Shotcut has just released version 24.10, packed with exciting updates that video creators will surely appreciate. This new release, titled “Whisper to a Scream,” brings Shotcut’s first-ever integration with AI alongside a series of smooth transition improvements and notable fixes that make editing more efficient.
Perhaps the most anticipated feature of Shotcut 24.10 is its integration with OpenAI’s Whisper, brought to you through the whisper.cpp project. This AI-driven Speech to Text feature can be found under the “Subtitles” > “Speech to Text” menu or by clicking the icon.
The builds come with a basic model that balances speed and accuracy well without taking up much space. In addition, a larger model can be downloaded in the ggml format for those looking for even greater precision.
However, it’s important to note that this improved model will run slower. When using Speech to Text, the process involves two jobs you’ll see in the Jobs panel: one for exporting audio and the other for converting it to text, with the output added to the Subtitles panel as a new track.
One thing to keep in mind is that only Apple Silicon GPUs are currently supported for acceleration, while other systems depend on multi-threaded CPU processing.
There’s also a known quirk—sometimes subtitles start earlier than expected. Shotcut developers have pointed out that this timing is directly dependent on the Whisper model, and occasional errors may occur, much like human errors in less-than-ideal conditions.
OpenAI has also issued a warning about ethical concerns regarding Whisper, particularly discouraging its use for transcribing recordings made without consent or in high-stakes decision-making environments.
In addition to the Speech to Text feature and improved transitions, several other changes are worth noting. A few quality-of-life upgrades include:
- The “Export” > “Video” > “Resample” button has been removed and replaced by easy-to-ignore inline warnings for certain changes.
- A new “Show Project in Folder” option has been added under the “File” menu for easier access.
- The GPS Text video filter now has a new numeric keyword option that supports decimals.
- The “Recent Projects” list is now simply called “Projects,” ensuring older items remain even if the Recent view reaches its limit.
Moreover, the update includes a variety of fixes that make Shotcut more reliable. Notable issues addressed are crashes when adding items to slideshows, errors with subtitle tracks, problems with AVCHD frame rates, and glitches in the Reframe visual control that were causing export failures.
Additionally, Shotcut upgraded its FFmpeg version to 7.1, ensuring compatibility and better performance.
Refer to the release announcement for details about the Shotcut 24.10 video editor changes.
You can download the application in the universal AppImage format, ready for use on any Linux distribution. Additionally, installation files for Windows and macOS are also available.
