Pre-release

What's Changed

• Fixed corrupt color in dissolve transitions with Settings > Processing Mode > Linear 10-bit CPU.
• Fixed the new Reduce Noise: Audio (RNNoise) when the export audio sample rate is not 48000 Hz.
• Fixed off-by-one frame errors in subtitle bar in Timeline and Subtitle Burn In video filter.
• Fixed all builds missing support for VST2 and LV2 audio plugins.
  Now install and try Valhalla Supermassive.
• Added Shake video filter.
  First generated UI to be shared and officially adopted.
• Improved appearance of tabs and Subtitles in Fusion Dark and Fusion Light themes.
• Fixed a libGLESv2.dll warning on startup on some Windows systems.
• Fixed Motion Tracker keyframes not applying after save/reload.
• Fixed manual override QSG_RHI_BACKEND environment variable on Windows.
• Added Settings > Graphics Adapter for Windows and Linux (only if multiple GPUs).
• Fixed Properties > Convert & View > Resources > Convert to keep 10-bit video as 10-bit when using 10-bit processing modes.
• The --experimental UI generator now also generates a meta.qml.
  (See View > Application Log to get the temp file names to copy these files).
• Fixed opening a .mlt project file from a file manager on macOS (broke in v26.6).
• Added Elements panel to the File > New and View menus and the Generate buttons.
  This is a very slim (22MB) stock asset library: emoji stickers, sounds, overlay transitions, animated text, graphics.
  The content licenses are royalty free, including commercial, and do not require attribution:
  • Emojis: Open Font License 1.1
  • Sounds: The Sonniss #GameAudioGDC Bundle Licensing Agreement
  • Text, Transitions, Graphics: Lottie Simple License

New Contributors

• @naughtyGitCat made their first contribution in #1845
• @skuznetsov made their first contribution in #1854

Full Changelog: v26.6.25...v26.7.16

External Monitor with a System Display

Three years ago, when we upgraded our UI library to a major new version, we lost support for using an additional system display as an external monitor. Many people were disappointed to lose that feature. Now, after a major change to the video plumbing, it is back!

The External Monitor submenu is moved from Settings to the top of the Player menu. It is incompatible with newly added Settings > Player > Use Old Video Output (provided just in case the new plumbing does not work).

The new plumbing also provides a way to preview HDR video except, for technology reasons, it must be shown in a separate window...

HDR Video Preview and Export

As a quick reminder for those unfamiliar: "HDR" means high dynamic range, not high definition resolution. It is about expanded color and light. A lot of phones and cameras are recording with this today, and many people are not aware until they try to edit and run into problems. Also, HDR game captures on computers is increasingly common. A year ago, we added very limited, hidden support for editing HDR video because, basically, we had no way to display it without a device from Blackmagic Design. Now, there is a way.

• Added Player > External Monitor > Preview Window (HDR) that can be made fullscreen.
  • It also works for SDR.
  • HDR requires a display properly configured with HDR, Native 10-bit CPU or Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU processing modes, and HDR video sources.
  • For HDR, only use filters tagged with #gpu or #10bit.
  • It does not appear to work on Linux, at least I have not been able to get it working.
  • Switching between PQ HDR (HDR10) and HLG HDR requires restarting the app.
  • The default shortcut to open or raise the preview window is Ctrl+`. It does not toggle between open and close because raise is more convenient.
  • You can move the window by clicking anywhere inside except the controls bar and dragging.
  • F toggles fullscreen and Esc also leaves fullscreen.
  • Incompatible with Use Old Video Output.
• Added Dynamic range to custom Video Mode and Timeline Properties.
  This offers SDR, which follows the colorspace, HLG HDR, and PQ HDR.
• At this time, Shotcut only supports converting log profile video to HDR with GPU processing mode and HLG HDR video mode.
  And it cannot convert between HDR formats or combine multiple HDR formats within a project.
• Added support for PQ HDR (HDR10) to External Monitor > DeckLink.
• Added support for HDR to Export (based on Video Mode and 10-bit processing mode).
• Added HDR10 metadata dialogs for External Monitor > DeckLink and Export > Codec.
  Export only embeds HDR10 metadata for the libx265 and libsvtav1 video codecs and no hardware encoders.
• TODO: Properties > Convert and View > Resources > Convert do not support 10-bit yet; that will be added in the next release.

