As a video editor and content creator, I spend quite a lot of time editing footage of all sorts, for me or for clients, and they all have one thing in common: my workflow. Throughout the years, I've gathered a list of tools (websites and softwares alike) that help me be more productive in my postproduction processes, from editing to uploading photos and videos. In this article, I will give you the list of everything I use to make videos, thumbnails, sound design, photo editing and more. And the best part? All of these are free to use. Some may require a paid subscription for specific features, but you can use all of them for free.

For video editing

Okay, let's start with the obvious. In my humble opinion, the very best free video editing software out there is Blackmagic's Da Vinci Resolve. I've said it many times here, and I will keep saying it over and over because it's true. The things you can do with this beast, for free, on Windows and Mac, it's just unbelievable. Basic editing, complex editing, visual effects, 3D compositions, complex sound design, cinema grade color correction... It may be a bit much if you're just starting, and softwares like Final Cut might be faster/better for editing, but nothing comes close to Resolve when you compare all the features and the price.

If you're using a Linux distribution, Kdenlive is a very good open source alternative. I tested it for a few months and was happily surprised by it, considering it's open source. It offers a solid editing interface and pretty good color grading tools, so it's a great option for Linux.

But, again, if you can run Resolve on your computer, do it.

For stock footage

You might realize while you're editing that you need more b-roll, more filler shots to illustrate a point or simply to fill some blanks or help you smooth out a transition. Or, if you're like me, you might want to create a video with stock footage just for fun, cause you're bored and you want to practice. Either way, here are the websites I usually go to when I need free to use videos, in order of personal preference: Pexels, Pixabay, Videvo, Videezy or Coverr (that I just started using so I don't know where to rank it yet but it seems promising). I always find what I need in these, and they tend to complete each other pretty well. Some even have motion graphics, sound effects and other cool stuff like that, but I use them 99% of the time for video.

Similarly, you might find yourself in need of free to use photos or illustrations, be it to create a thumbnail for your video or to illustrate your Publish0x article. Again, in order of personal preference, I tend to use: Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay. Yep, I use Pexels and Pixabay a lot as they both provide a huge range of great quality content for both photos and videos. But Unsplash is the king of free stock photos in my opinion, it has a community of incredibly talented photographers who upload content on a wide variety of topics.

For sound design

I use two main sources for free music: Uppbeat and the Youtube Audio Library. I've been using the Audio Library for a while, and even though you can find songs that have been overused by creators on Youtube, they upload new content every month so it diversifies more and more. I very recently joined Uppbeat and it will probably become my primary source of free music. It's just at another level of quality... With the free version you are limited to 10 downloads per month, access to about 50% of the (huge) catalog and mandatory licensing to add in your video description, but it's a great incentive to try and use the platform until your budget grows. Its competitors (Musicbed, Artlist, Epidemic Sounds...) usually offer one free month, but if you're not creating that regularly then it's not viable. Uppbeat is free for life, with the restrictions I mentioned, and it's only 7€ a month if you want to have access to the whole thing with no limit and no restriction.

For sound effects, I usually stick to Zapsplat, or the Youtube Audio Library occasionally, cause it also has a sound effect tab. Zapsplat usually has everything I need and more, it's a great library of free content with varied sounds you can use however you want. In the free version, there's a download limit (3 sounds per 10 minutes) and you can only access MP3 files, not WAV, but it's a good start!

For creative design

Photoshop might be a great tool, but I really can't stand Adobe's subscription system so I never even considered it. When it comes to softwares, Gimp is an amazing open source tool that can handle complex photo and illustration editing perfectly. Sometimes however, when I don't need heavy edits, layers and masking, but a simple background color/text/image combo, I head over to Canva and do it online. You need to create an account for this one, but it allows for so much creative freedom and provides free templates for basically anything you might need (from Youtube thumbnails to CVs, from e-books to Twitter banners...). Again, it has a free and a paid subscription plan, and while the paid one gives you access to more assets, the free version is still extremely complete. However, if you're looking for a Photoshop like tool but online (for some reason), then Photopea is perfect for you. And if you just want to remove the background from a photo without having to cut out the foreground by hand, then Remove.bg is what you're looking for. Simply upload your photo and let it do its magic.

Other cool online tools

If you're working with heavy picture files and you need to lower their size and weight to upload them somewhere, then you can head to Shrinkme, Compressor.io or TinyJPG. All of these will make you save tons of space with little to no quality downgrade.

If you need to convert a file to another format, head over to Online-Convert or   CloudConvert, and you'll get your file converted in a couple clicks and a few seconds, with no registration or email required.

If you need to download a video or a song from Youtube (which you shouldn't do, unless instructed by the creators themselves if it's like free to use music or green screen graphics for instance), Converto.io does it perfectly.

I also have to mention Dafont, the first website I head to whenever I need a specific looking font for a video or photo project. Just make sure you look at the licensing of the font before using it, some are 100% free to use and some are only free for personal use, not commercial projects. Font creators are artists who deserve to be rewarded for their work as much as other creators, so be honest and fair :).

Finally, this list wouldn't be complete without Trello, the best free organising tool out there. Whether it's to take notes, write down ideas as they come, plan meetings, manage projects or simply write lists, a lot of lists (to do, to buy, to write, to film, to edit...), I use it every day.

I hope this list can help you get started creating awesome content, or simply improving your worklow, and please let me know in the comments what open source/free tools you use for your creative work!

Until next time, stay creative! See you!

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Thumbnail credits: Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash