motion. With this method, you can reduce the speed to as low as 0.02x.

Note: You can click Normal from the Speed submenu to play the video at normal speed.

play video slow motion on vlc slower

Step 4: Using the Shortcut Keys (Optional)

You can press the left square bracket ‘[‘ on your keyboard to reduce the speed in decrements of 0.10x. To get back to the normal speed, press the equals to ‘=’ key. Likewise, pressing the right square bracket ‘]’ increases the speed by 0.10x.

Note: As it is with the Slower (fine) and Slower options, you can use Faster (fine) to add 0.10x increments to the speed, and Faster to increase percentage-wise. Also, if Faster (fine) is clicked repeatedly or its shortcut key is used multiple times, the speed can be increased up to 31.25x. On the other hand, by using the Faster option repeatedly, the speed can be increased to more than 100x.

Part 2: How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

The process of slowing down the video playback in VLC on a Mac computer is almost identical to that in Windows. You can learn how to get this done by following the steps that are given below:

Step 1: Open and Pause the Video

Locate and right-click the video that you want to play in slow motion, go to Open With from the context menu, and click VLC from the submenu. Once the clip opens, click the Pause button from the bottom as explained in the previous section.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Click Playback from the menu bar at the top, and drag the Playback Speed slider to the left to reduce the speed of the video.

play video slow motion on vlc mac

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Click anywhere on the screen to close the Playback menu, and then click the Play button from the bottom to resume the video playback in slow motion.

Part 3: How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

Although the playback speed of a video on both Android and iOS devices can be controlled with a slider, the location where the controller is placed on the two platforms varies, and so does the process of reaching there. Both the methods are explained below for your convenience:

Play Video in Slow Motion on Android with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Launch VLC on your Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is used here for illustrations), locate and open the video in VLC, tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Pause button from the bottom to pause the playback.

Step 2: Set a Slower Playback Speed

Tap the More icon from the bottom-right corner, tap Playback speed from the menu that appears, and drag the slider that is present at the bottom to the left to reduce the speed. Alternatively, you can also repeatedly tap the down arrow that is present at the right of the slider to slow down the speed in the decrements of 0.05x.

play speed slow motion vlc android

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Tap anywhere on the screen, and when the Playback speed slider disappears, tap the screen one more time. Now, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the video playback.

Play Video in Slow Motion on iPhone with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Assuming that you have already added the video to the VLC library by connecting it to iTunes, launch the app on your iOS device (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations). Tap the video that you want to play in slow motion, and then tap the Pause icon from the bottom.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Clock icon from the lower-left corner. Next, drag the Playback speed slider to the left to reduce the playback speed.

vlc iphone playback speed slow motion effect

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Right after decreasing the speed, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the playback. If the controllers disappear, you can tap anywhere on the screen again, and then tap the Play icon.

Part 4: How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

The processes of setting up default playback speed on different platforms and devices vary. For your convenience, all of them are explained below:

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Windows

  1. Go to Tools > Preferences in VLC media player, and then click the All button from the Show settings section at the bottom.
  2. Select Input / Codecs from the left pane of the Advanced Preferences box, and then specify your preferred speed in the Playback speed field that is present under the Playback control section on the right window
  3. Click Save to save the changes

set vlc media player default playback speed

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Mac

  • Launch VLC, and go to VLC media player from the menu bar, and then click Preferences; and then click Show All from the bottom of the Preferences box to display all preferences setting options;

vlc media player default preferences interface

  • Click the Input / Codecs from the left pane, and then define your preferred speed in the Playback speed field under the Playback control section in the right window, and then click Save to save the changes.

change vlc media player default speed mac

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on Android

Note: At the time of this writing, the Android version of VLC doesn’t allow you to set a global default playback speed. However, you can set it on a per video basis. This means that every time that video is played, the playback speed will remain what you set for it. You must do this for each video in your VLC library individually.

  • Launch VLC, and then tap More from the bottom-right corner; next, tap SETTINGS from the upper-left area;
  • Tap Video from the Extra settings section, and then check the Save Playback Speed box

change media default playback speed android vlc

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on iOS and iPhone

  • Tap Settings from the Home screen, and then scroll down and tap VLC
  • Tap Default playback speed from the GENERIC section, and then tap to select a playback speed from the available list to set it as the default.

change default playback speed vlc iphone

Conclusion

It is pretty convenient to reduce the playback speed in VLC media player regardless of the platform or device you are using. While the processes of getting the job might be different, the principle behind it remains the same. When on Windows, the playback speed can be decreased to 0.02x and can be increased to more than 100x. This facility is not available on Mac, iOS, or Android platforms. Also, if you want, you can set the default playback speed for the videos so that every time a clip is played, the pace remains what you specified as default.

02 How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

03 How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

04 How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

Part 1: How to Play Video in Slow Motion Effects on Windows with VLC?

VLC is one of the best media players to play videos in slow motion . You can follow the instructions that are given below to learn how to play a video in slow motion in VLC on a Windows PC:

Step 1: Start Video Playback

Launch VLC on your Windows computer (a Windows 11 PC is used here for illustrations), click Media from the menu bar at the top, click Open File from the menu, and locate and open a video that you want to watch in slow motion. If VLC is your default media player, simply double-clicking the clip automatically opens the file in the app.

open file to play slow motion on vlc

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements of 0.10x)

Once the playback begins, press the Spacebar on the keyboard to pause the video. Next, go to the Playback menu from the top, go to Speed, and click Slower (fine) once. This will reduce the speed to 0.90x. Clicking Slower (fine) again will further slow down the video to 0.80x speed. You can repeat this process until you reduce the speed to your desired level. Press Spacebar again to resume the playback in slow motion.

Note: The lowest speed that you can go to using this process is 0.03x.

vlc playback slower slow motion

Step 3: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements in Percentage)

Pause the playback and go to Playback > Speed as explained in the previous step. From the list that comes up, click Slower (the last option). This will reduce the speed to 0.67x. Click Slower again and the speed will further go down to 0.50x. You can repeat this process until you reach your desired playback speed. Press Spacebar to resume the playback in slow motion. With this method, you can reduce the speed to as low as 0.02x.

Note: You can click Normal from the Speed submenu to play the video at normal speed.

play video slow motion on vlc slower

Step 4: Using the Shortcut Keys (Optional)

You can press the left square bracket ‘[‘ on your keyboard to reduce the speed in decrements of 0.10x. To get back to the normal speed, press the equals to ‘=’ key. Likewise, pressing the right square bracket ‘]’ increases the speed by 0.10x.

Note: As it is with the Slower (fine) and Slower options, you can use Faster (fine) to add 0.10x increments to the speed, and Faster to increase percentage-wise. Also, if Faster (fine) is clicked repeatedly or its shortcut key is used multiple times, the speed can be increased up to 31.25x. On the other hand, by using the Faster option repeatedly, the speed can be increased to more than 100x.

Part 2: How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

The process of slowing down the video playback in VLC on a Mac computer is almost identical to that in Windows. You can learn how to get this done by following the steps that are given below:

Step 1: Open and Pause the Video

Locate and right-click the video that you want to play in slow motion, go to Open With from the context menu, and click VLC from the submenu. Once the clip opens, click the Pause button from the bottom as explained in the previous section.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Click Playback from the menu bar at the top, and drag the Playback Speed slider to the left to reduce the speed of the video.

play video slow motion on vlc mac

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Click anywhere on the screen to close the Playback menu, and then click the Play button from the bottom to resume the video playback in slow motion.

Part 3: How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

Although the playback speed of a video on both Android and iOS devices can be controlled with a slider, the location where the controller is placed on the two platforms varies, and so does the process of reaching there. Both the methods are explained below for your convenience:

Play Video in Slow Motion on Android with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Launch VLC on your Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is used here for illustrations), locate and open the video in VLC, tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Pause button from the bottom to pause the playback.

Step 2: Set a Slower Playback Speed

Tap the More icon from the bottom-right corner, tap Playback speed from the menu that appears, and drag the slider that is present at the bottom to the left to reduce the speed. Alternatively, you can also repeatedly tap the down arrow that is present at the right of the slider to slow down the speed in the decrements of 0.05x.

play speed slow motion vlc android

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Tap anywhere on the screen, and when the Playback speed slider disappears, tap the screen one more time. Now, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the video playback.

Play Video in Slow Motion on iPhone with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Assuming that you have already added the video to the VLC library by connecting it to iTunes, launch the app on your iOS device (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations). Tap the video that you want to play in slow motion, and then tap the Pause icon from the bottom.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Clock icon from the lower-left corner. Next, drag the Playback speed slider to the left to reduce the playback speed.

vlc iphone playback speed slow motion effect

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Right after decreasing the speed, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the playback. If the controllers disappear, you can tap anywhere on the screen again, and then tap the Play icon.

Part 4: How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

The processes of setting up default playback speed on different platforms and devices vary. For your convenience, all of them are explained below:

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Windows

  1. Go to Tools > Preferences in VLC media player, and then click the All button from the Show settings section at the bottom.
  2. Select Input / Codecs from the left pane of the Advanced Preferences box, and then specify your preferred speed in the Playback speed field that is present under the Playback control section on the right window
  3. Click Save to save the changes

set vlc media player default playback speed

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Mac

  • Launch VLC, and go to VLC media player from the menu bar, and then click Preferences; and then click Show All from the bottom of the Preferences box to display all preferences setting options;

vlc media player default preferences interface

  • Click the Input / Codecs from the left pane, and then define your preferred speed in the Playback speed field under the Playback control section in the right window, and then click Save to save the changes.

change vlc media player default speed mac

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on Android

Note: At the time of this writing, the Android version of VLC doesn’t allow you to set a global default playback speed. However, you can set it on a per video basis. This means that every time that video is played, the playback speed will remain what you set for it. You must do this for each video in your VLC library individually.

  • Launch VLC, and then tap More from the bottom-right corner; next, tap SETTINGS from the upper-left area;
  • Tap Video from the Extra settings section, and then check the Save Playback Speed box

change media default playback speed android vlc

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on iOS and iPhone

  • Tap Settings from the Home screen, and then scroll down and tap VLC
  • Tap Default playback speed from the GENERIC section, and then tap to select a playback speed from the available list to set it as the default.

change default playback speed vlc iphone

Conclusion

It is pretty convenient to reduce the playback speed in VLC media player regardless of the platform or device you are using. While the processes of getting the job might be different, the principle behind it remains the same. When on Windows, the playback speed can be decreased to 0.02x and can be increased to more than 100x. This facility is not available on Mac, iOS, or Android platforms. Also, if you want, you can set the default playback speed for the videos so that every time a clip is played, the pace remains what you specified as default.

02 How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

03 How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

04 How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

Part 1: How to Play Video in Slow Motion Effects on Windows with VLC?

VLC is one of the best media players to play videos in slow motion . You can follow the instructions that are given below to learn how to play a video in slow motion in VLC on a Windows PC:

Step 1: Start Video Playback

Launch VLC on your Windows computer (a Windows 11 PC is used here for illustrations), click Media from the menu bar at the top, click Open File from the menu, and locate and open a video that you want to watch in slow motion. If VLC is your default media player, simply double-clicking the clip automatically opens the file in the app.

open file to play slow motion on vlc

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements of 0.10x)

Once the playback begins, press the Spacebar on the keyboard to pause the video. Next, go to the Playback menu from the top, go to Speed, and click Slower (fine) once. This will reduce the speed to 0.90x. Clicking Slower (fine) again will further slow down the video to 0.80x speed. You can repeat this process until you reduce the speed to your desired level. Press Spacebar again to resume the playback in slow motion.

Note: The lowest speed that you can go to using this process is 0.03x.

vlc playback slower slow motion

Step 3: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements in Percentage)

Pause the playback and go to Playback > Speed as explained in the previous step. From the list that comes up, click Slower (the last option). This will reduce the speed to 0.67x. Click Slower again and the speed will further go down to 0.50x. You can repeat this process until you reach your desired playback speed. Press Spacebar to resume the playback in slow motion. With this method, you can reduce the speed to as low as 0.02x.

Note: You can click Normal from the Speed submenu to play the video at normal speed.

play video slow motion on vlc slower

Step 4: Using the Shortcut Keys (Optional)

You can press the left square bracket ‘[‘ on your keyboard to reduce the speed in decrements of 0.10x. To get back to the normal speed, press the equals to ‘=’ key. Likewise, pressing the right square bracket ‘]’ increases the speed by 0.10x.

Note: As it is with the Slower (fine) and Slower options, you can use Faster (fine) to add 0.10x increments to the speed, and Faster to increase percentage-wise. Also, if Faster (fine) is clicked repeatedly or its shortcut key is used multiple times, the speed can be increased up to 31.25x. On the other hand, by using the Faster option repeatedly, the speed can be increased to more than 100x.

Part 2: How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

The process of slowing down the video playback in VLC on a Mac computer is almost identical to that in Windows. You can learn how to get this done by following the steps that are given below:

Step 1: Open and Pause the Video

Locate and right-click the video that you want to play in slow motion, go to Open With from the context menu, and click VLC from the submenu. Once the clip opens, click the Pause button from the bottom as explained in the previous section.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Click Playback from the menu bar at the top, and drag the Playback Speed slider to the left to reduce the speed of the video.

play video slow motion on vlc mac

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Click anywhere on the screen to close the Playback menu, and then click the Play button from the bottom to resume the video playback in slow motion.