External Plugins

We added limited support for external audio and video plugins.

"Limited" means it does not support a plugin's included UI, and our UI generator is new and experimental. That means you can only try it if you are an advanced user who knows how to supply a command line option to reveal the new UI generator. There are many mysterious effects, and uncertainty if things are working correctly. As a result, the user experience is not yet good enough with an increased risk of crash.

"External" means both effects included with Shotcut but not yet available in the UI or plugins that you install yourself to the standard, expected location for your OS.

OpenFX Image Effect Plugins

• Added a UI (--experimental not required) for NTSC-rs.

• Limited compatibility: not available, seems to do nothing, or makes the video black.

• No support for plugins that operate temporally or require multiple image/video inputs.

• No support for generators, transitions, or retimers.

• No support for the UI embedded in the plugin.

• No support for GPU technologies but multi-threaded CPU does work.

• Very limited testing. There are many plugins we have not tested especially commercial ones, and we know there are some that do not work.

• None are included with Shotcut.

• Looks for plugins in the standard folder for the operating system.

  OS	Path
  Linux	/usr/OFX/Plugins
  	/usr/local/OFX/Plugins
  macOS	/Library/OFX/Plugins
  	~/Library/OFX/Plugins
  Windows	C:\Program Files\Common Files\OFX\Plugins

VST2 and LV2 Audio Plugins

• Added a UI for Valhalla Supermassive.

• No support for the UI embedded in the plugin.

• No support for instruments.

• Very limited testing.

• None are included with Shotcut.

• Looks for plugins in the standard folder for the operating system.

  OS	Path
  Linux	/usr/local/lib/vst
  	/usr/lib/vst
  	/usr/lib64/vst
  macOS	/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
  	~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
  Windows	C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2
  	C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins
  	C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST2
  	C:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugins

Safe Mode and UI Generator

• Added menu item Settings > Leave Safe Mode.
  This appears if Shotcut crashes within 30 seconds upon startup, which restarts in a safe mode without external (OpenFX, VST2, LV2) plugins.
• Added --experimental command line option to try out the filter UI generator.
  This provides a Manage Add-on Filters dialog to search for effects included with Shotcut or external plugins. After choosing some to add-on, they become available in the regular Filters menu in the current as well as future sessions.

Other New Features

• Added Reduce Noise: Audio (RNNoise) filter. More info about RNNoise
• Added Settings > Display Method > Vulkan on Linux.
• Added Settings > Timeline > Create Transitions on Overlap to disable that feature.
• Added support for the .lot filename extension for Lottie animation handled by Glaxnimate.
• Added support to load custom filter UIs installed to App Data Directory > extensions > filters.
  If someone shares a custom or generated UI for an external effect/plugin that seems useful and safe, you can install it here to use it in your Shotcut without needing to use the --experimental mode.
  This can also be a place to add custom general purpose scripts by making a dummy filter. Use mlt_service: 'shape' as the dummy/no-op backend filter in the meta.qml. Soon we will add a proper scripts panel.
• Documented a scripting interface.

Changes

• Changed Linux Snap to use a desktop environment file dialog if possible.
• Changed the new Log Event shortcut to Shift+D because one conflicted with Remove Subtitle Item.
• Moved Declick Audio from the Time category to Audio in the filter menu.
• Upgraded MLT to version 7.40.0
• Upgraded FFmpeg to version 8.1.2
• Upgraded libspatialaudio to 0.4.0
• Upgraded frei0r to version 3.2.2

