Final Cut Pro (now Final Cut Pro X or FCPX) is a solid and professional video editing software that features a nitty interface and a pretty wide selection of toolsets, bringing Mac users lots of possibilities to create eye-catching videos. However, as a Mac-only app, it indeed excludes Windows users away.
This leaves a number of people on the hunt for some Final Cut Pro alternatives for windows. To save your time picking the right replacement without having to wade through a vast number of programs, we've created a round-up of the best 11 apps that can work as FCPX running on PC.
You can use it for translation, by bringing your Final Cut Pro (7 or 6) XML forward to Final Cut Pro X. Thus you can use Apple’s new professional editing tools to update or finish your older projects. The application is simple to use, with drag-and-drop support and progress information. You will receive also a detailed reporting after. These formats can be well compatible with Final Cut Pro X/7/6. H.264 and HEVC can preserve image quality with the smallest file size. Apple ProRes preserves the best image quality and provides better performance when editing in Final Cut Pro, but creates much larger files that use more storage space than H.264 and HEVC files use. Final Cut Pro 7 as a book in the series meets the requirements I have in an instruction guide. The exercises build the readers knowledge chapter by chapter. After the basics are learned the book becomes a reference guide with a Q&A section and shortcut command key guide at the end of each chapter. The Final Cut: Directed by Omar Naim. With Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Mimi Kuzyk. Set in a world with memory recording implants, Alan Hakman is a cutter, someone with the power of final edit over people's recorded histories. So, I’ve rounded up seven tutorials that are definitely worth watching if you’re new to Final Cut Pro X — or just new to editing, in general. From Start to Finish. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. Videos you watch may be added to the TV's watch history and influence TV recommendations.
Before Getting into Final Cut Pro for Windows
To fast locate some of the best alternatives of Final Cut Pro for Windows, you should first figure out what features make Final Cut Pro superb. If a video editing program claims itself as the best alternatives to Final Cut Pro for Windows, but it doesn’t come with any of the good features that Final Cut Pro has, then surely it shouldn’t be your option.
- Fast Render: Render ProRes video at speed 2.7X faster thanks to the support of GPU acceleration and multithreading.
- Ease of Use: Mac apps are all about simple, so it is the same with Final Cut Pro.
- Magnetic Timeline: Enables newbies fast editing clips in seconds.
- Feature-rich: It can be used as a 'iMovie Plus' but get some serious horsepower.
- Quick Edits: 160+ title templates, 110+ filter/blurry effects, 28+ background/elements/textures, 1300+ copyright-free audio stock enables you to create amazing content without having to install third-party plugins.
- Social media friendly: there is a smart conform tool to automatically crop videos to different aspect ratio, making it time-saving to post on various platforms.
7 Free Alternatives to Final Cut Pro for Windows
Budget-conscious users? We've collected 7 of the best free or cheap Windows video editing software that can replace Final Cut Pro. But, before digging into deep, you should know, besides VideoProc, renowned for its fast response speed, the majority of affordable items lack stable support of 4K and have relatively slow processing speed.
As for editing features, some free apps have hardly any features missing compared to Final Cut Pro. However, many of them are difficult to learn. Anyway, let's step into the checklist ordered from the easiest to the hardest.
#1. Windows Movie Maker
- Difficulty: 2/10.
- Render Speed: 4/10.
- Free download Windows Movie Maker on Windows.
Windows Movie Maker is a discontinued video editor rolled out by Microsoft for early Windows. The editing options it offers are quite basic but a good starting point for beginners. With it, you can cut, split, rotate, filter, deshake video just like using Final Cut Pro. Windows Movie Maker also lets you polish videos with various transitions, animations, and filters.
It was no longer accessible from Microsoft's official site since 2017. But, anyway, some online archive sites still provide you with the WMM installer pack, and a few Windows XP/7 users are reported to be able to utilize it without much problem. Therefore, we cover Windows Movie Maker on this list.
Features:
- A clear interface with easily accessible editing toolkits.
- Lots of ready-made transitions/templates for slideshows.
- A basic timeline that supports videos, images, and texts.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
Cons:
- Phased out by Microsoft.
- Lack of good support for hardware acceleration.
- Laggy to cope with large HD and 4K videos.
- Out-of-date transitions and effects.
#2. VideoProc
- Difficulty: 1/10.
- Render Speed: 8/10.
VideoProc (coming soon) is possibly the easiest and fastest alternative to Final Cut Pro for Windows. It boasts almost all the nifty features that Final Cut Pro has, rich presets for quick edits (61 stunning transitions, tons of text animation/style effects, stylish particle effects and filters), social media friendly (one click to export video for TikTok, Instagram, and more.)…
Thanks to the clear and self-explained interface, whether you are making the basic edits like cut, trim, crop, picture in picture overlay, or the advanced edits like adding keyframes, animating objects, doing speed ramping, apply advanced color grading, editing to beat, you can get things down within a few simple clicks.
