New Version 26.6: High Dynamic Range

Jun 25, 2026

Version 26.6.25 is now available for DOWNLOAD!

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.

  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.

  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 very close to a common ratio: 4:3, 16:9, or 9:16.
• Fixed changing many things in Properties enabled Filters that were disabled.
• Fixed crash in Text: Rich filter on some Linux/Wayland versions.
• Fixed toggling visibility of other tracks in Timeline could make an audio clip with an image appear on top.

New Version 26.4: All the Small Things

Apr 29, 2026

Version 26.4.30 is now available for DOWNLOAD!

Timeline Improvements

• Added symmetric resize of a timeline transition using its trim handles.
• Added drag-n-drop from Recent to Timeline.
• Improved Timeline and Keyframes zoom to be less erratic and more focused.
• Reduced memory usage for timeline waveforms.
• Changed Timeline > Set Current Track Above and Set Current Track Below to use the bare Up and Down keys.

Speech to Text

• Added Vulkan GPU support to Speech to Text on Windows and Linux.
• Added a Use GPU checkbox to the Speech to Text dialog.

Other New Features

• Added Export > Metadata including Cover art.
• Added a Typewriter group of options to the Burn In Subtitle filter.
• Added job progress and status on the taskbar or dock icon where supported.
• Added Properties > LUT file for video clips, primarily for the Linear 10-bit processing mode.
• Added aspect ratio grid options to the player grid button:
  • 1:1 Frame
  • 16:9 Frame
  • 4:3 Frame
  • 9:16 Frame
• Added 10-bit VP9 MP4 (E-AC-3) and 10-bit VP9 WebM (Opus) export presets.
• Added launching Glaxnimate from the Microsoft Store on Windows if available.

Changes

• Stopped bundling Glaxnimate except in the Linux Flatpak.
• 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.
• Changed Timeline > Record Audio to use FLAC instead of Opus for improved quality and tool compatibility.
• Reorganized the Video Mode menu with new categories:
  • Social Media
  • Other
  • Legacy
• Reduced the thickness of the panel splitters and made them brighter.
• Upgraded FFmpeg to version 8.1.
• Upgraded x265 to version 4.1.
• Upgraded whisper.cpp to version 1.8.3.
• Upgraded MLT to version 7.38.0.
• Upgraded Qt to version 6.10.3 on Linux.

Fixes

• Fixed intermittent audio waveform sync or blank waveforms (broke in v26.2).
• Fixed incorrect last frame in Glaxnimate animations.
• Fixed Font style other than weight and italics/oblique in the font dialog.
• Fixed accepting file names with special characters in Playlist > Add Files.
• Fixed markers disappearing after undo moving clips.
• 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 not immediately updating the Timeline and Keyframes rulers.
• Fixed Timeline > Copy, Cut, Paste, and Overwrite breaking grouped clips.
• Fixed keyframes after undoing a trim in.
• Fixed changing Properties > Duration dropping time filters.
• Fixed Edit Marker duration and Ripple Markers off by one frame.
• Fixed the Nervous video filter doing a 2 frame fade-in from black.
• Fixed undo history for lock, mute, and hide track.
• Fixed button menus not opening reliably on Wayland on Linux.
• Fixed a possible crash during voice preview in the Text to Speech dialog.

New Version 26.2

Feb 26, 2026

Version 26.2.26 is now available for DOWNLOAD!

Fixes

• Fixed crash when adding long video to Timeline with Qt 6.10.1 (broke in v26.1).
• Fixed black or green bottom bar on Windows with HEVC video source and Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder plus preview scaling (broke in v26.1).
• Restored Generate to the main toolbar with View > Show Text Under Icons (changed in v26.1).
• Fixed crash in the RGB Shift video filter (broke in v25.12).
• Fixed FLAC export has a bad duration disabling scrub bars in players (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.
• Fixed choosing Export > Codec > h264_videotool on macOS not reliably setting B frames to 0.
• Fixed keyframes for Text: Typewriter > Position & Size not working.

Changes

• Added support for the underline and strikethrough options in the font dialog for the text filters.
• Added a search field to Subtitles.
• Added holding Alt while clicking Mute and Hide on the Timeline track to toggle all of the other tracks.
• Added holding Shift with the mouse wheel to Zoom 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).

New Version 26.1: Go Speed Racer Go

Jan 30, 2026

Version 26.1.30 is now available for DOWNLOAD!

Hardware Video Decoding!

“What took so long?” you might ask. A good way to manage it across all operating systems and GPU vendor APIs. We have a FAQ topic about this. Management comes in the forms of operating system abstraction APIs, hardware scaling, and a threshold limiter.

