Kdenlive/Features

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General description[edit | edit source]

Kdenlive! (pronounced Kay-den-live) is a Non-Linear Video Editing Suite for KDE. It is released under the GNU Public License.

The project was initially started by Jason Wood in 2002, and is now maintained by a small team of developers. Kdenlive aims to become the most advanced non-linear video editor under GNU/Linux.

This documentation is based on version 0.5 to be released soon. As Kdenlive is currently under heavy development, it's possible that some options or features are explained different here than in the version you are using.

Here are some features offered by Kdenlive 0.5 svn development version:

Compatibility[edit | edit source]

  • DV video editing
  • HDV video editing (In progress. You can import HDV clips, but they are converted to DV resolution)
  • Support for PAL or NTSC projects (4:3 and 16:9)

Video[edit | edit source]

  • Unlimited number of video tracks
  • Add/remove video tracks
  • List of video effects
  • Basic video transitions:
    • Crossfade
    • Wipe
    • Picture in picture
    • Push
  • DV quality editing
  • Dual video monitors, both capable of playback
  • Resize, move and cut an unlimited number of clips of any length
  • Create color, image and text clips
  • Automatic creation of slideshow (with crossfade) from an image folder
  • Virtual clips, allows user to create clones of a timeline zone
  • Kdenlive projects can be inserted in timeline like a normal clip

Audio[edit | edit source]

  • Unlimited number of audio tracks
  • Add/remove audio tracks
  • Audio mixing of all tracks
  • Audio thumbnails (needs MLT cvs > 29 sept. 06)
  • List of available audio effects

Formats, Rendering and Capture[edit | edit source]

  • Kdenlive uses MLT video rendering engine to display and manipulate video clips.
  • Can read raw DV, AVI DV, jpeg, gif, png, mpeg, wav, mp3, ogg, vob, wmv, flv, ... (all formats supported by ffmpeg should work)
  • You can capture DV video from a firewire device (needs dvgrab version 2.0 or higher)
  • Can export your movie to various formats: DV, DV AVI, RAW DV, Quicktime, Flash, PAL/NTSC DVD, Mpeg, Mpeg4, Real Video, Mp3, Vorbis or WAV.
  • Non blocking rendering
  • DVD wizard, lets you create a simple DVD with chapters and a basic menu in a few clicks

User interface and usability[edit | edit source]

  • A lot of handy keyboard shortcuts (completely configurable via dialog)
  • Complete timeline, with a lot of cool tools to edit your movies. HINT: Try the razor tool!
  • You can completely rearrange and save 4 different layouts to fit your needs
  • Playback control:
    • Play forward AND backward, pause (via JKL keys)
    • Stop (revert to last starting point)
    • Play selection
    • Loop selection
  • Auto scroll timeline while playing
  • Autoload last project
  • Drag-n-Drop compatability with external programs, such as Konqueror and Noatun.
  • Project management: you can create folders to sort your clips
  • Add comments to clip markers
  • Display all comments on timeline
  • Timeline guides (kind of magnetic navigation bookmarks)
  • Snap to:
    • frames
    • border
    • marker
    • guides
  • Zoom control:
    • Zoom in/out
    • Restore last used zoom factor
    • Fit to page with
  • Copy & Paste clips in timeline
  • Create virtual clips
  • User can create AND share their own video transitions and wipes
  • ...


to be continued ...