The fast response speed is another party piece that makes VideoProc a capable alternative for Final Cut Pro for Windows. Powered by level-3 GPU acceleration tech, VideoProc lets you process 4K footages without laggy even when running on less powerful machines.
Features:
- Straightforward UI. Easy to apply both the basic and the advanced edits.
- Adaptable FPS on the timeline, allowing you to cut, add music, or make whatever changes precisely.
- Fast take your creation to the next level with hundreds of filters, effects, transitions, text animation, 3D LUTs presets.
- Creative features. Dynamically change the video speed with Beziers, animate still images, or simulate the camera moves with motion presets and keyframes, and more.
- A wide range of import and output formats, including all Final Cut Pro compatible video/audio file formats.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- A multi-purpose video processing tool.
- Have a complete video toolkit.
- Support for level-3 hardware acceleration tech.
- Work with all recent windows and Mac operating systems.
Cons:
- NLE video editor is limited sometimes.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,7,8,8.1 (32-bit or 62-bit), macOS 10.6 or above; processor: 1 GHz; memory: 1GB of RAM.
#3. VSDC Free Video Editor
- Difficulty: 6/10.
- Render Speed: 4/10.
- Free Download VSDC Free Video Editor on Windows.
VSDC Free Video Editor, developed by Flash-Integro, LLC., is a free and multiple media editing software that serves as a primary alternative of Final Cut Pro on Windows. You can find most features given by Final Cut Pro on this free tool, excepting a few advanced toolkits, for instance, motion tracking. The 70+ transition templates and 36+ quick styles, 15 filters, and motion graphics templates offered by VSDC are very like what's given by Final Cut Pro, which is blazingly useful for users creating quick slideshows.
Features:
- Support of 360 degrees VR videos and 4K clips.
- Countless filters and eye-catching templates.
- Enable to add plug-ins, and allow multi-cam editing.
- Flexible chroma key.
Pros:
- Cover common use features given by Final Cut Pro.
- Low requirements on the running machine.
- Well-designed icons are friendly for beginners.
Cons:
- A lot of ads.
- The support for GPU acceleration is absent.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,2000,XP,2003,Vista,7,8 (32-bit or 64-bit); processor: 800MHz; memory: 128MB of RAM.
#4. VideoPad Video Editor [Free Version]
- Difficulty: 6/10.
- Render Speed: 5/10.
- Free Download VideoPad Video Editor on Windows or Mac.
VideoPad Video Editor, a part of the NCH suite released by NCH software, is a full-featured video editing program for both home and professional markets. The paid version costs you $34.99, but the free account is useful enough to cope with basic editing demands. By using this free alternative of Final Cut Pro for Windows, you'll be able to add animated titles, chroma-key effects, transitions, templates with your videos, and more. A thing you may don't like is: it lets you add two concurrent tracks at most.
Features:
- Add voice, picture, video, and subtitle overlays.
- Come with 50+ effects and transitions for making stunning videos in minutes.
- Correctly read 3D and video files.
- Record audio, add sound stocks and edit it with choral, distortion, and other effects.
Pros:
- Intuitive interface with no hidden menus.
- Instant share loved videos online.
Cons:
- Frequently crashes and many unfixed bugs.
- Not support plugins.
- The free version is not allowed for commercial use.
- Only allows you to export video in AVI and WMV formats.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,XP,Vista,7,8,8.1 (64 bit); Mac OS X 10.5 or above; processor: 1.5GHz; memory: 4GB of RAM.
#5. Shotcut
- Difficulty: 5/10.
- Render Speed: 6/10.
- Free Download Shotcut on Windows, PC and Mac.
Shotcut is a well-known open-source and cross-platform video editing software with the capability of editing Ultra-high-resolution 4K videos and processing audios in all common formats without costing you a dime. Thanks to the application of optimized media, you don't have to create proxy media while still being able to edit high-resolution clips without lags.
Features:
- Impart simple/3D text, lens correction, mosaic, 3D Luts, mirror, nervous effects on your recordings.
- Have versatile audio editing features with 25+ audio filters and other common utilities.
- Allow you to add keyframes to a few filters.
Pros:
- Cover advanced features including 360° video filters.
- Have a well-supported community.
Cons:
- No presets for export formats.
- The UI is difficult to get adapt to.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,XP,Vista,7,8,8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit), macOS X 10.10 and above, 64-bit Linux; processor: 2 GHz; memory: 4GB of RAM.
#6. Kdenlive
- Difficulty: 5/10.
- Render Speed: 5/10.
