Wondershare Filmora Review
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Filmora Video Editor
Effectiveness: Lots of features found in professional-level programs
Price: Affordable at $49.99/year or $79.99 lifetime
Ease of Use: Excellent interface that makes complex tasks simple
Support: Not enough tech support documentation
Summary
The excellent video editing program Filmora strikes a balance between cost-effectiveness and robust capabilities. In addition to HD and 4K video editing and output, it supports all current video formats. It's still a great editor that is ideal for producing high-quality internet films, despite some limitations with its social media integration possibilities. Although it isn't a professional editing program, most novice and intermediate videographers who want to make shareable videos quickly and easily will be pleased with the results.
What I Like: User interface that is clear and simple. 4K video assistance Integrated screen recording. uploading to social media or YouTube. GPU acceleration is an option for quick encoding.
What I Like: User interface that is clear and simple. 4K video assistance Integrated screen recording. uploading to social media or YouTube. GPU acceleration is an option for quick encoding.
What I Don’t Like: Social media import is buggy. The cost of add-on content packs is high. Amplification is not supported for the newest GPUs. Standalone programs have some features.
What is Filmora?It is a straightforward yet effective video editor for Mac and PC that targets the enthusiast and consumer sectors. It's ideal for a variety of straightforward tasks, like making viral films for social media sites, editing action camera footage, and producing training videos.
Is Filmora any good?
Although you certainly wouldn't want to use it to edit a full-length film, it's surprisingly efficient for short video editing given its budget point and has a solid mix of user-friendly tools.
The application has been around for a long time; the most recent release brought it to version 11. After version 5.1.1, it was renamed Filmora from Wondershare Video Editor, under which it was first made available. Due to its vast history, Wondershare has been able to virtually eliminate all defects and user experience problems; nevertheless, some of the more recent features still require improvement before being completely dependable.
Is Filmora safe for PC?
The installer file and executable file of the application both pass Malwarebytes AntiMalware and Microsoft Security Essentials virus and malware scans, indicating that the product is completely safe to use. The Mac version cleared Drive Genius's scans as well.
To guarantee that you are getting the most recent and reliable version of the software currently available, the installer application accessible from the official website establishes a direct connection to their servers. There is no effort to install any unwanted adware, add-ons, or other third-party software during the quick and easy installation procedure.
Is Filmora free?
A Filmora banner is watermarked across the bottom third of exported videos. Filmora is a paid piece of software, but it offers a fully functional free trial.
How much does Filmora cost?
The two primary purchasing choices are a one-year license that needs to be renewed for perennial $49.99 and a lifetime license that may be purchased for a single payment of $79.99. These licenses are only good for one computer, while there are sliding-scale options for multi-seat licensing depending on how many copies you want to use simultaneously.
If you have already bought the software but have lost your license key or are reinstalling it on a different computer, you can get it back by selecting "Retrieve Registration Code" from the "Register" menu at the top. You can then access the assistance section of the Wondershare website by entering the email address that was used to purchase the item. Then, your registration number will be emailed to you, where you can input it to regain complete access to the software.
How do I remove the Filmora watermark?
It is really simple to remove the watermark from exported videos, and all you need to do is buy a license key for the software. You can accomplish this in several ways from within the application, including using the glaring red "Register" menu option in the toolbar and the "Unregistered" link in the bottom right corner.
After completing registration, all you need to do to remove the watermark from any future exported videos is input your license code.
Why Trust Me for This Filmora Review
Hello, my name is Talal, and I'm an engineer who loves to write about and explain how things operate. I have spent more than ten years researching, developing, and utilizing diverse computer hardware and applications.
A well-designed, high-quality program is easy for me to spot because I have a lot of experience working with all different kinds of PC software, from little open-source apps to large industry-standard software suites. I did several tests on Wondershare Filmora to examine its selection of video editing and exporting options, and I captured all of the outcomes in the screenshots you'll see throughout this review.
Wondershare has not provided me with any payment or other consideration in exchange for writing this review of Filmora, and they have not contributed in any way to the editorial or content decisions.