Part 3: How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

Although the playback speed of a video on both Android and iOS devices can be controlled with a slider, the location where the controller is placed on the two platforms varies, and so does the process of reaching there. Both the methods are explained below for your convenience:

Play Video in Slow Motion on Android with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Launch VLC on your Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is used here for illustrations), locate and open the video in VLC, tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Pause button from the bottom to pause the playback.

Step 2: Set a Slower Playback Speed

Tap the More icon from the bottom-right corner, tap Playback speed from the menu that appears, and drag the slider that is present at the bottom to the left to reduce the speed. Alternatively, you can also repeatedly tap the down arrow that is present at the right of the slider to slow down the speed in the decrements of 0.05x.

play speed slow motion vlc android

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Tap anywhere on the screen, and when the Playback speed slider disappears, tap the screen one more time. Now, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the video playback.

Play Video in Slow Motion on iPhone with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Assuming that you have already added the video to the VLC library by connecting it to iTunes, launch the app on your iOS device (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations). Tap the video that you want to play in slow motion, and then tap the Pause icon from the bottom.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Clock icon from the lower-left corner. Next, drag the Playback speed slider to the left to reduce the playback speed.

vlc iphone playback speed slow motion effect

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Right after decreasing the speed, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the playback. If the controllers disappear, you can tap anywhere on the screen again, and then tap the Play icon.

Part 4: How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

The processes of setting up default playback speed on different platforms and devices vary. For your convenience, all of them are explained below:

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Windows

  1. Go to Tools > Preferences in VLC media player, and then click the All button from the Show settings section at the bottom.
  2. Select Input / Codecs from the left pane of the Advanced Preferences box, and then specify your preferred speed in the Playback speed field that is present under the Playback control section on the right window
  3. Click Save to save the changes

set vlc media player default playback speed

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Mac

  • Launch VLC, and go to VLC media player from the menu bar, and then click Preferences; and then click Show All from the bottom of the Preferences box to display all preferences setting options;

vlc media player default preferences interface

  • Click the Input / Codecs from the left pane, and then define your preferred speed in the Playback speed field under the Playback control section in the right window, and then click Save to save the changes.

change vlc media player default speed mac

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on Android

Note: At the time of this writing, the Android version of VLC doesn’t allow you to set a global default playback speed. However, you can set it on a per video basis. This means that every time that video is played, the playback speed will remain what you set for it. You must do this for each video in your VLC library individually.

  • Launch VLC, and then tap More from the bottom-right corner; next, tap SETTINGS from the upper-left area;
  • Tap Video from the Extra settings section, and then check the Save Playback Speed box

change media default playback speed android vlc

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on iOS and iPhone

  • Tap Settings from the Home screen, and then scroll down and tap VLC
  • Tap Default playback speed from the GENERIC section, and then tap to select a playback speed from the available list to set it as the default.

change default playback speed vlc iphone

Conclusion

It is pretty convenient to reduce the playback speed in VLC media player regardless of the platform or device you are using. While the processes of getting the job might be different, the principle behind it remains the same. When on Windows, the playback speed can be decreased to 0.02x and can be increased to more than 100x. This facility is not available on Mac, iOS, or Android platforms. Also, if you want, you can set the default playback speed for the videos so that every time a clip is played, the pace remains what you specified as default.

02 How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

03 How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

04 How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

Part 1: How to Play Video in Slow Motion Effects on Windows with VLC?

VLC is one of the best media players to play videos in slow motion . You can follow the instructions that are given below to learn how to play a video in slow motion in VLC on a Windows PC:

Step 1: Start Video Playback

Launch VLC on your Windows computer (a Windows 11 PC is used here for illustrations), click Media from the menu bar at the top, click Open File from the menu, and locate and open a video that you want to watch in slow motion. If VLC is your default media player, simply double-clicking the clip automatically opens the file in the app.

open file to play slow motion on vlc

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements of 0.10x)

Once the playback begins, press the Spacebar on the keyboard to pause the video. Next, go to the Playback menu from the top, go to Speed, and click Slower (fine) once. This will reduce the speed to 0.90x. Clicking Slower (fine) again will further slow down the video to 0.80x speed. You can repeat this process until you reduce the speed to your desired level. Press Spacebar again to resume the playback in slow motion.

Note: The lowest speed that you can go to using this process is 0.03x.

vlc playback slower slow motion

Step 3: Reduce the Playback Speed (In Decrements in Percentage)

Pause the playback and go to Playback > Speed as explained in the previous step. From the list that comes up, click Slower (the last option). This will reduce the speed to 0.67x. Click Slower again and the speed will further go down to 0.50x. You can repeat this process until you reach your desired playback speed. Press Spacebar to resume the playback in slow motion. With this method, you can reduce the speed to as low as 0.02x.

Note: You can click Normal from the Speed submenu to play the video at normal speed.

play video slow motion on vlc slower

Step 4: Using the Shortcut Keys (Optional)

You can press the left square bracket ‘[‘ on your keyboard to reduce the speed in decrements of 0.10x. To get back to the normal speed, press the equals to ‘=’ key. Likewise, pressing the right square bracket ‘]’ increases the speed by 0.10x.

Note: As it is with the Slower (fine) and Slower options, you can use Faster (fine) to add 0.10x increments to the speed, and Faster to increase percentage-wise. Also, if Faster (fine) is clicked repeatedly or its shortcut key is used multiple times, the speed can be increased up to 31.25x. On the other hand, by using the Faster option repeatedly, the speed can be increased to more than 100x.

Part 2: How to Play Slow Motion Effects on Mac with VLC?

The process of slowing down the video playback in VLC on a Mac computer is almost identical to that in Windows. You can learn how to get this done by following the steps that are given below:

Step 1: Open and Pause the Video

Locate and right-click the video that you want to play in slow motion, go to Open With from the context menu, and click VLC from the submenu. Once the clip opens, click the Pause button from the bottom as explained in the previous section.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Click Playback from the menu bar at the top, and drag the Playback Speed slider to the left to reduce the speed of the video.

play video slow motion on vlc mac

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Click anywhere on the screen to close the Playback menu, and then click the Play button from the bottom to resume the video playback in slow motion.

Part 3: How to Control Playback Speed in VLC Media Player on Android and iOS?

Although the playback speed of a video on both Android and iOS devices can be controlled with a slider, the location where the controller is placed on the two platforms varies, and so does the process of reaching there. Both the methods are explained below for your convenience:

Play Video in Slow Motion on Android with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Launch VLC on your Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is used here for illustrations), locate and open the video in VLC, tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Pause button from the bottom to pause the playback.

Step 2: Set a Slower Playback Speed

Tap the More icon from the bottom-right corner, tap Playback speed from the menu that appears, and drag the slider that is present at the bottom to the left to reduce the speed. Alternatively, you can also repeatedly tap the down arrow that is present at the right of the slider to slow down the speed in the decrements of 0.05x.

play speed slow motion vlc android

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Tap anywhere on the screen, and when the Playback speed slider disappears, tap the screen one more time. Now, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the video playback.

Play Video in Slow Motion on iPhone with VLC

Step 1: Pause the Playback

Assuming that you have already added the video to the VLC library by connecting it to iTunes, launch the app on your iOS device (iPhone 13 Pro Max is used here for illustrations). Tap the video that you want to play in slow motion, and then tap the Pause icon from the bottom.

Step 2: Reduce the Playback Speed

Tap anywhere on the screen, and tap the Clock icon from the lower-left corner. Next, drag the Playback speed slider to the left to reduce the playback speed.

vlc iphone playback speed slow motion effect

Step 3: Resume the Playback

Right after decreasing the speed, tap the Play icon from the bottom to resume the playback. If the controllers disappear, you can tap anywhere on the screen again, and then tap the Play icon.

Part 4: How to Set up the Default Playback Speed on VLC?

The processes of setting up default playback speed on different platforms and devices vary. For your convenience, all of them are explained below:

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Windows

  1. Go to Tools > Preferences in VLC media player, and then click the All button from the Show settings section at the bottom.
  2. Select Input / Codecs from the left pane of the Advanced Preferences box, and then specify your preferred speed in the Playback speed field that is present under the Playback control section on the right window
  3. Click Save to save the changes

set vlc media player default playback speed

Set up Default Playback Speed in VLC on Mac

  • Launch VLC, and go to VLC media player from the menu bar, and then click Preferences; and then click Show All from the bottom of the Preferences box to display all preferences setting options;

vlc media player default preferences interface

  • Click the Input / Codecs from the left pane, and then define your preferred speed in the Playback speed field under the Playback control section in the right window, and then click Save to save the changes.

change vlc media player default speed mac

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on Android

Note: At the time of this writing, the Android version of VLC doesn’t allow you to set a global default playback speed. However, you can set it on a per video basis. This means that every time that video is played, the playback speed will remain what you set for it. You must do this for each video in your VLC library individually.

  • Launch VLC, and then tap More from the bottom-right corner; next, tap SETTINGS from the upper-left area;
  • Tap Video from the Extra settings section, and then check the Save Playback Speed box

change media default playback speed android vlc

How to Change VLC Media Player Default Speed on iOS and iPhone

  • Tap Settings from the Home screen, and then scroll down and tap VLC
  • Tap Default playback speed from the GENERIC section, and then tap to select a playback speed from the available list to set it as the default.

change default playback speed vlc iphone

Conclusion

It is pretty convenient to reduce the playback speed in VLC media player regardless of the platform or device you are using. While the processes of getting the job might be different, the principle behind it remains the same. When on Windows, the playback speed can be decreased to 0.02x and can be increased to more than 100x. This facility is not available on Mac, iOS, or Android platforms. Also, if you want, you can set the default playback speed for the videos so that every time a clip is played, the pace remains what you specified as default.

Free Video Editing for Dummies: Top Picks for Desktop, Online, and Mobile

Best Video Editor for Beginners on Windows and Mac

Wondershare Filmora is one of the most popular video editing software among YouTubers , download and have a try.

Try It Free Try It Free

Video content creation is becoming the trend because it retains human attention longer than images or writings do. As a beginner who is not so familiar with video editors, getting free video editing software for beginners might prove difficult.

In this article, you will learn the best free video editing software for beginners, its features, and its pros and cons. Also, you’ll learn some extra tips that will make your video editing seamless.

In this article

01 Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

02 Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

03 Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

04 What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

Part 1: Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

1. Apple iMovie

Apple iMovie is a free video editing software for beginners; it comes pre-installed on Mac devices. It is known for having a simple interface that makes it user-friendly.

Supported on: Mac

Apple iMovie Main Features are:

  • Chromakeying: With iMovie, you can change the background of a video from blue/ green to an image of your favorite place.
  • Sound Integration: iMovie lets you record voiceovers, add music from iTunes and add special sound effects.
  • Video tools: Add filters, titles, animations, and photos to the video.
  • Speed control: fast track and add slow-mo effects to the video.

Pros

  • It supports 4K videos.
  • Professional standards.
  • Chromakeying feature.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Exported files take up a lot of space.
  • Available for Mac and iOS users only.

2. Microsoft Photo App

Microsoft Photos app is a free photo and video editor for beginners. It was created to replace the Windows movie maker. Many might not know about the existence of the app and its ability to edit videos and photos.

Go to the search bar and type photos, and then select the Photos app to bring a menu where you can create albums, edit photos and videos. To edit videos, click on video projects to create a video from scratch or create video automatically.

Supported on: Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11

Microsoft Photos app main features for video editing are;

  • Motion graphics, 3D effects, and animations.
  • It allows the addition of background music or audio from the computer.
  • It allows the addition of title cards and text backgrounds.
  • Change of photo or video durations and speed

Pros

  • It is free and readily installed in Windows 8 and above
  • Easy to use
  • Face detection
  • Album collection and arrangement

Cons

  • No essential video editing tools like transitioning and layering
  • You can’t use it professionally.
  • Does not allow video preview before exporting

3. VSDC Free Video Editor

VSDC is a free video editing software for beginners that can edit 4K UHD, 3D, and VR 360 videos. VSDC is one of the best video editors for beginners to edit complex videos. VSDC has a busy interface, making it less user-friendly than the other free video editing software for beginners.

Supported on: Windows

VSDC’s video editor has;

  • Non-linear video editing tools
  • Social media support features; VSDC has Instagram-like filters and lets you share edited videos directly to your social media.
  • Audio Effects; The 360 editor has many audio effects like equalizer, audio delay, and volume correction.
  • Video editing tools; VSDC has color-correction tools and tools to hide and replace unwanted elements. You can also transform videos with their subpixel resolution.
  • Numerous 3D templates you can choose from.

Pros

  • It supports many audio and video formats.
  • 4K and HD exports

Cons

  • Reduces video quality after editing
  • Professional tools like stabilization, beat syncing, and motion graphics are only available in the pro version.

Part 2: Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

1. Clipchamp

Clipchamp is an online free video editor for beginners. Clipchamp can create social media videos, ads videos, presentations, and other short videos. It has a unique feature that allows teams to collaborate and edit videos projects.

Clipchamp has basic video editing features like:

  • Text-to-speech feature; This feature allows you to add text that will become voiceovers in the video. You can choose the gender and nationality of the voice.
  • Thousand of templates to choose from
  • Video transitioning and layering.

Pros

  • It allows auto-captioning capabilities on the mobile app.
  • Video compression
  • Allows Screen recording
  • It can convert videos to WMV, which you can use in PowerPoint presentations.