- Free Download Kdenlive on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Kdenlive is the second open-source item we put through on this list, and with a seemingly unlimited amount of editing options, it is definitely one of the best Final Cut Pro alternatives for Windows.
Features:
- No limits on the audio and video tracks so you can make multi-track video editing.
- Create animated 2D titles with or without using templates.
- Rich preset transition and templates for fast creating desired outcomes.
- Rotoscoping, keyframing and many advanced editing features are supported.
Pros:
- A large variety of video and audio editing features.
- Can correctly read and transcode the majority of multiple media.
Cons:
- Currently, it lacks the support of GPU acceleration.
- It frequently goes to crash on Windows.
The minimum system requirements: Recent 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, macOS, and Linux; processor: 2GHz Dual Core; memory: 1GB of RAM.
#7. DaVinci Resolve 16
- Difficulty: 7/10.
- Render Speed: 6/10.
- Free Download DaVinci Resolve 16 on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Where do we even begin? DaVinci Resolve packs with almost all features that Final Cut Pro has, ranging from the basic trimming/cutting to auto motion tracking, keyframing, and visual effects creating. For instance, it can detect faces that are shown on your videos to automatically create various bins for holding source clips with different people.
One of the most worth mentioning features of DaVinci Resolve is its node-based color correction toolsets including color wheels, curves, and Luts. The best thing is all of these nitty features are available for free.
Features:
- The dual timeline saves your time from zooming in/out the edits.
- Zoom in/out, speed change, audios, text, filters, and most effects support keyframe.
- Edit keyframes for ResolveFX and OpenFX plugins so you can create animations in a breeze.
- Unprecedented color correction toolsets with auto color balance and matching capability.
Pros:
- Extensive editing features for both video and audio.
- Enable 2D-based animation creating and compositing.
Cons:
- CPU and memory hog.
- A steep learning curve.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,8.1, macOS X 10.10.5 or above, Linux CentOS 6.6; processor: 4.5Ghz or higher; memory: 16GB of RAM.
4 Paid Editing Tools are Similar to Final Cut Pro on Windows 10
Below 4 fully-fledged NLE editing programs may make a serious hole in pockets for budget-conscious editors. But they are absolutely helpful for experts nail their desired aesthetic.
#8. Premiere Pro
- Difficulty: 8/10.
- Render Speed: 7/10.
Most of you who have ever heard about Premiere Pro know how jampacked, complicated, and buggy this app is. However, it is perhaps the nearest thing to Final Cut Pro on Windows. This industry-level movie making and editing program have the ability to automatically reframe your videos, create VR videos, adjust colors, track moving objects, animate the video effects, and etc. It also has pro-level audio editors which let you have full control over sound and background.
Features:
- Collaborate with motion graphics, special effects, and other media generated from Adobe series products.
- Make simple 2D-based animated motion graphics for titles, effects, transitions, etc.
- Automatically change the aspect ratio of the video to let viewers getting the best viewing experience on social media.
- The Support of GPU acceleration and multi-thread CPU processing delivery fast decoding and rendering speed.
Pros:
- Have all the bells and whistles to make breathtaking videos.
- Go compatible with a large number of formats.
Cons:
- High price tag: $20.99/month.
- Buggy as hells.
- Exceptionally difficult for beginners.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10 (64-bit), macOS 10.13 or above; processor: 2GHz; memory: 8GB of RAM.
#9. Sony Vegas Pro
- Difficulty: 7/10.
- Render Speed: 6/10.
Sony Vegas Pro, firstly released by Sonic Foundry and now by Magix, is a pro tool that goes compatible with recently Windows OS. The major plus that makes Sony Vegas Pro a good replacement of Final Cut Pro on PC is its capability to fast edit videos fast without sacrifice in quality or features. This benefits much from the adopted of the nested timelines, well-optimized menu system, and the availed Smart Split toolkit. In addition, Sony Vegas Pro lets you process and generate video in 8K resolution while you can still get real-time playback without having to render the clip first.
Features:
- Smart and fast edit your videos without compromise in quality.
- Impressive color grading features with curves, color wheels, and the support of import and export of Luts.
- Capable of creating eye-catching virtual effects with Open FX plug-ins.
- Also an all-in-one audio editing software.
Pros:
- Easy to use with countless features.
- Accept almost all video and audio formats.
Cons:
- Relatively slow export speed.
- The support of audio and video plugins is a little limited.
- Cost for new purchase: $599
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,7,8 (64-bit); processor: 2GHz; memory: 8GB of RAM.
#10. Edius Pro
- Difficulty: 6/10.
- Render Speed: 5/10.
