When you're skiing down a mountain or biking rugged trails, recording adventures with GoPro makes the experience more thrilling. However, once you're back home, you're left with hours of raw footage that's shaky, uncut, and barely delivers the full story. Now, to justify your adventure with professional video delivery, you'll need to edit GoPro video through dedicated editors.
For your assistance, the following article covers top editing options, with their features, to help you choose the best-suited one. Not only that, but we’ve also provided you with major considerations you should look for in software that edits GoPro videos. Finally, the guide that follows reveals the story behind the Quik desktop app, which is worth knowing.
In this article
Part 1. What to Consider in Software That Edits GoPro Videos?
Consider the following must-haves in the best editing software for GoPro and keep up with your action-packed recorded clips:
Stabilization Support: Where GoPro footage can be full of adventure, all that action comes with plenty of camera shakes. A top-tier editor should include built-in stabilization functions that smooth out any jittery footage without distorting the original scene.
4K and High-Resolution Support: All GoPro models record in 4K and even higher resolution, delivering clear visuals. When you choose software that supports 4K and beyond, it guarantees that your videos retain their originality from start to finish.
Slow Motion and Speed Controls: GoPro's signature strength lies in recording fast-paced moments with immense detail, making slow-motion playback a must-have feature. A professional editor should be at your disposal to let you adjust playback speed and offer other speed ramping tools.
Audio Syncing and Music Integration: From syncing your audio to matching the action to inserting background music or voiceovers, your editing software should provide audio controls. Besides, advanced features such as automatic beat detection and ducking should be present to elevate the outcome.
Color Correction and Filters: When you film outdoors, lighting can widely vary, which calls for an editor that allows tweaking brightness and saturation. Through such color correction tools, you can even apply cinematic LUTs and filters to achieve a more consistent visual tone.
Part 2. Why Look for GoPro Video Editors? Story Behind Desktop App!
Having known the truth about the GoPro desktop app, it becomes even more crucial to investigate a stable GoPro video editor. In other words, GoPro is moving away from the legacy of desktop editing and focusing on mobile-first solutions. With this transition, the Quik desktop application will be dropped, and the Mac version is to be removed by December 31.
The shift ultimately raises the increased focus on iOS and Android applications that provide stronger editing functions. Nevertheless, those who still prefer working on a desktop, GoPro will continue to support editing through software like Adobe Premiere. Overall, this transition reflects GoPro's commitment to flexibility, either through a mobile workspace or a desktop video editor.
Part 3. Explore 6 Best GoPro Video Editors for Windows & Mac
Windows and Mac solutions remain valuable for many; therefore, a list of GoPro video editing software is provided for precision-driven editing:
1. Repairit
When your GoPro videos become blurry due to motion shakes, sudden out-of-focus issues, or insufficient light, the tool Repairit can demonstrate amazing repair capabilities—it's like having a precise frame-level scalpel, dissecting every flaw in the footage frame by frame. As the best editing software for GoPro, it can not only efficiently handle various shooting problems but also keep every extreme video with professional-level visual quality, ensuring that wonderful moments never fade due to image quality issues.
Key Features
- Batch Repair of Videos: This software enables one to insert multiple videos at the same time, regardless of their formats.
- Support for Multiple Formats: The repair program supports nearly all video formats, including mainstream, device-specific, and pro-level ones.
- View Your Repaired Videos: As soon as the repair process is completed, the software allows you to preview your videos before downloading them.
Pros
Provides precise frame-by-frame repair for GoPro-specific issues like motion blur.
Features a user-friendly design, making it the best editing software for GoPro for both beginners and pros.
Cons
Lacks precision in fine-detail adjustments and offers no features for adding video effects, focusing primarily on basic repair functions.
Pricing Plans
● Basic: $8.75/month
2. Wondershare Filmora
To simplify every step in video editing, this program offers multi-cam and split-screen editing that synchronizes footage from several cameras. You’re even supported with action camera toolkits that provide built-in lens correction, speed ramping, and stabilization for shaky footage. Being the best editing software for GoPro, it offers the Smart Short Clips function that identifies moments and shortens long clips.
Key Features
- With its advanced compression, you can reduce your video sizes by up to 90% without any loss of quality.
- Through Smart BGM Generation, it enables customizing background music according to your video, saving time on editing.
- This editing software offers resolution-specific calibration, supporting formats such as 4K Super View and 2.7K Super View.
Pros
Besides GoPro, the program supports various other camera models such as iON Camera Air Pro 3 and Panasonic HX-A1.
It even features a fine-tune adjustable level slider that allows you to customize the correction intensity.
Cons
Various AI functions demand monthly AI credits, resulting in heavy users running out quickly.
Pricing Plans
● Basic: $9.99/month
● Advanced: $34.99/year
● Perpetual: $49.99
3. DaVinci Resolve
It's marked as the only solution that combines editing, motion graphics, and visual effects all in one software. The program offers industry-leading color correction, featuring HDR support and YRGB color science for precise adjustments. To edit GoPro videos more professionally, editors are facilitated with Node-based visual effects for rotoscoping and keying.
Key Features
- This program features a complete audio (Fairlight) editing and mixing suite, including 3D and surround sound panning.
- The Neural Engine powers additional functions, including smart reframing, facial recognition, and auto-color matching.
- With AI Multicam SmartSwitch, you can assemble a timeline with different camera angles based on speaker detection.
Pros
For swift project turnaround, the platform delivers a comprehensive timeline editing and fast AI-driven cut tools.
AI Audio Assistant identifies your audio and intelligently creates a professional audio mix for videos.
Cons
In this video editor, the GUI customization is more limited than some other competitors.
