What do you do with short video clips that you've collected over the years on your smartphone, mobile phone, or digital camera? Some are minutes and even just seconds long. No problem. Like other programs for editing videos for semiprofessionals, OpenShot [1] allows you to put videos together from clips, photos, and audio files.

If you want to release an OpenShot edited video on YouTube right away, the tool provides a special feature for selecting the ideal properties for high-quality output. OpenShot even warns you about missing codecs so that you'll know exactly how to install the missing components. (Also see the "Installation" box.)

OpenShot also has a lot to offer in terms of effects. It provides many fancy effects for the transition between clips, and you can use functions to intersperse three-dimensional animated text into the video. For variety's sake, you can, for example, convert a video into a living charcoal drawing.

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