Looking for a Free and Open Source Video Editor with Cross-Platform Support? Kdenlive Video Editor Is Great but Is It the Best? Find Out From Our Complete Kdenlive Review

Morgan Lv12

2024-05-19 05:11:42 2024-05-19 05:11:42 Created 2024-05-20 05:11:42 2024-05-20 05:11:42 Updated

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Looking for a Free and Open Source Video Editor with Cross-Platform Support? Kdenlive Video Editor Is Great but Is It the Best? Find Out From Our Complete Kdenlive Review

When you look for an open source video editor online, you will come across several popular video editors. One of them has to be Kdenlive video editor that is available free and compatible across all desktop operating systems. The video editor claims to be suitable for beginners as well as for professional video editors.

Starting from multi-track video editing and support for different file formats to loads to effects and flexible interface, Kdenlive video editor seems to be truly powerful. But is it comparable to premium video editors and is it suitable for standard and advanced video editing? Read our Kdenlive tutorial and review for everything you need to know.

Part 1. Key Features of Kdenlive

If you need to edit videos occasionally, a free video editor is what you will be looking for. Unfortunately, most free videos have very basic video editing tools and they are suitable for editing personal videos only. On the contrary, Kdenlive comes with all the standard as well as some advanced video editing features. Here are all the key features of Kdenlive video editor that you should be aware of.

Multi-track editing – Kdenlive comes with a versatile timeline where you can have multiple tracks consisting of video clips, audio files and different effects and objects. You can lock the tracks as well as mute them so that you can experiment as you edit your video.

Effects and Transitions – Even though limited, there are eye-catching effects and transitions available. You can also go for color correction as well as minor adjustments in your audio. Besides, the titler lets you create amazing 2D texts and titles.

Proxy Editing – Kdenlive uses proxy editing technique to lower the resolution of high-resolution videos while you edit them. This takes away the pressure on the CPU resources, but when it renders, the original resolution gets restored back. That is why Kdenlive has been effective in low-end computers as well.

Flexible User Interface – Kdenlive comes with a customizable user interface. This means you can arrange the layouts of your workflow as per your requirements. Besides, there are configurable keyboard shortcuts. There are also different themes available for the user interface.

Keyframing – One of the advanced features of Kdenlive is that you can keyframe any effect. This means you can change the parameters of the effects with time using curves. Besides, the software supports green screen effect.

Miscellaneous – The software supports almost all types of audio and video file formats. There is an option for automatic backup which is highly useful in any video editing software. The software also supports online resources and add-ons.

Part 2. Basic Editing with Kdenlive

Kdenlive is available for free and you should definitely try it out. Thereafter, you decide whether it is perfect for you or not. After Kdenlive download, here are all the steps for basic video editing with Kdenlive.

Import a clip:

Step 1: Launch Kdenlive on your computer and make sure you have the video clip ready on your hard drive.

Step 2: Go to Project menu option. Click on “Add Clip or Folder” option. You can include all the video clips on any folder.

Step 3: The imported clips will then have to be dragged and dropped on the timeline from Project Bin.

Trim and Export:

Step 1: Import the video clip on Kdenlive and drag and drop the clip on the timeline.

Step 2: Put the timeline cursor over the point on the video clip from where you want to trim it.

Step 3: Click on Scissor icon to start trimming. Thereafter, move the red timeline cursor to the point where you want the trimming to end.

Add multiple tracks:

There is enough number of tracks already available on Kdenlive timeline. However, when you are editing a large video project, you may need more tracks that already present.

Step 1: Go to Timeline menu option.

Step 2: Go to Tracks> Inset Track option.

Step 3: Enter a name for the track and select the type of track and click on Ok button.

Adjust brightness and contrast:

Step 1: Go to Effects> Color and Image Correction.

Step 2: Drag and drop Brightness or Contrast directly on the video clip.

Step 3: Click on Brightness that you just placed on the video clip and adjust the parameter from its slider.

Speed up or slow down:

Step 1: Right-click on the video clip that is on the timeline and click on Change Speed option.

Step 2: Adjust the slider to increase or decrease video clip speed and click on Ok button.

