OpenShot Video Editor 3.5.1

It is fully free, fully offline, has no watermarks, no export limits, and no subscription, which puts it in direct competition with paid editors like CapCut Video Editor and Movavi Video Editor Plus - except OpenShot stays free forever.

What is new in version 3.5.1

The headline feature in 3.5.1 is Optimize Preview, a built-in proxy editing workflow.

When you import 4K footage, demanding ProRes files, or long camera clips, OpenShot can now generate or link a lower-resolution preview file in the background, so scrubbing, trimming, and timeline previews stay smooth without changing your final export quality.

This is a feature most beginners only ever see in paid tools like Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, and it makes OpenShot genuinely practical for high-resolution projects on a mid-range laptop.

The 3.5.1 release also lands on top of the broader 3.5 cycle, which delivered roughly 35% faster overall performance, GPU acceleration improvements, and a rebuilt timeline. Specifically in this point release you also get:

Smoother timeline zooming that stays correctly centered on the playhead, multi-selection trimming for resizing and re-timing aligned clips at once, sharper thumbnail generation, a faster Preview dialog, a new User Interface Scale preference for high-DPI and 4K monitors, CPU-aware default thread settings, and stronger ComfyUI integration with new Depth, Lines, and reference-image workflows for AI-assisted style changes that run entirely on local open-source models with no API calls.

Bug fixes cover timeline scrolling behavior, razor cursor alignment, title thumbnail refresh, cache safety, and crash prevention on long projects.

Core features

OpenShot keeps the friendly entry point that made it popular in the first place.

Drag-and-drop import works for video, audio, and image files in every major format.

Unlimited video and audio tracks let you layer titles, b-roll, music, voiceover, and overlays without artificial limits.

The built-in animation framework handles keyframe animation on almost any property, including position, scale, rotation, and opacity, with bezier curve easing.

You also get hundreds of transitions, video effects (chroma key, blur, color shift, brightness, saturation), 3D animated titles powered by Blender integration, audio waveform visualization, frame-accurate trimming, slice and razor tools, and time remapping with backwards audio support and improved audio resampling.

Project files are XML-based, so they remain readable and portable between machines - useful when moving between a Windows desktop and a Linux render box.

System requirements and platforms

OpenShot 3.5.1 runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit), macOS 10.15 or later including Apple Silicon, and most modern Linux distributions via AppImage, Flatpak, Snap, or distro repositories. The download is around 188 MB.

A modern multi-core CPU and 8 GB of RAM are comfortable for 1080p editing - 16 GB is recommended once you start working in 4K, and the new Optimize Preview workflow significantly reduces the GPU and storage pressure for high-resolution projects.

Workflow companions

OpenShot is a strong editor on its own, but it works best as part of a small, free, open-source toolchain.

For quick lossless trims and removing unwanted sections from camera or screen recordings before importing, LosslessCut cuts in seconds without re-encoding.

For batch transcoding source footage to edit-friendly formats or compressing finished exports for upload, HandBrake is the standard companion.

If you need to repackage or remux MKV files before importing, MKVToolNix handles container work without quality loss. Frame-precise editors like VirtualDub2 and AviDemux are useful when you want to clean up an AVI or MPEG file before it ever touches the OpenShot timeline.

For playback compatibility on Windows so OpenShot reliably opens every modern format you throw at it, install the K-Lite Codec Pack or LAV Filters, and add the HEVC Video Extension on Windows 11 to handle H.265 footage from phones and action cameras.

To preview exports outside the editor, VLC Media Player and MPC-BE play virtually any file OpenShot produces.

How OpenShot compares to other free editors

OpenShot is deliberately the simplest entry point among the major free editors.

If you want Hollywood-grade color grading, Fusion VFX, and Fairlight audio in one app, DaVinci Resolve is the right choice once you accept the steeper learning curve.

If you want a power-user open-source timeline somewhere between OpenShot and Resolve, Kdenlive and Shotcut both offer multi-track editing with deep format support. Windows-only users who want a more effects-heavy toolkit at no cost can also look at VSDC Free Video Editor.

For a side-by-side overview of the realistic free options, see the guide to the best free video editors without a watermark.

OpenShot's edge is that it is genuinely usable in an afternoon. You can drop in clips, drag transitions between them, type a title, and export a polished MP4 without ever opening a manual.

Download OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot 3.5.1 is freeware, virus-free, and verified through the Video Editors category on codecs.com, alongside the rest of the multimedia tools catalog.