Fixes

• Fixed the Font style from the font dialog is overwritten on filter UI reload on Windows (broke in v26.4).
• Fixed hardware scaler on Windows when using Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder (broke in v26.4).
• Fixed mouse wheel and keyboard not incrementing/decrementing numeric fields in filter UIs (broke in version 26.4).
• Fixed moving clips may create a very long gap.
• Fixed Player > External Monitor > DeckLink (and related such as UltraStudio) HDMI/SDI may deadlock.
• Fixed export with libopus audio codec warns about frame_duration.
• Fixed incorrect current track after moving clip to another track.
• Fixed undo after changing Video Mode corrupts the timeline.
• Fixed double-clicking a project file in Finder with Shotcut already running on macOS.
• Fixed zooming in the player with non-square pixels.
• Fixed a possible crash when Text: Rich filter is first in the list and playhead is not over selected clip.
• Fixed File > Export EDL adds 1-frame clip before transitions.
• Fixed full-width spaces replaced by half-width spaces in Import Subtitles From File.
• Fixed Text: Typewriter not animating correctly after changing rate parameters.
• Fixed reordering Filters breaking selecting another filter.
• Fixed some actions disabled after deleting, moving, or updating an item in Subtitles.
• Fixed repeated prompts to convert a project to GPU processing mode if project was started before version 25.12.
• Fixed skim not working over Timeline clips.
• Fixed mouse wheel not scrolling a filter's UI within Filters.
• Fixed 10-bit H.264 encoder fails with hardware encoding on.
  No H.264 hardware encoders support 10-bit; this change simply makes it use software encoding with x264.
• Fixed Export > Ogg Vorbis with Cover Art fails (no longer fails but our Ogg integration does not support cover art).
• Fixed Export > From > Marker using the Reframe output video filter with keyframes.
• Fixed some toolbar icons' tooltips not showing keyboard shortcut.
• Fixed Zoom Timeline to Fit may not scroll to start.
• Fixed a crash using some Markers actions with nothing open.
• Fixed using Windows UNC paths with filters, e.g. GPS Graphic.
• Fixed extended/special characters in metadata of custom Export preset.
• Fixed Rebuild Audio Waveform was not saving on Windows.
• Fixed tab focus did not allow editing numeric fields in filters.
• Fixed Export > Video > Aspect ratio can be incorrect if ...

Pre-release

• Fixed Player > External Monitor > DeckLink (and related such as UltraStudio) HDMI/SDI may deadlock.
• Upgraded libspatialaudio to 0.4.0+.
• Fixed export with libopus audio codec warns about frame_duration.
• Added initial basic support for OpenFX plugins (filters) with a UI for NTSC-rc.
  • Limited compatibility: not available, seems to do nothing, or makes the video black.
  • No support for plugins that operate temporally or require multiple image/video inputs.
  • No support for generators, transitions, or retimers.
  • No support for UI embedded in the plugin.
  • No support for GPU technologies but multi-threaded CPU works.
  • Very limited testing.
  • Looks for plugins in the standard folder for the OS.
  • None are included with Shotcut.
• Added initial basic support for VST2 and LV2 audio plugins (filters) with a UI for Valhalla Supermassive.
  • No support for the UI embedded in the plugin.
  • No support for instruments.
  • Very limited testing.
  • Looks for plugins in the standard folder for the OS.
  • None are included with Shotcut.
• Added menu item Settings > Leave Safe Mode.
  This appears if Shotcut crashes within 30 seconds upon startup, which restarts in a safe mode without external (OpenFX, VST2) plugins.
• Added --experimental command line option to try out the filter UI generator.
• Fixed Export > Ogg Vorbis with Cover Art fails (no longer fails but our Ogg integration does not support cover art).
• Fixed Export > From > Marker using the Reframe output video filter with keyframes.
• Fixed some toolbar icons' tooltips not showing keyboard shortcut.
• Fixed Zoom Timeline to Fit may not scroll to start.
• Fixed a crash using some Markers actions with nothing open.
• Fixed using Windows UNC paths with filters, e.g. GPS Graphic.
• Fixed extended/special characters in metadata of custom Export preset.
• Fixed Rebuild Audio Waveform was not saving on Windows.
• Changed Linux Snap to use a desktop environment file dialog if possible.
• Fixed tab focus did not allow editing numeric fields in filters.
• Added Reduce Noise: Audio (RNNoise) filter.
• Moved Declick Audio from the Time category to Audio in the filter menu.
• Moved menu item External Monitor from the Settings menu to the Player menu.
• Added support for system displays in Player > External Monitor,
  incompatible with newly added Settings > Player > Use Old Video Output (necessary for Snapdragon X ARM/Windows and possibly other setups).
• Added Player > External Monitor > Preview Window (HDR) that can be made fullscreen.
  • Incompatible with Use Old Video Output.
  • It also works for SDR.
  • HDR requires a display properly configured with HDR, Native 10-bit CPU or Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU processing modes, and HDR video sources.
  • For HDR, only use filters tagged with #gpu or #10bit.
  • The window must already be on a HDR display before opening anything with HDR.
  • HDR is not working on Linux and Windows/ARM.
• Added Dynamic range to custom Video Mode and Timeline Properties.
  This offers SDR, which follows the colorspace, HLG HDR, and PQ HDR.
• Added support for PQ HDR to External Monitor > DeckLink.
• Added support for HDR to Export (automatic per Video Mode and 10-bit processing mode).
• Added PQ HDR metadata dialogs for External Monitor > DeckLink and Export > Codec.
  Export only embeds PQ HDR metadata for the libx265 and libsvtav1 video codecs and no hardware encoders.
• Fixed moving clips may create a very long gap.
• Fixed incorrect current track after moving clip to another track.
• Fixed undo after changing Video Mode corrupts the timeline.
• Fixed double-click a project file in Finder with Shotcut already running on macOS.
• Fixed zooming in the player with non-square pixels.
• Added Settings > Timeline > Create Transitions on Overlap.
• Added Settings > Display Method > Vulkan on Linux.
• Fixed a possible crash when Text: Rich filter is first in the list and playhead is not over selected clip.
• Fixed the Font style from the font dialog is overwritten on filter UI reload on Windows (broke in v26.4).
• Fixed File > Export EDL adds 1-frame clip before transitions.
• Fixed full-width spaces replaced by half-width spaces in Import Subtitles From File.
• Fixed hardware scaler on Windows when using Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder (broke in v26.4).

