Top 8 GoPro Video Editors for Beginners and Professionals [with Video]
Editing arrives as an essential process to improve and beautify GoPro shoots for getting views and popularity online. Lots of GoPro video editors are pushed to you with arrays of editing features. If you have no idea about how to pick one out from the crowded market, we hope the following list of top 8 GoPro video editing software can help you - a junior editor or senior-level video maker - make a quick but right choice.
In this guide, we will review these 8 GoPro video editors which you can trust:
- 1. VideoProc
- 2. GoPro Quik for Desktop
- 3. GoPro Studio
- 4. Windows Movie Maker
- 5. Adobe Premiere Pro
- 6. Vegas Pro
- 7. Final Cut Pro X
- 8. Corel VideoStudio Ultimate
Before the ball rolling, a thing we have to admit is that there isn't a one-fit-all video editor, but most good GoPro video editor have below 2 common features.
- Go compatible with HEVC video: GoPro record videos in HEVC format in certain modes. Not like the popular H.264 MP4 format that goes compatible with almost all editing software, there are only a few editors that can support HEVC codec correctly.
- Boast built-in footage stabilizer: Not all shakings in footages captured by GoPro can be eliminated by its own algorithm. For that reason, there are many times you need to deshake the footage with GoPro editors. A good GoPro editor has to be able to stabilize the shakiness and wobbles of your video. Surely, the benefits of a decent editor are far more than the above two aspects.
To make the result more practical and objective, we try all popular video editors to edit different types of videos recorded by GoPro Hero 8/7/6 under various shooting modes. The top 8 GoPro editors are categorized into two types, one for beginners and the other one for the pro. You can directly jump to the part which is suitable for you by the following two links.
VideoProc gives its focus on processing videos from GoPros, DJIs, DSLRs, smartphones etc, in the easiest and fastest way.
- 1. Quick to cut, trim, split, merge, crop, rotate, flip and extract frame/gifs from GoPro video.
- 2. Apply effects, add text/image watermark, import subtitle, speed-up/slow-down playback speed.
- 3. Stablize shaky image, reduce background noise, correct fisheye lens and fix audio/video out of sync.
- 4. Transcode videos (e.g. HEVC to H.264), compress large files, convert DVDs, download videos and record screen.
VideoProc, with the fast conversion and essential basic editing tools, is especially designed for beginners. If you would like to make advanced edits, please go for "Top GoPro Video Editor for Pros".
Four Best GoPro Video Editors for Beginners
GoPro video editing can be a simple task for beginners with the help of programs listed here.
VideoProc
The software is great for beginners, which provides straightforward UI and simple operation. Responsive speed smoothens video editing, especially for 4K GoPro footage.
It only gives basic editing tools, lack of advanced options.
VideoProc, a multifunctional video processor and 4K video editor, shows off elemental and valuable editing features available for GoPro footage. Both traditional codec H.264 and new format HEVC for particular 4K clips from HERO 6/7/8 can be well imported to this GoPro video editing software for further processing.
"Easy" is the label of VideoProc. It is designed with an easy-to-navigate interface guiding you to find wanted function options in a breeze. In the toolbox, you can get functional editing tools to basically trim, merge, split, rotate, flip GoPro videos and advanced options to enhance video by stabilizing shaky footage, correcting fisheye and reducing audio noise. Outside the toolbox, more editing shortcuts are provided with you to add effects/watermark/subtitle, cut clips, crop images, fix video/audio out of sync error, and adjust playback speed to create smooth slow-motion moments.
"Full GPU Acceleration" is the mystery of ultrafast and smooth performance VideoProc delivers. It utilizes graphic cards (Intel, NVIDIA, AMD) to speed up video editing and processing procedure and meanwhile relieve CPU for other tasks bringing computer into a good workflow. Therefore, you will not experience lagging or crashing error even though you are editing a large-sized 4K HEVC GoPro video. The other thing benefiting from this technique is high quality. The resulting file can remain 98% quality of original image.
