Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Corel VideoStudio Pro

Last Updated on January 6, 2023

Corel Corporation is a Canadian software company specializing in graphics processing. They are best known for developing CorelDRAW, a vector graphics editor. They are also notable for purchasing and developing AfterShot Pro, PaintShop Pro, Painter, Video Studio, MindManager, and WordPerfect.

Corel has dabbled with Linux over the years. For example they produced Corel Linux, a Debian-based distribution which bundled Corel WordPerfect Office for Linux. While Corel effectively abandoned its Linux business in 2001 they are not completely Linux-phobic. For example, AfterShot Pro has an up to date Linux version albeit its proprietary software.

This series looks at the best free and open source alternatives to products offered by Corel.

Corel VideoStudio Pro (formerly Ulead VideoStudio) is a video editing software package that offers both storyboard and timeline-oriented editing. It’s only available for Windows and published under a proprietary license.

What are the best free and open source alternatives?

1. OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot Video Editor is designed to be an easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful video editor.

OpenShot can read and write most video and image formats. It comes with a powerful key frame animation framework, and it’s capable of an unlimited number of key frames and animation possibilities. There’s unlimited tracks/layers, over 400 video transitions with real-time previews, advanced timeline, frame accuracy, audio mixing and editing, and much more.

It doesn’t offer all the functionality compared to VideoStudio Pro. But for many of you, it offers a great alternative for video editing. And it’s under active development with new features being added.

2. Kdenlive

Kdenlive is another awesome open source video editor.

It offers all the essentials including multi-track video editing, it supports almost all audio and video formats directly, offers tons of effects and transitions, and much more.

3. Shotcut

Shotcut is another powerful cross-platform video editor. Like Kdenlive it’s based on the awesome FFmpeg libraries and therefore supports hundreds of audio and video formats.

We love the software’s interface and the program’s hardware support. There’s AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA hardware encoding, OpenGL GPU-based image processing, a wide range of capture devices are supported. There’s also multi-core parallel image processing.

All articles in this series:

Alternatives to Corel's Products
	AfterShot Pro is raw image processing software offering simple photo management, good workflow, and batch processing.
	CorelCAD is a computer-aided design application for 2D and 3D design which supports a variety of graphic formats including DWG, DXG, CDR, SHP, and others.
	CorelDRAW is vector-based designing software used to create logos, flexes, brochures, invitation cards, and any kind of vector designing.
	DVD Copy is simple-to-use software which allows you to copy DVDs, convert HD video, output to mobile devices, and more.
	MindManager is mind mapping software application. MindManager can be used to manage projects, organize information, and for brainstorming.
	MotionStudio 3D is a 3D titling, motion graphics and effects-in one complete package. Generate 3D graphics, titles and animated text
	Painter is a raster-based digital art software which is used for canvas painting and offers photo-art tools. Sketch, paint, and illustrate.
	PaintShop Pro is a raster and vector graphics editor. It features an interface for automating tasks with scripts written in Python.
	PDF Document Writer lets users convert documents, emails, images and other file types into a PDF for viewing and sharing.
	PDF Fusion is an all-in-one PDF creator that lets you assemble, edit and create PDFs.
	Pinnacle Studio is a full-featured, near-pro-level video editing application without a steep learning curve.
	VideoStudio MyDVD is DVD authoring software. Make your menus more meaningful and use the powerful tools within VideoStudio MyDVD.
	VideoStudio Pro is a video editing software package that offers both storyboard and timeline-oriented editing.
	WinDVD Pro allows you to play DVDs and Blu-rays. The player can also be used to play videos and audio/music files in other formats.
	WinZip is a file archiver and compressor with tools for system integration. The software also bundles an image manager and backup functionality.
	WordPerfect Office is an all-in-one office suite and word processing software. Document, spreadsheet, and presentation applications.