Cons

  • Not available on Android devices
  • It uses selective browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
  • It is not optimized for touchpad screens.
  • The best quality video requires registration for the premium version.

2. Hippo Video

Hippo Video is one of the best video editors for beginners free online. You can use it on Mac, Windows, Android, iPhones, and iPads. Hippo is an all-in-one platform to create, record, edit, and share videos across different social media platforms.

Hippo video can;

  • Create GIFs from videos.
  • Trim, cut, and add emojis and tags to a video.
  • Hide or blur unwanted objects in the video.

Pros

  • It has other marketing features like email marketing, campaign management, and social media sharing.
  • It can be added as a chrome extension to be used for screen capturing and recording.

Cons

  • Watermarked in free version
  • Limited video quality download in free version
  • Long load time for video in between uploads.

3. Kapwing

Kapwing is an online free video editing software for beginners. The video editor is made for creators to create, edit and subtitle video content. Kapwing can convert MP4 videos to any file format as well as save the edited file in the cloud.

Primary Features

  • It supports text overlay and drag-and-drop function
  • Cut, resize, merge, split and trim videos.
  • Supports HD resolution
  • Lots of editable social media templates
  • Convert video to any form (GIF, JPG, MP4)

Pros

  • It does not add its watermark; instead, you can add your logo to create the video. Kapwingis
  • Auto-generated subtitles.
  • Background removal function
  • It backs up videos on the cloud.

Cons

  • It cannot export a video longer than 60 minutes
  • On-site technical glitches
  • To export files above 250MB or 7 minutes, you have to upgrade to the premium version.
  • Only available online

4. Online Video Cutter/ 123 apps video editor

Online Video Cutter is an online-based video editor used to edit videos. It is used primarily for trimming videos to desirable sizes. Online video cutter is one of 123 apps to edit and convert different file formats. The video editor can trim, crop, rotate and resize videos.

123 app online video editor tools

With Online Video Cutter, you can;

  • Frame the video or change the frame proportions of the videos.
  • Change the angle of a video up to 270 degrees; this comes in handy when you want to change a video’s view from landscape to portrait.
  • Flip, resize, change volume and add texts and images to your video.
  • Trim, equalize, and record sounds to be added to the video.

Pros

  • Supports all video format
  • Privacy is guaranteed as you are the only one with access to the video.
  • It works well in most browsers.
  • It does not require sign up before use
  • Converts files to any format
  • Can upload files larger than 4GB in size

Cons

  • It takes up a lot of time to upload files
  • Decreases the video quality
  • Cannot upload a file of more than 700MB in the free version

5. FlexClip

Flexclip is an online video creator and editor with essential editing tools. Flexclip has numerous templates and presets that let you create videos in a short time. You can create your video from scratch, templates, and previously saved videos.

Main Feature

  • Audio effects: you can record voices and add background music to the video.
  • Video tools: trim, merge, compress and convert videos.
  • Customization: you can add your logo or watermark to the video.
  • Allows video transition and GIF production
  • Allows you to increase video brightness and add filters to video.

Pros

  • It has more than 4 million pictures and pictures to add to videos.
  • Allows preview of videos before exporting.
  • It supports different video resolutions.
  • Templates for various events are available.

Cons

  • Limited video resolution download in free version
  • The free version can only create a 1-minute video and hold 12 projects.

Part 3: Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

1. CapCut

Cap C ut is a free video editing software for beginners suitable for TikTok content creators. It was formerly known as Viamaker. Cap cut is easy to use for beginners, and it can create spectacular videos automatically by cutting, reordering, and merging recorded videos.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Cap cut allows you to:

  • Split, merge, and reverse videos.
  • Control the video speed
  • Add filter, special effects, stickers, and texts to videos.
  • Overlay and add sounds to the videos

Pros

  • You can export directly to Tiktok.
  • It has a vast music library, including copyrighted songs.
  • Exported videos are of high quality.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Effectiveness depends on the phone’s processor and features.
  • Limited editing features.
  • Video cannot exceed 15 minutes.
  • You can only add a music track per video.

2. Quik

Quik is a free video editor for beginners produced by the makers of GoPro. Quik is an auto-video maker that puts together pictures, videos, and music with a few selections.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Main features

  • Auto-video: Quik will create a video with transitions and soundtrack when you select several pictures and videos.
  • Video editing tools: you can adjust the brightness, add texts and stickers, and add filters to a video.
  • Adjust video speed: you can add slo-mo and freeze effects to the video.
  • It allows direct sharing to social media pages.

Pros

  • Allows HD video download
  • Video styles template for new users.
  • Unlimited cloud backup.
  • Changes video ratio to suit different social media

Cons

  • Limited editing features in the free version.
  • Not suitable for videos longer than 60 seconds
  • Limited font styles

Part 4: What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

When trying to choose a video editor as a beginner, you should look out for:

What video editor has the most commonly used editing tools and intuitive interface

Some essential video editing tools should be available in a video editor. These include Video tools (cropping, rotating, merging, cutting, and splitting of videos), effects and animations, audio effects, the addition of texts, and other features necessary to the purpose of the video you are editing.

Templates for different occasions to create videos quickly

As a beginner video editor, you might not be creative enough to edit professional videos. Video editors that have ready-made templates will come in handy when you want to create a video quickly.

Ready-made templates give a guide to a beginner video editor to create professional-looking videos.

Tutorials and Supports

The best video editors for beginners are user-friendly, and they provide free tutorials to guide new users on their video editing journey. Some video editing software targets digital marketers and video content creators, so they release tutorial videos every week to help them improve their skills.

Are you a creator, influencer, or marketer, and you need to join the trend of creating video content that converts. Check out the list to know which free video editing software best suits your niche.

These are beginner-friendly video editing software that you can use to create professional-looking video content. Watch tutorials and get to work. The more videos you edit, the better you get at it.

Try It Free Try It Free

Video content creation is becoming the trend because it retains human attention longer than images or writings do. As a beginner who is not so familiar with video editors, getting free video editing software for beginners might prove difficult.

In this article, you will learn the best free video editing software for beginners, its features, and its pros and cons. Also, you’ll learn some extra tips that will make your video editing seamless.

In this article

01 Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

02 Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

03 Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

04 What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

Part 1: Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

1. Apple iMovie

Apple iMovie is a free video editing software for beginners; it comes pre-installed on Mac devices. It is known for having a simple interface that makes it user-friendly.

Supported on: Mac

Apple iMovie Main Features are:

  • Chromakeying: With iMovie, you can change the background of a video from blue/ green to an image of your favorite place.
  • Sound Integration: iMovie lets you record voiceovers, add music from iTunes and add special sound effects.
  • Video tools: Add filters, titles, animations, and photos to the video.
  • Speed control: fast track and add slow-mo effects to the video.

Pros

  • It supports 4K videos.
  • Professional standards.
  • Chromakeying feature.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Exported files take up a lot of space.
  • Available for Mac and iOS users only.

2. Microsoft Photo App

Microsoft Photos app is a free photo and video editor for beginners. It was created to replace the Windows movie maker. Many might not know about the existence of the app and its ability to edit videos and photos.

Go to the search bar and type photos, and then select the Photos app to bring a menu where you can create albums, edit photos and videos. To edit videos, click on video projects to create a video from scratch or create video automatically.

Supported on: Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11

Microsoft Photos app main features for video editing are;

  • Motion graphics, 3D effects, and animations.
  • It allows the addition of background music or audio from the computer.
  • It allows the addition of title cards and text backgrounds.
  • Change of photo or video durations and speed

Pros

  • It is free and readily installed in Windows 8 and above
  • Easy to use
  • Face detection
  • Album collection and arrangement

Cons

  • No essential video editing tools like transitioning and layering
  • You can’t use it professionally.
  • Does not allow video preview before exporting

3. VSDC Free Video Editor

VSDC is a free video editing software for beginners that can edit 4K UHD, 3D, and VR 360 videos. VSDC is one of the best video editors for beginners to edit complex videos. VSDC has a busy interface, making it less user-friendly than the other free video editing software for beginners.

Supported on: Windows

VSDC’s video editor has;

  • Non-linear video editing tools
  • Social media support features; VSDC has Instagram-like filters and lets you share edited videos directly to your social media.
  • Audio Effects; The 360 editor has many audio effects like equalizer, audio delay, and volume correction.
  • Video editing tools; VSDC has color-correction tools and tools to hide and replace unwanted elements. You can also transform videos with their subpixel resolution.
  • Numerous 3D templates you can choose from.

Pros

  • It supports many audio and video formats.
  • 4K and HD exports

Cons

  • Reduces video quality after editing
  • Professional tools like stabilization, beat syncing, and motion graphics are only available in the pro version.

Part 2: Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

1. Clipchamp

Clipchamp is an online free video editor for beginners. Clipchamp can create social media videos, ads videos, presentations, and other short videos. It has a unique feature that allows teams to collaborate and edit videos projects.

Clipchamp has basic video editing features like:

  • Text-to-speech feature; This feature allows you to add text that will become voiceovers in the video. You can choose the gender and nationality of the voice.
  • Thousand of templates to choose from
  • Video transitioning and layering.

Pros

  • It allows auto-captioning capabilities on the mobile app.
  • Video compression
  • Allows Screen recording
  • It can convert videos to WMV, which you can use in PowerPoint presentations.

Cons

  • Not available on Android devices
  • It uses selective browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
  • It is not optimized for touchpad screens.
  • The best quality video requires registration for the premium version.

2. Hippo Video

Hippo Video is one of the best video editors for beginners free online. You can use it on Mac, Windows, Android, iPhones, and iPads. Hippo is an all-in-one platform to create, record, edit, and share videos across different social media platforms.

Hippo video can;

  • Create GIFs from videos.
  • Trim, cut, and add emojis and tags to a video.
  • Hide or blur unwanted objects in the video.

Pros

  • It has other marketing features like email marketing, campaign management, and social media sharing.
  • It can be added as a chrome extension to be used for screen capturing and recording.

Cons

  • Watermarked in free version
  • Limited video quality download in free version
  • Long load time for video in between uploads.

3. Kapwing

Kapwing is an online free video editing software for beginners. The video editor is made for creators to create, edit and subtitle video content. Kapwing can convert MP4 videos to any file format as well as save the edited file in the cloud.

Primary Features

  • It supports text overlay and drag-and-drop function
  • Cut, resize, merge, split and trim videos.
  • Supports HD resolution
  • Lots of editable social media templates
  • Convert video to any form (GIF, JPG, MP4)

Pros

  • It does not add its watermark; instead, you can add your logo to create the video. Kapwingis
  • Auto-generated subtitles.
  • Background removal function
  • It backs up videos on the cloud.

Cons

  • It cannot export a video longer than 60 minutes
  • On-site technical glitches
  • To export files above 250MB or 7 minutes, you have to upgrade to the premium version.
  • Only available online

4. Online Video Cutter/ 123 apps video editor

Online Video Cutter is an online-based video editor used to edit videos. It is used primarily for trimming videos to desirable sizes. Online video cutter is one of 123 apps to edit and convert different file formats. The video editor can trim, crop, rotate and resize videos.

123 app online video editor tools

With Online Video Cutter, you can;

  • Frame the video or change the frame proportions of the videos.
  • Change the angle of a video up to 270 degrees; this comes in handy when you want to change a video’s view from landscape to portrait.
  • Flip, resize, change volume and add texts and images to your video.
  • Trim, equalize, and record sounds to be added to the video.

Pros

  • Supports all video format
  • Privacy is guaranteed as you are the only one with access to the video.
  • It works well in most browsers.
  • It does not require sign up before use
  • Converts files to any format
  • Can upload files larger than 4GB in size

Cons

  • It takes up a lot of time to upload files
  • Decreases the video quality
  • Cannot upload a file of more than 700MB in the free version

5. FlexClip

Flexclip is an online video creator and editor with essential editing tools. Flexclip has numerous templates and presets that let you create videos in a short time. You can create your video from scratch, templates, and previously saved videos.

Main Feature

  • Audio effects: you can record voices and add background music to the video.
  • Video tools: trim, merge, compress and convert videos.
  • Customization: you can add your logo or watermark to the video.
  • Allows video transition and GIF production
  • Allows you to increase video brightness and add filters to video.

Pros

  • It has more than 4 million pictures and pictures to add to videos.
  • Allows preview of videos before exporting.
  • It supports different video resolutions.
  • Templates for various events are available.

Cons

  • Limited video resolution download in free version
  • The free version can only create a 1-minute video and hold 12 projects.

Part 3: Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

1. CapCut

Cap C ut is a free video editing software for beginners suitable for TikTok content creators. It was formerly known as Viamaker. Cap cut is easy to use for beginners, and it can create spectacular videos automatically by cutting, reordering, and merging recorded videos.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Cap cut allows you to:

  • Split, merge, and reverse videos.
  • Control the video speed
  • Add filter, special effects, stickers, and texts to videos.
  • Overlay and add sounds to the videos

Pros

  • You can export directly to Tiktok.
  • It has a vast music library, including copyrighted songs.
  • Exported videos are of high quality.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Effectiveness depends on the phone’s processor and features.
  • Limited editing features.
  • Video cannot exceed 15 minutes.
  • You can only add a music track per video.

2. Quik

Quik is a free video editor for beginners produced by the makers of GoPro. Quik is an auto-video maker that puts together pictures, videos, and music with a few selections.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Main features

  • Auto-video: Quik will create a video with transitions and soundtrack when you select several pictures and videos.
  • Video editing tools: you can adjust the brightness, add texts and stickers, and add filters to a video.
  • Adjust video speed: you can add slo-mo and freeze effects to the video.
  • It allows direct sharing to social media pages.

