Average User Tests Over 200 Filters When Color Grading a Video: New Data Reveals Behavior Trends of 70 Million Video Editors
Movavi has released findings from a two-year analysis of user behavior across 190 countries, focusing on 70 million users and a library of more than 6,000 video effects. These findings shed light on how creators around the world use editing tools, especially filters, presets, and templates, to enhance their video content.
Beyond basic editing functions like cutting and trimming, the most widely used tool is animation, utilized by 26% of users who venture beyond standard features. The second most popular is the slow motion effect, adopted by 18% of users.
Meanwhile, 9% of creators use the “Picture-in-Picture” feature, applying it an average of 12 times per video. The noise removal tool sees a similar frequency appearing in 8% of all edited videos.
Color filters are found in 8% of edited videos and stand out as the most frequently applied tool per project, with users applying an average of 16 filters per video. Despite being used by a smaller share of users, those who do rely on filters explore over 200 variations during a single project.
According to Dmitriy Gripak, the Product Manager at Movavi Video Editor, choosing the right filter is a creative challenge, and users want to see all available options. Thanks to features like skimming, quick preview, and mouse-over effects preview, they can easily cycle through hundreds of filters and quickly find the perfect one.
Other tools such as background removal and stabilization are used by 6% and 2% of users, respectively.
Gripak also noted that geographic location plays little role in user behavior. “We compared user habits across countries over the past two years and found no significant or statistically meaningful differences,” he explains. “Globally, we see a steady rise in the adoption of AI-powered tools — automatic subtitles, speech-to-text, background removal, and special effects can now be applied in seconds.”
About Movavi Video Editor
Movavi Video Editor is proprietary video editing software developed by Movavi (Movavi Software Limited, Cyprus / Movavi Software Inc., USA). The first version was released in 2004, with a macOS version launching in 2011 alongside its debut in the App Store.
Today, Movavi Video Editor is available for Microsoft Windows 7/8/10/11 (64-bit) and Mac OS X 10.13 or higher. The software is used by over 70 million users in 190 countries, offering access to a library of more than 6,000 video effects.
Movavi has maintained long-standing partnerships with Intel, NVIDIA, and 2Checkout for over 15 years.
Since 2022, the company has actively integrated AI-powered features into its products, enabling users to edit videos more easily and efficiently.
Movavi also offers educational versions of its software — Movavi Video Suite and Movavi Academic — used in thousands of schools and universities worldwide to create video tutorials and digital course libraries, manage remote student work, produce training videos for educators, create promotional content for academic institutions, and more.
Expert Commentary:
Geoffrey Scott (USA)
Marketing expert, blogger, regular contributor to GoDaddy.com’s Garage Blog, and quoted on major websites like Adobe, Monster, Recruiter, and GlassDoor.
“These numbers confirm a global trend: users don’t just want to edit videos — they want to do it quickly and with style. Even beginners are using dozens of filters and effects, which reflects rising expectations for content quality. In my view, the rapid development of AI tools is redefining what people expect from video quality. Automatic transcription, smart editing, music generation — tools like these are on track to become standard features.”
Elinor Zucchet (France)
Video project creator for l’UNESCO, Yahoo, Destinia, Expedia, Christian Lacroix, Cacharel, EDF, La Box Fromage, ClimateView, Webselenese et Smartbox, and others.
“These insights align with what I’ve been seeing. There’s clearly a growing interest in slow-motion effects and filters that help create emotional, cinematic videos. Pre-set styles and effects are especially helpful for beginners to start producing visually impressive content more easily. I believe that in the coming years, the demand will be increasing for automation tools and social media integrations — especially for vertical video formats.”
Felipe Drumond (Brazil)
Professional video editor, audiovisual teacher, and content producer. He teaches editing on Edição sem Complicação, creates courses for Danki Code, and edits for Nerd Show.
“Here in Brazil, there’s a clear trend of people exploring filters and animations, especially in short videos for social media. Tutorial videos, makeup content, and recipes, for example, are booming and rely on dynamic and visually impactful editing. I believe mobile editing will continue to grow, and AI-powered tools will make content creation even easier for beginners. On top of that, experienced editors can also benefit from these tools, expanding their creative possibilities even further.”
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter!
Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.
Enter your email address, and your first and last name below!
Responses