Pre-release

• Fixed intermittent audio waveform sync/blank (broke in v26.2)
• Stopped bundling Glaxnimate, which recently released version 0.6.0 (except the Linux Flatpak)
• Added launching Glaxnimate from the Microsoft Store (free) on Windows if available
• Fixed incorrect last frame in (Glaxnimate) animations
• Fixed Font style other than weight and italics/oblique in the font dialog
• Fixed Ctrl+Down can make the wrong track current
• Changed Timeline > Set Current Track Above and Set Current Track Below to use the bare Up and Down keys
• Fixed accepting file names with special characters in Playlist > Add Files
• Fixed markers may disappear after undo moving clip(s)
• Fixed hourly backup not working when saving frequently
• Fixed opening a project starts the player at the second frame
• Fixed seeking with keyboard in Timeline sometimes not working
• Fixed Settings > Time Format did not immediately update the Timeline and Keyframes rulers
• Fixed the Swap Channels audio filter to work with Settings > Audio Channels > 4
• Fixed Timeline > Copy, Cut, Paste, and Overwrite breaks grouped clips
• Fixed timeline rectangle selection to include all members of a group
• Fixed keyframes after undo a trim in
• Fixed changing Properties > Duration drops time filters
• Fixed Edit Marker duration and Ripple Markers off by one frame
• Fixed the Nervous video filter did a 2 frame fade-in from black
• Fixed the height of some of the filter UIs
• Improved Timeline and Keyframes zoom to be less erratic and more focused
• Reduced memory of timeline waveforms
• Reduced the thickness of the panel splitters and made them brighter
• Reorganized the Video Mode menu with new categories:
  • Social Media
  • Other
  • Legacy
• Changed audio transition to a constant power crossfade
• Changed multi-select for Subtitles to use the Shift key
• Changed Properties timeline duration to be editable
• Changed opening an image to not start playback
• Changed Export to default to 10-bit HEVC export in the 10-bit processing modes
• Added 10-bit VP9 MP4 (E-AC-3) and 10-bit VP9 WebM (Opus) export presets
• Added Vulkan GPU to Speech to Text on Windows and Linux (previously only Metal on Apple Silicon)
• Added Use GPU checkbox to Speech to Text dialog
• Added aspect ratio grid options to the player grid button:
  • 1:1 Frame
  • 16:9 Frame
  • 4:3 Frame
  • 9:16 Frame
• Added symmetric resize (change duration by adjusting both clips) of a timeline transition using its trim handles
• Added Export > Metadata including Cover art
• Added a Typewriter group of options to the Burn In Subtitle filter, defaults to word-by-word with no cursor
• Added using trim actions (I and O) to extend a timeline clip
• Added job progress and status on Windows taskbar icon and macOS and Linux (where supported) dock icon
• Added Properties > LUT file for video clips
  This is primarily for the Linear 10-bit processing mode to apply a camera LUT before converting to linear
• Added drag-n-drop from Recent to Timeline
• Upgraded FFmpeg to version 8.1
• Upgraded x265 to version 4.1
• Upgraded whisper.cpp to version 1.8.3

