Clipchamp

Windows 11 includes a free and surprisingly full-featured video editor called Clipchamp that should meet the needs of just about anyone.
Get to know Clipchamp
When you first launch Clipchamp, the app displays a Getting started view that lets you create a new video project from scratch or using AI, browse the available project templates, and access existing video projects.

The templates and AI-created video options can be useful, but this chapter focuses on the more traditional use case, where you use Clipchamp's excellent video editor to import media, place it on a timeline, edit it, and then export it as a finished video.

To navigate to this editor and create a new video project, click "Create a new video."

The video editor is described in the next section.
Understand the Clipchamp video editor
Those familiar with video editing will find the Clipchamp video editor immediately familiar, as it offers all of the expected controls and capabilities. But those unfamiliar with this process may find Clipchamp to be a bit intimidating.

Don't be put off by this somewhat busy app: Clipchamp offers a lot of functionality, but it's pretty straightforward and has a reasonably easy learning curve. So let's get started with a quick tour of the various user interfaces you see here.

Toolbar. On the left, you will see the Clipchamp toolbar, a vertical stack of icons that expands into a wider panel when you select an icon. This is where you can access the media (video, image, and audio files) associated with the project, plus the titles and other text, graphics, and transitions you may wish to add to your video.

The Clipchamp toolbar, like the Timeline and Property panel interfaces described below toggles between collapsed and expanded views. You can toggle these views by clicking any icon in the toolbar or its little grab handle. You can also resize the expanded panel view to make it bigger or smaller.

Video preview. The editor's video preview is prominently displayed in the center top of the app, letting you preview your video as you edit it. This preview has obvious playback controls, a full-screen toggle, and, less obviously, a set of additional controls that appear in a floating toolbar when you select the video preview.

Timeline. Located at the bottom of the video editor, the timeline is where the magic happens. This is where you will drag, arrange, and edit clips into a finished video that can include music and sound effects, titles and other text, transitions, filters, effects, and more.

Property panel. Located on the right, the Clipchamp property panel is a vertical stack of icons that expands into a wider panel when you select an icon, just like the toolbar. But these are things you typically apply to one or more clips in the timeline, like audio levels, audio and video fades, filters, effects, and so on.

Project name. By default, your first project is given the inelegant and unhelpful name Unti...