head to head · open source
LosslessCut vs Shotcut
LosslessCut has 43,838 GitHub stars, 2,173 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Shotcut has 15,230 stars, 1,507 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LosslessCut leads on adoption by 188% (43,838 vs 15,230 stars). LosslessCut is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0; Shotcut is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. LosslessCut has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Shotcut 10%. Shotcut was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Shotcut | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Shotcut if
- You want the Shotcut feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Shotcut 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 Shotcut
Shotcut is a free, open source, cross platform video editor written in C++ and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It lives in the Qt and MLT ecosystem, using Qt for its application and user interface and MLT as its multimedia authoring framework. It provides regularly built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and is positioned as an open alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve (Studio).
read the full Shotcut overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LosslessCut or Shotcut more popular?
LosslessCut has 43,838 GitHub stars and Shotcut has 15,230. LosslessCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are LosslessCut and Shotcut free?
Both are open source. LosslessCut is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Shotcut under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LosslessCut and Shotcut?
LosslessCut is written in TypeScript and Shotcut in C++. 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 Shotcut?
Choose LosslessCut if you want the larger community (43,838 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Shotcut if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.