Settings > Preview Scaling > Use Hardware Decoder

• Enabled by default, except with NVIDIA on Linux.
• Uses VA-API on Linux, Media Foundation on Windows, and Video Toolbox on macOS.
• Only supports codecs your hardware can decode; automatically falls back to software decoding if needed.
• May not provide a dramatic speed boost unless you use Linear 10-bit CPU processing mode or have a low-powered CPU.
• Has limited impact on seeking and scrubbing—using proxies is still recommended for smooth editing.
• Reduces CPU usage, which can help lower battery drain and keep your system cooler.
• Not integrated with GPU processing mode via 0-copy.
• Transferring uncompressed video between CPU and GPU RAM can be a bottleneck, so this feature is limited to preview scaling or 1080p-60fps (or lower) sources.
• Advanced users can remove the 1080p60 limiter by setting environment variable MLT_AVFORMAT_HWACCEL_PPS=0.

Export > Codec > Use hardware decoder

• Disabled by default, as it can sometimes increase export times.
• No resolution or frame rate limits.
• Can reduce CPU usage during export, which may be beneficial for some workflows. (Tip: Avoid exporting videos on your lap for long periods!)
• The setting is persistent and will be remembered between sessions and projects.
• Feel free to test it on your system to see if it offers benefits for your specific hardware and workflow.

What’s This?

This is contextual help! It lets you get assistance for a specific item in the user interface—just click the “What’s This?” icon, then click on the UI element you want to learn about. Usually, this opens a web browser to the relevant documentation, but for some items like toolbar buttons, it may show a tooltip instead if more detailed documentation isn’t available.

Comprehensive documentation is essential for this feature to be useful. Many users aren’t aware that documentation exists, but it’s now much more complete and accessible. The documentation is available on the website, and a PDF is generated automatically from the forum-wiki-based content. Additionally, the forum offers a Claude AI bot that can help answer questions using the documentation and release notes.

Other New Features

• Added converting a project between GPU & CPU processing modes.
• Added the Blend Mode filter and track option for the Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU processing mode.
• Increased the maximum resolution in Video Mode and Export to 8640 for 8K VR180 video.
• Added Settings > Language > Chinese (Simplified).

Changes

• Improved the appearance of outline in the text filters: Text: Simple, Typewriter, GPS Text, Subtitle Burn In and Timer.
• 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.
• Changed simple keyframe defaults in Mask: From File filter to be more convenient for multi-track transitions.

Fixes

• Fixed Brightness filter with a reduced level is different when there was clip with transparency above it (broke in v25.12).
• Fixed Timeline > Record Audio would always reset the selected audio device and require re-selection (broke in v25.12).
• Fixed the Mask: Apply video filter in 10-bit processing modes (incomplete in v25.12).
• Fixed macOS app signing.
• Fixed a crash in the scrub-bar on a very long playlist.
• Improved the reliability of opening URLs (Help menu), Show In Folder, Open With in the Linux AppImage/portable/Snap.
• Fixed app not responding while enqueuing very many proxy jobs.
• Fixed Previous/Next in Subtitles may be unreadable on some themes and OS.
• Fixed reading the alpha channel in 12-bit ProRes with alpha.
• Fixed the Halftone video filter was not copying input alpha channel.
• Fixed it was possible to use Split on a locked track in Timeline.
• Fixed glitchy export job progress and estimated remaining time.

New Version 25.12: Higher & Higher

Dec 30, 2025

Version 25.12.31 is now available for DOWNLOAD!

Higher Bit Depth: 10-bit Video CPU Pipeline

What is “bit depth?” That is the number of colors or video brightness levels. 8-bit has only 256 values per color component, for example, red/green/blue. 10 bits has 1024 levels. Previously, 10-bit video sources were only partially supported using GPU Effects and only GPU filters. Without GPU Effects (CPU), in order to stay in thee 10 bit space, you could only use filters with the #10bit tag but no transitions or track blending/compositing. Now, we have ported many CPU video effects to support 10- and 12-bit video sources including transitions and track blending. Also, the #10bit CPU video filters also work properly with the experimental GPU processing. Not all of the video CPU filters have been converted; many of them come through another software project that does not support it. However, we were able to convert many for this release or at least mark them as safe for a 10-bit project.

Higher Image Quality: Linear Color Processing

Any mixing of pixels with a color space’s gamma is not ideal, can cause color distortions, and is technically incorrect. This pixel mixing occurs whenever images interpolated, for example scaling, blurring, and sub-pixel positioning, as well as with track blending/composition. Previously, only GPU Effects and video filters in the GPU category operated in linear color. Now, there is an option to use it outside of the GPU processing. But when using the GPU, the handoff of the video from GPU to CPU now stays in the linear color transfer.