Pros

  • Allows HD video download
  • Video styles template for new users.
  • Unlimited cloud backup.
  • Changes video ratio to suit different social media

Cons

  • Limited editing features in the free version.
  • Not suitable for videos longer than 60 seconds
  • Limited font styles

Part 4: What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

When trying to choose a video editor as a beginner, you should look out for:

What video editor has the most commonly used editing tools and intuitive interface

Some essential video editing tools should be available in a video editor. These include Video tools (cropping, rotating, merging, cutting, and splitting of videos), effects and animations, audio effects, the addition of texts, and other features necessary to the purpose of the video you are editing.

Templates for different occasions to create videos quickly

As a beginner video editor, you might not be creative enough to edit professional videos. Video editors that have ready-made templates will come in handy when you want to create a video quickly.

Ready-made templates give a guide to a beginner video editor to create professional-looking videos.

Tutorials and Supports

The best video editors for beginners are user-friendly, and they provide free tutorials to guide new users on their video editing journey. Some video editing software targets digital marketers and video content creators, so they release tutorial videos every week to help them improve their skills.

Are you a creator, influencer, or marketer, and you need to join the trend of creating video content that converts. Check out the list to know which free video editing software best suits your niche.

These are beginner-friendly video editing software that you can use to create professional-looking video content. Watch tutorials and get to work. The more videos you edit, the better you get at it.

Try It Free Try It Free

Video content creation is becoming the trend because it retains human attention longer than images or writings do. As a beginner who is not so familiar with video editors, getting free video editing software for beginners might prove difficult.

In this article, you will learn the best free video editing software for beginners, its features, and its pros and cons. Also, you’ll learn some extra tips that will make your video editing seamless.

In this article

01 Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

02 Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

03 Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

04 What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

Part 1: Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

1. Apple iMovie

Apple iMovie is a free video editing software for beginners; it comes pre-installed on Mac devices. It is known for having a simple interface that makes it user-friendly.

Supported on: Mac

Apple iMovie Main Features are:

  • Chromakeying: With iMovie, you can change the background of a video from blue/ green to an image of your favorite place.
  • Sound Integration: iMovie lets you record voiceovers, add music from iTunes and add special sound effects.
  • Video tools: Add filters, titles, animations, and photos to the video.
  • Speed control: fast track and add slow-mo effects to the video.

Pros

  • It supports 4K videos.
  • Professional standards.
  • Chromakeying feature.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Exported files take up a lot of space.
  • Available for Mac and iOS users only.

2. Microsoft Photo App

Microsoft Photos app is a free photo and video editor for beginners. It was created to replace the Windows movie maker. Many might not know about the existence of the app and its ability to edit videos and photos.

Go to the search bar and type photos, and then select the Photos app to bring a menu where you can create albums, edit photos and videos. To edit videos, click on video projects to create a video from scratch or create video automatically.

Supported on: Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11

Microsoft Photos app main features for video editing are;

  • Motion graphics, 3D effects, and animations.
  • It allows the addition of background music or audio from the computer.
  • It allows the addition of title cards and text backgrounds.
  • Change of photo or video durations and speed

Pros

  • It is free and readily installed in Windows 8 and above
  • Easy to use
  • Face detection
  • Album collection and arrangement

Cons

  • No essential video editing tools like transitioning and layering
  • You can’t use it professionally.
  • Does not allow video preview before exporting

3. VSDC Free Video Editor

VSDC is a free video editing software for beginners that can edit 4K UHD, 3D, and VR 360 videos. VSDC is one of the best video editors for beginners to edit complex videos. VSDC has a busy interface, making it less user-friendly than the other free video editing software for beginners.

Supported on: Windows

VSDC’s video editor has;

  • Non-linear video editing tools
  • Social media support features; VSDC has Instagram-like filters and lets you share edited videos directly to your social media.
  • Audio Effects; The 360 editor has many audio effects like equalizer, audio delay, and volume correction.
  • Video editing tools; VSDC has color-correction tools and tools to hide and replace unwanted elements. You can also transform videos with their subpixel resolution.
  • Numerous 3D templates you can choose from.

Pros

  • It supports many audio and video formats.
  • 4K and HD exports

Cons

  • Reduces video quality after editing
  • Professional tools like stabilization, beat syncing, and motion graphics are only available in the pro version.

Part 2: Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

1. Clipchamp

Clipchamp is an online free video editor for beginners. Clipchamp can create social media videos, ads videos, presentations, and other short videos. It has a unique feature that allows teams to collaborate and edit videos projects.

Clipchamp has basic video editing features like:

  • Text-to-speech feature; This feature allows you to add text that will become voiceovers in the video. You can choose the gender and nationality of the voice.
  • Thousand of templates to choose from
  • Video transitioning and layering.

Pros

  • It allows auto-captioning capabilities on the mobile app.
  • Video compression
  • Allows Screen recording
  • It can convert videos to WMV, which you can use in PowerPoint presentations.

Cons

  • Not available on Android devices
  • It uses selective browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
  • It is not optimized for touchpad screens.
  • The best quality video requires registration for the premium version.

2. Hippo Video

Hippo Video is one of the best video editors for beginners free online. You can use it on Mac, Windows, Android, iPhones, and iPads. Hippo is an all-in-one platform to create, record, edit, and share videos across different social media platforms.

Hippo video can;

  • Create GIFs from videos.
  • Trim, cut, and add emojis and tags to a video.
  • Hide or blur unwanted objects in the video.

Pros

  • It has other marketing features like email marketing, campaign management, and social media sharing.
  • It can be added as a chrome extension to be used for screen capturing and recording.

Cons

  • Watermarked in free version
  • Limited video quality download in free version
  • Long load time for video in between uploads.

3. Kapwing

Kapwing is an online free video editing software for beginners. The video editor is made for creators to create, edit and subtitle video content. Kapwing can convert MP4 videos to any file format as well as save the edited file in the cloud.

Primary Features

  • It supports text overlay and drag-and-drop function
  • Cut, resize, merge, split and trim videos.
  • Supports HD resolution
  • Lots of editable social media templates
  • Convert video to any form (GIF, JPG, MP4)

Pros

  • It does not add its watermark; instead, you can add your logo to create the video. Kapwingis
  • Auto-generated subtitles.
  • Background removal function
  • It backs up videos on the cloud.

Cons

  • It cannot export a video longer than 60 minutes
  • On-site technical glitches
  • To export files above 250MB or 7 minutes, you have to upgrade to the premium version.
  • Only available online

4. Online Video Cutter/ 123 apps video editor

Online Video Cutter is an online-based video editor used to edit videos. It is used primarily for trimming videos to desirable sizes. Online video cutter is one of 123 apps to edit and convert different file formats. The video editor can trim, crop, rotate and resize videos.

123 app online video editor tools

With Online Video Cutter, you can;

  • Frame the video or change the frame proportions of the videos.
  • Change the angle of a video up to 270 degrees; this comes in handy when you want to change a video’s view from landscape to portrait.
  • Flip, resize, change volume and add texts and images to your video.
  • Trim, equalize, and record sounds to be added to the video.

Pros

  • Supports all video format
  • Privacy is guaranteed as you are the only one with access to the video.
  • It works well in most browsers.
  • It does not require sign up before use
  • Converts files to any format
  • Can upload files larger than 4GB in size

Cons

  • It takes up a lot of time to upload files
  • Decreases the video quality
  • Cannot upload a file of more than 700MB in the free version

5. FlexClip

Flexclip is an online video creator and editor with essential editing tools. Flexclip has numerous templates and presets that let you create videos in a short time. You can create your video from scratch, templates, and previously saved videos.

Main Feature

  • Audio effects: you can record voices and add background music to the video.
  • Video tools: trim, merge, compress and convert videos.
  • Customization: you can add your logo or watermark to the video.
  • Allows video transition and GIF production
  • Allows you to increase video brightness and add filters to video.

Pros

  • It has more than 4 million pictures and pictures to add to videos.
  • Allows preview of videos before exporting.
  • It supports different video resolutions.
  • Templates for various events are available.

Cons

  • Limited video resolution download in free version
  • The free version can only create a 1-minute video and hold 12 projects.

Part 3: Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

1. CapCut

Cap C ut is a free video editing software for beginners suitable for TikTok content creators. It was formerly known as Viamaker. Cap cut is easy to use for beginners, and it can create spectacular videos automatically by cutting, reordering, and merging recorded videos.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Cap cut allows you to:

  • Split, merge, and reverse videos.
  • Control the video speed
  • Add filter, special effects, stickers, and texts to videos.
  • Overlay and add sounds to the videos

Pros

  • You can export directly to Tiktok.
  • It has a vast music library, including copyrighted songs.
  • Exported videos are of high quality.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Effectiveness depends on the phone’s processor and features.
  • Limited editing features.
  • Video cannot exceed 15 minutes.
  • You can only add a music track per video.

2. Quik

Quik is a free video editor for beginners produced by the makers of GoPro. Quik is an auto-video maker that puts together pictures, videos, and music with a few selections.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Main features

  • Auto-video: Quik will create a video with transitions and soundtrack when you select several pictures and videos.
  • Video editing tools: you can adjust the brightness, add texts and stickers, and add filters to a video.
  • Adjust video speed: you can add slo-mo and freeze effects to the video.
  • It allows direct sharing to social media pages.

Pros

  • Allows HD video download
  • Video styles template for new users.
  • Unlimited cloud backup.
  • Changes video ratio to suit different social media

Cons

  • Limited editing features in the free version.
  • Not suitable for videos longer than 60 seconds
  • Limited font styles

Part 4: What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

When trying to choose a video editor as a beginner, you should look out for:

What video editor has the most commonly used editing tools and intuitive interface

Some essential video editing tools should be available in a video editor. These include Video tools (cropping, rotating, merging, cutting, and splitting of videos), effects and animations, audio effects, the addition of texts, and other features necessary to the purpose of the video you are editing.

Templates for different occasions to create videos quickly

As a beginner video editor, you might not be creative enough to edit professional videos. Video editors that have ready-made templates will come in handy when you want to create a video quickly.

Ready-made templates give a guide to a beginner video editor to create professional-looking videos.

Tutorials and Supports

The best video editors for beginners are user-friendly, and they provide free tutorials to guide new users on their video editing journey. Some video editing software targets digital marketers and video content creators, so they release tutorial videos every week to help them improve their skills.

Are you a creator, influencer, or marketer, and you need to join the trend of creating video content that converts. Check out the list to know which free video editing software best suits your niche.

These are beginner-friendly video editing software that you can use to create professional-looking video content. Watch tutorials and get to work. The more videos you edit, the better you get at it.

Try It Free Try It Free

Video content creation is becoming the trend because it retains human attention longer than images or writings do. As a beginner who is not so familiar with video editors, getting free video editing software for beginners might prove difficult.

In this article, you will learn the best free video editing software for beginners, its features, and its pros and cons. Also, you’ll learn some extra tips that will make your video editing seamless.

In this article

01 Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

02 Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

03 Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

04 What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

Part 1: Best Free Desktop Video Editing Software for Beginners in 2024

1. Apple iMovie

Apple iMovie is a free video editing software for beginners; it comes pre-installed on Mac devices. It is known for having a simple interface that makes it user-friendly.

Supported on: Mac

Apple iMovie Main Features are:

  • Chromakeying: With iMovie, you can change the background of a video from blue/ green to an image of your favorite place.
  • Sound Integration: iMovie lets you record voiceovers, add music from iTunes and add special sound effects.
  • Video tools: Add filters, titles, animations, and photos to the video.
  • Speed control: fast track and add slow-mo effects to the video.

Pros

  • It supports 4K videos.
  • Professional standards.
  • Chromakeying feature.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Exported files take up a lot of space.
  • Available for Mac and iOS users only.

2. Microsoft Photo App

Microsoft Photos app is a free photo and video editor for beginners. It was created to replace the Windows movie maker. Many might not know about the existence of the app and its ability to edit videos and photos.

Go to the search bar and type photos, and then select the Photos app to bring a menu where you can create albums, edit photos and videos. To edit videos, click on video projects to create a video from scratch or create video automatically.

Supported on: Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11

Microsoft Photos app main features for video editing are;

  • Motion graphics, 3D effects, and animations.
  • It allows the addition of background music or audio from the computer.
  • It allows the addition of title cards and text backgrounds.
  • Change of photo or video durations and speed

Pros

  • It is free and readily installed in Windows 8 and above
  • Easy to use
  • Face detection
  • Album collection and arrangement

Cons

  • No essential video editing tools like transitioning and layering
  • You can’t use it professionally.
  • Does not allow video preview before exporting

3. VSDC Free Video Editor

VSDC is a free video editing software for beginners that can edit 4K UHD, 3D, and VR 360 videos. VSDC is one of the best video editors for beginners to edit complex videos. VSDC has a busy interface, making it less user-friendly than the other free video editing software for beginners.

Supported on: Windows

VSDC’s video editor has;

  • Non-linear video editing tools
  • Social media support features; VSDC has Instagram-like filters and lets you share edited videos directly to your social media.
  • Audio Effects; The 360 editor has many audio effects like equalizer, audio delay, and volume correction.
  • Video editing tools; VSDC has color-correction tools and tools to hide and replace unwanted elements. You can also transform videos with their subpixel resolution.
  • Numerous 3D templates you can choose from.

