What is OpenShot used for?

OpenShot is a free, open-source video editor for Linux, macOS and Windows with unlimited tracks, keyframe animation, titles and FFmpeg-based format support. It is a good fit for editing home and social videos, and creating titles and simple animations.

Is OpenShot open source?

Yes. OpenShot is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OpenShot/openshot-qt and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. OpenShot is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host OpenShot?

Yes. OpenShot can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is OpenShot an alternative to?

OpenShot is an open-source alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, CapCut and Kapwing. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro include Shotcut, Kdenlive and OpenCut.

Is OpenShot actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to OpenShot was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v4.0.1, published on 27 September 2026. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub.

OpenShot: open-source alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro

About OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is a free, open-source editor for video that runs on Linux, Mac and Windows. Its stated aim is to deliver high quality video editing and animation to a wide audience, and it is built with Python, C++ and the Qt framework on top of FFmpeg.

It supports unlimited tracks and layers, clip resizing, scaling, trimming, rotation and cutting, and a timeline with drag and drop, zooming and snapping. Video transitions have real-time previews, and there are title templates, 3D animated titles, SVG-based titles and scrolling credits. Animation works through curve-based keyframes and image sequences, and clips can be speed-changed or time-mapped. Audio can be mixed and edited, effects include brightness, chroma key and more, and hardware encoding and decoding is available as an experimental option.

Many video, audio and image formats are handled through FFmpeg, and projects can be imported or exported as EDL and XML. Installers and daily builds are available from the project website, along with a step-by-step video tutorial and a user guide.

Key features

Unlimited tracks and layers
Curve-based keyframe animation
Titles, 3D animated titles and credits
Video transitions with real-time previews
Chroma key and other video effects
FFmpeg-based format support
EDL and XML import and export

Good fit for

→Editing home and social videos
→Creating titles and simple animations

Built with: Python
Tags: video-editor; video-editing; ffmpeg; qt; animation; cross-platform; python; linux

OpenShot: questions and answers

What is OpenShot used for?: OpenShot is a free, open-source video editor for Linux, macOS and Windows with unlimited tracks, keyframe animation, titles and FFmpeg-based format support. It is a good fit for editing home and social videos, and creating titles and simple animations.
Is OpenShot open source?: Yes. OpenShot is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OpenShot/openshot-qt and is written mainly in Python.
Is OpenShot free?: Yes. OpenShot is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host OpenShot?: Yes. OpenShot can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is OpenShot an alternative to?: OpenShot is an open-source alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, CapCut and Kapwing. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro include Shotcut, Kdenlive and OpenCut.
Is OpenShot actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to OpenShot was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v4.0.1, published on 27 September 2026. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub.