Machete Video Editor Lite is a free software for easy and lossless video editing. It is designed for quick and simple "slicing" of your video files: you can delete unnecessary fragments (e.g. cut out commercials), copy, move, mix and save individual pieces. This means that Machete Video Editor Lite combines functionality of both a video splitter (cutter, trimmer) and a video joiner (for joining video files with the exactly the same formats) and more. Also, you can use the software to remove audio tracks from video files and edit tags (metadata) in all supported file formats.With Machete Video Editor Lite's simple and intuitive interface you can edit your files within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you never edited a video file before. Using this version of the program, AVI and WMV files can be edited (most video codecs associated these formats are supported). All editing operations are performed without re-encoding (this is called lossless editing). This not only saves time, but also preserves the original quality of your video. Also, it means that you would not need a powerful and expensive computer to edit your video material. After a file is edited and saved, it retains its original format.
Really getting bummed out using this site because of the malware lurking in these programs including this program. I like all the review and had great hope for this one to work well. Hasn't been very long ago the down loads on the site were safe, I hate things have changed!!! Can't trust very many programs here now days.
Summary
Works great on Windows 8
13inches
Pros
Everyone claiming Machete installs 'unwanted junk' simply didn't pay close attention during the install process. You gotta choose the 'custom' installation and then carefully read each screen and hit the 'Decline' button on several screens. Machete is a free simple program for essentially doing lossless cropping. Avidemux is similar and between the two programs simple free lossless video editing can be achieved.
Cons
None - does what it says it will do.
Summary
Good free program.
Stable but user interface needs some work
Andy2No
Pros
Doesn't crash (so far).
Fairly intuitive.
Cons
Hard to pause it exactly where you want to.
Most frequently used controls are too far apart.
A bit too hard to just stitch some clips together one after another.
Summary
I tried this with Windows XP Home. I'd have preferred to use Windows 2000 but it's not supported.
It shows promise, and it's less crash prone than the last thing I tried to use, but the user interface needs more work.
My biggest criticism is that it's too hard to reach the Pause button when you want it. That's no small problem when you're trying to cut the crappy parts out of a video.
Play & Pause aren't the same button, plus the keyboard shortcut for Pause is Ctrl-Space (Play is Space) so it's hard to pause exactly when you want to - either you have to look away from the preview to find the Pause button after pressing Play, which doesn't work if you need to cut out a very short section, or you have to try to press Ctrl+Space quickly, at precisely the right time which isn't all that easy to do quickly enough - it should be a single key press to pause, one that can be reached from the Play key without looking.
Also, Play, Pause and Stop, are a long way from the other control buttons on the screen, making it a bit wearing to keep moving between them.
The File Open dialog can't be resized (in XP), which is irritating when you're trying to find the right clip among lots of others.
I'd like an option to just append a file to the end of the current edit. Sure, I can do that with "Insert file at current position", but I have to piss about moving to the end of the file first.
Okay, that's easy enough, but what isn't easy enough is remembering to do it, and not losing track of which clip needs inserting next - that extra step, and having to scroll the File Open dialog after so many files because I can't make it big enough to show all of them at once, is more than enough to make me forget where I'm up to.
My typical editing process so far is cut out the worst bits of each clip, then string them all together, then go over the whole thing cutting more bits out. The step where I string them all together is made unnecessarily complicated by the lack of an Append option.
On the whole it seems fairly stable, unlike other free video editors I've tried. It's useable, it just needs some more work to make using it a little bit smoother. Editing videos takes a long time, and is very repetitive. Any little thing that slows that process down gets to do it to you over and over and over and over... again.
Still, as I paid nothing for it, it's well worth the money.
Works okay; installs unwanted junk
KathyC312
Pros
Product itself worked fine. Was able to cut and save a 2-minute excerpt out of a 2-hour long WMV file.
Cons
Installed unwanted extensions to my browser. I chose 'custom installation' and was careful not to accept any 'offers' of free software during the installation process. However, shortly after installing the Machete Lite, I found that my web browser (Chrome) was acting strangely...new default websites...when I clicked on a link I was taken somewhere else first...Looked at my Chrome extensions and 'Default Page' and 'Savon' or somesuch had been added by a third party. Very underhanded.
Summary
Would only recommend it if you're okay with your browser being hijacked.
Hopeless..
c0mpute
Pros
It plays AVI files
Cons
It does not do what it says,
You cant cut or copy/paste and save as without an error.
Summary
Tried to just cut two simple scenes from a simple documentary and paste them together and it could not even do that.. Could not save a copied frame to disk without an error in windows 7
This programs does what it says
srarya
Pros
Cuts video, easy interface, no ad-wares and do not take the user for a ride.
It is faster than many freewares I used
Cons
I found no cons
Summary
Suggest anybody who wants to crop videos to go for this freeware.
Works great for AVI
aronheintz
Pros
Installed easily on Windows 7. I figured out how to use it in 120 seconds. Tried it on a few large AVI files. Very easy to set begin and end points. Saves clips incredibly fast.
Cons
None. Doesn't open other file types since its LITE.
Summary
If you use AVI format, this it the program you'll want to use.
Perfect Video File Chopper
cwmacphail
Pros
Clean intuitive interface
Very useful for reducing file size - removing useless footage
The name is perfect for what it does
Truly free (but watch for add-ins during install -- opt out)
Cons
Been using it for a few weeks - no cons so far
Summary
Works only with WMV files.
GATOR-HATER
Pros
Very fast and produced lossless video with my 32 bit system.
Cons
I upgraded to a 64 bit system and downloaded Machete Pro for a trial.
It could not open ANY AVI file. I would get a message the file may be
corrupt or is a format not supported by Machete. I contacted tech
support and got a bot response to upload codecs I already had. The
trial expired without ever once being able to open an AVI file. The
same files 32 bit Machete Lite opened without a hitch on my old
32 bit knuckle dragger. So I downloaded the 64 bit Machete Lite and
have the same problem Machete works ONLY on WMV files for me.
Summary
Machete Lite works only on WMV files for me. I have downloaded each
and every codec pack and related program suggested by Machete.com and
then some. But I still cannot open any AVI file on my 64 bit system.
I gave it two stars because it will work with WMV format. I have no
trouble playing, editing and/or converting AVI with any of my other
players, editors or converters.
Didn't work for me!
TonyPy
Pros
Didn't work for me!
Cons
Program said a codec wasn't available, but I can play the videos in my media player.