The 9 Best Professional Film Editing Software [2024]

You could have out-of-this-world scenography and use the best available filming equipment, but your raw footage will still leave much to be desired when you're making a movie. If you want to set the mood, eliminate distractions, and impress your viewers, you need to use professional film editing software and put in the work to enhance your footage in post-processing.

The question is - what is the best film editing software? What tools give you enough freedom and flexibility to create cinematic masterpieces? Let's find out.

Characteristics of Professional Film Editing Programs

Before we get into the best film editing programs used in professional settings, it's a good idea to go over some of the main characteristics these tools offer. After all, there are hundreds of different editing solutions promising to help you enhance your footage - so what is it that distinguishes the top ones from the rest?

As a general rule of thumb, the best professional movie editing software is defined by the following characteristics:

• Robust editing capabilities - basic features like cutting or trimming are a given. Professional tools also offer more advanced capabilities, including ripple editing, color correcting, and more;
• Audio editing capabilities - while you'll likely need a dedicated audio editor, professional video editors will always come with useful features that let you enhance your soundtracks and overall film audio;
• Rich visual effects - whether you need better transitions between scenes, green screens, animations, or other visual effects, a good tool should be able to provide them to you;
• Intuitive interface - professional tools tend to have a steep learning curve, but they also tend to have an intuitive interface that makes it easy for experienced pros to navigate them;
• Superior performance - the top film editing software can easily handle long, high-res videos without suffering slow performance or encountering bugs and glitches.

While there are tools that have some of these characteristics, only the best of the best boast all of them.

Best Professional Film Editing Software - Quick List

Top 9 Film Editing Software for Professionals

The following are some of the most powerful movie editing programs that will help you keep your audience glued to the screen while they watch your content.

1.Adobe Premiere Pro

Product name: Adobe Premiere Pro

Best for: Independent filmmakers

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac
• Key features: Interpret footage, Comparison view, Automatic tone mapping
• Pricing: 7-day free trial, paid version starts at $22.99

Reasons to buy:

• High-speed rendering
• Unlimited multicam editing
• Perfect integration with other Adobe tools

Reasons to avoid:

• Steep learning curve
• Draining on computer resources

Adobe has a long list of solutions suitable for professionals in creative industries. Its Premiere Pro quickly became a staple for video editing, offering advanced tools and powerful capabilities. It's flexible, versatile, and ideal for enhancing your movie footage.

While Premiere Pro has numerous features designed to perfect your footage, some of the most convenient ones are interpret footage, comparison view, and automatic tone mapping. Interpret footage lets you standardize frame rates across scenes in a few clicks, comparison view lets you keep an eye on the before and afters, and tone mapping keeps all your scenes visually consistent.

Used in films like Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and Deadpool (2016), Premiere Pro is often praised for its versatility, convenience, and superior performance.

2.Vegas

Product name: Vegas Creative Software

Best for: Short film moviemakers

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows
• Key features: Customizable workspace, Nested timeline, AI auto reframe
• Pricing: 30-day free trial, paid version starts at $199.00

Reasons to buy:

• Rich library of free stock media
• Easy collaboration
• Convenient autosave

Reasons to avoid:

• Stability issues
• Issues with multicam editing

Initially designed as an audio editing solution commonly used in podcasts and radio shows, Vegas has become a high-level video editor with excellent functionality. While it hasn't yet made it to the Hollywood big screens, it's commonly used in short movie post-production.

It has all the basic and advanced tools you need - convenient cutting and trimming tools, nice transitions, excellent color grading, motion tracking, and more. What sets it apart from the rest, however, is its nested timeline that allows for seamless collaboration. You can easily group scenes together, keep them separate from the main timeline, and collaborate with teammates without interrupting each others' workflows.

Used in short movies like Butterfly Effect, Vegas is known for offering excellent film audio editing capabilities and overall flexibility.

