I can't believe that prior to last autumn I was unaware of the new video editor Microsoft bundles with Windows 11: ClipChamp! Of course, I don't use Windows as often as the MacOS, but I do use it at work for certain tasks (like our software we use for logging Chromebooks and iOS devices we wipe/reset), and I also use it for some certain Windows-only software I still use for media production (like Wrapper/GoAnimate, Speakonia, and the beloved Microsoft 3D Movie Maker). As I mentioned before, I actually have Windows 11 installed on a 2015 Retina 15" MacBook Pro! But anyways, 1 1/2 years ago, Microsoft acquired the Clipchamp web-based consumer video editing application, and now bundles it with Windows 11, along with it being available as a free download for Windows 10 users. You may recall me mentioning how way back at the turn of the millenium when in response to Apple introducing the iMovie consumer video editing software for their IEEE-1394/FireWire-enabled Macintosh computers (such as the iMac G3 DV and the PowerMac G4), Microsoft responded with bundling a very rudimentary video editing application with their infamous Windows ME operating system: Windows Movie Maker. Though ME proved to be a failure, Microsoft didn't give up on Movie Maker and also included it in Windows XP among its' launch in 2001, and then two years later upgraded Movie Maker with some handy new features, but it still paled in comparison to iMovie. Then it was retooled into Windows Live Movie Maker in 2009, with an interface obviously inspired by the 2007-2013 iMovie versions but still limited features, before being discontinued in 2017, now that with the infamous Windows 8, Microsoft developed a "Photos" app that was later also included in Windows 10 that had a fairly rudimentary video editor built in.
But eventually in Windows 11 (which, as I've said, is for the most part not that different from Windows 10, except for some visual aspects and the weird TPN install requirement), Photos was given an overhaul and removed that rudimentary video editor and a few other lesser-known features, now that Clipchamp was included with Windows 11 by default! (The older version of Photos with the video editor is now known as "Photos Legacy" and can still be downloaded for free from Microsoft for those still used to it.) As I also said, Clipchamp is also a free download for Windows 10 users. And compared to the Photos Legacy video editor and Windows Movie Maker, Clipchamp gives you a lot more to work with, to the point where it's a lot closer to Apple's iMovie than Windows Movie Maker was!
![clipchampwelcome.jpg]( "clipchampwelcome.jpg")
However, it's still not perfect. It's a web-based video-editing application, which means you need an Internet connection to use it, compared to Movie Maker and iMovie. But given that the Internet is so ubiquitous nowadays compared to even 15 years ago, it shouldn't be a problem for many. This is the interface that greets you among opening the program, and if you have a Microsoft account (which is nowadays required for Windows 11), it'll also save your projects to an online cloud, but you'd still need to re-link the video files if you open the project on another computer or use an external hard drive for video work. Clipchamp also offers a premium subscription plan that'll also upload your full video projects with their files to the cloud.
![clipchampzakwolf.jpg]( "clipchampzakwolf.jpg")
Once you start actually working in Clipchamp, you'll have a lot of nifty video editing tools available. You can correct the color and brightness/contrast of your footage (although it still can't beat iMovie's excellent ability to do so), adjust the size and transparency of your clips, and apply a variety of video effects (known as filters) with a little customization (but no keyframing though, which is understandable given this is largely for beginning Windows video editors). The title editor is a lot cooler and more robust than the Windows Movie Maker version. You even have a simple library of stock music and sound effects to work with (a pretty common feature in many consumer and some higher-end video editing applications). With a Clipchamp paid subscription you get even more access to titles, transitions, effects, and stock templates. (You can still use them on the free account, albeit with a semi-transparent "Made with Clipchamp" watermark.) And with the most recent version, you can even create text-to-speech dialogue in Clipchamp to use in your project (like for a simple narration or something), what with AI dialogue starting to become popular.
