Kdenlive 25.12 has been released as part of the wider KDE Gear 25.12 application bundle, marking the project’s final update of 2025.
One of the most significant changes is the introduction of a new, more flexible docking system. Widgets can now be grouped more freely, shown or hidden on demand, and saved as independent layout files. Layouts are also stored directly inside project files, ensuring that when a project is reopened, the exact workspace used during the last editing session is restored automatically.
This improves continuity across editing sessions, though it comes with a breaking change: existing custom layouts are not compatible and must be recreated.
Kdenlive 25.12 also introduces a new Welcome Screen aimed at improving first-run usability while offering quick shortcuts for experienced users. Alongside it, a vertical layout option and optional safe areas have been added to better support 9:16 video editing.
The application’s menus have undergone a substantial reorganization following extended internal discussion. File-related actions such as rendering and project settings have been regrouped under the File menu, with additional refinements expected in future releases. Plus, several interface elements were also corrected to improve translation coverage, addressing issues reported by users and translators.
Audio monitoring has received a notable update as well. The monitor view now includes a minimap at the top of the waveform, allowing users to zoom into specific sections of audio more intuitively. On the timeline, guides have been renamed to markers to eliminate ambiguity in terminology. Markers can now have a defined duration, be visible directly on the timeline, and can be adjusted by dragging entries from the Markers list.
Beyond interface changes, Kdenlive 25.12 includes a substantial set of stability fixes. More than 15 crash reports were resolved, a Windows-specific rendering failure related to special characters in usernames was fixed, and an issue that could corrupt projects when copying sequences between projects was addressed.
Packaging improvements are also part of this release. VAAPI support has been fixed in the AppImage builds, restoring faster hardware-accelerated decoding and rendering. The bundled binaries have been updated as well, including Qt 6.10.1 and FFmpeg 8.0.
Finally, the Kdenlive team notes that several last-minute fixes intended for the next point release have already been included in the 25.12 binaries. Users installing Kdenlive via their Linux distributions will receive these fixes with version 25.12.1, scheduled for release in January 2026.
For more information, refer to the release announcement. Source code and pre-built packages are available from the official Kdenlive site.