Pre-release

• Fixed black or green bottom bar on Windows with HEVC video and Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder plus preview scaling (broke in v26.1).
• Fixed crash when adding very long video to Timeline with Qt 6.10.1 (broke in v26.1).
• Fixed crash in the RGB Shift video filter (broke in v25.12).
• Fixed crash on various enabled Playlist actions with nothing selected:
  • GoTo
  • Move Up
  • Move Down
  • Add Selected to Timeline
  • Add Selected to Slideshow
  • Sort By Name
  • Sort By Date
• Fixed Show In Files for a reverse job.
• Added support for the underline and strikethrough options in the font dialog for the text filters.
• Added a search field to Subtitles.
• Added hold Alt while clicking Mute and Hide on the Timeline track to toggle all of the other tracks.
• Added hold Shift with the mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the player.
• Added Playlist > Log Event (Shift+E) to append a 6 second clip (±3 secs) at the current Source player time.
• Improved the performance of Timeline and Keyframes waveforms rendering.
• Changed mouse wheel behavior for the Video Zoom video scope:
  • The wheel alone (no modifier key) now scrolls vertically.
  • Hold Ctrl to zoom.
  • Hold Alt to scroll horizontally.
• Removed Settings > Player > Deinterlacer > Linear Blend (obsolete, removed in FFmpeg).

Pre-release

• Fixed Brightness filter with a reduced level is different when there is clip with transparency above it (broke in v25.12).
• Fixed a crash in the scrub-bar on a very long playlist.
• Fixed app not responding while enqueuing very many proxy jobs.
• Fixed Previous/Next in Subtitles may be unreadable on some themes and OS.
• Changed bulk proxy generation (when you switch Settings > Proxy > Use Proxy ON) to update clips.
  (Previously, you had to turn proxy mode off and back on again to start using the proxies. That requires reloading the project each time, which was a real drag.)
• Changed Timeline > Add Generator and New Generator > Add To Timeline to not seek.
  This leaves the playhead over the clip it just added to facilitate preview and reduce steps.
• Added converting a project between GPU & CPU.
• Improved the appearance of outline on many of the text filters.
• Increased the maximum resolution in Video Mode and Export to 8640 for 8K VR180 video.
• Added the Blend Mode filter and track option for the Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU processing mode.
• Added Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder.
  • It defaults ON.
  • Obviously, it only supports codecs that your hardware supports, but it automatically falls back to software decoding.
  • It requires VA-API on Linux, uses Media Foundation on Windows, and uses Video Toolbox on macOS.
  • Do not expect to be blown away by speediness unless perhaps you are using Linear 10-bit CPU processing mode.
  • It does not seem to help much with seeking and scrubbing; proxies are still key for that.
  • It does reduce CPU usage, which is important to reduce battery usage or keep the system cooler, for example, if it is on your lap.
  • It is not integrated with the GPU processing mode by using so-called 0-copy.
  • There is still considerable overhead to transfer uncompressed video between CPU & GPU RAM, which is why this feature is coupled with preview scaling or 1080p-60fps or less video sources. Things higher than that are actually slower to transfer than software decode for most systems.
• Added Export > Codec > Use hardware decoder.
  • It defaults OFF because it often increases the export time.
  • Like preview, it too can reduce CPU usage, and that may be a benefit.
    (9 out of 10 software engineers recommend that you do not export your video on your lap!)
  • Feel free to test it and make your own conclusion about what works best for you on your system.
  • The option is sticky, meaning it is remembered between sessions and projects.
• Added Help > What's This? to the menu and toolbar for contextual help.
• Upgraded Qt to version 6.10.1 on Windows.