The Complete User’s Manual to YouTube Editing via FinalCut Pro

How to Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

With its user friendly interface and versatile features, Fincal Cut Pro is definitely one of the best choices for making videos for Mac users. Using it isn’t that hard, but it’s definitely not a walk in the park, so we’ve taken the liberty to provide you with a comprehensive yet concise guide on how to edit YouTube videos with Final Cut Pro.

Even though FCP is good software, there’s no denying that it’s pretty pricy and a little bit complicated for most beginners. Wondershare Filmora for Mac is definitely better alternatives for Final Cut Pro. It’s a lot more user-friendly and requires no previous experience in video editing. With Wondershare Filmora, you can ignite your YouTube videos with over 300 effects like Fashion, Beauty, Block Buster, Travel, etc.

How to Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

In this section, we are going to take a quick look at the steps that you need to take in order to properly edit YouTube videos in Final Cut Pro. Without any further ado, let’s take a look.

Step 1: Importing the video clip into FCP

This is, of course, the first thing that you need to do. Regardless of whether the original footage was taken by your smart phone, taken from the Internet or you’ve left it over from some past event that’s long overdue, you can easily import it into the FCP in order to edit it. FCP supports a variety of different formats, so it’s a good idea to try and import the video even if you are not quite sure about its extension. In order to do so, open the program, go to the File button, click on Import and select the file or the folder. This is going to get you to a regular finder window which would enable you to pick the clip that you want to do. If it’s not highlighted or you aren’t able to select it, the software doesn’t support it, and it’s not compatible.

Keep in mind that if you want to import videos which have been published already, you can download them directly from the channel as MP4 files. If you want to store videos from different channels, you can use the Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate in order to get them converted and stored on your computer in a format that is supported by FCP.

Step 2: Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

That’s the fun part. There are a few things that you can do with Final Cut Pro, and they are all quite professional.

First, you can sync an audio track with your video as the DSLR cameras usually have terrible quality of the sound. This is why you want to get the audio recorded separately. The only thing you need to do is select the audio clip and click on the Synchronize Clips, and you are good to go.

Furthermore, you can do proper color balancing with the program quickly and incredibly easy. Go on Modify and then click on Balance Color and the software is going to take care of the rest on its own.

You can also create previews when the video ends. In order to do so, you need to import your main clip, select a solid background color and place the preview video above it. You will then be able to trim and edit it conveniently. Adjust the scale and the position and you are good to go. Afterwards, you can also apply annotation on top of the preview.

Step 3: Upload to YouTube from the software directly

This one is rather easy. Here is the sequence that you need to do. Go to File -> Share -> Master File -> Setting -> File -> Share -> YouTube. That’s basically it. Then you need to sign in to your YouTube account and simply click on Next -> Publish and the entire thing is done. That’s all you need to do in order to quickly and conveniently upload your video to YouTube directly from the FCP.

Check this video tutorial to see how YouTube creators edit their YouTubes videos with Final Cut Pro

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

How to Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

In this section, we are going to take a quick look at the steps that you need to take in order to properly edit YouTube videos in Final Cut Pro. Without any further ado, let’s take a look.

Step 1: Importing the video clip into FCP

Step 2: Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

That’s the fun part. There are a few things that you can do with Final Cut Pro, and they are all quite professional.

First, you can sync an audio track with your video as the DSLR cameras usually have terrible quality of the sound. This is why you want to get the audio recorded separately. The only thing you need to do is select the audio clip and click on the Synchronize Clips, and you are good to go.

Furthermore, you can do proper color balancing with the program quickly and incredibly easy. Go on Modify and then click on Balance Color and the software is going to take care of the rest on its own.

You can also create previews when the video ends. In order to do so, you need to import your main clip, select a solid background color and place the preview video above it. You will then be able to trim and edit it conveniently. Adjust the scale and the position and you are good to go. Afterwards, you can also apply annotation on top of the preview.

Step 3: Upload to YouTube from the software directly

Check this video tutorial to see how YouTube creators edit their YouTubes videos with Final Cut Pro

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

How to Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

In this section, we are going to take a quick look at the steps that you need to take in order to properly edit YouTube videos in Final Cut Pro. Without any further ado, let’s take a look.

Step 1: Importing the video clip into FCP

Step 2: Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

That’s the fun part. There are a few things that you can do with Final Cut Pro, and they are all quite professional.

First, you can sync an audio track with your video as the DSLR cameras usually have terrible quality of the sound. This is why you want to get the audio recorded separately. The only thing you need to do is select the audio clip and click on the Synchronize Clips, and you are good to go.

Furthermore, you can do proper color balancing with the program quickly and incredibly easy. Go on Modify and then click on Balance Color and the software is going to take care of the rest on its own.