Part 3. Advanced Editing with Kdenlive

Now that we have discussed the basic editing Kdenlive tutorial, let us focus on a couple of useful advanced editing features of Kdenlive.

Use green screen effects:

You must have the video clip with green screen background on the timeline. Below the green screen clip should be the background image with which you want to replace the green screen background.

Step 1: Go to Effect> Alpha, Mask and Keying option.

Step 2: Drag and drop “Chroma Key : Advanced” on the video clip where there is a green screen.

Step 3: Click on video clip and adjust the parameters to soften the edges and make it as natural as possible.

**Add audio:

Adding audio files and music files to the video is as easy as adding video clips. You should have your audio file ready on your hard drive.

Step 1: Go to Project menu option. Click on “Add Clip or Folder” option. Select the audio file or folder from your hard drive.

Step 2: The imported audio files will have to be dragged and dropped on the timeline from Project Bin.

Part 4. Best Kdenlive Alternative to Edit Videos

Kdenlive has several drawbacks that prevent it from becoming the best video editor. Even though the features are sufficient for beginners, it is not suitable for professional editing. There is a lack of advanced options such as motion tracking or faster video production. Besides, the effects are very limited in number and so are the text and audio effects. That is why we recommend Wondershare Filmora as the best alternative to Kdenlive Mac and Windows.

Filmora is a premium video editor with video capturing feature. You can record your screen and webcam video. There is no dearth of effects, filters, elements and royalty-free media files. The user interface is cleaner and hence, it is suitable for both beginners and professionals. Here are the key features of Filmora.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

4K video editing and exporting without lag.
Noise removal, color tuning, and video stabilization.
Standard editing like trim, crop, split, join, rotate etc.
Advanced text styles, audio mixing options, and audio equalizers.
Wide range of stock media files. Supports different file formats.
Capture screen and webcam video with internal and external audio.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Is Kdenlive a good editor?

Kdenlive is a good editor if you are getting started in video editing or you are editing your video for personal usage. However, for professional and even social media videos, a premium video editor will be better. We recommend Filmora over Kdenlive because Kdenlive lacks advanced video editing options.

**Does Kdenlive cost money?

Kdenlive Windows, Mac, and Linux are available free of cost as it belongs to the open-source software category. There is also no premium version available, and hence, all the features are unlocked in the free version.

**What can you do with Kdenlive?

You can trim your video, add music, add effects, adjust speed, correct colors, and add green screen effect. Besides, you can add multiple video clips and audio files to the timeline. There are options for keyframable effects as well.

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

4K video editing and exporting without lag.
Noise removal, color tuning, and video stabilization.
Standard editing like trim, crop, split, join, rotate etc.
Advanced text styles, audio mixing options, and audio equalizers.
Wide range of stock media files. Supports different file formats.
Capture screen and webcam video with internal and external audio.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Is Kdenlive a good editor?

**Does Kdenlive cost money?

**What can you do with Kdenlive?

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

4K video editing and exporting without lag.
Noise removal, color tuning, and video stabilization.
Standard editing like trim, crop, split, join, rotate etc.
Advanced text styles, audio mixing options, and audio equalizers.
Wide range of stock media files. Supports different file formats.
Capture screen and webcam video with internal and external audio.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Is Kdenlive a good editor?

**Does Kdenlive cost money?

**What can you do with Kdenlive?

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

4K video editing and exporting without lag.
Noise removal, color tuning, and video stabilization.
Standard editing like trim, crop, split, join, rotate etc.
Advanced text styles, audio mixing options, and audio equalizers.
Wide range of stock media files. Supports different file formats.
Capture screen and webcam video with internal and external audio.

Frequently Asked Questions

**Is Kdenlive a good editor?

**Does Kdenlive cost money?

**What can you do with Kdenlive?

How to Create a Slideshow with Icecream Slideshow Maker

How to Make a Slideshow with Icecream Slideshow Maker

An easy yet powerful editor

Numerous effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

The Icecream slideshow creator software is a known name in the domain of graphic design applications. Keep reading ahead to learn the knowhow of creating Icecream presentations!

