This article is part of our Creative, Design and Multimedia Software resource section.
Traditional video editors are notoriously sluggish, resource intensive apps. And for good reason, too! It takes a lot of computing power to render a video, and with resolution requirements getting higher and higher each year, it can be hard for the average office notebook or office desktop computer to keep up. For creators who also work with visual layouts, branding, and other graphic design elements, the demands on their hardware can be even greater.
While gaming computers and video editing workstations can help speed up the rendering process, the price of these machines can be incredibly prohibitive, especially with the recent chip shortage leading to graphic cards becoming twice or even three times as expensive, depending on where you live. Luckily for you, online video editors are now a viable alternative, being able to render full videos in a couple of minutes rather than the half hour or more it can take with an offline editor.
Table of Contents
How do online video editors work?
Online video editors typically run in your web browser. They’re able to render videos fast because they use powerful cloud servers (such as those provided by Amazon and other internet giants) to do all of the intensive video processing, rather than relying on your computer’s resources. These servers are hundreds of times more powerful than your computer at home, which allows the video rendering process to move a lot faster than it would with a traditional, offline video editor. Understanding how different video editors handle processing, effects, and exports can help you decide which workflow best fits your projects.
Another benefit of doing things this way is that rendering videos in the cloud doesn’t put any strain on your machine. This allows you to avoid issues such as overheating (especially common with ultra-thin notebooks that were made primarily for office work and browsing the web). If you use a free online video editor like Flixier, you can even close your browser window and do something else with your computer while your video renders. The tool can upload the video to YouTube for you and notify you via email when your video is ready to download. This can be particularly useful for creators focused on YouTube video editing, where faster rendering and publishing can make it easier to maintain a consistent upload schedule.
How to save even more time with an online video editor
Rendering speed isn’t everything, though. An online video editor will save you time in more than one way, some of which you may not have considered. Here’s how!
Online editors are easier to figure out
If you’re an experienced video editor this might not matter to you, but let’s face it: traditional video editing programs like Adobe Premiere are not very user friendly. The variety of options and the cluttered interface makes it difficult for new users to figure out how to perform even the most basic of operations, like cutting a video or adding some simple text. If you’re looking for an easy video editor, an online tool like Flixier is a much better option. You’ll be able to cut videos, add animated titles and transitions and much, much more, with just a few clicks, all without having to spend hours looking up videos on YouTube to figure things out beforehand.
If you’re new to video editing, taking time to understand how to choose the best video editing program for beginners can also help you avoid selecting software that is unnecessarily complicated for your needs.
Ease of use is also an important consideration when comparing different desktop and browser-based tools. For example, an AceMovi video editor can be considered when looking for an editing solution that balances accessibility with useful editing features.
Similarly, exploring alternatives such as the Jihosoft video editor can give beginners and casual creators more context when comparing editing interfaces and workflows.
Online editors don’t need to be installed
Downloading and installing an editing software isn’t something that you do every day, but it can definitely be a time consuming process, especially if you’re trying to get a video done before a deadline. Online editors have the advantage of running entirely in your browser. Before choosing a particular platform, it is also worth comparing the features of a free online video editor to see whether it provides the editing, export, and collaboration capabilities you actually need. This means you don’t need to wait around for one to download and install to your computer.
On top of that, some of them (like Flixier), don’t even require you to register an account before using them. Creating an account does come with some benefits, however, such as the ability to save your projects in the cloud and resume editing wherever you are, no matter what computer you’re using. Remember: if it can run a modern web browser, it can edit videos with Flixier.
Import media from the cloud and publish it directly from the editor
Another huge benefit of using an online video editor is the fact that you don’t need to bother with lengthy file transfers anymore. If you shoot your videos using a mobile phone, for example, you can import all of your media in seconds, straight from your Google Photos or Google Drive, without having to bring it over to your computer first. This kind of cloud-based workflow is especially convenient when footage is captured on a smartphone, making video editing on iOS another useful option for creators who want to edit without relying entirely on a desktop computer.
Similarly, you can choose a Title, Description and Thumbnail for your videos right in the editor and have it publish your videos to YouTube, Vimeo and other online services immediately after its done rendering, so you can use that time to start working on your next project without having to waste time with a manual upload.
For creators whose primary goal is publishing regularly to YouTube, comparing different video editing software for YouTubers can also help identify tools suited to a fast publishing workflow.
Online editing is also evolving beyond basic cutting and rendering, with AI increasingly being incorporated into creative workflows. Tools such as CapCut for AI-powered video editing and design show how automated effects, templates, captions, and other intelligent features are becoming part of modern content creation.
So, what are you waiting for? Start editing your videos in the cloud right now, with Flixier. The tool is free, but creating a Pro account will allow you to use the online video editor with no watermark, which can be helpful for commercial projects.