3.Final Cut Pro

Product name: Final Cut pro

Best for: Mac users

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Mac, iOS
• Key features: Magnetic timeline, Motion tracking, Smooth slow motion
• Pricing: 90-day free trial, paid version starts at $299.99

Reasons to buy:

• No subscriptions
• Flawless integration with the Apple ecosystem
• Supports 360° VR footage

Reasons to avoid:

• Not available for Windows
• Difficult collaboration

Final Cut Pro is the best professional film editing software for Mac users. A powerful solution that flawlessly integrates with your Apple ecosystem, it's feature-packed and fully streamlined.

Its most notable features are the astonishingly smooth slow-motion (only available on newer Macs) that creates fantastic cinematic effects. Of course, you'll also gain access to countless video and audio effects, motion tracking, green screen, and more.

Perhaps its biggest selling point is that it has no subscriptions or renewable plans. You have 90 days to try out the tool for free, then pay the one-time $299.99 fee and use it for life.

Helping create masterpieces like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Parasite (2019), Final Cut Pro is known for being stable, easy to get used to, and effective.

4.Blender

Product name: Blender

Best for: 3D modeling on a budget

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Key features: Color grading, Luma waveform, Audio mixing
• Pricing: Free to use

Reasons to buy:

• Free and open-source
• Powerful 3D modeling tools
• Rich templates

Reasons to avoid:

• Difficult to navigate
• Not many video formats supported

If you're creating a film that requires a lot of 3D modeling, Blender will be the tool for you. A free and open-source solution, it's ideal for those on a budget who need to create top-grade cinematic effects.

However, while it's an advanced 3D animation software, it's a somewhat basic editor. It has all the essential tools you'll need to fine-tune your videos - cut and split your videos, color grade them, enrich them with high-quality audio, and more. Still, if you need it for more than 3D animations, you'll likely need an additional editor to boot.

Blender has made its mark in movies like Wonder Woman ((2017) and is known for its exceptional digital sculpting abilities and powerful renders.

5.Autodesk Maya

Product name: Autodesk Maya

Best for: CGI creation

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Key features: 3D texturing, Keyframe animation, Accurate simulations and effects
• Pricing: 30-day free trial, paid version starts at $235.00

Reasons to buy:

• Powerful rendering
• Realistic effects
• Realistic simulations

Reasons to avoid:

• Prone to crashing
• Steep learning curve

Autodesk Maya is an industry standard for animation and 3D content creation. It's a powerful rendering engine that can help you bring all your ideas to life - as long as you have the time and willpower to overcome its steep learning curve.

It's one of the best tools for realistic simulations and effects - whether modeling explosions, texturing backgrounds, or anything in between. As far as its video editing capabilities are concerned, however, you might need a different solution for making transitions and performing basic editing.

Used in renowned movies such as The Matrix (1999) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Autodesk Maya is known as the go-to tool for 3D animation.

6.Adobe After Effects

Product name: Adobe After Effects

Best for: Motion graphics

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac
• Key features: Precision animation, Dynamic linking with Premiere Pro, Rich effects
• Pricing: 7-day free trial, paid version starts at $22.99

Reasons to buy:

• Powerful animations
• Customizable with plug-ins
• Customizable workspace

Reasons to avoid:

• Takes up a lot of RAM
• Prone to crashes

If you want to create stunning visual effects, Adobe After Effects could be your go-to software for film editing. It's especially suitable for adding motion to text and graphics and animating logos, but it has a wonderful array of advanced features designed to bring all your ideas to life.

It offers excellent automation capabilities, using the power of AI to help you with processes such as object removal, background switching, element tracking, and more.

As a general rule of thumb, it works best for film editing when used in combination with Adobe Premiere Pro.

Used in movies like Inception (2010) and Django Unchained (2012), Adobe After Effects is known for its extensive feature set, responsive customer support, and high value for money.

