Game Trailer Tools: Free and Affordable Options
Four jobs, four free tools: OBS records, Resolve or Shotcut edits, CapCut trims cutdowns, free catalogs score the music. What the paid tiers buy.
The tools for a game trailer cost nothing in 2026, and the list is short. OBS Studio records the footage, the free build of DaVinci Resolve edits it, CapCut trims the 30-second cutdowns the mobile stores autoplay, and Pixabay or Mixkit supply music that is legal in a commercial store listing. The affordable upgrades exist, Resolve Studio at $295 once or CapCut Pro at $19.99 a month, and this article says plainly what they buy and what they do not: conveniences, not store-readiness.
Two companion pieces split the topic with this one. The trailer production walkthrough covers how to plan the beats, cut for muted autoplay and export to each store's specs; the free game audio roundup covers music licensing site by site. This article is only about which software to install, on which machine, at what price, with every number checked at the source in September 2026.
One disclosure: this blog belongs to Egmatic, a no-code 2D editor currently in pre-alpha, and where that fits into trailer production is the second-to-last section of this article.
Quick answer
| Job | Tool | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Record gameplay footage | OBS Studio | Free, open source |
| Main edit: cut, grade, titles, audio | DaVinci Resolve (free build) | Free; Studio $295 once |
| Edit on weak hardware | Shotcut | Free, open source |
| 30-second and vertical cutdowns | CapCut (Standard tier) | Free; Pro $19.99/month |
| Simpler timelines | OpenShot, Kdenlive | Free, open source |
| Capture from a phone | Built-in screen recorders, QuickTime Player | Free |
| Music bed | Pixabay, Mixkit, Incompetech | Free, license terms differ |
Two rows decide themselves in practice. The editor is DaVinci Resolve if the machine can run it and Shotcut if it cannot, because both cost nothing and the real difference is hardware, not price. The music row is a licensing question rather than a taste question, and it is the one place a wrong pick creates a legal problem in a store listing instead of a re-edit.
The four jobs
Trailer production is four jobs, and each store constraint maps to one of them.
Recording produces a master at 1920 x 1080 and 60 fps, because Steam accepts up to 1080p and 60 fps footage can always be halved later. Editing needs a multi-track timeline, readable titles and real audio control, since the video must survive being watched with the sound off. Cutdowns exist because Google Play autoplays only the first 30 seconds of a YouTube-hosted video and App Store previews are capped at 30 seconds, so a short version and a vertical crop are part of the deliverable, not an extra. Music needs a license that allows commercial use, because a store listing is a commercial context and an NC track is not legal there.
The full format table, bitrates included, is in the production walkthrough; the tools below only have to not break those specs.
Recording: OBS Studio and the built-ins
OBS Studio is free, open source and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Three settings carry a trailer capture: 1920 x 1080, 60 fps, output quality on high. The fourth thing is a habit, not a setting: record short takes per beat, because a trailer is cut to music and one long recording cannot be retimed.
Capture the game clean and from the player's perspective, which is what both Valve and Google ask for. If the game runs in a small window inside an editor, make the play preview full screen before recording.
The built-ins cover the corners. Windows 10 and 11 ship with the Game Bar, which records one app window at a time; it is fine for a quick test capture and wrong for anything that leaves the game. macOS captures an iPhone's screen through QuickTime Player with the device plugged in. Current Android phones have a screen recorder in the notification shade. None of them exposes the bitrate and frame-rate controls a master capture wants, which is why OBS stays on the list.
Editing: the free editors compared
| Editor | Price | Runs on | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DaVinci Resolve | Free build; Studio $295 once | Windows, macOS, Linux | The main edit: cutting, grading, titles, audio in one project | Heavy on old laptops |
| Shotcut | Free, open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Weak machines, quick cuts, built-in screen capture | The interface takes patience |
| CapCut | Standard tier free; Pro $19.99/month | Windows, macOS, web, mobile | 30-second cutdowns and vertical crops | Some effects and AI tools are paywalled |
| OpenShot | Free, open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | The simplest timeline of the group | The lightest feature set of the group |
| Kdenlive | Free, open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Proxy editing on modest hardware, deep settings | The learning curve is real |
The free build of Resolve is not a trial. It works with resolutions up to 3840 x 2160 at 60 fps, far past what a 1080p trailer asks for, and the cut, color, titling and audio pages live in one project. The $295 Studio version adds AI tools, 10-bit support and 120 fps, none of which a store trailer requires.
Shotcut is the fallback that stays installed. It is FFmpeg-based, opens footage without an import step, records the screen itself if OBS is one tool too many, and runs on machines where Resolve struggles.