More than a GoPro video editor, VideoProc can transcode and compress GoPro (4K) raw footage, download online epic GoPro videos as well as record a tutorial video, for example how to use new GoPro HERO 7 Black.
GoPro Quik for Desktop
It makes a close connection with GoPro helping easily import, view, organize and edit videos and photos from GoPros. Conveniently import background tracks from music library and share your shots online.
Lags happen when playing 4K/HEVC files. Compared with other GoPro video editors for beginners, it can make the least edits.
Quik is officially made by GoPro and described as "the easiest way to offload and enjoy GoPro photos and videos". It gives quick access to video files from GoPro camera or SD card for organization through automatically importing. Choose your footage, view it in Quik and then you can make quick edits.
HiLights help find and track the best moment of the footage driving you to edit or share much easier. Trimming tools is used to remove extra parts while keeping the most brilliant parts. Gauges and graphs can be applied showing GPS path, speed, elevation gain and more when shooting snowboarding, skydiving or other videos with HERO5/6/7/8. The library of soundtracks is unlocked when subscribing GoPro Plus, which helps sync great music with video making your work more impressive. Quik also offers a very convenient way to share video clips on Facebook, YouTube and more.
Quik has fairly high system requirements. If you are using an older computer, you may encounter not responding, crashing or other errors when using it to play or edit videos. >> Check Quik System Requirements Here
GoPro Studio
It is easy to get started with editing and provides more helpful editing options than Quik, like cropping, effects, fisheye correction etc.
It is unavailable now. Without updates, it can't well handle footage filmed by new models, for example HEVC videos. Even more, it can't work at all.
GoPro Studio, this end-of-life free GoPro video editor, was entirely removed from Quik in August 2017, unavailable to download any more. Nevertheless, a large number of GoPro users still hope to download GoPro Studio and we would like to include it in the top list. Why?
GoPro Studio is that tool perfect for newbies, which features intuitive interface and brief tutorial. Open this GoPro video editing software. The storyboard is shown where you can see a preview window for video playback in the center, media source on the left, effects on the right and timeline below. Now, start editing. It allows you to trim and join video clips, add titles and music, apply effects, adjust fisheye, speed-up or slow-down playback speed and so on. It also wraps the ability to create sequential videos and photos which is usually called time-lapse. What's more, editing templates can help you create a more professional-style clip.
GoPro Studio can do more edits than Quik but comes with several defects like not launching, not working and more. Because of no longer update, it lacks the compatibility with HEVC. If you are recording a 4K HEVC video using HERO 8/7/6, it will go to a failure to edit.
Windows Movie Maker
The software offers both basic and intermediate level tools, including more effects and quality enhancement options. Convenient to share on SNS.
Not compatible with HEVC. It was discontinued so that you may encounter unexpected errors when editing.
Windows Movie Maker was included video editing software in Windows until the release of Windows 10. In despite of its discontinuation since 10 January 2017, this program receives favorable reviews and is recognized as a star GoPro video editor for beginners.
Import the raw file into Windows Movie Maker and then you can apply edits. Click Title/Caption to add explanation and annotation. Text tools enable you to set text font, size, bold, italic, transparency, effects and more. Click Add Music. Local or online videos can be applied to the video. You can also adjust the volume or set Fade In/Out. A variety of animations and visual effects are provided to create special looking. Images are able to be darkened or brightened after applying any effect. Trim and split tools are prepared. Playback speed can be switched from 0.125x to 64x. Windows Movie Maker also offers Video stabilization feature to fix shaky GoPro videos. A direct upload service is embedded. Log in your Microsoft account and then you can share the edited video clips to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and more.
Yes, Windows Movie Maker is unavailable now. Its existing errors like not importing/saving your movie, not supporting your movie and so on, can’t be solved. For Windows 10 users, unstable performance happens from time to time although you can run it at the beginning.
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