Is Openshot Video Editor Really Free

[Rell Jette]

Ihave now invested many months of my life into designing a video editor for Linux. I have learned new programming languages, become friends with many people from around the world, and had many "Ah ha" moments. I am a huge supporter of FOSS, and I consider this my contribution to the Linux community!

This is old news to some, but the #1 issue when trying to create a multimedia application is choosing the correct framework to build your application on. There are 2 competing video frameworks to choose from (at least in the Python world): Gstreamer + Gnonlin and the MLT Framework.

Gnonlin:

I really thought that Gnonlin was the correct framework in the beginning. Many people recommended it to me, and it it's based on the largest multimedia library on Linux, Gstreamer. There is even a Python based video editor in development, PiTiVi. Sounds great, right? What could possibly go wrong.

Well, just about everything has gone wrong. Now I realize not all these problems are related to Gnonlin... some are related to Gstreamer itself. But regardless of that, here are the main problems I've run into:

Terrible support for .DV video files (very choppy playback)

No support for mixing an MP3 with Video... sounds crazy, but I could never get it to work, and the community couldn't provide a working example.No support for transitions, regardless of what people say. There are no working examples of this... other than a few theoretical blog entries.Very complicated API (based on Gstreamer). Not kidding here. It's really, really, really, really complicated to understand how to create a Gnonlin pipeline, connect all the signals, and actually get something to happen. Even though Gstreamer has a giant community, the Gnonlin community is actually quite small. In fact, it's so small it's really only 1 person, Edward Hervey. Sorry Edward... not picking on you at all, but you really are the only person in the Gnonlin community. =) Kind of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz... ya know, the little guy behind the curtain.And because the community is sooo small, I have had 0 of my many questions answered by this community. That's right... zero. The first question I asked to the Gnonlin mailing list took over a month for someone to reply. There are no examples, barely any documentation, and only about 3 blog entries explaining the concepts... and some illustrations on how it will work someday... when it's finished.Now for some positives. Gnonlin is created by Edward Hervey, who is a very smart dude. He is very active in the Gstreamer mailing list, and seems to be one of the very smartest people involved in Gstreamer. In other words, I have lots of respect for Edward, but that doesn't change the fact that Gnonlin has been a pain in my ass.

I'm actually not the first project to dump Gnonlin in favor of the MLT framework. The great Diva Video Editor had an epic falling out with the Gstreamer / Gnonlin community. To refresh your memory:

-of-diva

-on-diva/

MLT Framework:

First off, I would like to compliment the MLT Framework (and it's community) for being so professional and patient with me over the past few months. Especially the great Dan Dennedy! They have helped me solve every problem and answered every question I've had so far. In fact, the first night I emailed the MLT mailing list, I received more emails than I have ever received from the Gnonlin community.

I wish I had discovered the MLT framework sooner than I did, but I guess better late than never.

Here are some of the MLT advantages:

Great support for .DV video files (very smooth playback)A super simple API, Command line, and XML format which makes developing an application very easy.Can mix any number of audio files and video files together... without crashing, without bugs, and without a problem.A full transition system... including a cool luma translation which will enable all sorts of custom Star Wipes, Key Holes, and other transitions.Most importantly, it's got great documentation, lots of examples, and a responsive community to help answer any questions.If you haven't figured it out yet, OpenShot Video Editor is leaving Gnonlin for MLT. As usual, I am following in the footsteps of the Diva Video Editor. If you are reading this, and considering which framework is right for you, please strongly consider the MLT framework.

Also, a great framework deserves a great logo. Just for fun, I've prettied up the MLT logo, so it's a bit shinier... to match OpenShot's good looks. =) Please let me know if you want the SVG version, and I'll email it to you.

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I made a TikTok SL video using the free opensource OpenShot video editor ( ) because it can output to the vertical format HD 1920 height x 1080 length which anyone that wants to do TikTok or Instagram may want.

It's a little glitchy. The longer I worked in it (and this is for a one minute short), the more staticy the sound was and the more it seemed to be laggy or stuttery on viewing the video. However when I output it, the sound and video was fine. If you see my video, there are a couple places when the video jumps a little but that is my filming and editing and not the editor as I am still learning to do machinima and editing. OpenShot also seemed to save which was lucky because when it crashed I thought I lost everything but I didn't. It allows a lot of layers which is great if you are layering sounds.

I had tried HitFilm Express free version but it won't output to a vertical format. HitFilm let me work in a vertical format because it lets me create a custom size but when it came to exporting that didn't work out as well. It kept defaulting to one of the parameters HitFilm had which are all horizontal. And when I uploaded to TikTok, it got shrunk into the vertical size so became tiny. I'm going to redo that first one in OneShot.

I couldn't find anything else free that would export to a vertical format. Don't expect support on OpenShot but there is a forum I think. I really liked how much bigger my video seemed on TikTok when I can work in a vertical format and output to the HD 1920x1080 so while there are issues with OpenShot, I like it better than a couple of the other free ones I tried as they only output to horizontal.

My video is one minute. If you have the time, go check it out and let me know what you think. I would appreciate it. Music is by Winter Phoenix, another SL resident. There are a few people doing sl tiktok videos but I think it would be great if there were more of us:

I should add a caveat though. TikTok has a huge library of music you can use. The only way I could add music to my video from TikTok's library was to to upload through my phone. There is a step in the phone upload where you can choose and add music. That step is missing in the desktop upload. In my first dragon video, I had original music given to me by Winter Phoenix so I was able to add the music during video editing. When you use your own music, voice or sound in the editing, you can upload directly from your desktop through a web browser on TikTok. When you do this, TikTok will footnote that this sound is originally by you.

The OpenShot video editor was the easiest to get in Ubuntu Studio's "Oneric Ocelot" release, so we had a chance to try it out recently. It's pretty good -- much more capable than Kino. It provides similar capabilities to Blender's VSE, but without the burden of learning Blender. In fact, the learning curve is very gentle, because the interface is clean and simple.

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