Movavi Video Editor Review – Everything You Need to Know

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Movavi Video Editor is quickly gaining attention in the graphic design and editing world. Offering a user-friendly interface with a rich selection of capabilities, Movavi promises to help people from all backgrounds create amazing video experiences.

The Movavi video editor first arrived on the market back in 2004 – the brainchild of a small start-up company full of employees with an eye for video production. As the business grow, the capabilities offered by Movavi increased too. The company even started partnering with brands like NVIDIA and Intel. Plus, they began offering new features alongside video editing too.

Today, we’re going to introduce you to the features of Movavi, and walk through the functionality step by step, so you can decide if this product is right for you.

What is Movavi Video Editor?

movavi video editor homepage

Let’s start with the basics. Movavi Video Editor is a user-friendly video-editing software designed to transform the way you work with video content. Intuitive enough for first-time users, but still packed with features, Movavi competes with other market leaders like Adobe Creative Cloud, or Filmora.

This video editing program was originally aimed at the casual video editing market, and although the features available have evolved over the years, it may still be missing too many professional features for the most advanced consumers.

Movavi has now moved through multiple versions of its software, available for both Mac and Windows users, and it has support for 14 different languages, giving it more global appeal. Here’s a quick insight into some of the things available with Movavi:

  • Intuitive user interface that’s easy for beginners
  • Media bin for full content storage
  • Cut, crop, and rotate videos frame-by-frame
  • Enhance videos with built-in effects and sound
  • Ready-made intros and keyframe animation
  • Plenty of built-in videos, backgrounds, music, and sounds
  • Smooth animation transitions for video segments
  • Stabilisation for shaky video footage
  • Chroma key to change the backgrounds in video clips
  • Lightning-fast rendering and file processing
  • Fast HD and full 4K videos
  • Extra content available through the Movavi Effects store

Movavi Video Editor Review: Ease of Use

The first thing you’re going to encounter with Movavi is its interface.

This is one of the things that makes the solution so compelling, because it’s similar to Adobe Premiere Elements and similar tools, but it’s also extremely straightforward for beginners. The storyboard style layout makes it easy to find the features you want to use without having to work through multiple tabs and windows.

As soon as you launch the Movavi video editor, you’ll find a simple and clean interface created to prevent beginners from feeling overwhelmed when faced with too many options. All the features are located strategically, to ensure that you can find them without a problem.

The timeline for editing your video is pretty standard, laid out at the bottom of the screen, where you can trim, drag, and shuffle clips to suit your needs. The editing tools are situated in two panels, with one vertically aligned to the left of the app, and one just above the timeline.

There’s a preview window that makes it easy to track what kind of edits you’re making in real-time. Unfortunately, there aren’t any gauges available for audio levels or meters that show you when your audio is peaking, and where it needs fixing. You’re going to have to rely a little more on your ears to find out where you’re having issues.

If you have more than one screen, you can split the software so you can see the tools and timelines on one screen, and the preview on the other.

If you’re running the program for the first time, it will launch a helpful guidance box that offers some directions on where to get started. This can be useful if you’re new to the experience. If you choose to read through the step-by-step guide available, you’ll find a walkthrough that tells you everything you need to know about making or editing your first video. The how-to section also includes guidance on things like how to restore old videos.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Importing

One of the first things you’ll need to do before you can edit videos with any tool online, is import your media. You can do this from your webcam, your phone system, and other environments. Movavi does make it quite easy to implement the media you want to use into your video files. It’s just like linking google drive and Apple cloud, you automatically add your files however you choose.

However, you don’t have any internal library to work from when you use this service. Instead, your files will immediately add themselves to your project timeline on the Movavi video suite when you import them. If you’re only working with a handful of files, this shouldn’t be an issue.

If you’re creating something more complicated, like a professional video with voiceover elements and animations, you may need to add files one by one as you need them, so you don’t have to sort through the mess in your timeline.

Of course, the importing experience isn’t all bad. The software is simple enough for youtubers who want to manage videos for their YouTube channel, or people hoping to create basic video content. There’s no lag, even when you’re adding HD video content to the timeline. Everything feels quite smooth and effective.

One good point is that you can use the camcorder function within the Movavi service, even in the trial version, so you can record directly within the program using a compatible device. This is a great way to get started if you want to start editing straight away.

On the downside, there are some issues with the screen capture function. The feature doesn’t actually exist within Movavi. Instead, you need to go and download it as part of the Movavi Video suite program, where you get a more powerful equalizer, converter, and effects options.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Editing

Movavi video editing gives you a range of capabilities to work with. As you look around the software, you’ll discover a range of options, including the ability to change your system so you’re working in various resolutions. You can edit all the way up to 4k.

Another point to note is that the editing process itself is very straightforward. You can move clips around in the timeline easily, just as you would with other popular software options like Final Cut Pro. You can also trim the in and out points in your video to specify what you want to snip out.

If you want to place pieces of the video elsewhere in the timeline, or apply a specific filter to one section, then you can do that too.

As mentioned above, the tools available for editing are easy to access and find, with the handy toolbar above the timeline to guide you. The main interface is going to feel straightforward and simple to anyone who’s used TechSmith Camtasia or Wondershare Filmora in the past. However, if you’ve never used anything similar before, you shouldn’t have too much trouble either.

