openshot

openshot [options] [project_file]

--version
    Displays the program's version number and then exits.

-h, --help
    Shows a help message detailing the command-line options and then exits.

-d, --debug
    Enables debug messages, providing more detailed output in the terminal which can be useful for troubleshooting.

-v, --verbose
    Enables verbose messages, offering more detailed information about the application's operations.

-t, --test
    Enables unit tests, typically used by developers for testing the software's components.

--profiler
    Enables the profiler (qtgui.profiler), which helps in analyzing application performance.

--clean
    Cleans all temporary assets generated by OpenShot, such as thumbnails, waveform data, and other cached files.

[project_file]
    An optional argument to specify an OpenShot project file (.osp) to be opened automatically upon launching the application.

The openshot command launches the OpenShot Video Editor, a user-friendly, open-source, non-linear video editing software. Designed for Linux, macOS, and Windows, OpenShot aims to provide a stable, feature-rich, and easy-to-use editor for beginners and intermediate users. It supports a wide range of video, audio, and image formats thanks to its integration with FFmpeg. Key features include trimming and slicing, video transitions, effects, title creation, compositing, and animated 3D titles. While primarily a graphical application, the command line allows launching with specific options for debugging, testing, or directly opening a project file.

OpenShot is fundamentally a graphical user interface (GUI) application. Its command-line interface is primarily for launching the program, opening projects, and enabling diagnostic modes. It does not provide extensive command-line options for non-interactive editing, rendering, or scripting of complex video production tasks.

While primarily known and developed for Linux, OpenShot is also available and actively maintained for Windows and macOS, offering a consistent user experience across different operating systems.

OpenShot leverages powerful open-source libraries: FFmpeg for video/audio processing, the MLT Framework for core video editing capabilities, and PyQt for its graphical user interface, making it robust and extensible.

OpenShot Video Editor was created by Jonathan Thomas in 2008, with the initial goal of providing a free, simple, and stable video editor for Linux. It quickly gained popularity as an open-source alternative to proprietary video editing software. Over the years, it has evolved significantly, transitioning from GTK to PyQt for its GUI toolkit, improving performance, and expanding its features. Its development relies heavily on the MLT Framework and FFmpeg for core multimedia processing, allowing it to support a wide range of formats and effects.

kdenlive(1), shotcut(1), flowblade(1), ffmpeg(1)