The release of the new version of Shotcut 25.12 was recently announced, a This update represents an improvement in image quality. from the popular non-linear video editor.The launch focuses almost exclusively on improving color accuracy and bit depth, overcoming historical limitations of the processing engine.
With this version, Shotcut professionalizes its rendering pipeline, enabling 10- and 12-bit workflows that were previously restricted or required the exclusive use of GPU acceleration, and adds new linear color options to avoid visual distortions in complex compositions.
Main news of Shotcut 25.12
In this new version of Shotcut 25.12 the nThe most relevant new feature is the increase in color depth for CPU-based processing. Previously, the operations performed by the processor (CPU) They were limited to an 8-bit representation (256 color levels), even if the original video was of higher quality. This resulted in a loss of information visible as color banding in smooth gradients.
With version 25.12, Data is transferred between filters with a precision of 10 or 12 bits per channel (up to 1024 levels). Crucially, this improvement now encompasses track transitions and merge operations, which have been migrated to this new architecture. This It allows working with HDR or logarithmic material while maintaining color fidelity. without necessarily depending on a powerful graphics card.
In addition to bit depth, The option to process images in a linear color space has been introduced.This technique is essential to avoid mathematical errors when mixing pixels, such as dark edges or strange color halos that often appear when scaling, blurring, or layering in color spaces with applied gamma.
Since linear processing is computationally more expensive, Shotcut has added a new submenu in Settings > Rendering Mode for the user to choose the balance between speed and quality:
- native 8-bit CPU: The classic mode, fast and compatible with all filters.
- native 10-bit CPU: Greater color accuracy, ideal for basic color correction.
- 10-bit linear CPU: The highest possible quality, mathematically correct for compositions and blurs, but slower.
10-bit Linear GPU/CPU: An experimental mode that combines the best of both worlds
El The Filters menu now includes a dropdown menu that allows you to filter compatible effects. with active processing mode (GPU, 10 bits, RGBA, etc.), avoiding the frustration of applying a filter that degrades the video signal.
Content generation has also been improved:
- Visual HTML Generator: New interface for previewing HTML templates before applying them, with two new presets included: "Chrome" and "Neon Flux".
- Screen recording: It now allows you to automatically minimize the interface when starting a capture and adds the option to record system audio. On Linux/X11, support for NVENC (NVIDIA) acceleration has been added.
Fixes and Hardware Support
The update also polishes several aspects:
- Support for extracting subtitles in mov_text and SSA formats.
- Improved compatibility of AppImage, Portable, and Snap versions with VA-API hardware acceleration on Linux.
- Correction of critical errors, such as color corruption in dissolves and failures when handling ultra-high resolution XML files (>8K).
- Zimg library update to version 3.0.6, crucial for conversions between HDR and SDR.
How to install Shotcut on Ubuntu and derivatives?
The first method To get this video editor on the system is through Snap and for this we are going to type the following command:
snap install shotcut --classic
And voila with it, it will have been installed in the system.
Other method we have to obtain this editor, is by downloading the application in its AppImage format, which gives us the facility to use this application without installing or adding things to the system.
For this just open a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T and in it execute the following command:
wget https://github.com/mltframework/shotcut/releases/download/v25.12.31/shotcut-linux-x86_64-25.12.31.AppImage -O shotcut.appimage
Done this now we must give execution permissions to the downloaded file with:
sudo chmod +x shotcut.appimage
And finally we can run the application with the following command:
./shotcut.appimage