This program clearly isn’t intended for the most complex professional usage – so keep that in mind when you start adding effects. That’s not to say you don’t have any effect options, however.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Effects

movavi video editor effects

Movavi video editor comes with a range of handy effects, transitions, and filters that you can use to take your video projects to the next level. Similar to some of the other video editing programs on the market, you can preview how certain effects and transitions will look on your video by clicking the icon included. When you’re ready to apply the effect, just drag it down to the part of the timeline where you want it to be.

There’s a handy collection of effect options in the call-out area which allow you to highlight specific parts of footage. This can allow you to add things like circles and arrows that point out the clips that you want to pull the most attention to.

For those who just want to have a little fun with their videos, there are various options to add stickers and clip art to the footage. You can also use the text tool to add various forms of captions and other important text into the mix. All of the essentials of text editing are there in terms of size, color, and font style too.

Similar to most video editing programs, adding your effects is easy enough. You just drag and place the text within the preview window, and automatically generate a layer for the text.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Extra Editing Tools

Compared to some of the other video editing solutions out there, Movavi is a little basic. This does mean that you’re less likely to rely on tutorials to figure out how to use the service. However, it also means that you don’t get as many special effects as you do elsewhere.

Fortunately, there are some extra components to Movavi that make it more appealing. You can overlay various filters, experiment with slow motion, and even adjust stabilization levels too. There’s a chroma keying feature, which is common among the best video editors, and you get an impressive range of tools for editing the audio of your video too.

You can record voiceovers within the program, and experiment with different tools and presets to see what they do to your content. There’s plenty of fun functionality to experiment with here, including noise cancellation which could assist in reducing some of the distracting background noise in your .mov media files.

You might even decide to experiment with things like the built-in montage wizard or start experimenting with sideshows within your video content. The slideshow wizard is a fun extra feature that assists with the creation of animated slideshow content. You can do this in the full-feature mode, and all it takes is a couple of clicks to get started.

You can import as many photos as you like the slideshow function and choose from various transitions to appear between slides. There’s support for music when you want to add more atmosphere to your content too.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Sharing

Simple exporting functionality is important for any video editor. When you’re experimenting with video, you need to be able to export your content in any .mov or .avi file, so that you can upload or share it with the channels you use. The video editing software from Movavi comes with a handy option to share your videos directly to YouTube.

It’s easy to sign into your account with a couple of clicks. You can also simply click the big export button in the software to determine how you want to access your file. You’ll also get a reminder when you hit the export button of your limitations if you haven’t upgraded to the full version yet.

There are a few options within the export page which allow you to change the bitrate and address other technical settings. You can also upload your content directly to your website, or social media, if you want to share your videos online.

Movavi Video Editor Review: Pricing

movavi video editor pricing

Movavi offers a seven-day trial for beginners, but if you want to access the full functionality of the service, then you’re going to need to download a full Microsoft Windows version, or a professional version of the software. The price of video editing tools can make the difference between investing in tools like AMD and Vimeo or choosing a slightly less feature-rich option like Movavi.

When you upgrade to the paid version of the software, you can choose between a personal lifetime version of the product for $59.95 including VAT, or a Business lifetime service for $159.85 including VAT. Both packages come with an activation code to support the use of the software on a single device. It’s also worth noting that there are various additional software solutions you can purchase from the Movavi store.

The company offers everything from screen recording solutions to a full video suite. The video suite comes with many of the features included in the video editor, including conversion options, slideshows, and recording for your screen.

It is worth keeping an eye out for special deals and offers available from the company, because Movavi’s video editing solution is frequently on sale.

Movavi Video Editor Plus Review: Customer Service

Before you purchase Movavi Video Editor Plus, you need to know if you can trust the company to provide the right service and support. While other editors make it tough to find support unless you turn to the community, Movavi is quite effective at ensuring you get the assistance and guidance you need. You can chat live with a rep on the website, and access guidance on how to receive a refund.

It’s also worth noting that you can find plenty of guidance within the editor and on the website itself. If you need to learn how to apply a watermark to a video, or you want insights into the slideshow functionality, you can find quite a few tutorials to take you through the process yourself. That’s not to mention all the helpful content created by Movavi users.

Movavi Video Editor Plus Review: Verdict

So, taking into account all of the information we’ve covered here about Movavi video editor, what do you think? Do you know whether it’s a good idea to download this software? Well, Movavi does have quite a lot of great functionality to offer for a reasonably low price tag. It’s safe to use, even though it’s not free, and there are various ways to edit and enhance your video with this solution if you’re willing to spend some time playing around.

However, Movavi is a video editor intended for a very specific kind of customer. If you’re the kind of person who loves shooting videos with your smartphone, but you never know how to edit your content, Movavi could be for you. It can help with things like filming in settings that are too light or dark, and assist with stuff like using the wrong settings or filters. You can remove camera shakiness, and adjust the content you create to make it more appealing.

However, if you’re a professional video editor creating movies as part of your career, then you might not get the right degree of functionality from Movavi. This is a pretty basic solution overall, and there are plenty of examples of times where you may need to seek out extra functionality elsewhere.

Your best bet is to start by using the free trial of the software to see what you think. Once you’ve put the features to the test, then you can start thinking about the possibility of an upgrade.

Rebekah Carter

Rebekah Carter is an experienced content creator, news reporter, and blogger specializing in marketing, business development, and technology. Her expertise covers everything from artificial intelligence to email marketing software and extended reality devices. When she’s not writing, Rebekah spends most of her time reading, exploring the great outdoors, and gaming.

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