Part 1 What is Icecream Slideshow Maker?

Slideshows are interesting content presentation tools that have the potential to deliver even the most customary information in a manner that is engaging enough to hold your audience captive. Browsing across the web or the IT market, you can easily encounter a cluster of slideshow builder software and tools that are ready to cater to your requirement of making top quality slideshow presentations that suit a diversity of personal and professional needs.

Moving ahead with the discussion, let us have a talk about the Icecream slide show maker program, which can definitely be a great choice to design graphic artworks of professional excellence, thanks to the latter’s upgraded features and graphic editing utilities. You can pick the tool to create fun-filled slideshows of cherished personal events, or craft elusive and explanatory business presentations to deliver the most precise company and product information to your clients.

Let us now dive deeper into the program specifications and proceed to take a look at the distinguishing features of the Icecream slideshow maker program in the following section:

● The software grants you the liberty to adjust the screen time and the transition play duration of each of the slide contents.

● You can uplift the feel of your presentations with an upbeat background audio, while choosing the same from the editor’s preset media library in a preferred file format.

● You are allowed to customize the presentation slides with matching text annotations and adjust its font, size, orientation, color and animation.

● Working with the program lets you ensure a seamless presentation flow with a diverse range of inbuilt transition effects.

● Before you set into the final creation process, the software facilitates you with a preview of your work, with all the applied effects, element inclusions and parameter variations introduced. You can thus, observe and modify the presentation if required.

● You can save the slideshows midway of the creation process and resume whenever you like, and prefer to sort the presentation slides in a definite or random sequence.

● The software allows you to create and export high resolution 4K slideshows by burning them to CDs and DVDs.

● The created slideshows can be uploaded to online storage accounts and shared across a variety of social media platforms, in almost any common output file format.

● The software is a Windows exclusive program and works effectively well with the Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 operating system versions.

Part 2 How to Use an Ice Cream Slideshow Maker?

By now, you must have become quite familiar with the credibility of designing slideshow presentations with the Icecream slideshow creator software. However, the real essence lies in taking a practical experience of working with the program to comprehensively understand the slideshow design process in detail.

Adhering to the aforesaid concern, let us try hands at having an in depth understanding of different aspects of working on a slideshow presentation within the program interface through the following stepwise tutorial guide:

User’s Guide to Work With the Icecream Slideshow Maker Program

Step 1: Download and Install Icecream Slideshow Creator

To begin with, visit the official website of the program to download the same in your Windows device. Once the download is successful, you will need to save and run the program’s installation files sin your system. Having done that, you will be directed to the software’s ‘Installation Wizard’ to initiate a quick an easy installation process.

Step 2: Import Media Files

Post a successful installation, proceed to launch the program and wait for the latter’s welcome screen to appear. In the launch screen, navigate to and tap any one of the ‘Add Photo’ or ‘Add Folder’ buttons at the top left corner to import either a single media file, or an entire media folder to the program’s editing workspace.

Instead of using the ‘Add Folder’ option at the top left, you can also select multiple files by pressing and holding the ‘Ctrl’ key son your system’s keyboard and import them to the editor timeline, all at once. You can alternatively, click on the ‘Add Files to Start Your Photostory’ tab in the center of the software’s welcome screen to import the required media files.

Clicking on any of the aforesaid buttons or tabs will direct you to a ‘File Explorer’ window, where you can make the desired media selections. Your choices are however; filtered according to their respective file formats and only those in line with the formats supported by the Icecream Slideshow creator program are imported to the timeline.

Step 3: Configure the Presentation Settings

As soon as you finish the media import process, the editing workspace bifurcates to present the ‘Queue’ window at the left and ‘Preview and Settings’ window at the right side of the screen. This is the space where you can proceed to configure your presentation settings.

● File Sorting

To sort the arrangement of a media file, navigate to the ‘File Queue Panel’ at the left and click on the desired file, while using the ‘Arrow Keys’ at the right to change the latter’s position in the queue, or choose to delete it from the queue by tapping the ‘Recycle Bin’ icon beside the file.