Pros

  • It supports many audio and video formats.
  • 4K and HD exports

Cons

  • Reduces video quality after editing
  • Professional tools like stabilization, beat syncing, and motion graphics are only available in the pro version.

Part 2: Best Free Online Video Editors for Beginners in 2024

1. Clipchamp

Clipchamp is an online free video editor for beginners. Clipchamp can create social media videos, ads videos, presentations, and other short videos. It has a unique feature that allows teams to collaborate and edit videos projects.

Clipchamp has basic video editing features like:

  • Text-to-speech feature; This feature allows you to add text that will become voiceovers in the video. You can choose the gender and nationality of the voice.
  • Thousand of templates to choose from
  • Video transitioning and layering.

Pros

  • It allows auto-captioning capabilities on the mobile app.
  • Video compression
  • Allows Screen recording
  • It can convert videos to WMV, which you can use in PowerPoint presentations.

Cons

  • Not available on Android devices
  • It uses selective browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
  • It is not optimized for touchpad screens.
  • The best quality video requires registration for the premium version.

2. Hippo Video

Hippo Video is one of the best video editors for beginners free online. You can use it on Mac, Windows, Android, iPhones, and iPads. Hippo is an all-in-one platform to create, record, edit, and share videos across different social media platforms.

Hippo video can;

  • Create GIFs from videos.
  • Trim, cut, and add emojis and tags to a video.
  • Hide or blur unwanted objects in the video.

Pros

  • It has other marketing features like email marketing, campaign management, and social media sharing.
  • It can be added as a chrome extension to be used for screen capturing and recording.

Cons

  • Watermarked in free version
  • Limited video quality download in free version
  • Long load time for video in between uploads.

3. Kapwing

Kapwing is an online free video editing software for beginners. The video editor is made for creators to create, edit and subtitle video content. Kapwing can convert MP4 videos to any file format as well as save the edited file in the cloud.

Primary Features

  • It supports text overlay and drag-and-drop function
  • Cut, resize, merge, split and trim videos.
  • Supports HD resolution
  • Lots of editable social media templates
  • Convert video to any form (GIF, JPG, MP4)

Pros

  • It does not add its watermark; instead, you can add your logo to create the video. Kapwingis
  • Auto-generated subtitles.
  • Background removal function
  • It backs up videos on the cloud.

Cons

  • It cannot export a video longer than 60 minutes
  • On-site technical glitches
  • To export files above 250MB or 7 minutes, you have to upgrade to the premium version.
  • Only available online

4. Online Video Cutter/ 123 apps video editor

Online Video Cutter is an online-based video editor used to edit videos. It is used primarily for trimming videos to desirable sizes. Online video cutter is one of 123 apps to edit and convert different file formats. The video editor can trim, crop, rotate and resize videos.

123 app online video editor tools

With Online Video Cutter, you can;

  • Frame the video or change the frame proportions of the videos.
  • Change the angle of a video up to 270 degrees; this comes in handy when you want to change a video’s view from landscape to portrait.
  • Flip, resize, change volume and add texts and images to your video.
  • Trim, equalize, and record sounds to be added to the video.

Pros

  • Supports all video format
  • Privacy is guaranteed as you are the only one with access to the video.
  • It works well in most browsers.
  • It does not require sign up before use
  • Converts files to any format
  • Can upload files larger than 4GB in size

Cons

  • It takes up a lot of time to upload files
  • Decreases the video quality
  • Cannot upload a file of more than 700MB in the free version

5. FlexClip

Flexclip is an online video creator and editor with essential editing tools. Flexclip has numerous templates and presets that let you create videos in a short time. You can create your video from scratch, templates, and previously saved videos.

Main Feature

  • Audio effects: you can record voices and add background music to the video.
  • Video tools: trim, merge, compress and convert videos.
  • Customization: you can add your logo or watermark to the video.
  • Allows video transition and GIF production
  • Allows you to increase video brightness and add filters to video.

Pros

  • It has more than 4 million pictures and pictures to add to videos.
  • Allows preview of videos before exporting.
  • It supports different video resolutions.
  • Templates for various events are available.

Cons

  • Limited video resolution download in free version
  • The free version can only create a 1-minute video and hold 12 projects.

Part 3: Best Free Video Editing Apps for Beginners on iPhone and Android

1. CapCut

Cap C ut is a free video editing software for beginners suitable for TikTok content creators. It was formerly known as Viamaker. Cap cut is easy to use for beginners, and it can create spectacular videos automatically by cutting, reordering, and merging recorded videos.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Cap cut allows you to:

  • Split, merge, and reverse videos.
  • Control the video speed
  • Add filter, special effects, stickers, and texts to videos.
  • Overlay and add sounds to the videos

Pros

  • You can export directly to Tiktok.
  • It has a vast music library, including copyrighted songs.
  • Exported videos are of high quality.

Cons

  • It does not support Multicam and 360 video editing.
  • Effectiveness depends on the phone’s processor and features.
  • Limited editing features.
  • Video cannot exceed 15 minutes.
  • You can only add a music track per video.

2. Quik

Quik is a free video editor for beginners produced by the makers of GoPro. Quik is an auto-video maker that puts together pictures, videos, and music with a few selections.

Supported on: Android and iOS

Main features

  • Auto-video: Quik will create a video with transitions and soundtrack when you select several pictures and videos.
  • Video editing tools: you can adjust the brightness, add texts and stickers, and add filters to a video.
  • Adjust video speed: you can add slo-mo and freeze effects to the video.
  • It allows direct sharing to social media pages.

Pros

  • Allows HD video download
  • Video styles template for new users.
  • Unlimited cloud backup.
  • Changes video ratio to suit different social media

Cons

  • Limited editing features in the free version.
  • Not suitable for videos longer than 60 seconds
  • Limited font styles

Part 4: What to Look for in Choosing the Best Video editors As Beginners

When trying to choose a video editor as a beginner, you should look out for:

What video editor has the most commonly used editing tools and intuitive interface

Some essential video editing tools should be available in a video editor. These include Video tools (cropping, rotating, merging, cutting, and splitting of videos), effects and animations, audio effects, the addition of texts, and other features necessary to the purpose of the video you are editing.

Templates for different occasions to create videos quickly

As a beginner video editor, you might not be creative enough to edit professional videos. Video editors that have ready-made templates will come in handy when you want to create a video quickly.

Ready-made templates give a guide to a beginner video editor to create professional-looking videos.

Tutorials and Supports

The best video editors for beginners are user-friendly, and they provide free tutorials to guide new users on their video editing journey. Some video editing software targets digital marketers and video content creators, so they release tutorial videos every week to help them improve their skills.

Are you a creator, influencer, or marketer, and you need to join the trend of creating video content that converts. Check out the list to know which free video editing software best suits your niche.

These are beginner-friendly video editing software that you can use to create professional-looking video content. Watch tutorials and get to work. The more videos you edit, the better you get at it.

Get Started with Green Screen: Top 10 Free Mobile Apps for Beginners

FREE Top 10 Green Screen APPs for Android/iOS

author avatar

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

The background effects you use are largely likely to determine the quality of your videos and photos. Most of the award-winning videos use green screen apps to edit their still images as well as short video clips. Have you ever asked yourself; Are the movies and photos featuring Golden Gate or The White House as their backgrounds shot at those exact scenes?

It’s surprising to see how the internet is flooded with poorly edited videos, movies, and photos despite the huge number of free green screen apps.

In order to learn how to use green screen effectively in all movie and photo scenarios, this article is subdivided into the following parts:

Part 1: What Is a Green Screen App and Its Uses?

The green screen app is an application that’s used by filmmakers, videographers, and photographers to create unique backgrounds. Many great apps work perfectly well with Windows, Mac, Androids, and iOS. Whereas a few can be used online, the majority are can only be used upon download. The green screen is also known as the Chroma key.

So, what are the uses of green screen apps? To replace the background of your videos and photos, you require a green screen app. Other uses include:

  • During weather forecasts, television producers use green screen apps to shade regions of interest.
  • In case of extensive use of single color in videos, you can use these apps to cut the color pixels from the video.
  • Green screen apps feature many editing effects that can be used to enhance the quality of videos.

If you want to get the best green-screen effect, Filmora is the tool to use. The green screen editor involves the superimposing of different virtual backgrounds during the video-making process. The combination of Filmora’s green screen feature and the thousands of HD royalty-free video backgrounds in Filmstock makes it the perfect video editor for you. Learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Besides the green screen feature, Filmora offers many useful features like Instant Mode, Speed Ramping, Auto Beat Maker, and more to help you edit the video you want.

How to Edit Green Screen Using Filmora?

Editing the green screen with Filmora is easy. In this article, we offer two types of tutorials here. You can check the video or follow the step-by-step guide to create your own green screen video.

Download Filmora Win Version Download Filmora Mac Version

Step 1: Launch Filmora.

In order to launch this software, start by clicking any of the buttons below to download and install to your Mac or desktop. It’s compatible with Windows7/8/10.

Once you’ve successfully installed it, double-click the icon to open it.

Step 2: Import your green screen video footage and background to the timeline.

There are plenty of websites with wonderful green screen videos for you to download. To select a video background, go to Filmstock on the Wondershare website and download.

For your green screen video to appear on top, drag it onto track 2 and the background footage to track 1.

Step 3: Start editing.

The Chroma Key editing features are hidden in this part. To open the editing effects, double-click on the green screen video.

On the pop-up menu, just click the Chroma key option.

best green screen vedio editor

Use the editing panel to set the appearance that best fascinates your audience.

Step 4: Save your video.

Click Export to save your created green screen. If you don’t have an account, create one for you to be able to access the Find Target. Tap the Find Target to choose where to save the video.

Try Filmora for Smartphone

Try Filmora for iPad

Part 3: 10 Best Free/Paid Green Screen Apps For Androids/iOS

After days of downloading and testing both the free/paid green screen apps for Windows, Mac, and smartphones, here is a complete comparison chart of the findings.

Watch Video! Top Free Green Screen App in 2022

Here is now the detailed elaboration of the green screen apps features, pros, and cons above:

1. Chromavid – Easiest for shooting and sharing photos and videos using Chroma Key

best green screen app - Chromavid

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS 12 or later)

Price: $2.99

This app works pretty well with both photos and videos.

If you’ve been looking for the best green screen app for iPad this is the right app for you. Despite the low pricing, Chromavid has top-notch Chroma Key effects like more Chroma colors, unlimited recording time, and image merge functions. It’s the social sharing button and the option to shoot videos on the Chroma key that makes Chromavid stand out.

To access the advanced Chromavid commercial use, you need to subscribe to the specific commercial version indicated on the License page.

Pros:

  • Chromavid green screen app is simple and easy to use.
  • Also, the Chromavid plus plan produces watermark-free videos and photos.
  • You can save edited videos directly into your device.

Cons:

  • Only real-time photos and videos can be edited using this app.
  • Too much personal detail is required to open an account.

2. Kinemaster – Best app for smartphones and a powerful tool for video editing

best green screen app - Kinemaster

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPod , iPad

Price: Free

Kinemaster’s Chroma Key function can be used to overlay texts, photos, and videos.

Any person searching for the top free green screen app should consider Kinemaster. The supported multilayer effect allows users to lay video clips, images, texts, and many more at once. The alpha mask feature found in this app can hardly be found in other apps. To eliminate the watermark and get unlimited export of 4K resolution backgrounds, just subscribe to the Kinemaster premium plan.

Pros:

  • Good for sharing to social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Facebook.
  • 100s of weekly updated stickers, video backgrounds, video clips, transitions, and music clips.
  • Can create multiple layer videos.
  • Availability of EQ presets, speed controls, and preview features.

Cons:

  • The current versions are malfunctioning
  • Not compatible with PCs and mac

3. Green Screen by Do Ink – This is probably the best green screen app for iPad users

best green screen app - Green Screen by Do Ink

Compatible: iOS 9.0 or later and iPad

Price: $4.99

It’s best for both photos and videos.

Green Screen by Do Ink prides itself on simplicity and is highly suitable for beginners, experts, and even doodlers. When using the green screen editor, you’ll find the interface to be more friendly and easy to understand. It has only four simple elements that include:

  1. Source selector -Where to export images and videos.
  2. Preview window -For reviewing completed projects.
  • Timeline – For arranging exported images and videos.
  1. Toolbar – This is where you’ll find all the Chroma Key tools and buttons.

Pros:

  • Supports any videos aspect ratio.
  • Plenty of drawing tools.
  • Ability to import images and videos from the camera.

Cons:

  • The pricing is a bit high compared to other apps.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

4. Veescope Live Green Screen App – Highly suitable for editing real-time videos and creating QuickTime videos

best green screen app - Veescope

Compatible: iOS devices

Price: Free

The green Screen feature/ Chroma Key allows editing of real-time images from the camera, photos, and videos.

Any journalist specializing in weather forecasts should use Veescope Live to bring live forecasts and change backgrounds to fit any location. For high-quality videos, use the Remote feature to switch backgrounds as you desire. With the camera, shoot or record Ultra HD and 4K resolution photos and videos.

Pros:

  • Easy to use the adjustable white balance and light exposure.
  • Ability to overlay up to 20 different backgrounds.
  • The new Pinch Zooming feature helps preview every detail of the project.
  • Best for any background green screen color.

Cons:

  • The free plan has a permanent watermark.
  • Cannot undo or redo on the timeline.

