head to head · open source
LosslessCut vs cartcut
LosslessCut has 44,031 GitHub stars, 2,188 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cartcut has 755 stars, 70 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LosslessCut leads on adoption by 5,732% (44,031 vs 755 stars). LosslessCut is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0; cartcut is written in TypeScript under MIT. LosslessCut has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, cartcut 9%. cartcut was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ffmpeg, video-editor), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| LosslessCut | cartcut | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 755 |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LosslessCut if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cartcut if
- You want the cartcut feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and cartcut fits your workflow better
About LosslessCut
LosslessCut is a cross platform desktop application for lossless editing of video, audio, and subtitle files. Built with Electron and TypeScript, it serves as a graphical interface to FFmpeg, enabling users to perform precise cuts, trims, merges, and track manipulations without re encoding, thus preserving original quality. It targets users who need to rapidly process media files—such as raw footage from cameras, drones, or smartphones—where re encoding would be time consuming and degrade fidelity.
read the full LosslessCut overview →
About cartcut
CartCut is an MIT licensed, TypeScript and Electron desktop video editor for AI agents, built on the belief that open source can beat commercial tools, and aimed at creators who want layer based motion graphics editing on their own machine.
read the full cartcut overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LosslessCut or cartcut more popular?
LosslessCut has 44,031 GitHub stars and cartcut has 755. LosslessCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are LosslessCut and cartcut free?
Both are open source. LosslessCut is licensed under GPL-2.0 and cartcut under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LosslessCut and cartcut?
LosslessCut is written in TypeScript and cartcut in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LosslessCut or cartcut?
Choose LosslessCut if you want the larger community (44,031 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose cartcut if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.