3.3. Online editing tools
Online editing tools are very numerous and have grown a lot in recent years. Let’s look at a few examples: YouTube Create offers a number of very interesting video composition tools, and, as we have seen before, Microsoft Clipchamp has an online option for editing videos, which can also be found by purchasing a Microsoft 365 licence.
The best online video editors offer a foundation of editing, mainly trimming, joining and applying titles and transitions. In addition, they provide templates, pre-defined videos and the ability to add background music, along with other audio controls. In many cases, however, advanced features such as chroma keying, motion tracking, 3D effects or advanced colour grading are not available. To do this, more comprehensive video editing software is still needed. When using an online video editing service, clips need to be uploaded, so a fast Internet connection is necessary.
Here are the most commonly used editors.
Adobe Express
This online video editing tool is a template-based design app that helps create still images and offers minimal video editing capabilities. Free accounts come with 2 GB of cloud storage, basic editing and thousands of design resources and templates.
Canva
Particularly suitable for users who need to create videos for promotional use and social media posting, especially for mobile vertical formats. Although it relies primarily on template-driven graphics creation, Canva also offers some video editing capabilities. The programme allows trimming, cropping, splitting, speeding up and resizing clips, but does not allow multi-track timeline editing, only thumbnails from the storyboard. Users receive 5 GB of free online storage and over half a million templates.
Flex Clip
Used especially for small businesses that want to create marketing videos for social media. You can start from a template or from scratch, and the interface allows you to use timeline or storyboard modes and vertical or horizontal proportions. The program contains all cropping, transition, text and overlay options, along with a decent selection of background audio sorted by mood. The free account is limited to 720p resolution, a maximum of 12 projects and a video length of 10 minutes, and has a FlexClip watermark.
Kapwing
Allows you to combine video clips, trim, split and add transitions, overlay text and images, generate subtitles and upload music. There is also access to stock video, photos and background music. Videos edited by free users are watermarked and limited to 7 minutes and 720p resolution.
Veed
Impressive video editor with multi-track timeline that features a clear and simple design, with high-quality pre-defined templates, very similar to the installed video editing software. The website provides speech-to-text conversion for automatic subtitles, effects filters, shape overlays, and ten transition styles, as well as image metrics for social networking. Free users get 720p watermarked video output of up to 10 minutes in length, but no limit on the number of projects.