You can also create previews when the video ends. In order to do so, you need to import your main clip, select a solid background color and place the preview video above it. You will then be able to trim and edit it conveniently. Adjust the scale and the position and you are good to go. Afterwards, you can also apply annotation on top of the preview.

Step 3: Upload to YouTube from the software directly

Check this video tutorial to see how YouTube creators edit their YouTubes videos with Final Cut Pro

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

How to Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

In this section, we are going to take a quick look at the steps that you need to take in order to properly edit YouTube videos in Final Cut Pro. Without any further ado, let’s take a look.

Step 1: Importing the video clip into FCP

Step 2: Edit YouTube Videos in Final Cut Pro

That’s the fun part. There are a few things that you can do with Final Cut Pro, and they are all quite professional.

First, you can sync an audio track with your video as the DSLR cameras usually have terrible quality of the sound. This is why you want to get the audio recorded separately. The only thing you need to do is select the audio clip and click on the Synchronize Clips, and you are good to go.

Furthermore, you can do proper color balancing with the program quickly and incredibly easy. Go on Modify and then click on Balance Color and the software is going to take care of the rest on its own.

You can also create previews when the video ends. In order to do so, you need to import your main clip, select a solid background color and place the preview video above it. You will then be able to trim and edit it conveniently. Adjust the scale and the position and you are good to go. Afterwards, you can also apply annotation on top of the preview.

Step 3: Upload to YouTube from the software directly

Check this video tutorial to see how YouTube creators edit their YouTubes videos with Final Cut Pro

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Top 6 Unique Sources for Premium YouTube Imagery

6 Completely Different Places to Get Icons and Logos for YouTube Videos

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Whether you need YouTube icons and logos to use as pop-up graphics in your videos, to serve as your channel icon, to use as watermarks, or to liven up your channel art or video thumbnails – don’t worry. There are lots of places to get them.

We’ve made a list of 6 sites where you can download icons and logos for free for YouTub videos, and explained how they work.

Flaticon.com

Freepik.com

Seeklogo.net

IconArchive.com

Logaster.com

Icons8.com

You might also want to check out these YouTube channels offering free profile picture templates .

1. Flaticon.com

Key Points:

Great selection of icons/logos

It’s easy to change the colors before you download

I’m putting Flaticon.com right at the top of this list because it has something that really sets it apart from the other sites on this list – it lets you edit pre-made icons before you download them.

You start out on Flaticon by searching for a theme like beauty, gaming, flowers, or emojis. I searched for ‘birds’ and found these cuties.

These aren’t all the birds on Flaticon, just a few. They had a huge selection in all the different searches I tried.

I clicked on the brown bird to open up the download screen, and then clicked into ‘Edit icon’. There may be a pop up that tells you editing tools are only available to registered users, but it’s wrong. Just close it and keep going, unless you want to register.

You can edit the colors in your icon just by clicking on the color you want to replace, and then clicking on the color in the color selector you want to replace it with. I made my birdie FLY.

I never apologize for puns.

Once you like the look of your icon, just click Download. You will be prompted to choose a format. PNG is the most popular because it is supported the most places (including on YouTube), and because it allows for a transparent background.

After clicking on a format you will also be prompted to choose a size for your image. It’s always best to go with the largest image you can – its way easier to shrink things and keep them looking good than it is to have to enlarge them.

Flaticon has a great selection, it’s free, and they make it really easy to edit your creations. I would strongly recommend this site to anyone in the market for an icon or logo.

Flaticon asks that you include an “Icon made by [author link] from <www.flaticon.com> ” somewhere (i.e. video description, channel ‘about’ section) when you use their icons for free.

2. Freepik.com

Key Points:

Good selection of icons.

No way to customise them on the site.

Attribution requried.

On freepik, you start off by searching for a theme (like the genre of your YouTube title or the topic of a video, i.e. ‘makeup’ or ‘music’). I searched for ‘cat’.

A few of the sets available on freepik. The crown icon means you need to be a paying Premium member, but most things are free.

You can’t edit on freepik, and in order to download for free you need to include an attribution/credit to freepik where you use the images.

You do not choose what format to download your images in on freepik. When you hit ‘Free Download’ it will automatically download a zip file which will contain both a .jpg and a .eps. The EPS is editable in any ‘vector graphics editor’, like Adobe Illustrator, and YouTube supports .jpg files.

3. Seeklogo.net

Key Points:

Logos from major brands

Great for channels that do product reviews

Seeklogo.net has a slightly more corporate slant than some of the other sites on this list. It has logos for a lot of major companies and brands available for download.

In the ‘search’ on Seeklogo.net, you can type in the name of a brand or industry and see if the well-known logo you’re looking for is available. This may be especially useful for people with sports related channels since they have a lot of logos for major teams.

