With the increasing popularity of videos and video editing, almost everyone has created at least one video. Even a couple of years ago, people were still relying on desktop and mobile tools, but today there are plenty of online video makers that will give you equally high-quality results in a matter of minutes.
Today, we’re taking a look at Fastreel by Movavi – a super-easy and free online video editor. If making videos is not a primary source of income, online freeware is a good place to start, as you don’t have to purchase expensive software to perform simple editing tasks. In this article, we cover all the Fastreel’s features, pricing, and its pros and cons.
Online Video-Editing Tools
We’ve divided Fastreel’s tools into three major groups: free creation, video adjustment, and special effects.
Free creation
There are three tools to help you create movies from scratch. You can make a video, create a slideshow, or convert images into a video. Select files from your computer and drag them to the browser – in a couple of seconds, you will be redirected to the editing space. There, you can arrange photos and videos on the timeline and add more slides. In the left-side panel, you’ll find the basic tools to make the video more dynamic: add transitions and change image duration. You can also upload an audio file or use music from the built-in collection.
Video adjustment
These tools let you perform basic video enhancing tasks. Let’s take a look at what you can do:
Compress video
With this tool, you can reduce the size of your video files if they are too big to upload to social media or attach to an email. There are three options available:
- High compression level significantly reduces the video size and greatly affects its quality.
- Medium compression level shrinks videos without significant loss of quality.
- Low compression level slightly changes the video size and keeps the quality almost unchanged.
Cut video
Here, you can trim videos and cut out unnecessary segments. The interface is as simple as it can be: just place markers on the timeline and delete unwanted parts.
Crop video
This tool will come in handy when you need to change the aspect ratio of your video. You can choose between three default presets or adjust the cropping frame as you wish. Presets include:
- 1:1 (Instagram post)
- 16:9 (YouTube video)
- 9:16 (Instagram story or IGTV)
Rotate video
Video rotation is necessary if you accidentally recorded a video holding the device the wrong way. This tool helps you rescue videos shot upside-down or sideways, and you can rotate them through 90, 180, or 270 degrees. Unfortunately, the tool doesn’t allow you to turn videos freely, so you can’t use it to fix videos with a tilted horizon.
Flip video
This tool adds a mirror effect to videos. Whether it’s a creative enhancement or you need to rescue inverted footage, you can upload the video here and choose to flip it horizontally or vertically.
Mute video
Use this tool to remove the sound from your videos – no additional clicks required. You just upload the video and then download the same file without audio.
Add music to video
Conversely, if your video is missing an audio track, you can change that. Fastreel includes a collection of atmospheric tracks, but you can always upload your own file. The tool automatically trims the audio to fit the video length. So if you need a track to start from a particular moment, you’ll need to cut it beforehand.
Add text to video
With Fastreel, you can overlay colorful captions and even create titles. It has all the text-editing features you might need – you can choose the font, size, and color, and add a background to the caption.
Add subtitles to video
If you need your video to have hardcoded subtitles, you can embed them with the help of Fastreel. This tool is quite advanced. You can upload a ready-made SRT file from your computer or enter subtitles frame by frame and set the time for their appearance. You can also change the way they look: choose the font, style, size, and more. Plus, you can download any subtitles you create so you can use them someplace else.
Add a watermark to the video
Finally, Fastreel has a tool that will help you protect your intellectual property – by adding a watermark. You can use your own logo, choose the position, and it will appear throughout the entire video.
Special effects
Now, let’s talk about the special effects you can incorporate to make your videos stand out:
- Change video speed
You can make your video four times faster or slower. You can also choose whether you want the output video to have sound or not, which is really handy.
- Reverse video
This tool makes videos go backward. However, it doesn’t let you reverse just a part of the video, so you’ll need to trim it beforehand if necessary.
- Loop video
With this tool, you can clone a clip up to 10 times, so it plays over and over again in one video.
- Make stop-motion video
You can turn a video into a frame-by-frame sequence that will add a cartoon-like effect. You can choose the video speed and clip rate – meaning the tool will grab a frame every N seconds of the video. The clip rate varies from 0.2 to 1.5 seconds.
- Make split-screen video
Fastreel can make a video collage from multiple videos or pictures. Select a split-screen template, import videos, and place them into the grid.
- Add filters to a video
Filters let you set the mood for the whole video. Fastreel has over 20 effects that will turn your footage around.
Video Templates
Besides video enhancement tools and special effects, Fastreel offers a wide range of ready-made templates for different video types. There are more than 30 templates, including intro, birthday video, advertisement, Facebook cover, movie trailer – you name it. These templates are great for anyone who doesn’t have time to work on the project from scratch. Instead, you just pick what fits your purpose best, make a few adjustments like adding more slides and overlaying music, and you’re good to go.
Supported Formats & Export
Fastreel can’t brag about having a wide range of supported formats; however, it works with the most popular ones. You can upload JPEG, PNG, BMP, and MP4 files up to 500 MB total. Plus, you can import audio files in MP3 and subtitles in SRT.
As for export, you can save videos only as MP4, or, if you’re working with templates, upload the results directly to YouTube or Facebook.
Pricing
You can access all of Fastreel’s tools and content for free as long as you need it. However, the free plan limits your export options. You can only save videos in 480p quality, and they will all have a watermark.
There are two premium plans that remove the limitations:
- Single Premium gives you one-time premium export, meaning the output file won’t have a watermark, and you can save it at 1080p quality. Price – $5.95 per video.
- Unlimited Premium lets you save files at high quality without any restrictions and watermarks. You also get access to all the tools, and you can switch between them without re-uploading your video to edit it. A monthly subscription costs $19.95, or you can save 25% and purchase an annual plan for $9.95 per month ($119.40 billed annually).
Pros & Cons
Let’s sum up everything we’ve said before and single out Fastreel’s positives and negatives.
Pros:
- Fastreel is perfect for quick editing tasks
- There are lots of tools, both basic and advanced
- A collection of over 30 video templates
- It lets you embed subtitles and create your own
- No additional software required
- Suitable for users with any level of experience
Cons:
- Internet connection is required all the time
- Limited import and export options
Conclusion
Overall, Fastreel is one of the best options available online. It is quick, free, and easy-to-use. Fastreel can complete any video-editing task a desktop program can do: enhance video quality, overlay special effects, add subtitles, and so much more.