Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging segments of a video.
This can range from advanced features such as adding special effects, to the most basic of operations, such as syncing the audio file correctly over the video. These activities are carried out to present the information stored in the video in a more structured and interesting manner.
Video editing is integral to movies and television shows, however, it can be carried out for recreation too. Back in the old days, such editing was only performed in dedicated production houses but the advancement in technology in recent times has enabled users to perform the same task on their personal computers with the help of dedicated software programs.
Even though video editing can now be carried out from the luxury of our homes, the process is still quite computationally expensive and requires certain hardware improvements to be brought about in the concerning computer system. If these requirements are not met, the computer might lag or even crash during the process of video editing, which brings us to system optimization. Performing system optimization on a regular basis is a good idea to guard against any clogging of the system with various kinds of junk data that is created during routine computing tasks.
Solutions
Even though video editing exhausts your computer’s resources and sometimes results in lags and system crashes, all hope is not yet lost. There are certain tweaks you can perform that can enable you to smoothly carry out video editing on your system without having to purchase a new computer. The following lines spell out the steps you can follow to speed up your video editing experience:
- Upgrade your Computer’s Disks
The first and foremost upgrade you can make to your computer to significantly improve the video editing experience is to purchase more RAM. Experts recommend a minimum of 8GB RAM for everyday video editing, but if you want to professionally edit 4K videos you would need up to 32GB RAM.
Up next comes the hard disk. You should not only go for a bigger hard disk, preferably an SSD, but you also need the one with a capacity of at least 7200 RPM. This plays a major role in speeding up the video editing process on your computer.
- Invest in a Top Notch GPU
Video editing without a well enabled GPU can be quite a cumbersome process. Not only are GPUs equipped with MPEG-4 decoders and encoders but they also serve an important role by lowering the time it takes to apply GPU accelerated effects and reduce the overall render time required in accomplishing the entire process.
- Disable Unnecessary Programs
Even though it might appear that there are only a limited amount of programs running on your computer, the reality might be on the contrary. During startup, your computer launches a lot of unwanted programs in the background with you neither requiring them nor realizing that they are taking up a valuable amount of RAM. These programs remain there until you manually close them. These programs take up a significant chunk of the system resources and, therefore before embarking on video editing, it is advisable to manually check all opened programs and only let those to function that are absolutely necessary and close all the rest through the Startup tab in the Task Manager. - Shoot at a Lower Resolution
If all else fails, the method of last resort is to retreat to shooting at a lower resolution. There is no point in capturing your video shots in 4K resolution if your computer system is unable to handle the load while editing. You should also try to lower the camera settings too, such as Frames Per Second (FPS), as it will also help lower the burden on the computer during editing.