![clipchampscoobtest.jpg]( "clipchampscoobtest.jpg")
What's also neat is how Clipchamp also lets you work with multiple video and audio tracks. This is a really welcome change, what with Windows Movie Maker letting you only use one of each, and most consumer video editors out there now letting you use many video and audio tracks. And they take advantage of this by including simple picture-in-picture and chromakey effects as well! The current Apple iMovie only lets you use two video tracks, because they feel that should be enough for beginners (and I agree with that), along with offering multiple audio tracks (you can have around ten layers of background audio in a typical iMovie project!).
But you still don't get keyframe control in Clipchamp (neither does iMovie), and you still can't do rubberband audio volume eithers or work with audio effects, either (though at least iMovie offers those). You can work in a 16:9 aspect ratio, along with 9:16 (vertical), 1:1 (square), 4:5, 2:3 (two more vertical formats) and 21:9 (like CinemaScope) aspect ratios, but you can't natively work in 4:3 for when you're working with older footage (like digitizing old home movies shot on analog tape or pre-widescreen MiniDV footage); sure, you can use 4:3 footage as shown in the previous pic, but Clipchamp has you either "pillarbox" it or crop/stretch it into 16:9. (The current iMovie only works in 16:9, requiring you pillarbox or letterbox the other aforementioned aspect ratios.)
You can only export in the .MP4 format (better than the .WMV format Movie Maker was limited to, but it's still only one format), and you can also export it from 480p to 1080p HD sizes. If you have the premium subscription, you can export up to 4K! (At least this is better than the earlier free version of Clipchamp only allowing you to export only to 480p!) But you can also directly upload your finished videos to OneDrive, TikTok, YouTube, and a few other places. At least iMovie already includes 4K export by default.
The premium Chipchamp subscriptions pretty much just give you access to the premium transitions, effects and stock templates, along with cloud-based storage for your video files, and the expensive Business Platinum plan lets you export to 4K, but that's $40 a month! They have a yearly plan, but it's well into the hundreds. For premium subscription-based "easy" video editing software on Windows, you're honestly better off with something like Cyberlink PowerDirector 365, which is $70 a year and gives you far more robust editing features than Clipchamp, whereas the free version of Clipchamp could still be used for quick and simple video projects.
So it's clear that Clipchamp shines in some ways (like offering multiple video layer tracks, some customizable video filters, a built-in text-to-speech generator), and iMovie shines in some other ways (like offering rubberband audio editing and decent audio effects, 4K editing and output at no additional cost, some more export options, better color correction, a nifty video stabilizer). But it's still a big step up over Windows Movie Maker, and just like that did in the 2000s, Clipchamp will no doubt be an excellent platform for beginning video editors using Windows to start out with before moving onward and upward, the same way the current iMovie is for Mac users (I still use the current iMovie for simpler projects in 16:9, but for other video projects on the Mac I use Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Cyberlink PowerDirector for Mac, and Telestream's Screenflow).
But eventually in Windows 11 (which, as I've said, is for the most part not that different from Windows 10, except for some visual aspects and the weird TPN install requirement), Photos was given an overhaul and removed that rudimentary video editor and a few other lesser-known features, now that Clipchamp was included with Windows 11 by default! (The older version of Photos with the video editor is now known as "Photos Legacy" and can still be downloaded for free from Microsoft for those still used to it.) As I also said, Clipchamp is also a free download for Windows 10 users. And compared to the Photos Legacy video editor and Windows Movie Maker, Clipchamp gives you a lot more to work with, to the point where it's a lot closer to Apple's iMovie than Windows Movie Maker was!
However, it's still not perfect. It's a web-based video-editing application, which means you need an Internet connection to use it, compared to Movie Maker and iMovie. But given that the Internet is so ubiquitous nowadays compared to even 15 years ago, it shouldn't be a problem for many. This is the interface that greets you among opening the program, and if you have a Microsoft account (which is nowadays required for Windows 11), it'll also save your projects to an online cloud, but you'd still need to re-link the video files if you open the project on another computer or use an external hard drive for video work. Clipchamp also offers a premium subscription plan that'll also upload your full video projects with their files to the cloud.
