Clipchamp's free plan now allows you to save 1080p videos
Windows 11 Build 22572, which was released a few weeks ago, brought a couple of new stock apps to the operating system. One of these was Clipchamp, an app for a web-based video editing service that Microsoft acquired in 2021.
Many users, including Martin and I, criticized its inclusion, not just because it is bloatware, but because of its limitations. The free version of the app would only let you save videos in 480p SD resolution, which is atrocious in today's day and age, where people shoot 1080p, 2K and 4K videos with their smartphone cameras.
Clipchamp also had another restriction in that it would place a watermark on saved videos. The only way to remove these limitations was to subscribe to a premium plan that costs over $150 a year.
That has changed, after listening to feedback from users, Microsoft has modified the free tier of the service. As reported by Windows Central, Clipchamp now supports 1080p video exports for free.
Clipchamp's free plan allows you to save unlimited videos in Full HD resolution. You can use your own videos, images and sounds. The video editor also supports screen recording and webcam recording, if you want to capture content from said resources. The app has basic editing tools, a limited selection of free backgrounds, stock images, music, videos templates for slideshows, etc. You can save the exported videos to your computer, or upload it to social sites such as YouTube, TikTok directly. And there are no watermarks in the videos that you save, so that is not bad at all.
Note: The official site says that a video that contains a Pro feature will still have a watermark. I recorded a few videos, they don't have any watermarks. So I think it refers to the optional content that you can choose to add to the videos.
Coming to the cons, Clipchamp requires an account to use its services. The free plan does not offer premium content such as additional templates, audio, videos and images, brand kits (logos, fonts, colors). Those aren't exactly things that an average user would be interested in, at least for editing videos occasionally or for sharing on social media sites. There is no cloud storage in the free tier either, but since it lets you save it to your computer, it isn't a deal-breaker either.
The odd thing is that Clipchamp does let you save the videos to cloud storage services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, for free, when you export the video. It just won't sync the data between the cloud and your device, unless you opt for one of the premium tiers.
Speaking of which, Clipchamp's premium plans has some bonuses. Here is a comparison chart that highlights the differences between the various plans.
Though it still cannot compare to offline tools like DaVinci Resolve, OpenShot, Kdenlive and OBS, I think Clipchamp is an acceptable option for editing videos, and is probably more user-friendly than the rest. Even the built-in Video Editor in Windows 10 and 11's Photos app is pretty neat. Clipchamp's biggest drawback is that it cannot be used offline, but I don't think that will change. It has even been compared as the next Movie Maker by many tech enthusiasts.
You can download the Clipchamp app for free from the Microsoft Store.
Now that the free plan offers 1080p video exports, do you think Clipchamp is a good video editor?
I wouldn’t use this even if it was completely free. We need to stop encouraging terrible web applications. Developers need to go back to proper frameworks for desktop applications.
I suggest using a real video editor like DaVinci Resolve or OpenShot and winget uninstall this fake Clipchamp video editor off your Windows install.
Agree, not everyone has blazing fast internet like in US. Davinci might be huge but I can use it without internet connection. Openshot is also decent alternative for people who only need simple editing.
While it’s a step in the right direction, ClipChamp is still lightyears behind similar web services that provide the more features for free. InVideo and Lumen5 are two examples. And their free features extend to stock images, stock video and stock music.
How is it a step in the right direction? Why does a video editor need an internet connection, let alone a subscription, to work; this in an era of increasingly powerful desktop class processors?
At this rate, I won’t be surprised if eventually they start separately bundling and charging for individual features on Windows.
Oh great!! I can make a video for free but I have to pay to use my own audio. I thought I was going to be able to “Create” a video with this suppsedly free video editor Microsoft is offering with Windows 11. Instead Ive been handed pieces of a puzzle that I can arrange however I like. Remember kindergarten???