I'm working on a project where I need to recommend video editing software for a school computer lab. The computers only have 8GB RAM and we can't upgrade them. What video editing software with low RAM requirements would work best? It needs to be stable and not crash when handling 1080p footage. Free would be ideal but paid options are okay too if they're affordable. Looking specifically for video editing software low RAM solutions that students can actually use without frustration.
For video editing software with low RAM requirements in a school setting, I'd recommend OpenShot. It's stable, free, and doesn't need much memory. I've seen it run on systems with 4GB RAM handling 1080p footage without crashing. The interface is straightforward enough for students to learn quickly too.
Shotcut is another good option for low RAM systems. It's designed to be efficient with memory usage. I've used it on a laptop with only 4GB RAM and it was surprisingly stable. For a computer lab with 8GB RAM, it should work well for basic student projects. The fact that it's free makes it perfect for educational use.
For a school environment with 8GB RAM systems, I'd actually consider DaVinci Resolve with some caveats. If you create optimized media (proxy files) and turn off GPU acceleration, it can run on 8GB RAM. The free version is professional-grade software, so students would be learning on industry-standard tools. The learning curve is steeper but the payoff is worth it if they're serious about video editing.
Kdenlive might work for your school lab. It's free and open source, and I've found it to be pretty stable on Linux systems with limited RAM. If the computers are running Linux, it's definitely worth considering. For Windows, it's available too but I've had better stability on Linux with lower resource usage.
For absolute simplicity and low RAM usage, the Windows built-in Video Editor might actually be sufficient for basic school projects. It's extremely lightweight since it's part of the OS. Students can learn basic editing concepts without dealing with complex interfaces. For more advanced work, you could then introduce something like OpenShot.