5 Big advantages of a cloud-powered online video editor

In this post, I would like to go through the advantages of an online video editor compared to a desktop one. Even if there is still a lot of trust in regular desktop or mobile applications nowadays, at Flixier we feel that it will all change in the next couple of years. We are already seeing what Netflix has done to the movie industry with proper use of web technologies and we are also on the verge of another revolution, this time in the gaming industry with the imminent release of game streaming services from Nvidia, Microsoft, and even Google. That being said, we feel that the video editing industry will be disrupted in a similar fashion and these are 5 main advantages of moving to a web-based workflow.

Powered by cloud computing
 

A true online video editor is powered by the latest cloud computing technologies and this opens a whole new world for the software. Flixier Pro is a cloud-first tool that takes things to a whole new level when it comes to transcoding and exporting, speeding up both processes to unbelievable levels. For example, exporting any video that is up to 1 hour long takes under 1-minute using Flixier Pro.

To jump straight to the point an online video editor like Flixier Pro directly helps you by allowing you to edit video even on a low-end computer/laptop thus saving you money on hardware or on a slim and light ultrabook with little to zero impact on battery life. Moreover, since all the heavyweight of processing is removed from your computer you can still use it while it performs rendering or transcoding operations. This is a huge advantage if you ever tried video editing before you already know that this step can make your computer almost useless for the duration of the entire process. 

Now, a big advantage that Flixier has when compared to other online video editors is the lack of a render/export queue. This means that from the moment you click on "Export" your video is sent directly for processing and it will be ready in under a minute, unlike other tools that sometimes keep you waiting for hours in their exporting queues.

Cloud storage

The next pillar of an online video editing tool is easy to access to plenty of storage. This helps you directly by removing the need of investing a large amount of money on a computer with a lot of storage. 

Beyond that, storing files in the cloud makes it easy to enable all sorts of collaboration features. Sharing a library or a project is as simple as sending an invite, this is a huge leap forward compared to the chore of moving files through physical drives or setting up complex network solutions that are extremely expensive. 

Cloud storage for video editing is a great solution because it simplifies many complex tasks improving the overall workflow for video editing. 

Multi-OS compatible

Since an online video editor runs in a web browser, this means that it can run on different operating systems with relative ease. For example, Flixier Pro offers the same experience if you are running it on a Windows PC, Mac, Linux or even a Chromebook. At the moment it runs at its best in Google Chrome but future improvements will make it run just as well on other browsers. 

What makes this cross-platform compatibility worth noting is that rendering speed isn't affected by the operating system and deep system-level optimizations like is the case with desktop solutions. We've seen how Apple manages to keep people locked in the Apple ecosystem due to the optimizations they make to Final Cut Pro since Flixier Pro moves all the processing in the cloud you will experience the same amazing speeds and features on all operating systems. 

Next-level collaboration

We already established that an online video editor with a cloud-first approach allows you to easily work on a computer with low processing power and with low storage but there are still many more things that this approach enables. 

For example, real-time collaboration very similar to what you can do in Google Docs will be a part of Flixier. Sending and receiving feedback in Flixier is as simple as clicking a button and sharing a link, your clients or team members can leave time-based comments that show up in your editor or timeline and are very easy to reply to. 

All this is possible through the technology we developed at Flixier and it doesn't even require exporting for any of the steps presented above, the only time you export to render is when you are 100% sure the work is approved and final.

Convenience

On top of all I presented above there are the little things that make the experience feel modern, things like access to all your files and projects from any computer via a simple log-in, the history system that allows you to check-out previous versions of your project, seamless integration with external stock footage libraries for those moments when you need that missing frame or direct publishing to social media channels because let's face it, most of your content will end up on social media sooner or later.

This is our view on why online video editors will lead the way for the future of video creation. Of course, there are still things that an online video editor can't do right now compared to a desktop counterpart. We would love to hear back from you with both cons and more pros to moving the workflow into the cloud. Are those cons a deal-breaker for you? Let us know! You can also try Flixier today.