Our favorite free video editor is now even more powerful
After months in beta, Blackmagic Design has officially launched DaVinci Resolve version 18, with the latest edition of the free video editor app packed full of goodies for editing professionals.
DaVinci Resolve 18 is a major update to the best free video editing software, with a slew of under-the-hood performance boosts and cloud-based capabilities.
Version 18 is available as a free download (opens in new tab) now, with the company recommending professional editors upgrade to the paid-for Resolve Studio 18 for features such as “support for multiple GPUs, 4K output, motion blur effects, temporal and spatial noise reduction, de-interlacing, HDR tools, camera tracker, multiple Resolve FX, 3D stereoscopic tools and remote rendering.”
What’s new in DaVinci Resolve 18?
In recent years, DaVinci Resolve has seen a surge in popularity from film & TV professionals. Offering a genuine, Hollywood-grade alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut, the non-linear editing software has been deployed in major productions like Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Black Widow.
Little wonder, then, that top new features (opens in new tab) in the DaVinci Resolve update focus on streamlining workflows for experienced editors.
Chief among the upgrades is the welcome integration of Blackmagic Cloud, the company’s cloud storage solution, which enables teams to host, manage, and remotely collaborate on cloud-based projects. A new proxy generator app has also been added, which will automatically create proxies linked to the source footage to help speed up workflows.
Designers and motion graphic artists working with VFX software can expect new Resolve FX presets, extending the existing library of tools. In the same vein, Fusion – Resolve’s free and built-in Adobe After Effects alternative – has been granted performance enhancements, including faster GPU accelerated paint tools.
Resolve’s post-production audio editor tool, Fairlight, has also been tweaked, with small quality-of-life improvements alongside bigger changes, such as native support for Dolby Atmos on Linux and Apple silicon.
On the accessibility side, DaVinci Resolve 18 has rolled out a raft of subtitling improvements, like support for timed text TTML, XML and embedded MXF/IMF subtitles, the ability to view and import subtitles from storage, and region support for multiple captions per track.
A word of warning
DaVinci Resolve users can get their hands on the upgraded version now. However, Blackmagic Design notes that the newest version of the software for video editing “requires a project library upgrade from DaVinci Resolve 17.4.6 and previous versions. We strongly recommend that you backup your existing (disk based and PostgreSQL based) project libraries before performing an upgrade.”
