Shotcut vs HitFilm: Which is the Best Video Editing Platform for You?

Shotcut vs HitFilm

Video-based content has drastically increased in the last few years. Along with that, the number of video editing platforms available on the market has also risen.

From YouTubers to content marketers, everybody is looking for the right video editing platform for themselves. Here we compare two of the premier editing software, Shotcut vs HitFilm.

Shotcut and HitFilm will be pitted together to see who comes on top. Every feature of these editing platforms will be dissected and discussed to help you make an informed decision.

Contents

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Introduction

Shotcut is an open-source, cross-platform video editing application. It has many built-in features for different kinds of videos, like supporting a wide range of formats, native editing, etc.

Shotcut in Shotcut vs HitFilm

HitFilm is a video editing application with professional-grade visual effects tools. HitFilm has two versions, HitFilm Express and HitFilm Pro, and this post uses HitFilm Express for comparison. It offers all the features you expect from a professional video editing platform.

HitFilm in Shotcut vs HitFilm

They are both free platforms that can be downloaded easily from their websites. But HitFilm also has a paid pro version.

Both Shotcut and HitFilmoffer a wide range of built-in features from color grading to audio filters.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: System Requirements

Shotcut is compatible with Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.

Minimum system requirements

Windows 7/10 (64 bit)

Mac OS 10.10-10.15

Linux 64 bit >glibc 2.27

CPU: x86-64 Intel or AMD; at least one 2 GHz core for SD, 4 cores for HD, and 8 cores for 4K.

GPU: OpenGL 2.0 that works correctly and is compatible. On Windows, you can use a card with compatible DirectX 9 or 11 drivers.

RAM: 4BG-SD, 8GB-HD, 16GB-4K

HitFilm is available for both windows and Mac OS.

Minimum system requirements

Windows 8/10 (64 bit)

Mac OS 10.13-10.15

CPU: at least 4th gen Intel or its AMD equivalent.

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 600 (Kepler) series (2012)/AMD Radeon R5 240 (2013)/Intel HD Graphics 5000 (GT3) (2013)

RAM: 4GB or higher

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Format support

Shotcut

  • Shotcut supports a wide variety of video, image, and audio formats with the help of FFmpeg.
  • It is compatible with image formats such as GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, SVG, TIFF, WebP, and image sequences.
  • It also supports a 4K resolution.
  • It can export a single frame as an image or video as an image sequence.
  • No imports are required because of native timeline editing.
  • It supports webcam and audio capture.
  • You can work with a multi-format timeline, mixing and matching resolutions and frame rates.
  • It supports a wide range of formats for uploading to web servers, including HTML, DivX, and XLS.

HitFilm

  • HitFilm is compatible with a large number of file formats.
  • It is compatible with image formats such as BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, TIFF, TGA, OpenEXR, and HDR images.
  • It supports varied video file formats like Quicktime, AVI, MOV, MP4 (AVC/H264 & AAC), MPEG-1 (TS, PS, MPE, MPG, MPEG, M2V), MXF (DVCPro HD), DV, HDV, WMV.
  • HitFilm can integrate different audio file types like AAC, MP3, M4A, MPA, WAV, and WMA.
  • You can also export to different file formats like Quicktime, Image sequence, MP4, AVI, and WAV.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Audio Features

Shotcut

  • The audio scope includes loudness, peak meter, waveform, and spectrum analyzer.
  • Various audio filters like balance, compressor, expander, delay, downmix, limiter, normalize, noise gate, etc., are available to control the audio.
  • Some additional audio features include audio mixing across various tacks, pitch compensation for speed changes, etc.
  • Various audio transitions are available.
  • It supports mono, stereo, and 5.1 surround sound.

HitFilm

  • You can record and add commentary to the audio track with just a click of a button.
  • You can create audio transitions without creating composite shots.
  • Normalize audio without any external software.
  • Unlimited audio tracks can be added to your timeline.
  • The audio mixer allows you to fine-tune your sound by easily modifying, balancing, and mixing tracks or getting precise control over individual elements with mute and solo features.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Video Features

Shotcut

  • Video compositing can be done across video tracks.
  • Use 3-way color wheels for color correction and grading.
  • For white balancing, the eyedropper tool can be used to pick a neutral color.
  • Shotcut allows you to do deinterlacing and auto-rotating.
  • Various wipe transitions like iris, matrix, barn door, box, custom gradient image, etc., are available.
  • You can use blending modes like soft and hard light, saturate, exclusion, etc.
  • Some of the major video filters available on Shotcut include an alpha channel, blend mode, blur, brightness, chroma-key, color grading, reduce noise, etc.
  • Shotcut also offers speed effects for audio/video clips.
  • 360-degree video filters like Equirectangular Mask, 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear, etc., can also be used.

HitFilm

  • HitFilm supports vertical videos, creating a blurred version of the original video to use as a background so the video can seamlessly fit alternative aspect ratios.
  • It offers powerful color correction and grading tools like LUTs, vectorscope, etc.
  • Use cine-style effects like bleach bypass, three and two-strip color, film grain, and grading transfer to give it a cinematic look.
  • Use 32-bit color grading to add vibrant color tones and textures
  • There are professional noise remover and digital make-up tools.
  • You can even build your own transition type within a composite shot or the editor timeline in addition to transitions like dissolve, push, slide, split, and wide.
  • Use advanced chroma key, matte cleaning, spill suppression, and auto light wrap combine with sophisticated 2D and 3D layering to create green-screen composites.
  • Advanced tracking tools like 2D feature tracking, importing 3D camera tracking, and Mocha HitFilm gets more from the shots.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Editing Features

Shotcut

  • You can trim on source clip player or timeline with ripple option
  • It is easy to use with copy and paste operations, drag and drop option for files, and unlimited undo and redo for playlist edits, including a history view.
  • You can append, insert, overwrite, lift, and ripple delete editing on the timeline.
  • It offers a multitrack timeline with thumbnails and waveforms
  • It provides low-resolution proxy editing to improve the speed of seeking and eliminate or minimize scaling.

HitFilm

  • HitFilm offers the ability to copy a group of attributes from one clip and apply them directly to another.
  • You can re-trim your clips after adding them to the timeline.
  • Edit GoPro and other 360-degree footage by tweaking the lens curvature and motion blur.
  • HitFilm has various visual effects tools like particle simulators and over 400 unique effects like lens flares, muzzle flashes, fire, etc.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Additional Differences

Shotcut has free tutorials on YouTube and a training course reviewed by their developers.

HitFilm has a smooth workflow that combines a dizzying array of features into a seamless experience. HitFilm also has a lot of paid add-ons that can enhance the editing powers.

HitFilm offers a range offree training resourcesyou need to become a pro, like YouTube videos, online community forums, reference manuals, and a dedicated support team.

Shotcut vs HitFilm: Final Verdict

Winner: HitFilm ?

Although Shotcut offers a wide range of features that are not usually expected in free, open-source software, it falls short of HitFilm by a considerable margin. HitFilm is a well-regarded editing platform that offers an enviable number of features. For a beginner, it might make sense to start with Shotcut because of its simplicity. But even in that regard, HitFilm offers tough competition with its seamless user experience and efficient workflow. HitFilm, with specialized effects and particle simulators, is a video.

Also Read >>> BCE Premium TV: Best Undiscovered Place to Stream Live Sports

FAQs

Shotcut vs HitFilm, which is better?

It depends on your requirements. But overall, you can’t go wrong with HitFilm.

What is their price?

They are both completely free platforms.

Are compatible with all operating systems?

Yes, they are compatible with both Windows and Mac OS. But HitFilm is not compatible with Linux.

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