5. Stop Motion Studio - This is the most versatile green screen app

best green screen app - stop motion studio

Compatibility: Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows

Price: For iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99 and Android - $4.99

Suitable for both photos and videos.

Finding a green screen app for Windows and Mac with stunning features that are easy to use has been the most daunting task. With Stop Motion Studio, you can export edited videos directly to YouTube, work on a single project from mobile, export it to a computer, and create 4K Ultra HD videos. When using the Chroma Key/ green screen feature, you can automatically change the background by importing from any source.

Pros:

  • Can enhance videos quality by using different backgrounds, foregrounds, and transitions.
  • The built-in music helps improve the sound quality of the created green screen.
  • Can be used by beginners and is also suitable for all family use.
  • The Rotoscoping feature helps create unique videos.

Cons:

  • No free plan

best green screen app - chroma key studio pro

Compatibility: iOS 7.0 or later (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)

Price: $4.99

Used for creating a green screen for both photos and videos.

Chroma Key Studio Pro is probably the easiest green screen app for iPhone to understand and the simplest to use due to its limited number of features. The Intelligent auto-enhance filter, color keying, and the selfie mode camera feature make this app good for creating quick green screen images. Other top features are a huge gallery of photos and videos, 100s of effects and filters, and high-quality backgrounds.

Pros:

  • Faster video editing.
  • Easy color separation.

Cons:

  • Limited to only iOS devices.

7. PocketVideo – Preferred for Video Blogging

best green screen app pocketVideo

Compatibility: iOS 12.0 or later and Android 4.4 or later, PC and Mac

Price: Free

PocketVideo can only be used to edit videos and photos.

After years of searching for apps that can create YouTube vlogs, video bloggers have something to smile about -PocketVideo green screen app. Even though the number of features is numerous, this green screen app for Mac and other devices is simple and highly suitable for videos making experts and beginners. The Animated Doodle Tool is the children’s go-to tool.

Pros:

  • Can record and edit up to 10 minutes of Ultra HD video.
  • Self-explanatory user interface.
  • Huge collection of free stickers, PNGs, and GIFs.

Cons:

  • No training tutorials.

8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Studio Editor - Best for professional photographers

best green screen app - green screen wizard Pro studio editor

Compatibility: Windows7,8,10, Mac, Android and iPhone

Price: Windows/Mac- $199.95, Android- $4.99

This app is more suitable for editing photos.

Even though Green Screen Studio is costly, professional photographers continue to applaud it for its extraordinary features. There are currently over 25,000 users. Using the color and brightness correction features for foregrounds and backgrounds, you can create stunning silhouettes and green screens.

Pros:

  • Advanced Chroma Key features.
  • In-depth tutorials for each version.
  • Suitable for all children and professional experts.

Cons:

  • Extremely expensive to PC and Mac users.
  • No image resizing feature.

9. Green Screen Studio - This is the photographers’ photo green screen app

Compatibility: iOS 9.0 or later

Price: $4.99

Works pretty well with both photos and videos.

Besides the obvious effects and transitions, this app has Extra photo editing features, blemish, red-eye, and additional photo effects for editing photos. It also has an automatic green screen feature. To preview every detail of the edited video, use the Zoom feature.

Pros:

  • Simple and easy to use.
  • You can manually apply backgrounds in this app.
  • Friendly interface.

Cons:

  • Not compatible with PCs and Mac.

10. iMovie – Best for making Hollywood-style trailers

best green screen app - iMovie

Compatibility: iOS 13 and MacOS

Price: Free

iMovie green screen app was developed to create a photo and video green screen.

iMovie is the most popular free green screen app. Using the AirDrop or iCloud Drive features, you can share your videos to any social media platform in a second. Its 10 Apple-designed photo and video filters are enough to make your edited videos win every award.

Pros:

  • Has the best Apple-designed features.
  • Free to all iOS users.
  • Has Dark mode features and 8 unique themes.

Cons:

  • Requires an expert to perfectly use this app.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

Comparison Table of Top 10 Green Screen Software

No. Product Name Compatibility Pricing Rating
1. Chromavid Android 5.0+, iOS 12 or later, $2.99 /year 4.0
2. Kinemaster Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPad Free 4.4
3. Green Screen by Do Ink iOS 9.0 or later, iPad $4.99 /year 3.9
4. Veescope Live iOS 11.0 or later (iPod touch iPhone and iPad) Free 3.8
5. Stop Motion Studio Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99, Android - $4.99 4.5
6. A Chroma key Studio Pro iOS 7.0 or later $4.99 /year 4.0
7. PocketVideo iOS 12.0 or later, Android 4.4 or later, Mac and Windows Free 3.2
8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone Windows/ Mac - $199.95, Android - $4.99 3.0
9. Green Screen Studio iOS 9.0 or later $4.99 3.3
10. iMovie iOS 13 and MacOS Free 3.9

Conclusion

There are many green screen apps claiming to create award-winning Hollywood-like videos and the most admired photos. Caution: If you are not using any of the above-listed green screen apps, kindly read user reviews and research widely!

Using tried, tested and proven apps on your PCS, Mac, and smartphones is the only sure way of protecting your device. Which of the above apps have you used? Or, which one would you prefer? Share your comments or opinion on our social media platform.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

The background effects you use are largely likely to determine the quality of your videos and photos. Most of the award-winning videos use green screen apps to edit their still images as well as short video clips. Have you ever asked yourself; Are the movies and photos featuring Golden Gate or The White House as their backgrounds shot at those exact scenes?

It’s surprising to see how the internet is flooded with poorly edited videos, movies, and photos despite the huge number of free green screen apps.

In order to learn how to use green screen effectively in all movie and photo scenarios, this article is subdivided into the following parts:

Part 1: What Is a Green Screen App and Its Uses?

The green screen app is an application that’s used by filmmakers, videographers, and photographers to create unique backgrounds. Many great apps work perfectly well with Windows, Mac, Androids, and iOS. Whereas a few can be used online, the majority are can only be used upon download. The green screen is also known as the Chroma key.

So, what are the uses of green screen apps? To replace the background of your videos and photos, you require a green screen app. Other uses include:

  • During weather forecasts, television producers use green screen apps to shade regions of interest.
  • In case of extensive use of single color in videos, you can use these apps to cut the color pixels from the video.
  • Green screen apps feature many editing effects that can be used to enhance the quality of videos.

If you want to get the best green-screen effect, Filmora is the tool to use. The green screen editor involves the superimposing of different virtual backgrounds during the video-making process. The combination of Filmora’s green screen feature and the thousands of HD royalty-free video backgrounds in Filmstock makes it the perfect video editor for you. Learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Besides the green screen feature, Filmora offers many useful features like Instant Mode, Speed Ramping, Auto Beat Maker, and more to help you edit the video you want.

How to Edit Green Screen Using Filmora?

Editing the green screen with Filmora is easy. In this article, we offer two types of tutorials here. You can check the video or follow the step-by-step guide to create your own green screen video.

Download Filmora Win Version Download Filmora Mac Version

Step 1: Launch Filmora.

In order to launch this software, start by clicking any of the buttons below to download and install to your Mac or desktop. It’s compatible with Windows7/8/10.

Once you’ve successfully installed it, double-click the icon to open it.

Step 2: Import your green screen video footage and background to the timeline.

There are plenty of websites with wonderful green screen videos for you to download. To select a video background, go to Filmstock on the Wondershare website and download.

For your green screen video to appear on top, drag it onto track 2 and the background footage to track 1.

Step 3: Start editing.

The Chroma Key editing features are hidden in this part. To open the editing effects, double-click on the green screen video.

On the pop-up menu, just click the Chroma key option.

best green screen vedio editor

Use the editing panel to set the appearance that best fascinates your audience.

Step 4: Save your video.

Click Export to save your created green screen. If you don’t have an account, create one for you to be able to access the Find Target. Tap the Find Target to choose where to save the video.

Try Filmora for Smartphone

Try Filmora for iPad

Part 3: 10 Best Free/Paid Green Screen Apps For Androids/iOS

After days of downloading and testing both the free/paid green screen apps for Windows, Mac, and smartphones, here is a complete comparison chart of the findings.

Watch Video! Top Free Green Screen App in 2022

Here is now the detailed elaboration of the green screen apps features, pros, and cons above:

1. Chromavid – Easiest for shooting and sharing photos and videos using Chroma Key

best green screen app - Chromavid

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS 12 or later)

Price: $2.99

This app works pretty well with both photos and videos.

If you’ve been looking for the best green screen app for iPad this is the right app for you. Despite the low pricing, Chromavid has top-notch Chroma Key effects like more Chroma colors, unlimited recording time, and image merge functions. It’s the social sharing button and the option to shoot videos on the Chroma key that makes Chromavid stand out.

To access the advanced Chromavid commercial use, you need to subscribe to the specific commercial version indicated on the License page.

Pros:

  • Chromavid green screen app is simple and easy to use.
  • Also, the Chromavid plus plan produces watermark-free videos and photos.
  • You can save edited videos directly into your device.

Cons:

  • Only real-time photos and videos can be edited using this app.
  • Too much personal detail is required to open an account.

2. Kinemaster – Best app for smartphones and a powerful tool for video editing

best green screen app - Kinemaster

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPod , iPad

Price: Free

Kinemaster’s Chroma Key function can be used to overlay texts, photos, and videos.

Any person searching for the top free green screen app should consider Kinemaster. The supported multilayer effect allows users to lay video clips, images, texts, and many more at once. The alpha mask feature found in this app can hardly be found in other apps. To eliminate the watermark and get unlimited export of 4K resolution backgrounds, just subscribe to the Kinemaster premium plan.

Pros:

  • Good for sharing to social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Facebook.
  • 100s of weekly updated stickers, video backgrounds, video clips, transitions, and music clips.
  • Can create multiple layer videos.
  • Availability of EQ presets, speed controls, and preview features.

Cons:

  • The current versions are malfunctioning
  • Not compatible with PCs and mac

3. Green Screen by Do Ink – This is probably the best green screen app for iPad users

best green screen app - Green Screen by Do Ink

Compatible: iOS 9.0 or later and iPad

Price: $4.99

It’s best for both photos and videos.

Green Screen by Do Ink prides itself on simplicity and is highly suitable for beginners, experts, and even doodlers. When using the green screen editor, you’ll find the interface to be more friendly and easy to understand. It has only four simple elements that include:

  1. Source selector -Where to export images and videos.
  2. Preview window -For reviewing completed projects.
  • Timeline – For arranging exported images and videos.
  1. Toolbar – This is where you’ll find all the Chroma Key tools and buttons.

Pros:

  • Supports any videos aspect ratio.
  • Plenty of drawing tools.
  • Ability to import images and videos from the camera.

Cons:

  • The pricing is a bit high compared to other apps.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

4. Veescope Live Green Screen App – Highly suitable for editing real-time videos and creating QuickTime videos

best green screen app - Veescope

Compatible: iOS devices

Price: Free

The green Screen feature/ Chroma Key allows editing of real-time images from the camera, photos, and videos.

Any journalist specializing in weather forecasts should use Veescope Live to bring live forecasts and change backgrounds to fit any location. For high-quality videos, use the Remote feature to switch backgrounds as you desire. With the camera, shoot or record Ultra HD and 4K resolution photos and videos.

Pros:

  • Easy to use the adjustable white balance and light exposure.
  • Ability to overlay up to 20 different backgrounds.
  • The new Pinch Zooming feature helps preview every detail of the project.
  • Best for any background green screen color.

Cons:

  • The free plan has a permanent watermark.
  • Cannot undo or redo on the timeline.

5. Stop Motion Studio - This is the most versatile green screen app

best green screen app - stop motion studio

Compatibility: Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows

Price: For iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99 and Android - $4.99

Suitable for both photos and videos.

Finding a green screen app for Windows and Mac with stunning features that are easy to use has been the most daunting task. With Stop Motion Studio, you can export edited videos directly to YouTube, work on a single project from mobile, export it to a computer, and create 4K Ultra HD videos. When using the Chroma Key/ green screen feature, you can automatically change the background by importing from any source.

Pros:

  • Can enhance videos quality by using different backgrounds, foregrounds, and transitions.
  • The built-in music helps improve the sound quality of the created green screen.
  • Can be used by beginners and is also suitable for all family use.
  • The Rotoscoping feature helps create unique videos.

Cons:

  • No free plan

best green screen app - chroma key studio pro

Compatibility: iOS 7.0 or later (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)

Price: $4.99

Used for creating a green screen for both photos and videos.

Chroma Key Studio Pro is probably the easiest green screen app for iPhone to understand and the simplest to use due to its limited number of features. The Intelligent auto-enhance filter, color keying, and the selfie mode camera feature make this app good for creating quick green screen images. Other top features are a huge gallery of photos and videos, 100s of effects and filters, and high-quality backgrounds.

Pros:

  • Faster video editing.
  • Easy color separation.

Cons:

  • Limited to only iOS devices.

7. PocketVideo – Preferred for Video Blogging

best green screen app pocketVideo

Compatibility: iOS 12.0 or later and Android 4.4 or later, PC and Mac

Price: Free

PocketVideo can only be used to edit videos and photos.

After years of searching for apps that can create YouTube vlogs, video bloggers have something to smile about -PocketVideo green screen app. Even though the number of features is numerous, this green screen app for Mac and other devices is simple and highly suitable for videos making experts and beginners. The Animated Doodle Tool is the children’s go-to tool.

