Software Updates

Open source video editor Shotcut is getting OpenFX, Vulkan, and more

A beta for v26.6 was released that added OpenFX and VST2 plugins, as well as Vulkan display rendering for the application.

Jordan Gloor

Jordan Gloor

— 2 min read
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The Shotcut logo and window on a blue and yellow gradient shunshine pattern.

The developers of Linux-native Shotcut published a beta version of its next release, Shotcut v26.6. It follows v26.4, released in April, and adds new plugin support and a litany of new settings options.

What's new

  • OpenFX plugins: There's initial support for OpenFX plugins, a standard for plugins already being used by the likes of Davinci Resolve and Sony Vegas. That means any OFX plugin will also, theoretically, work with Shotcut.
  • VST2 plugins: There's also initial support for external plugins that meet the VST2 specifications for audio work.
  • Vulkan support: On Linux, Vulkan is now an option among the display methods, alongside OpenGL and Mesa.
Shotcut's settings menu with the Display Method selected and a red box around the Vulkan option.
  • Experimental launch flag: Now you can test experimental features by launching Shotcut with the --experimental flag. The first instance is the new filter UI generator.

What's getting better

  • Spatial audio support: The libspatialaudio library for decoding and encoding spatial audio has been upgraded to version 0.4, which brought with it object-based audio and better speaker layouts.
  • HDR editing: In video mode and timeline settings, you can now switch between SDR, HLG HDR, and PQ HDR.
    • HDR is also now an option in the Export menu.
  • Preview windows: You can now set an external display as a dedicated Preview window by going to Player > External Monitor > Preview Window (HDR).
      • Both HDR and SDR are supported, though HDR doesn't currently work on Linux or Snapdragon-powered Windows devices.
A screenshot of Shotcut v26.6 beta with a red square around the Preview Window (HDR) option.

Zooming out

Why this update matters: Video continues to be a dominating force in communications. Free and open source applications enable those who don't want to rely on paid and proprietary tools for video creation to stay independent.

My take: I'm looking into different open source video editing tools for videos I want to make. I'll be taking Shotcut into consideration.

Diving in

The fineprint: Read the release notes on GitHub for all the bugs that have been fixed.

Get it now: The link above has the beta download for v26.6, but you can try the stable version of Shotcut by searching your software repository or by visiting the official download page.

Download Shotcut (Flatpak)

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