7.Avid Media Composer

Product name: Avid Media Composer

Best for: Professional feature film editing

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac
• Key features: ScriptSync, Speech-to-text, Remote collaboration
• Pricing: 30-day free trial, paid version starts at $39.99

Reasons to buy:

• Useful integrations
• Industry staple
• Versatile

Reasons to avoid:

• Draining on computer resources
• Occasional crashes

If you ask anyone in the film industry what the best movie editing software is, the chances are that they'll tell you Avid Media Composer. It's an industry standard. It's a powerful editing suite with fantastic capabilities and sophisticated editing functionalities.

Whether you need to collaborate on the same project with a larger team, create stunning visuals by yourself, adjust your soundtracks, automate processes with AI, or anything in between, you can rest assured that Avid Media Composer will have you covered.

It will be more difficult for you to find movies that didn't rely on Avid Media Composer than those that did. Used in films like Mamma Mia (2008), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avid Media Composer stands out for its powerful editing capabilities and versatility.

8.Autodesk 3ds Max

Product name: Autodesk 3ds Max

Best for: Modeling landscapes

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows
• Key features: Smart extrude, Realistic texturing and shading, Rich animations
• Pricing: 30-day free trial, paid version starts at $235.00

Reasons to buy:

• Easy customization
• High-quality renders
• Wide selection of animation tools

Reasons to avoid:

• Steep learning curve
• Draining on computer resources

Another excellent solution for animations and 3D renders is Autodesk 3ds Max. While somewhat lighter than Autodesk Maya, it offers a wonderful set of features to ensure your visions come to life.

It's especially suitable for rendering mesmerizing landscapes and background environments and can even be used in architectural design. It helps you create realistic VFX, though it does take some getting used to. It offers a rich library of textures and materials and has everything you need to add a touch of realism to your creations.

Used in films such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010), Avatar (2009), and The Matrix Reloaded (2003), it stands out as the go-to tool for walkthrough animations that comes with extensive capabilities.

9.Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve

Product name: DaVinci Resolve

Best for: Film editing on a budget

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Specifications:

• Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Key features: Text-based timeline editing, Music remixing, Dialogue separation
• Pricing: Available free version, paid version starts at $295.00

Reasons to buy:

• Generous free version
• Robus editing capabilities
• High-speed processing

Reasons to avoid:

• Can be overwhelming
• Draining on RAM

Last but certainly not least, we have the Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, a robust video editing solution that's grown in popularity over the last few years. Its highly generous free version makes it especially suitable for independent moviemakers and video editors on a budget. However, that doesn't mean it can't be used in Hollywood-grade films.

DaVinci Resolve offers stunning visual effects, impeccable audio editing capabilities, seamless workflows, and more. It's a robust editor that can be used for any type of video content - whether you're making movies, publishing video ads, or trying to make it as a YouTuber.

Used in films such as Deadpool 2 (2018), Avatar (2009), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), DaVinci Resolve became known for its excellent render performance, unmatched stability, and high speed.

Top Film Editing Software for Beginners and Semi-professionals

Professional movie production software typically has fantastic functionalities, but it tends to be extremely draining on your computer resources, expensive, and difficult to master. If you're looking for a capable but lightweight solution with a minimal learning curve, you'll need a tool designed for beginners and semi-professionals, and that's precisely what Wondershare Filmora is.

A feature-packed cinematic editing software, Filmora has advanced capabilities but remains beginner-friendly and intuitive. With it, you can make basic edits like cutting and trimming your media, but you can also perform more complex processes like color grading, ripple editing, and animation keyframing, among other things.

It also boasts a large pool of AI editing capabilities, allowing you to automate processes such as captioning, music generation, reframing, and more.

To make matters easier, Filmora also offers thousands of fully customizable templates you can use for making anything from your movie intros and outros to creating scene transitions, adding end credits, and more.

Wondershare Filmora

Start bringing your ideas to life with our easy-to-use video editor.

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Conclusion

If you want your films to draw in a crowd, you need to use professional editing programs that can help you bring your vision to life. Fortunately, you can access fantastic movie-making programs to ensure your work remains visually appealing and immersive.

If you're not yet ready for advanced tools like Avid Media Composer, dip your toes in the editing waters with the help of Wondershare Filmora.