OpenShot, at version 4.0 as of September 2026, is the simplest timeline here, which is exactly the point when the edit is eight clips and a title card. Kdenlive is the configurable one, with proxy editing that keeps the preview smooth when the machine is modest and the footage is not.
CapCut's free Standard tier covers trimming, filters, transitions and text, which is the whole job of a cutdown. Pro costs $19.99 a month, with prices that vary by region and platform, and paywalls some effects and AI tools; a store cutdown does not miss them.
What paying actually buys
The two paid options solve problems a first trailer does not have. Resolve Studio at $295 once buys AI features, 10-bit color and 120 fps; a store trailer ships as 8-bit H.264 at 1080p and 30 or 60 fps. CapCut Pro at $19.99 a month buys premium effects and AI tools; a cutdown needs trimming and text. Spend nothing first: make the free cut, publish it, and pay only when a named limit bites.
Pick your stack
| Situation | Stack | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Normal desktop, Windows, Linux or Mac | OBS + Resolve (free) + Pixabay | The full pipeline at $0 |
| Old laptop, integrated graphics | OBS or Shotcut capture + Shotcut | Hardware, not price, is the one real constraint |
| Phone-first developer | Built-in recorder + CapCut | Device-native capture is what the App Store asks for |
| Mac with an iPhone build | QuickTime + Resolve (free) | QuickTime captures the device, Resolve finishes the cut |
| Shorts alongside store pages | Any stack above + CapCut | Vertical crops and 30-second trims in minutes |
Every row lands on the same master: H.264 in an MP4 container at 1920 x 1080, high bitrate, AAC audio at 48 kHz. That is the one export every store in the walkthrough accepts, and the walkthrough documents the two failure cases Steam names itself, unusual resolutions and odd audio sample rates.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Paying for Pro effects before the first export | $19.99 a month for tools a cutdown does not use | Free tiers first, upgrade when a named limit bites |
| Choosing the editor by feature list | Resolve on an old laptop wastes the best free editor there is | Pick by hardware: Resolve on a desktop, Shotcut on lighter machines |
| Capturing a small play window | Soft, upscaled footage no editor can fix | Record the play preview full screen at 1080p60 |
| Cutting the 30-second version from scratch | Double the work, two versions drifting apart | Cut it down from the master timeline |
| Picking music by taste before license | An NC track in a store listing is a legal problem | Filter catalogs by license first, genre second |
| Cropping 16:9 to vertical as an afterthought | The hook lands outside the vertical safe area | Record one vertical take of the hook per beat |
How Egmatic fits
Every tool above assumes the footage already exists. For a no-code developer the gap sits exactly there: stores want gameplay video before launch day, and a project that only runs inside an editor is hard to capture convincingly. Egmatic's live preview plays the project inside the editor itself, so OBS records real gameplay from a project that has no build yet, and every scene edit produces a fresh take without an export cycle.
Inside the editor, the AI works as a craft amplifier under your direction: you direct the change, the editor executes it, and every file stays yours. The same project is meant to reach desktop, mobile and web without a porting phase, so the game you capture is the game you publish. Egmatic is in pre-alpha, the export layer is still in development, and we do not announce dates we cannot keep; the waitlist at egmatic.com is where the build news goes first. The Steam Direct walkthrough covers the page this footage will live on, and the launch day checklist covers the day the trailer has to be ready.
The tools are free. The footage is the job.
A trailer is gameplay worth capturing. Egmatic is a no-code 2D editor with a ship layer: scenes, logic and a playable preview inside the editor, with no code and no backend. It is in pre-alpha; join the waitlist and we will write first when the build ships.
Conclusion
A store-ready trailer needs four tools and every one has a free tier that clears the bar: OBS for capture, Resolve or Shotcut for the edit, CapCut for cutdowns, a licensed free catalog for music. The paid tiers are real products that solve problems further along than a first trailer. The upgrades that decide whether the trailer works cost nothing: a beat list before recording, a silent playback before export.
Sources
- OBS Project — obsproject.com: free, open source, Windows, macOS and Linux; page read 15 September 2026
- Blackmagic Design — DaVinci Resolve: free build capabilities and Studio at $295, checked 1 September 2026 for the trailer production walkthrough
- Shotcut — shotcut.org: open source editor and platform support; page read 15 September 2026
- OpenShot — openshot.org: version 4.0 current; page read 15 September 2026
- Kdenlive — kdenlive.org: KDE's free, open source video editor
- CapCut — CapCut Standard vs Pro: free tier contents and Pro at $19.99 a month, prices vary by region and platform; checked 1 September 2026
- Steamworks Documentation — Trailers: format and bitrate requirements
- Apple Developer — App Previews: 30-second limit and on-device capture guidance
- Google Play Console Help — Add preview assets to showcase your app: autoplay behavior and YouTube URL requirements
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