4 Windows video editing apps that work on Linux
There are many video editing tools on Linux; however, they’re not for everyone. If you’re a recent Windows user who has switched to Linux and you find yourself dissatisfied by the editing tools that it has to offer, we’ve got you covered! Here are 4 Windows video editing tools that you can get working on Linux!
1. Adobe Premiere/After Effects Creative Cloud
It’s safe to say that when it comes to video editing, most people are using Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects. Not hard to see why, considering it works on both PC and Mac, has tons of advanced video production features, and is the standard for most creative types in the professional video creating space.
Unfortunately, Linux is left out, and Adobe has no interest porting Premiere/After Effects or the rest of their suite of software to the platform. Luckily, this doesn’t matter much as it’s possible to run the Adobe Creative Cloud suite on Linux through Wine thanks to the PlayOnLinux tool, Wine and some creative programming.
Getting Creative Cloud working on Linux
To learn how to set up Adobe Premiere and the rest of the Creative Cloud software suite on your Linux distribution, check out our guide on the subject. In it, we walk you through the step-by-step process of installation, and setup.
Please keep in mind that the PlayOnLinux method of getting Adobe Creative Cloud (and by extension Adobe Premiere) working is touchy. In our testing, we confirmed it works, but the outcome may be different for you depending on the Linux operating system you are using, the hardware you have on your PC, etc.
2. Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13
While Adobe Premiere is becoming the standard video editor for many on Windows, not everyone agrees. Some people despise Adobe’s take on video production tools and would much use an alternative. The leading alternative (at least one of them) is Sony Vegas. It’s a non-linear video editing tool for Windows that many professionals like to use because it offers a friendly, streamlined interface, tons of great post-production features, special effects, plugins, and more.
If you’ve recently switched to Linux from Microsoft Windows and regularly use Sony Vegas, you’ll be happy to know that, according to WineHQ.org, it is possible to install and use the Sony Vegas video editing program on Linux. To be clear, version 13 — one of the last releases done by Sony before selling the Vegas suite of software to MAGIX runs fine on Linux. The same can’t be said about newer versions of the app, so if you have to have this editor on Linux, your best bet is to go with this one.
Getting Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13 working on Linux
To get the Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13 app working on Linux, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Disclaimer: please understand that Wine is touchy software. In our testing the process of getting Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 13 working was successful. This process may not work for you!
Step 2: Load up the installation files for Sony Vegas 13 onto your Linux PC, and keep your registration information within reach.
Step 3: Launch a terminal window and set up a WINEPREFIX for Sony Vegas to run in.
WINEPREFIX=~/.moviestudio13 winecfg
Step 4: Next, use the Winetricks tool to install everything that Sony Vegas needs to run correctly in Wine on Linux.
WINEPREFIX=~/.moviestudio13 winetricks dotnet40 msxml3 corefonts fontfix
Step 5: Through the Linux terminal, run the installation EXE. The installer must launch via the command-line, as the WINEPREFIX needs to be specified.
WINEPREFIX=~/.moviestudio13 wine ~/path/to/installer.exe
Go through the process of registering your product. Then, run it with:
WINEPREFIX=~/.moviestudio13/wine ~/.moviestudio13/drive_c/Program\ Files/Sony/Movie\ Studio\ Platinum\ 13.0/MovieStudioPlatinum130.exe
3. Videopad
Videopad is a video editing tool for Windows by NCH software. It’s a basic editor that is easy to use and comes with a lot of useful features such as video transitions, special effect options, website-specific exporting options, etc. While it’s not the best editing tool of all time on Windows, many like to use it because of the easy to understand interface.
While it’s not hard to find a good, open source video editor on Linux that is easy to use (Shotcut and OpenShot come to mind), Videopad is still worth checking out if you’re not a fan of the simple editors that are native to the Linux platform.
Getting Videopad working on Linux
Videopad is much easier to get working than some of the other video editing tools on this list. It doesn’t require any special tweaks or anything like that. So long as you have at least version 3.0 of Wine, it’ll work.
To get Videopad working on your Linux PC, install Wine. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Head over to NCH Software’s Videopad page. Scroll down, look for “get it free” and click the download button to download the free version of the app.
Step 2: Open up the Linux file manager, click on “Downloads” and load up your downloads folder. Then, double-click on vpsetup.exe to open up the installer in Wine.
Step 3: Go through the installation process like you would on windows. When done, open up Videopad by searching for it in the application menu on Linux.
4. VirtualDub2
VirtualDub2 is a continuation of the famous, video editing tool known as VirtualDub. It’s a powerful video editing/video capture tool designed for fast, linear editing operations, and can handle a large number of video files at a time.
The software lacks some of the modern features that programs like Premiere and Vegas have. However, if you need to do some quick video editing and capture, this tool is up for the job.
VirtualDub2 is open source, and the code is available on GitHub however they don’t seem to have any interest in supporting Linux. Despite this fact, it works amazingly in Windows via the Wine runtime.
Getting VirtualDub2 working on Linux
Using VirtualDub2 on Linux is quite simple, as the program plays very nicely with Wine. To get it going, set up Wine. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Go to the official website, click “Documentation & downloads.” Clicking on the download link will take you to the VirtualDub2 SourceForge page.
Step 2: On the VirtualDub2 SourceForge page, click the green download button.
Step 3: When the VirtualDub2 Zip file is done downloading, open up the Linux file manager and click on the “Downloads” folder. Then, locate the Zip archive, right-click on it and extract it.
Step 4: Click on the extracted VirtualDub2 folder. Then, double-click on VirtualDub.exe to open the program up in Wine to use it.
Conclusion
There are a lot of good open source video editors on the Linux platform. With that said, the programs aren’t perfect, and many users new to the operating system find them lacking. It’s so great that there are some Windows video editing tools out there (such as the ones on this list) that work on Linux and can fill the void until things get better!