Pros:

  • Can record and edit up to 10 minutes of Ultra HD video.
  • Self-explanatory user interface.
  • Huge collection of free stickers, PNGs, and GIFs.

Cons:

  • No training tutorials.

8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Studio Editor - Best for professional photographers

best green screen app - green screen wizard Pro studio editor

Compatibility: Windows7,8,10, Mac, Android and iPhone

Price: Windows/Mac- $199.95, Android- $4.99

This app is more suitable for editing photos.

Even though Green Screen Studio is costly, professional photographers continue to applaud it for its extraordinary features. There are currently over 25,000 users. Using the color and brightness correction features for foregrounds and backgrounds, you can create stunning silhouettes and green screens.

Pros:

  • Advanced Chroma Key features.
  • In-depth tutorials for each version.
  • Suitable for all children and professional experts.

Cons:

  • Extremely expensive to PC and Mac users.
  • No image resizing feature.

9. Green Screen Studio - This is the photographers’ photo green screen app

Compatibility: iOS 9.0 or later

Price: $4.99

Works pretty well with both photos and videos.

Besides the obvious effects and transitions, this app has Extra photo editing features, blemish, red-eye, and additional photo effects for editing photos. It also has an automatic green screen feature. To preview every detail of the edited video, use the Zoom feature.

Pros:

  • Simple and easy to use.
  • You can manually apply backgrounds in this app.
  • Friendly interface.

Cons:

  • Not compatible with PCs and Mac.

10. iMovie – Best for making Hollywood-style trailers

best green screen app - iMovie

Compatibility: iOS 13 and MacOS

Price: Free

iMovie green screen app was developed to create a photo and video green screen.

iMovie is the most popular free green screen app. Using the AirDrop or iCloud Drive features, you can share your videos to any social media platform in a second. Its 10 Apple-designed photo and video filters are enough to make your edited videos win every award.

Pros:

  • Has the best Apple-designed features.
  • Free to all iOS users.
  • Has Dark mode features and 8 unique themes.

Cons:

  • Requires an expert to perfectly use this app.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

Comparison Table of Top 10 Green Screen Software

No. Product Name Compatibility Pricing Rating
1. Chromavid Android 5.0+, iOS 12 or later, $2.99 /year 4.0
2. Kinemaster Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPad Free 4.4
3. Green Screen by Do Ink iOS 9.0 or later, iPad $4.99 /year 3.9
4. Veescope Live iOS 11.0 or later (iPod touch iPhone and iPad) Free 3.8
5. Stop Motion Studio Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99, Android - $4.99 4.5
6. A Chroma key Studio Pro iOS 7.0 or later $4.99 /year 4.0
7. PocketVideo iOS 12.0 or later, Android 4.4 or later, Mac and Windows Free 3.2
8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone Windows/ Mac - $199.95, Android - $4.99 3.0
9. Green Screen Studio iOS 9.0 or later $4.99 3.3
10. iMovie iOS 13 and MacOS Free 3.9

Conclusion

There are many green screen apps claiming to create award-winning Hollywood-like videos and the most admired photos. Caution: If you are not using any of the above-listed green screen apps, kindly read user reviews and research widely!

Using tried, tested and proven apps on your PCS, Mac, and smartphones is the only sure way of protecting your device. Which of the above apps have you used? Or, which one would you prefer? Share your comments or opinion on our social media platform.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

The background effects you use are largely likely to determine the quality of your videos and photos. Most of the award-winning videos use green screen apps to edit their still images as well as short video clips. Have you ever asked yourself; Are the movies and photos featuring Golden Gate or The White House as their backgrounds shot at those exact scenes?

It’s surprising to see how the internet is flooded with poorly edited videos, movies, and photos despite the huge number of free green screen apps.

In order to learn how to use green screen effectively in all movie and photo scenarios, this article is subdivided into the following parts:

Part 1: What Is a Green Screen App and Its Uses?

The green screen app is an application that’s used by filmmakers, videographers, and photographers to create unique backgrounds. Many great apps work perfectly well with Windows, Mac, Androids, and iOS. Whereas a few can be used online, the majority are can only be used upon download. The green screen is also known as the Chroma key.

So, what are the uses of green screen apps? To replace the background of your videos and photos, you require a green screen app. Other uses include:

  • During weather forecasts, television producers use green screen apps to shade regions of interest.
  • In case of extensive use of single color in videos, you can use these apps to cut the color pixels from the video.
  • Green screen apps feature many editing effects that can be used to enhance the quality of videos.

If you want to get the best green-screen effect, Filmora is the tool to use. The green screen editor involves the superimposing of different virtual backgrounds during the video-making process. The combination of Filmora’s green screen feature and the thousands of HD royalty-free video backgrounds in Filmstock makes it the perfect video editor for you. Learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Besides the green screen feature, Filmora offers many useful features like Instant Mode, Speed Ramping, Auto Beat Maker, and more to help you edit the video you want.

How to Edit Green Screen Using Filmora?

Editing the green screen with Filmora is easy. In this article, we offer two types of tutorials here. You can check the video or follow the step-by-step guide to create your own green screen video.

Download Filmora Win Version Download Filmora Mac Version

Step 1: Launch Filmora.

In order to launch this software, start by clicking any of the buttons below to download and install to your Mac or desktop. It’s compatible with Windows7/8/10.

Once you’ve successfully installed it, double-click the icon to open it.

Step 2: Import your green screen video footage and background to the timeline.

There are plenty of websites with wonderful green screen videos for you to download. To select a video background, go to Filmstock on the Wondershare website and download.

For your green screen video to appear on top, drag it onto track 2 and the background footage to track 1.

Step 3: Start editing.

The Chroma Key editing features are hidden in this part. To open the editing effects, double-click on the green screen video.

On the pop-up menu, just click the Chroma key option.

best green screen vedio editor

Use the editing panel to set the appearance that best fascinates your audience.

Step 4: Save your video.

Click Export to save your created green screen. If you don’t have an account, create one for you to be able to access the Find Target. Tap the Find Target to choose where to save the video.

Try Filmora for Smartphone

Try Filmora for iPad

Part 3: 10 Best Free/Paid Green Screen Apps For Androids/iOS

After days of downloading and testing both the free/paid green screen apps for Windows, Mac, and smartphones, here is a complete comparison chart of the findings.

Watch Video! Top Free Green Screen App in 2022

Here is now the detailed elaboration of the green screen apps features, pros, and cons above:

1. Chromavid – Easiest for shooting and sharing photos and videos using Chroma Key

best green screen app - Chromavid

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS 12 or later)

Price: $2.99

This app works pretty well with both photos and videos.

If you’ve been looking for the best green screen app for iPad this is the right app for you. Despite the low pricing, Chromavid has top-notch Chroma Key effects like more Chroma colors, unlimited recording time, and image merge functions. It’s the social sharing button and the option to shoot videos on the Chroma key that makes Chromavid stand out.

To access the advanced Chromavid commercial use, you need to subscribe to the specific commercial version indicated on the License page.

Pros:

  • Chromavid green screen app is simple and easy to use.
  • Also, the Chromavid plus plan produces watermark-free videos and photos.
  • You can save edited videos directly into your device.

Cons:

  • Only real-time photos and videos can be edited using this app.
  • Too much personal detail is required to open an account.

2. Kinemaster – Best app for smartphones and a powerful tool for video editing

best green screen app - Kinemaster

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPod , iPad

Price: Free

Kinemaster’s Chroma Key function can be used to overlay texts, photos, and videos.

Any person searching for the top free green screen app should consider Kinemaster. The supported multilayer effect allows users to lay video clips, images, texts, and many more at once. The alpha mask feature found in this app can hardly be found in other apps. To eliminate the watermark and get unlimited export of 4K resolution backgrounds, just subscribe to the Kinemaster premium plan.

Pros:

  • Good for sharing to social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Facebook.
  • 100s of weekly updated stickers, video backgrounds, video clips, transitions, and music clips.
  • Can create multiple layer videos.
  • Availability of EQ presets, speed controls, and preview features.

Cons:

  • The current versions are malfunctioning
  • Not compatible with PCs and mac

3. Green Screen by Do Ink – This is probably the best green screen app for iPad users

best green screen app - Green Screen by Do Ink

Compatible: iOS 9.0 or later and iPad

Price: $4.99

It’s best for both photos and videos.

Green Screen by Do Ink prides itself on simplicity and is highly suitable for beginners, experts, and even doodlers. When using the green screen editor, you’ll find the interface to be more friendly and easy to understand. It has only four simple elements that include:

  1. Source selector -Where to export images and videos.
  2. Preview window -For reviewing completed projects.
  • Timeline – For arranging exported images and videos.
  1. Toolbar – This is where you’ll find all the Chroma Key tools and buttons.

Pros:

  • Supports any videos aspect ratio.
  • Plenty of drawing tools.
  • Ability to import images and videos from the camera.

Cons:

  • The pricing is a bit high compared to other apps.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

4. Veescope Live Green Screen App – Highly suitable for editing real-time videos and creating QuickTime videos

best green screen app - Veescope

Compatible: iOS devices

Price: Free

The green Screen feature/ Chroma Key allows editing of real-time images from the camera, photos, and videos.

Any journalist specializing in weather forecasts should use Veescope Live to bring live forecasts and change backgrounds to fit any location. For high-quality videos, use the Remote feature to switch backgrounds as you desire. With the camera, shoot or record Ultra HD and 4K resolution photos and videos.

Pros:

  • Easy to use the adjustable white balance and light exposure.
  • Ability to overlay up to 20 different backgrounds.
  • The new Pinch Zooming feature helps preview every detail of the project.
  • Best for any background green screen color.

Cons:

  • The free plan has a permanent watermark.
  • Cannot undo or redo on the timeline.

5. Stop Motion Studio - This is the most versatile green screen app

best green screen app - stop motion studio

Compatibility: Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows

Price: For iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99 and Android - $4.99

Suitable for both photos and videos.

Finding a green screen app for Windows and Mac with stunning features that are easy to use has been the most daunting task. With Stop Motion Studio, you can export edited videos directly to YouTube, work on a single project from mobile, export it to a computer, and create 4K Ultra HD videos. When using the Chroma Key/ green screen feature, you can automatically change the background by importing from any source.

Pros:

  • Can enhance videos quality by using different backgrounds, foregrounds, and transitions.
  • The built-in music helps improve the sound quality of the created green screen.
  • Can be used by beginners and is also suitable for all family use.
  • The Rotoscoping feature helps create unique videos.

Cons:

  • No free plan

best green screen app - chroma key studio pro

Compatibility: iOS 7.0 or later (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)

Price: $4.99

Used for creating a green screen for both photos and videos.

Chroma Key Studio Pro is probably the easiest green screen app for iPhone to understand and the simplest to use due to its limited number of features. The Intelligent auto-enhance filter, color keying, and the selfie mode camera feature make this app good for creating quick green screen images. Other top features are a huge gallery of photos and videos, 100s of effects and filters, and high-quality backgrounds.

Pros:

  • Faster video editing.
  • Easy color separation.

Cons:

  • Limited to only iOS devices.

7. PocketVideo – Preferred for Video Blogging

best green screen app pocketVideo

Compatibility: iOS 12.0 or later and Android 4.4 or later, PC and Mac

Price: Free

PocketVideo can only be used to edit videos and photos.

After years of searching for apps that can create YouTube vlogs, video bloggers have something to smile about -PocketVideo green screen app. Even though the number of features is numerous, this green screen app for Mac and other devices is simple and highly suitable for videos making experts and beginners. The Animated Doodle Tool is the children’s go-to tool.

Pros:

  • Can record and edit up to 10 minutes of Ultra HD video.
  • Self-explanatory user interface.
  • Huge collection of free stickers, PNGs, and GIFs.

Cons:

  • No training tutorials.

8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Studio Editor - Best for professional photographers

best green screen app - green screen wizard Pro studio editor

Compatibility: Windows7,8,10, Mac, Android and iPhone

Price: Windows/Mac- $199.95, Android- $4.99

This app is more suitable for editing photos.

Even though Green Screen Studio is costly, professional photographers continue to applaud it for its extraordinary features. There are currently over 25,000 users. Using the color and brightness correction features for foregrounds and backgrounds, you can create stunning silhouettes and green screens.

Pros:

  • Advanced Chroma Key features.
  • In-depth tutorials for each version.
  • Suitable for all children and professional experts.

Cons:

  • Extremely expensive to PC and Mac users.
  • No image resizing feature.

9. Green Screen Studio - This is the photographers’ photo green screen app

Compatibility: iOS 9.0 or later

Price: $4.99

Works pretty well with both photos and videos.

Besides the obvious effects and transitions, this app has Extra photo editing features, blemish, red-eye, and additional photo effects for editing photos. It also has an automatic green screen feature. To preview every detail of the edited video, use the Zoom feature.

Pros:

  • Simple and easy to use.
  • You can manually apply backgrounds in this app.
  • Friendly interface.

Cons:

  • Not compatible with PCs and Mac.

10. iMovie – Best for making Hollywood-style trailers

best green screen app - iMovie

Compatibility: iOS 13 and MacOS

Price: Free

iMovie green screen app was developed to create a photo and video green screen.

iMovie is the most popular free green screen app. Using the AirDrop or iCloud Drive features, you can share your videos to any social media platform in a second. Its 10 Apple-designed photo and video filters are enough to make your edited videos win every award.