I searched for YouTube – you never know when you might need the YouTube logo.

Although the site does not advertise PNG in the list of formats on their front page, downloads do include PNG versions (which is useful if you need transparency and don’t have a program which can edit vector files, like .eps).

4. IconArchive.com

Key Points:

Site has an office/business slant.

Detailed search tool lets you sort by color, theme, etc.

IconArchive has a huge selection of icons with somewhat of an office/business slant. I searched for ‘flower’ and half the results were of file-folders with flowers on them.

Could be cool for a lifestyle video about school or work?

My favorite thing about IconArchive is its search features. It allows you to filter results by color, size (down to the specific resolution), category, background color, style, and a lot more.

Color is under ‘Display’, meaning that it won’t filter out results that have different colors it’ll just list the color you select first.

The ‘Category’ filter is useful because there are some genres you probably recognize there, like ‘Lifestyle’. However, you should be careful not to over-filter. This site is pretty literal in how it categorizes. For example – there are no ‘flower’ images under ‘Lifestyle’.

Downloads are available in different sizes and formats including PNG. PNG is always a good option because it is supported by YouTube and includes transparent backgrounds.

Note that all of your different download buttons will be located underneath your image. They favor those ads that look like ‘download’ or ‘start now’ buttons, and the ads sit right next to the images on the right, so it’s easy to get confused and click on the ad.

5. Logaster.com

Key Points:

You’ll have to pay for larger images.

Focused more on businesses.

Incorporates your channel name.

Logaster is really a service for businesses – they make and sell business cards, letterheads, and other office-y things like that. However, they are still a good choice for YouTubers because they have a free logo creator. Sort of.

You actually have to pay $9.99 to get larger images and remove the watermark, but the process is free.

When you arrive on Logaster there’s a button right on their home page that says ‘Create a logo for free’. Click on it.

In Step 1 it’ll ask for your company name and an activity type. You just need to put in your channel name and choose something from the activity drop down that you focus on in your videos.

My heart burns with the secret desire to be YouTube’s Neil Degrasse Tyson (it doesn’t really, but he is super cool) so I tried ‘Katie Does Science’ and ‘Science, Studies, Education’. Here’s what it came up with:

There are 10 pages of suggestions!

You can see how, unless you have a short channel name, you’re probably not going to be able to use any of these as an icon, but a lot of them would look cool on a banner. There’s an ‘Edit Logo Concept’ button which allows you to make changes to the layout, but you can still only choose from preset layouts. For example, some logo concepts allow you to choose whether the icon is above your text or next to it.

After you click ‘save’ in the last step you’ll be prompted to provide an email address and password. Once you sign in, you’ll be able to download a small logo for free, or purchase the higher resolution image.

I personally wouldn’t recommend buying an image from here unless your channel is for your small business and you need things like branded business cards and letterhead. This site might be better for gathering inspiration than actually downloading a logo from.

6. Icons8.com

Key Points:

You need to link back to them to use their icons.

You can edit the colors on the site and even add details.

There’s a size limit on the free service (100x100px)

At Icons8 they have free and paid services. If you download an icon for free it will be a PNG file (which should be fine, YouTube supports PNG and it’s good for transparency) that is no larger than 100x100px. This is not ideal since YouTube recommends 800x800px for profile pictures, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker either. Profile pictures render down to much smaller than that.

You will also need to link to Icons8 if you use their icons for free (i.e. in the ‘about’ section of your channel page).

To get started on Icons8, type something into the search bar on the home page that you think might work as an icon or as part of whatever graphics you have planned. I typed in ‘game’ for this one, since gaming is the biggest genre on YouTube. Here are a few of the results that came up:

Lower down in the results there were different kinds of sports balls, hand-held gaming systems, playing cards, joy sticks, baseball caps and more.

After you find an icon you like, click on it and it will appear on the right side of your screen where you’ll be able to make a few changes (an editing screen will pop up once you start clicking on things). You can edit your colors, overlay small decals, add text, and add a border, change your background and adjust your size. Here’s the editing screen:

You can give your icon a pretty different look from its default. Check this out:

You cannot download your icon from the editing screen. You need to click Save, and then download it from the main display screen here:

You can change the size with that drop down menu, but you’ll be limited in your options if you don’t want to pay.

I downloaded my image and tried to see how it would look as an icon/profile picture. As you can see, it was pretty blurry in the preview:

However, the preview is larger than the actual profile picture. Once I set it, it looked alright.

Looking for somewhere you can build your own icon/logo from scratch? Check out this list of logo makers .

After downloading the icons or logos, it is time to add them to your YouTube video. Here I recommend our Wondershare Filmora video editor . Below is a video tutorial about how to add a logo to video in Filmora . Remember to download the free trial version to test.