Shotcut 26.6 brings HDR enhancements, initial plugin support, and Vulkan display on Linux

Shotcut 26.6 has been released, bringing a set of highly requested features and technical improvements to this free, open source, and cross-platform video editor. With this release, support for using an external system display as a dedicated video monitor returns after a three-year absence, thanks to a major change in the backend video handling. Building on this upgrade, the new video plumbing also enables High Dynamic Range (HDR) video previews, though these are viewable only in a separate window due to current technical limits.

Alongside these enhancements, Shotcut 26.6 introduces limited support for external plugins, including OpenFX image effect plugins as well as VST2 and LV2 audio plugins. However, plugin user interfaces are not fully supported, the user experience may be unstable, and enabling this feature requires command-line options, so it is aimed at advanced users. The update also adds support for custom filter user interfaces when installed in the App Data Directory.

For audio workflows, the RNNoise audio filter has been added. In animation workflows, support for .lot Lottie animation files via Glaxnimate is now included. On Linux, Vulkan can now be selected via display mode settings. Underlying libraries including MLT, FFmpeg, libspatialaudio, and frei0r have all been updated to their latest versions. The release also features numerous bug fixes for improved stability and usability.