How to Cut and Edit the Video Made by a Dashboard Camera

Dashboard cameras have become unbelievably popular – they are set in almost every car these days, and some friends of mine even have set two dashboard cameras in their car: one for the front view, and the other for the rear sight. There are thousands of videos uploaded on YouTube made using these cameras. Which video editing software should be used to edit the videos made by a dashboard camera? There are two possible options here.

Online Video Editors

If you need only basic features, like say, to cut out the right part from the video, you could try an online editor. YouTube used to have its own video editor for this, but Google discontinued it, and YouTube Studio can only trim or blur parts of a video that is already uploaded. Any online tool means uploading the whole long recording first, so you need a high-speed Internet connection and some patience.

Video Editor for a Dashboard Camera

For those seeking extended editing features, I recommend you use a special video editing software. For say, the Bolide Movie Creator support the majority of video formats. Other than that, this software has additional features that will help you make your video attractive.

It is really easy to start working with this software. Download and install it like any other program. Start the program and drag and drop the videos of your choice onto the main window. You’ll see them when you click on "Photo/Video Library" tab in the left-hand column of the software. From there you can easily add them to the timeline. You can now trim the added video by several mouse clicks and can add some text to the video using the Add Text button. You can also adjust the brightness and contrast for your video, which is very useful for the videos made in bad weather conditions or poor lighting.

If there is something in your video that you would like everyone to notice but there is a big chance that it will be overlooked at the first site, I recommend you to try the unique feature for this on Bolide video editing software. Click the "Operations on visual blocks" button and select "Add Highlight Effect" (more in the highlight area guide). Set the selection area in the right place in the video — a rectangle or an ellipse. The size of the selection area can be changed with the mouse. The screenshot shows how it works (the button to activate this feature is shown with a red arrow):

It goes without saying that you can turn down the volume of your video (in case you said something inappropriate) or you can entirely muffle the sound. You can also add background music to your video. Just drag and drop the right file into the program window, and then to the free track in the project.

A few more tools come in handy for dash cam footage. Hide license plates or faces with the Mosaic or Blur effect applied only to a selected area of the frame. Speed up a long boring stretch of road up to 10x, stop the moment of an incident with a freeze frame, and crop the hood or the dashboard out of the picture.

Uploading the Video to YouTube

You can upload the video on YouTube once your video file is ready. The steps are simple - all you need to do is log in to your account and click on the Upload button.

Attention! Some good advice about shaky footage! Stabilize the video before uploading it, and do it with care. It's a fact that the video will become smoother after stabilization but at the same time the borders will get cut and something very important can be withdrawn from the video, moving look unnatural. That is why Bolide Movie Creator has its own video stabilization with settings: adjust "Shakiness" and "Result smoothness" to find the balance between a smooth picture and cropped borders, or turn on "Tripod mode" to lock the view in place. Compare the result with the original and keep the one that looks better.

You now have all the knowledge on how to edit videos from a dashboard cam and how to successfully upload them to YouTube. Go ahead! :)