● Duration and Transition Adjustments

Proceeding further, you can try hands at customizing the duration and transition effects for each of the added media files within the queue. All you need to do is, navigate to and click on the respective tabs within the window. Hit the ‘Time’ button to adjust the screen time of the slides or click on the ‘Transitions’ tab to include suitable animation effects between successive slides for a smooth presentation flow.

You can even stick with a random transition effect to add to the slides, or choose to add no transition effect at all. The inbuilt slideshow player the right side of the editor workspace automatically plays the preview of the applied transition effects. The ‘Transition’ and ‘Time’ settings are the sole customizations that you can apply individually to the slides, the rest of the effects being universally applicable to all the presentation slides together.

If you are interested to apply a particular transition and play duration to all the slides, navigate to and click within the gray bar at the bottom of the file queue to apply the same transition and time characteristics to all the slides of the presentation. You can even opt to delete all the added media files at the same time by tapping the ‘Clear List’ button.

● Media Resolution

Working with the Icecream slideshow creator program, you are allowed to adjust the output resolution of your slideshow in the preview window at the right side of the editor timeline. The resolution range lies between 640 x 480 to 1600 x 1200 pixels. Moving further, you can set common play duration for all the transition effects within different slides of the presentation that you have included within the queue.

● Aspect Ratio

You can choose to either keep the actual aspect ratio of the media files or customize the same to fit into the screen size. To go with the former choice, click within the ‘Scale to Fit’ checkbox. In case you wish to stick to the latter option, click inside the ‘Original Ratio’ checkbox. To learn more about working with any of the aforesaid settings, navigate to and click on the ‘Question Mark’ icon alongside each setting.

● Audio Settings

To add upbeat background music to your presentation, navigate to and tap the ‘Add Audio’ button at the bottom left corner of the ‘Preview’ window. You can choose a desired audio track from your system and use the same as the background sound of the slideshow.

You are additionally, permitted to configure the added music track in line with your specific preferences using the ‘Fade’ and ‘Offset’ settings at the right side of the selected music file. To play the audio track immediately with a time shift, choose to set a negative offset value. Likewise, enter a positive offset value to start playing the track after the lapse of a specified time period.

When you are done with adjusting all the settings and adding the desired effects, proceed to watch a preview of the same in the right side ‘Preview Pane’ of the editor workspace and move ahead with creating the slideshow presentation.

Step 4: Create Your Slideshow

If the slideshow preview ensures that everything is at the right place, navigate to the bottom right corner of the editing timeline and click on the ‘Create’ button start building your presentation. You can tap on the ‘Pause/Resume’ and ‘Cancel’ buttons at the bottom of the screen at any time throughout the project creation process. A pop up window will notify you the completion of the design process, while asking you to click on the ‘Open Folder’ button to view your creation in the latter’s destination folder.

Part 3 How Do You Add Music to an Icecream Slideshow?

Supplementing your slideshow presentations with appealing background music adds that extra spark to your creation, while making them stand out of the crowd. A cohesive audio works to create a perfect sync between the contents and mood of your presentation. Having said that, let us look through the process to add suitable background music to your Icecream slideshow in the following section:

User’s Guide for Adding Music to an Icecream Slideshow

Step 1: Download and Install the Program

Navigate to the home website of the Icecream Slideshow maker program to initiate a free download of the software into your system and proceed to install the same to start the slideshow creation process.

Icecream Slideshow Maker Official Download Link:

https://icecreamapps.com/Download-Slideshow-Maker/

Step 2: Import Media Files

Begin with importing the selected media files to the editor workspace of the program in either of the following ways:

● Add the images directly from your system to the editor timeline through the conventional ‘Drag and Drop’ method.

● Navigate to and hit the ‘Add Photo’ button at the top left corner of the program’s main workspace to browse for the media files in the ‘Windows Explorer’.

● Click on the ‘Add Folder’ button to import all the media files within a selected folder.

Step 3: Sort the Imported Files

Once you are done with importing all the media files, you can see them appear within the ‘File Queue’ at the left window of the slideshow creator program. Use the ‘Up/Down’ arrow keys to sort the media files in your preferred order, for example, arranging them according to their specific file names. The file sorting options are available at the right side of the ‘File Queue’.