As you can see from the open ticket I sent following a difficulty I encountered throughout the review process, I also called the Wondershare support team to verify their responsiveness to bug reports and other technical concerns.
A Detailed Review of Filmora
The software includes a wide variety of capabilities, and because we don't have the space to discuss them all, we'll concentrate on the key elements that make it worthwhile while also pointing out a few potential drawbacks.
JP tested the Mac version at the same time I did and added some comparative screenshots to highlight the UI differences. I used screenshots from the Windows version for my article. Additionally, he will point out any features that differ between the two systems.
Editing Interface
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
One of its most appealing qualities is the ease with which its user interface can be used. The timeline, which occupies the majority of the bottom half of the screen, is where you'll spend most of your time managing the various video clips, pictures, overlays, and audio tracks that will eventually make up your movie. Its straightforward drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to swiftly arrange, trim, and edit your different media pieces and simplifies the process of creating your video.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Double-clicking on an element in the timeline that you want to alter will give you quick access to more complex editing options and display several of the item's adjustable aspects.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
The "Advanced" button will then let you make even more edits to some media types. Once you've delved this deeply into the editing functions, the UI can occasionally become a little confused, but that's only because there are so many options, not because it's been poorly designed.
The track manager, which is where you add or removes songs from your video timeline, is the one area of the UI where there are a few minor but unexpected drawbacks. It's a strange design decision because adding or removing tracks doesn't work by right-clicking on them; instead, you click "Add New Track" and choose the number of text and audio tracks you want. It's not a big deal, but you'll be disappointed to hear that Filmora only allows you to utilize three of each type of track to help organize the many components in your movie.
Finally, since you can't rename your tracks, it can be challenging to distinguish between a variety of related media assets and discover the one you want to change. When working on a straightforward video, like the one I created for this Filmora review, it's not a problem, but on a bigger project, it would be far too simple to get lost in the timeline.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Media Importing
Countless file types are supported by Filmora as media sources, and importing data from your hard drive into the Filmora media library is a breeze. Sadly, when you employ the alternative techniques of importing media, the software encounters issues. You should be able to quickly and easily import your existing movies and photographs into the application by doing so from social network accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, but as you can see in the screenshots below, the process was too buggy for me to use past the sign-in stage.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Filmora finally started getting my media from Facebook; however, it collapsed as soon as it started making the list of thumbnails. Instagram and Flickr media imports never progressed past the above level. My account may be the cause of this, but I can't be sure because the only information on the crash was discovered in extremely technical log files.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
The only solution in this situation is to submit a support ticket to the business and wait for a response after searching the official website, which, even with some rigorous Google searching, failed to turn up any answers to this issue. After about 12 hours, they responded, but all they asked was that I provide them with the log data, a screenshot, and the latest version (which I was already using).
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Sadly, it appears that this flaw is not unique to Filmora for PC, as JP experienced a similar problem with his Macbook. The program allowed him to connect to Facebook, but it was only able to receive a list of his photos—not the thumbnail images that went along with them. Finding the appropriate photos and movies to import into Filmora becomes more or less impossible as a result, or at the very least, tedious and unpleasant. This feature requires a little more development before it becomes a dependable component of the product.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Screen Recording
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
This functionality will significantly increase productivity for those of you who create software tutorial videos on-screen. Instead of requiring you to utilize a different screen capture tool, Filmora provides a built-in screen recording feature with audio, mouse click tracking, and many quality options. Your recording process is made easier by the straight import of the finished file into your media library, where it can be immediately added to any project you're working on.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Video Effect Presets
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Some of the free preset elements offered by Filmora are quite outstanding. It comprises a variety of them. You may add a variety of filters, emojis, and other components to your movie with only a few clicks, in addition to titles, credits sequences, and lower third overlays. Although some presets simply let you change specific aspects of them, like the typefaces or the masking, many of them may be completely altered and saved for later use.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
If you're not happy with the presets that come with the software, you can use the program's direct link to the Filmora Effects Store to locate some new presets that will suit your needs better.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
This is a helpful tool, but even if they periodically provide some premium preset packs that are as much as $30, which is a bit of a lot for a product that only costs $60 initially, they are actually rather pricey.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Encoding and exporting
Digital video can be encoded in a wide variety of ways, and Filmora can do it for you practically universally. You can adjust the encoding format, bit rate, resolution, and audio formats to suit your needs, and you even get a useful estimate of the total file size so you won't be caught off guard when the encoding is finished. This will prevent you from spending hours encoding a 4K video that ends up being over the limit on social media platforms that have file size restrictions on submitted videos.
