If you’re a content creator on YouTube or another platform, you understand how important it is to have a professional look and sound to your creations. While there are websites like Fiverr that have freelance specialists you can pay to help create your content, there are also a ton of free tools and services that you can utilize if you want to be budget-conscious.
Unsplash – This site is an image repository that posts ultra high-quality pictures. All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free and can be used for both commercial and noncommercial purposes. Need a custom thumbnail for your YouTube video? You can bet this site has something suitable for you!
Pixabay – A similar site to Unsplash, but we found the selection of photographs to be a bit more limited (https://pixabay.com/)
FreeBeats.io – This website posts free rap beats that artists and content creators are free to use for their projects. The site is run by a former professional music producer, so the quality of the music is very high. Need background music for your video? They’ve got 170+ free beats available at the time of writing this article, and they release new ones weekly!
Open Broadcast Software – OBS Studio is undoubtedly one of the most widely used pieces of software by streamers and content creators. If you’re looking to make content with a webcam, or capturing what’s on your computer screen – or both! – OBS is definitely the software for you. OBS Studio can be a bit tricky to use for someone who is brand new to it, so we’d suggest checking out a few YouTube tutorials first before diving in solo.
OpenShot – While most accompished YouTubers use professional software like Adobe Premiere to edit their videos, OpenShot Video Editor is a very capable free alternative. Like OBS, there are tutorials on YouTube and other social media websites that can teach you the ins-and-outs of this open source software.
GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program (official website) is an image editor and free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
Canva – If GIMP looks too intimidating to learn, Canva is a more user-friendly image and graphic creator you should try!
Audacity – Need to do a voice-over or edit audio? Audacity is a free, open source audio software for multi-track recording and editing.
Expensive software and services aren’t needed to produce professional content. Armed with these tools, you can create songs, podcasts and videos that have the potential to go viral if they’re catchy/interesting enough and strike the right chord with people online. Good luck!