Once you start actually working in Clipchamp, you'll have a lot of nifty video editing tools available. You can correct the color and brightness/contrast of your footage (although it still can't beat iMovie's excellent ability to do so), adjust the size and transparency of your clips, and apply a variety of video effects (known as filters) with a little customization (but no keyframing though, which is understandable given this is largely for beginning Windows video editors). The title editor is a lot cooler and more robust than the Windows Movie Maker version. You even have a simple library of stock music and sound effects to work with (a pretty common feature in many consumer and some higher-end video editing applications). With a Clipchamp paid subscription you get even more access to titles, transitions, effects, and stock templates. (You can still use them on the free account, albeit with a semi-transparent "Made with Clipchamp" watermark.) And with the most recent version, you can even create text-to-speech dialogue in Clipchamp to use in your project (like for a simple narration or something), what with AI dialogue starting to become popular.
What's also neat is how Clipchamp also lets you work with multiple video and audio tracks. This is a really welcome change, what with Windows Movie Maker letting you only use one of each, and most consumer video editors out there now letting you use many video and audio tracks. And they take advantage of this by including simple picture-in-picture and chromakey effects as well! The current Apple iMovie only lets you use two video tracks, because they feel that should be enough for beginners (and I agree with that), along with offering multiple audio tracks (you can have around ten layers of background audio in a typical iMovie project!).
But you still don't get keyframe control in Clipchamp (neither does iMovie), and you still can't do rubberband audio volume eithers or work with audio effects, either (though at least iMovie offers those). You can work in a 16:9 aspect ratio, along with 9:16 (vertical), 1:1 (square), 4:5, 2:3 (two more vertical formats) and 21:9 (like CinemaScope) aspect ratios, but you can't natively work in 4:3 for when you're working with older footage (like digitizing old home movies shot on analog tape or pre-widescreen MiniDV footage); sure, you can use 4:3 footage as shown in the previous pic, but Clipchamp has you either "pillarbox" it or crop/stretch it into 16:9. (The current iMovie only works in 16:9, requiring you pillarbox or letterbox the other aforementioned aspect ratios.)
You can only export in the .MP4 format (better than the .WMV format Movie Maker was limited to, but it's still only one format), and you can also export it from 480p to 1080p HD sizes. If you have the premium subscription, you can export up to 4K! (At least this is better than the earlier free version of Clipchamp only allowing you to export only to 480p!) But you can also directly upload your finished videos to OneDrive, TikTok, YouTube, and a few other places. At least iMovie already includes 4K export by default.
The premium Chipchamp subscriptions pretty much just give you access to the premium transitions, effects and stock templates, along with cloud-based storage for your video files, and the expensive Business Platinum plan lets you export to 4K, but that's $40 a month! They have a yearly plan, but it's well into the hundreds. For premium subscription-based "easy" video editing software on Windows, you're honestly better off with something like Cyberlink PowerDirector 365, which is $70 a year and gives you far more robust editing features than Clipchamp, whereas the free version of Clipchamp could still be used for quick and simple video projects.
So it's clear that Clipchamp shines in some ways (like offering multiple video layer tracks, some customizable video filters, a built-in text-to-speech generator), and iMovie shines in some other ways (like offering rubberband audio editing and decent audio effects, 4K editing and output at no additional cost, some more export options, better color correction, a nifty video stabilizer). But it's still a big step up over Windows Movie Maker, and just like that did in the 2000s, Clipchamp will no doubt be an excellent platform for beginning video editors using Windows to start out with before moving onward and upward, the same way the current iMovie is for Mac users (I still use the current iMovie for simpler projects in 16:9, but for other video projects on the Mac I use Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Cyberlink PowerDirector for Mac, and Telestream's Screenflow).