Despite the program's inability to support my graphics card, which prohibited me from using the extra GPU acceleration feature, the export procedure is simple to use and quite quick (source: Wondershare support). The majority of supported cards are now many years old, but if your computer is recent enough to have an unsupported card, it's likely fast enough to do video encoding without the GPU's assistance.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
The ability to export videos directly to YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook is one of Filmora's more practical export capabilities, which is another excellent productivity booster for aspiring viral video stars. Although the application is perfectly capable of producing HD and 4K videos, neither of which are compatible with DVDs, you can also burn DVDs directly from the program; however, there is no support for Blu-Ray discs.
Extra Editing Modes
Filmora offers a few more modes that you can choose from when the software launches if you're seeking a more streamlined editing procedure: Easy Mode, Instant Cutter, and Action Cam Tool. These are all pretty simple to use, and each one is created to perform a particular task.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Easy Mode is a very streamlined video maker designed for creating animated slide shows or quickly mixing many clips with music, overlays, and transitions between clips. Unfortunately, given how simple the primary application is to use, it's almost useless as an add-on. It's best to just work in Full Feature Mode because Easy Mode will perform all the work for you but almost surely mutilate your media in the process.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
The Action Cam Tool and Instant Cutter are much more beneficial; however, they ought to be included in the main application rather than operating separately. Individual video clips can be edited and combined using their specific speed settings, freeze frames, and image stabilization. Although these are fantastic features, there is no valid reason why their functionality cannot be included in Full Feature Mode, where you will perform the majority of your editing. Switching between the two can be tiresome and inconvenient.
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| Wondershare Filmora Review |
Reasons Behind My Ratings
Effectiveness: 4/5
Although Instant Cutter and the Action Cam Tool are far more beneficial, they ought to be merged into the main program rather than existing as separate applications. With personalized speed settings, freeze frames, and image stabilization, they let you edit and combine different video recordings. They're fantastic features, but there's no clear reason why their functionality can't be merged into Full Feature Mode, where you'll conduct the majority of your editing. Switching between them can be tedious and inconvenient.
Price: 4/5
Although it is reasonably priced, you'll probably want to invest in some of the add-on effects packs if you want to get the most out of the application. These are far more expensive, with some packs costing as much as $30, which is half the cost of the program. There are alternative video editors available on the market that are a little more expensive but offer a little more for your money.
Ease of Use: 5/5
This editing program excels the most in terms of simplicity of use. Few video editing tools manage to combine a robust feature set with a straightforward UI that doesn't necessitate a lengthy learning curve. If you're already experienced with other video editing programs, you can start generating your first movie within a few minutes of downloading and installing the program. Even if you aren't, there is excellent beginner training material on the Wondershare website, and the fundamentals are simple to understand.
Support: 3/5
Wondershare has been around for a while, so it's a little strange that there isn't any support information available on their website. The program's more fundamental capabilities are covered in some helpful lessons, but there are no user-to-user assistance forums, and the website's FAQ area doesn't offer many solutions. Confusion can arise since some of the help links within the application itself refer to earlier iterations of the program, making it challenging to find the correct solutions to your queries.
You can only open a help case with the developers and wait for a response if you find yourself in such a situation as I did when trying to set up social media imports. You might have to wait a bit for a response because of the support queue backlog, which I'm not sure how much of.