Pros:

  • Has the best Apple-designed features.
  • Free to all iOS users.
  • Has Dark mode features and 8 unique themes.

Cons:

  • Requires an expert to perfectly use this app.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

Comparison Table of Top 10 Green Screen Software

No. Product Name Compatibility Pricing Rating
1. Chromavid Android 5.0+, iOS 12 or later, $2.99 /year 4.0
2. Kinemaster Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPad Free 4.4
3. Green Screen by Do Ink iOS 9.0 or later, iPad $4.99 /year 3.9
4. Veescope Live iOS 11.0 or later (iPod touch iPhone and iPad) Free 3.8
5. Stop Motion Studio Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99, Android - $4.99 4.5
6. A Chroma key Studio Pro iOS 7.0 or later $4.99 /year 4.0
7. PocketVideo iOS 12.0 or later, Android 4.4 or later, Mac and Windows Free 3.2
8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone Windows/ Mac - $199.95, Android - $4.99 3.0
9. Green Screen Studio iOS 9.0 or later $4.99 3.3
10. iMovie iOS 13 and MacOS Free 3.9

Conclusion

There are many green screen apps claiming to create award-winning Hollywood-like videos and the most admired photos. Caution: If you are not using any of the above-listed green screen apps, kindly read user reviews and research widely!

Using tried, tested and proven apps on your PCS, Mac, and smartphones is the only sure way of protecting your device. Which of the above apps have you used? Or, which one would you prefer? Share your comments or opinion on our social media platform.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

The background effects you use are largely likely to determine the quality of your videos and photos. Most of the award-winning videos use green screen apps to edit their still images as well as short video clips. Have you ever asked yourself; Are the movies and photos featuring Golden Gate or The White House as their backgrounds shot at those exact scenes?

It’s surprising to see how the internet is flooded with poorly edited videos, movies, and photos despite the huge number of free green screen apps.

In order to learn how to use green screen effectively in all movie and photo scenarios, this article is subdivided into the following parts:

Part 1: What Is a Green Screen App and Its Uses?

The green screen app is an application that’s used by filmmakers, videographers, and photographers to create unique backgrounds. Many great apps work perfectly well with Windows, Mac, Androids, and iOS. Whereas a few can be used online, the majority are can only be used upon download. The green screen is also known as the Chroma key.

So, what are the uses of green screen apps? To replace the background of your videos and photos, you require a green screen app. Other uses include:

  • During weather forecasts, television producers use green screen apps to shade regions of interest.
  • In case of extensive use of single color in videos, you can use these apps to cut the color pixels from the video.
  • Green screen apps feature many editing effects that can be used to enhance the quality of videos.

If you want to get the best green-screen effect, Filmora is the tool to use. The green screen editor involves the superimposing of different virtual backgrounds during the video-making process. The combination of Filmora’s green screen feature and the thousands of HD royalty-free video backgrounds in Filmstock makes it the perfect video editor for you. Learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Besides the green screen feature, Filmora offers many useful features like Instant Mode, Speed Ramping, Auto Beat Maker, and more to help you edit the video you want.

How to Edit Green Screen Using Filmora?

Editing the green screen with Filmora is easy. In this article, we offer two types of tutorials here. You can check the video or follow the step-by-step guide to create your own green screen video.

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Step 1: Launch Filmora.

In order to launch this software, start by clicking any of the buttons below to download and install to your Mac or desktop. It’s compatible with Windows7/8/10.

Once you’ve successfully installed it, double-click the icon to open it.

Step 2: Import your green screen video footage and background to the timeline.

There are plenty of websites with wonderful green screen videos for you to download. To select a video background, go to Filmstock on the Wondershare website and download.

For your green screen video to appear on top, drag it onto track 2 and the background footage to track 1.

Step 3: Start editing.

The Chroma Key editing features are hidden in this part. To open the editing effects, double-click on the green screen video.

On the pop-up menu, just click the Chroma key option.

best green screen vedio editor

Use the editing panel to set the appearance that best fascinates your audience.

Step 4: Save your video.

Click Export to save your created green screen. If you don’t have an account, create one for you to be able to access the Find Target. Tap the Find Target to choose where to save the video.

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Part 3: 10 Best Free/Paid Green Screen Apps For Androids/iOS

After days of downloading and testing both the free/paid green screen apps for Windows, Mac, and smartphones, here is a complete comparison chart of the findings.

Watch Video! Top Free Green Screen App in 2022

Here is now the detailed elaboration of the green screen apps features, pros, and cons above:

1. Chromavid – Easiest for shooting and sharing photos and videos using Chroma Key

best green screen app - Chromavid

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS 12 or later)

Price: $2.99

This app works pretty well with both photos and videos.

If you’ve been looking for the best green screen app for iPad this is the right app for you. Despite the low pricing, Chromavid has top-notch Chroma Key effects like more Chroma colors, unlimited recording time, and image merge functions. It’s the social sharing button and the option to shoot videos on the Chroma key that makes Chromavid stand out.

To access the advanced Chromavid commercial use, you need to subscribe to the specific commercial version indicated on the License page.

Pros:

  • Chromavid green screen app is simple and easy to use.
  • Also, the Chromavid plus plan produces watermark-free videos and photos.
  • You can save edited videos directly into your device.

Cons:

  • Only real-time photos and videos can be edited using this app.
  • Too much personal detail is required to open an account.

2. Kinemaster – Best app for smartphones and a powerful tool for video editing

best green screen app - Kinemaster

Compatibility: Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPod , iPad

Price: Free

Kinemaster’s Chroma Key function can be used to overlay texts, photos, and videos.

Any person searching for the top free green screen app should consider Kinemaster. The supported multilayer effect allows users to lay video clips, images, texts, and many more at once. The alpha mask feature found in this app can hardly be found in other apps. To eliminate the watermark and get unlimited export of 4K resolution backgrounds, just subscribe to the Kinemaster premium plan.

Pros:

  • Good for sharing to social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Facebook.
  • 100s of weekly updated stickers, video backgrounds, video clips, transitions, and music clips.
  • Can create multiple layer videos.
  • Availability of EQ presets, speed controls, and preview features.

Cons:

  • The current versions are malfunctioning
  • Not compatible with PCs and mac

3. Green Screen by Do Ink – This is probably the best green screen app for iPad users

best green screen app - Green Screen by Do Ink

Compatible: iOS 9.0 or later and iPad

Price: $4.99

It’s best for both photos and videos.

Green Screen by Do Ink prides itself on simplicity and is highly suitable for beginners, experts, and even doodlers. When using the green screen editor, you’ll find the interface to be more friendly and easy to understand. It has only four simple elements that include:

  1. Source selector -Where to export images and videos.
  2. Preview window -For reviewing completed projects.
  • Timeline – For arranging exported images and videos.
  1. Toolbar – This is where you’ll find all the Chroma Key tools and buttons.

Pros:

  • Supports any videos aspect ratio.
  • Plenty of drawing tools.
  • Ability to import images and videos from the camera.

Cons:

  • The pricing is a bit high compared to other apps.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

4. Veescope Live Green Screen App – Highly suitable for editing real-time videos and creating QuickTime videos

best green screen app - Veescope

Compatible: iOS devices

Price: Free

The green Screen feature/ Chroma Key allows editing of real-time images from the camera, photos, and videos.

Any journalist specializing in weather forecasts should use Veescope Live to bring live forecasts and change backgrounds to fit any location. For high-quality videos, use the Remote feature to switch backgrounds as you desire. With the camera, shoot or record Ultra HD and 4K resolution photos and videos.

Pros:

  • Easy to use the adjustable white balance and light exposure.
  • Ability to overlay up to 20 different backgrounds.
  • The new Pinch Zooming feature helps preview every detail of the project.
  • Best for any background green screen color.

Cons:

  • The free plan has a permanent watermark.
  • Cannot undo or redo on the timeline.

5. Stop Motion Studio - This is the most versatile green screen app

best green screen app - stop motion studio

Compatibility: Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows

Price: For iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99 and Android - $4.99

Suitable for both photos and videos.

Finding a green screen app for Windows and Mac with stunning features that are easy to use has been the most daunting task. With Stop Motion Studio, you can export edited videos directly to YouTube, work on a single project from mobile, export it to a computer, and create 4K Ultra HD videos. When using the Chroma Key/ green screen feature, you can automatically change the background by importing from any source.

Pros:

  • Can enhance videos quality by using different backgrounds, foregrounds, and transitions.
  • The built-in music helps improve the sound quality of the created green screen.
  • Can be used by beginners and is also suitable for all family use.
  • The Rotoscoping feature helps create unique videos.

Cons:

  • No free plan

best green screen app - chroma key studio pro

Compatibility: iOS 7.0 or later (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)

Price: $4.99

Used for creating a green screen for both photos and videos.

Chroma Key Studio Pro is probably the easiest green screen app for iPhone to understand and the simplest to use due to its limited number of features. The Intelligent auto-enhance filter, color keying, and the selfie mode camera feature make this app good for creating quick green screen images. Other top features are a huge gallery of photos and videos, 100s of effects and filters, and high-quality backgrounds.

Pros:

  • Faster video editing.
  • Easy color separation.

Cons:

  • Limited to only iOS devices.

7. PocketVideo – Preferred for Video Blogging

best green screen app pocketVideo

Compatibility: iOS 12.0 or later and Android 4.4 or later, PC and Mac

Price: Free

PocketVideo can only be used to edit videos and photos.

After years of searching for apps that can create YouTube vlogs, video bloggers have something to smile about -PocketVideo green screen app. Even though the number of features is numerous, this green screen app for Mac and other devices is simple and highly suitable for videos making experts and beginners. The Animated Doodle Tool is the children’s go-to tool.

Pros:

  • Can record and edit up to 10 minutes of Ultra HD video.
  • Self-explanatory user interface.
  • Huge collection of free stickers, PNGs, and GIFs.

Cons:

  • No training tutorials.

8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Studio Editor - Best for professional photographers

best green screen app - green screen wizard Pro studio editor

Compatibility: Windows7,8,10, Mac, Android and iPhone

Price: Windows/Mac- $199.95, Android- $4.99

This app is more suitable for editing photos.

Even though Green Screen Studio is costly, professional photographers continue to applaud it for its extraordinary features. There are currently over 25,000 users. Using the color and brightness correction features for foregrounds and backgrounds, you can create stunning silhouettes and green screens.

Pros:

  • Advanced Chroma Key features.
  • In-depth tutorials for each version.
  • Suitable for all children and professional experts.

Cons:

  • Extremely expensive to PC and Mac users.
  • No image resizing feature.

9. Green Screen Studio - This is the photographers’ photo green screen app

Compatibility: iOS 9.0 or later

Price: $4.99

Works pretty well with both photos and videos.

Besides the obvious effects and transitions, this app has Extra photo editing features, blemish, red-eye, and additional photo effects for editing photos. It also has an automatic green screen feature. To preview every detail of the edited video, use the Zoom feature.

Pros:

  • Simple and easy to use.
  • You can manually apply backgrounds in this app.
  • Friendly interface.

Cons:

  • Not compatible with PCs and Mac.

10. iMovie – Best for making Hollywood-style trailers

best green screen app - iMovie

Compatibility: iOS 13 and MacOS

Price: Free

iMovie green screen app was developed to create a photo and video green screen.

iMovie is the most popular free green screen app. Using the AirDrop or iCloud Drive features, you can share your videos to any social media platform in a second. Its 10 Apple-designed photo and video filters are enough to make your edited videos win every award.

Pros:

  • Has the best Apple-designed features.
  • Free to all iOS users.
  • Has Dark mode features and 8 unique themes.

Cons:

  • Requires an expert to perfectly use this app.
  • Only limited to iPhone and iPad.

Comparison Table of Top 10 Green Screen Software

No. Product Name Compatibility Pricing Rating
1. Chromavid Android 5.0+, iOS 12 or later, $2.99 /year 4.0
2. Kinemaster Androids 5.0+, Chrome OS, iPhone, iPad Free 4.4
3. Green Screen by Do Ink iOS 9.0 or later, iPad $4.99 /year 3.9
4. Veescope Live iOS 11.0 or later (iPod touch iPhone and iPad) Free 3.8
5. Stop Motion Studio Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows iOS-$4.99, Windows- $1.99, Mac- $9.99, Android - $4.99 4.5
6. A Chroma key Studio Pro iOS 7.0 or later $4.99 /year 4.0
7. PocketVideo iOS 12.0 or later, Android 4.4 or later, Mac and Windows Free 3.2
8. Green Screen Wizard Pro Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone Windows/ Mac - $199.95, Android - $4.99 3.0
9. Green Screen Studio iOS 9.0 or later $4.99 3.3
10. iMovie iOS 13 and MacOS Free 3.9

Conclusion

There are many green screen apps claiming to create award-winning Hollywood-like videos and the most admired photos. Caution: If you are not using any of the above-listed green screen apps, kindly read user reviews and research widely!

Using tried, tested and proven apps on your PCS, Mac, and smartphones is the only sure way of protecting your device. Which of the above apps have you used? Or, which one would you prefer? Share your comments or opinion on our social media platform.

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Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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Also read:

  • Title: Free Video Assets Galore Top Public Domain Download Sites for 2024
  • Author: Amelia
  • Created at : 2024-05-19 11:47:27
  • Updated at : 2024-05-20 11:47:27
  • Link: https://ai-driven-video-production.techidaily.com/free-video-assets-galore-top-public-domain-download-sites-for-2024/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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