Step 4: Include Text Customizations

Navigate to the ‘Text Column’ of the ‘File Queue’ and tap the ‘Add Text’ button to include text annotations within each slide of your presentation. A ‘Text Panel’ will pop up, where you can choose to add color, position and font customizations to the included text, followed by previewing the effect on every slide within the ‘Text Panel’ itself.

Step 5: Add a Desired Background Music

The Icecream Slideshow maker pro allows you to include a background music track within your presentation. For working towards the inclusion process, you will have to import the desired audio files to the program’s editor timeline. The software works well with the WAV, WMA, FLAC, M4A, MP3 and OGG audio file formats. Navigate to and hit the ‘Add Audio’ button in the editor workspace to ‘Drag and Drop’ the desired music files within the software’s timeline.

There is an option to create a playlist of the selected audio tracks, along with dragging the files to set them in a preferred sequence within the playlist. You are also granted the liberty to try hands at looping the audio playback and uplift the tracks with fade and offset effects within the playlist pane.

Step 6: Tweak Some Extra Settings

If you are keen towards making your presentation more impressive, try experimenting with including transition effects within the slides. Though the Icecream slideshow maker full version supports the application of default random transitions, you are allowed to add and customize the same as per your will, both, separately for each slide, as well as to the entre presentation as a whole.

You can even choose to add no transition effect at all, or set the same transition value for all the media files within the queue, by navigating to and clicking on the ‘Common Image Settings in the ’File Queue’ window.

Step 7: Output Resolution

Set a preferable output resolution to generate a premium quality slideshow presentation. To do this, navigate to the bottom left corner of the ‘Preview’ window at the right side of the editor workspace and choose a desired resolution for the slideshow from a range of values, such as, 1280 x 1024, 2560 x 1440, 1920 x 1080, etc., in the ‘Resolution’ tab.

Step 8: Format Selection

The next thing you need to do is, select a convenient output file format for your presentation. You can pick anyone from the available AVI, WebM, MP4, MOV file formats. To make your choice, navigate to the bottom of the ‘File Queue’ window at the left and click on the ‘File Format’ dropdown arrow at the right. A list of the output formats supported by the program appears next, and you are free to pick the one you like.

Step 9: Create Your Icecream Slideshow

When you have finalized all the arrangements and settings, navigate to and hit the ‘Preview’ button at the bottom right corner of the ‘Preview’ window to initiate a mock run of your slideshow in the software’s inbuilt slideshow player. If everything seems fine, proceed to start the slideshow creation process by clicking on the ‘Create’ button.

The process may require you to wait for a few moments before the final presentation output is generated. Nonetheless, you can always keep a track of the creation process through the elapsed and remaining duration in the ‘Progress Bar’ at the bottom of the program’s editing workspace. A completion prompt will pop up as soon as the slideshow is ready.

Creating Music Slideshows in Filmora

When searching for an Icecream slideshow maker alternative to craft your slideshow presentations, you can move ahead with picking the Wondershare Filmora Video Editor slideshow creator program for high end and professional quality results. While the aforementioned software is an all in one package for almost any of your most diverse editing needs, music slideshows are a specialty of the same on account of the following reasons:

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

● Within by the Filmora slideshow creator program.

● Working on your music presentation in the software, you are allowed to cut and trim the music files automatically as well as manually to ward off undesired portions from the included audio.

● You can pick the most suitable soundtrack from the hundreds of choices available within Filmora’s preset audio library and uplift them with a variety of audio effects.

● Using the software, you can proceed with recording your voiceover, followed by applying fade in and fade out effects to the same.

● The software allows you to design professional slideshows for personal media sharing across various platforms, along with catering to product marketing needs and company business concerns.

● Ending Thoughts →

● Icecream slideshow maker review claims that the latter is an effective slideshow creator and graphic editor program.

● Working with the program, you can easily create high quality photo, video and music slideshow presentations in a quick time span.

● Mentioning about the alternatives to the aforesaid program, you can comfortably choose the Wondershare Filmora slideshow maker software to address the concern.