Edius Pro, an industry-level alternative of Final Cut Pro for Windows. It is now optimized and maintained by Grass Valley, but initially was developed by Canopus Corporation. Just like all the mentioned 'heavy hitters' Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas Pro, Edius Pro has a very complicated interface. Edius Pro is fairly straightforward to use which is good for beginners, but practically is the compromise to in-depth editing features. For example, you can keyframe the color correction filter, but not for most of the other effects.
Features:
- Dynamically change the playback speed of a clip according to time.
- Enable the multicam editing with up to 16 camera angles.
- Switch between single and dual monitor edit layouts for easy editing.
- Cope with videos from various resolutions and formats smoothly.
Pros:
- Easy enough for beginners to create catching content.
- Work properly even on out-of-date machines.
Cons:
- Riddled with crashes and bugs.
- Lack of special visual effects and transitions.
- It takes $499 for the full version.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64-bit); processor: 3GHz; memory: 1GB of RAM.
#11. Avid Media Composer
- Difficulty: 8/10.
- Render Speed: 6/10.
Avid Media Composer is released by Avid Technology. It is one of the oldest senior video editing software on the market. It does a very good job of editing large projects with a bunch of clips from different formats, resolutions, and bitrate thanks to the robust multi-camera editing toolsets. Technically, it lets you synchronize up to 64 different angles smoothly without clutter.
With the support of the 32-bit floating-point pipeline and Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), Avid Media Composers can minimize the loss in color. Similar to Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer also lets you create cool visual effects and motion graphics with transitions, built-in VFX, and plugins.
Features:
- Easily find target clips by scene, script page, and dialogue.
- Smoothly edit and playback (HDR) videos that come with various resolutions including HD, UHD, and even 8K.
- Offer a number of tools and plugins for editing audios and creating desired sound effects.
Pros:
- Efficient to process vast projects.
Cons:
- A very complex interface.
- The subscibtion price is $23.99/month.
The minimum system requirements: Windows 10,7,8.1 (64-bit); processor: 2.33GHz; memory: 16GB of RAM.
How to get Final Cut Pro On Windows 10?
If you have to use Final Cut Pro on Windows, follow below steps carefully:
Step 1. Download and install macOS Catalina VMware or VirtualBox image on your Windows. You can get either of them. In our experience, VMware is more functional and has quite stable performance in Windows OS, but VirtualBox is more affordable.
Step 2. Install macOS Catalina on VMware or VirtualBox.
Depend on the chosen virtual machine, click the below links to find the tutorial and have MacOS Catalina installed on.
Step 3. Install Final Cut Pro on Windows 10.
Launch VMware or VirtualBox and switch on macOS.
Sign in and enter the App Store, there you search for Final Cut Pro. Click on the target result.
Note: new user needs to purchase the Final Cut Pro before installing.
How to Choose Your Favorite Final Cut Pro for Windows?
There is a great diversity of both free and paid alternatives for Final Cut Pro on Windows. To choose the right one, define your requirements, and needs matters most.
1. Make fast and simple edits.
The fast response speed is the major demand. Complicated editing effects aren't that necessary, but a few prebuilt and quick-apply transitions, filters, or effects are nice additions. VSDC Free Video Editor, Sony Vegas Pro, and VideoProc are your good picks.
2. Create a fascinating storytelling video.
You may need to spice up your videos with animations, catching visual effects, and a vast number of advanced effects. And these options can get acquired from Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Sony Vegas Pro.
3. Tight budget.
The free DaVinci Resolve, Kdenlive, or cheap programs like VideoProc are worthy to try.
4. Robust or weak PC build.
VideoProc and VSDC Free Video Editor run smoothly even on a long-in-the-tooth computer. Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and the majority of other NLE software need the most solid hardware and software system to get things to work.
FAQ
Final Cut 7 Transitions
Can we run Final Cut Pro on Windows?
Final Cut Pro is a Mac-based editing program that doesn't run on Windows OS.
What's the Windows 10 equivalent to Final Cut Pro?
Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve 16 on Windows 10 are equivalents to Final Cut Pro. They all gear towards professional editors and hobbyists. As for occasional users who need to make fast edits, VSDC Free Video Editor and VideoProc are easier replacements.
Final Cut 7 Compatibility
Is Final Cut Pro free?
The one-shot price of Final Cut is $299. So, no, it's not free. And we don't recommend you to use cracked version from third-party websites as it may cause security and infringement issues. BTW, Final Cut Pro extends the free trial period from the previous 30 days to 90 days this year.
Final Cut 7 Plugins
What laptops can run Final Cut Pro?
Final Cut 7 System Requirements
You should have a Mac with macOS 10.14.6 or later. It should be equipped with 4GB of RAM, 3.8GB of hard disk space, and a Metal-capable graphics card. These are the minimum requirements for editing common SD or HD videos. Suppose you are editing 4K or 360-degree videos, or render 3D titles, you have to upgrade the RAM to 8GB, and have 1GB of VRAM.