There is a new sub-menu in Settings > Processing Mode with options:

• Native 8-bit CPU (fast, flexible)
• Native 10-bit CPU (slower, better)
• Linear 10-bit CPU (slowest, best)
• Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU (Experimental)

Non-linear “native” options are still included because there is a signficant performance decrease when using linear (more conversions). We have a plan to improve performance for the next release. 8-bit is still included because it is more “flexible” by including more video filters. Of course, you can use an 8-bit video filter in a 10-bit, but the quality of the video clip or track will suffer a reduction in bit depth.

Other New Features

• Added a drop-down to the Filters menu’s Video button to more conveniently browse appropriate filters for the current processing mode.
  • GPU
  • 10-bit
  • Color
  • RGBA
  • YUV
• Changed the Filters menu to default to Color filters in the Color layout/workspace and Audio filters in the Audio layout.
• Added a visual preset browser for New > Image/Video from HTML generator. To add a thumbnail for your custom preset add a file named <preset-name>.webp in the preset folder.

• Added 2 new HTML presets: Chrome and Neon Flux!

• Added Minimize Shotcut and Record Audio to Screen Snapshot and Screen Recording.
• Added support for nvenc to Screen Recording on Linux/X11.
• Added support for mov_text and SSA in Properties > Extract Subtitles.

Changes

• Changed the default for Settings > Timeline > Automatically Add Tracks to OFF (changed in v25.10).
• Changed the preset folder for the HTML generator to presets/HTML.
• Changed the VP8/9 WebM presets to offer greater control over quality and bitrate.
• Changed New > Animation (Glaxnimate) to Drawing/Animation to clarify that this is not only for animation.
• Changed New Project > Project name to not permit ? to fix unloadable project.
• Changed the Opacity video filter’s maximum to 200% to support reducing translucency.
• Improved VA-API hardware encoder compatibility on our Linux AppImage, Portable, and Snap builds.
• Changed Screen Snapshot on macOS to show a toolbar to choose rectangle or fullscreen and whether to minimize.
• Removed Screen Recording on Windows 10–Snipping Tool does not support it.
• Upgrade zimg (used to convert HDR to SDR and to and from linear color) to version 3.0.6.

Fixes

• Fixed dissolve transition damages color (broke in v25.10).
• Fixed export on Windows not working with some special characters in a filename (broke in v25.10).
• Fixed Settings > Player > External Monitor > DeckLink Gamma > HLG HDR (broke in v25.10).
• Fixed Stereo Enhancer and Declick Audio filters (broke in v25.10).
• Fixed alpha channel is lost from a nested XML clip (broke in v25.10).
• Fixed 10-bit with amf (AMD) and mf (Windows on Arm) hardware encoders.
• Fixed Text: Typewriter cannot reduce blink rate to 0.
• Fixed the defaults when using New > Text > Typewriter.
• Fixed window not properly restored to maximized for Screen Snapshot.
• Fixed the selection rectangle was showing when using Screen Snapshot on Linux/X11.
• Fixed the UI for the Downmix audio filter (broke in v25.05).
• Fixed custom colors in color dialogs are not saved in Qt 6.9 and up.
• Fixed clips are still replaced after stopping a Reverse or Convert job.
• Fixed Freeze Frame is not properly adjusting the start and end of existing filters.
• Fixed Toggle Keyframe at Playhead for Corner Pin video filter.
• Fixed Chroma Key: Simple overwrites the alpha channel including padding for a mismatched aspect ratio.
• Fixed crash on MLT XML with extremely large (>8K) resolution (CVE-2025-65834).
• Fixed audio crackle artifacts with pcm_s24le in mkv.
• Fixed duration of markers are off by 1 frame in different ways and places.
• Fixed the appearance of toolbars under KDE/Linux when its Settings > Colors & Themes > Application Style > Configure Icons and Toolbars > Main toolbar label is Beside icons.
• Fixed a memory leak generating audio waveform data on media with an invalid or exremely long duration.
• Fixed dragging media with a very long duration (> 1 day) to Timeline uses a lot of memory and unresponsive.
• Fixed crash when clicking Cancel in the Set Duration dialog (also related to very long or invalid duration).
• Fixed a memory leak in Filters panel.
• Fixed a possible crash in the player’s scrub bar.
• Fixed the vertical position of the shadow-clip when dragging a clip to a timeline with a subtitles track.

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Recent Posts

• New Version 26.6: High Dynamic Range

  Posted on 25 Jun 2026

• New Version 26.4: All the Small Things

  Posted on 29 Apr 2026

• New Version 26.2

  Posted on 26 Feb 2026

• New Version 26.1: Go Speed Racer Go

  Posted on 30 Jan 2026