A new version of Shotcut video editor is out, rounding out what’s proven to be a bumper month for Linux video editing enthusiasts thanks to big updates to Flowblade, OpenShot and Kdenlive.

The headline feature in Shotcut 25.12 is 10-bit video support in the CPU pipeline. Until now, editing 10-bit clips in this MLT-based tool involved a trade-off: using GPU effects and filters only, or opting for basic CPU filters that lack transitions or compositing.

In this update, that’s changed.

Most CPU filters, transitions, and other editing/blending options were updated to to handle 10- and 12-bit sources, though a few remain 8-bit owing to upstream dependencies. This means you can keep footage in 10-bit throughout your edit.

Shotcut 25.12 also introduces new linear colour processing options. Regular video editing mixes pixels in ‘gamma space’ which, the devs say, can lead to technically (if not always perceptibly) incorrect results or colour shifts when cropping, scaling, etc.

Though Shotcut’s GPU filters have operated in linear colour for a while, this update ensures the CPU path can handle them too. Four processing modes are provided in all:

  • Native 8-bit CPU (fast, more filters available)
  • Native 10-bit CPU (slower, better quality)
  • Linear 10-bit CPU (slowest, best image quality)
  • Linear 10-bit GPU/CPU (experimental)

Opting for linear processing does mean reduced performance/slower working, though Shotcut’s devs say optimisations are coming in the next release to speed things up.

Other notable changes in Shotcut 25.10:

  • Easier way to view filters only applicable to current processing mode.
  • Visual preset browser for the HTML generator
  • Two new HTML generator presets: Chrome and Neon Flux
  • NVIDIA nvenc hardware encoding for screen recording on Linux (X11)
  • Support for mov_text and SSA in Properties > Extract Subtitles
  • Improved VA-API hardware encoder in AppImage and Snap builds
  • VP8/9 WebM preset tweaks to provide control over quality and bitrate

An extensive list of bug fixes remedy all sorts of issues, from broken dissolves, export failures in files with special characters, alpha channel problems with nested clips and hardware encoding bugs in Shotcut’s Windows on ARM version.

In all, a(nother) solid update to this free, open-source and cross-platform non-linear video editor. The changes made here make it a standout choice for those needing to work on extremely high-quality video and maintain colour accuracy whilst using Linux.

Download Shotcut 25.12

Shotcut is free, open source software available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. You can download the latest version from the official Shotcut website.

On Linux, Shotcut is available as a standalone binary, an AppImage, Flatpak (on Flathub), or a Snap. For the latter, open App Center on any supported version of Ubuntu, search for ‘Shotcut’, click the listing, then the install button.

Alternatively, to install the Shotcut snap using your Terminal app of choice, run:

sudo snap install shotcut

Once installation completes, launch the app from the app grid.