Pricing Plans
● DaVinci Resolve: Free
● DaVinci Resolve Studio 20: $295 (varies by region)
4. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading professional video editing program that helps you refine your narrative with three-point editing. Simply, drop your footage from any camera into your timeline and transform raw and log footage on import without LUTs. This GoPro video editor offers professional color wheels and curve controls, enabling you to preview results with built-in video scopes.
Key Features
- With pro audio tools, you can browse music, enhance dialogues, and add advanced effects as needed.
- It provides a Magic Extender, which extends clips, adds frames, and generates a missing ambient sound experience.
- Through its AI audio functionality, you can enhance audio quality in GoPro videos by reducing background noise.
Pros
This video editor automatically retimes your music to match the length of your edited videos with Remix.
In your videos, you can auto-translate captions in over 27 languages with AI to reach more viewers.
Cons
Some functions are cloud-dependent, while others are subscription-based, where pricing can be costly.
Pricing Plans
● Adobe Premiere Pro: $22.99/month
5. PowerDirector
Another best editing software for GoPro that analyzes your media to detect key moments, highlighting the ones that matter. Not only this, but you can elevate your videos with pro-level titles and stock content to make your content always look new. Editors are even allowed to remove unwanted backgrounds and apply effects that track objects and faces.
Key Features
- Its AI Video Enhancement function offers easy-to-apply filters and color adjustment options.
- Users can utilize AI assistance to improve speech, restore audio, and generate music all at once.
- The program supports up to 100 timeline tracks, featuring multi-camera syncing and split-screen editing options.
Pros
This editing software offers cross-platform compatibility for Windows, macOS, and mobile devices.
Editors are equipped with 360-degree video editing tools for exporting immersive video content across platforms.
Cons
Mac users may experience fewer features and occasional stability issues when handling high-resolution footage.
Pricing Plans
PowerDirector 365: $24.99/month
PowerDirector Suite 365: $34.99/month
PowerDirector 365 Ultimate: $$139.99/month
6. Final Cut Pro X
Final Cut Pro is Apple’s professional editing software that allows you to edit more complex projects, even those with larger frames. Its Magnetic Timeline enables one to easily experiment with stories by moving and trimming clips without syncing issues. With its color coding, you can identify different types of content and customize the look of your timelines while editing.
Key Features
- To edit a GoPro video, use its Magnetic Mask, which isolates people and objects from the background.
- It allows using keyframes to adjust the correction over time and creative LUTs to achieve that perfect outcome.
- The program enables you to take your work further, through 360-degree video editing, including both monoscopic and stereoscopic options.
Pros
In this editing program, all color grading tools and scopes support High Dynamic Range (HDR) videos.
You can import and grade original, untouched footage with RAW data straight from the camera sensor without sacrificing speed.
Cons
This video editing program is only compatible with Mac users and is not available for Windows or Linux.
Pricing Plans
Final Cut Pro: $299.99
Pro Tip. Having a Corrupted or Blurry GoPro Video? Use Repairit & Regain Playable Videos
It's natural to encounter corruption, even after recording a video through GoPro or editing through a dedicated GoPro video editor. No matter what caused your video to become corrupt, there’s still a chance to save that adventure with Repairit at your service. Through its Professional Mode, you can handle RAW formats and advanced video codecs while preserving original encoding. Plus, it supports corrupted camera files and 4K-plus videos, ensuring every detail remains intact.
This repair program is fully compatible with GyroFlow and all GoPro versions, delivering seamless stabilization. It also facilitates editors in restoring original motion accuracy for a smoother, shake-free playback. It's optimized for high-speed and extreme motion footage captured during biking, surfing, or even skydiving. The program saves hours of manual stabilization work by handling corrupted motion sensor data from a sports camera.
Step-by-Step Guide to Enhance and Repair Your Damaged or Corrupt GoPro Videos
To handle video corruption and blurry gopro videos, which occurred after using GoPro video editing software, a simple stepwise manual is provided ahead:
Step 1. Activate the Professional Mode
To begin, install the software, access the “Professional Mode,” and press the “Start” button to enter video repair professional mode.
Step 2. Add Up All Corrupted GoPro Videos
After this, click the “Start” button to add all the broken or corrupted GoPro videos on the platform for repair.
Step 3. Fix All the Added Damaged GoPro Videos
Later on, proceed to the “Repair” button in the bottom right corner to fix all the added videos at once. When the repair process is complete, press the “Preview” button to view and save the results on your device.
Enhance and Repair Your Damaged or Corrupt GoPro Videos
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Conclusion
In summary, the footage captured through GoPro deserves a professional edit that aligns with your energy and excitement. From beginner-friendly to professional-grade programs, we’ve rounded up the top 5 programs to edit GoPro videos. Additionally, if you suspect that your recorded video has been corrupted, it is recommended to use Repairit for video recovery.
FAQ
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Q1. Can I edit GoPro videos on my phone?
Why not? GoPro offers the Quik app for both iOS and Android users, which allows quick modifications to your videos. It facilitates users in trimming, applying filters, adjusting playback speed, and syncing their footage to music; all necessities for basic editing. -
Q2. Do I need to convert GoPro videos before editing?
That's not necessary because the majority of modern editors support GoPro’s MP4 (H.264 or HEVC) formats for editing. Anyway, if your footage isn’t compatible or lags during editing, converting it to an editable format like ProRes can help. -
Q3. Why does my GoPro video look flat or washed out?
When you file a video using the GoPro’s flat color profile, it may look dull at first, but it’s ideal for color grading in post. Despite this, you can further improve the video using the color correction tools in your GoPro video editor for more professionalism.
