While you can cut, re-sequence and colour-grade the commercial, film or Instagram Reel using any display, a good video editing monitor eliminates the guesswork and ensures an accurate view of brightness and colours, avoiding surprises when you export.
Monitors come at very different price points with a range of different features, so our expert reviewers have tested a wide range of screens for video editing to choose the best options for different needs. In our tests, we’ve evaluated screen resolution, colour gamut and accuracy, contrast ratio and brightness and HDR support. We’ve also compared screen size, mount articulation for viewing comfort and price.
In our pick of the best monitors for video editing below, we’ve included the best budget monitor for video editing as well as more professional options from among 4K monitors and higher. The best monitors will work better with the best video editing software, so make sure you’re up to date.
While it’s expensive, this screen is our top overall pick for its top-notch performance and impressive features. There’s a 32-inch panel, sharp 4K resolution, a wide colour gamut, and Delta E ≤ 2 colour accuracy. Uniquely, it also has an SD reader, plus a whole host of ports. Read more below
This affordable monitor is reliable, bright, and accurate with 4K resolution and integrated speakers, making it a great budget option for novices. However, its colour coverage isn’t fantastic, and the contrast ratio is similarly unimpressive at 270:1 – but this is boosted in HDR mode. Read more below
If money is no object, the Eizo ColorEdge CG319X offers stunning performance and a rare self-calibration feature. Its range presets, color gamut coverage and accuracy make it an excellent choice for most professional video editors. The wider DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution works a treat, too. Read more below
With a fantastic feature set, decent screen size of 27-inches and solid build quality, the BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA provides excellent value for money. There are plenty of ports, too and a handy C-clamp design. Read more below
This monitor is great for futureproofing, offering more contemporary 8K resolution and a way to view your 8K or 6K footage at full 1:1-pixel quality. It delivers a broad colour coverage and a large beautiful screen, but puzzlingly no HDMI 2.1 or USB-C ports. Read more below
Apple’s sleek Pro Display XDR offers resolution of 6016 x 3384, which is enough for many 6K formats, an incredible HDR peak brightness of up to 1,600 nits, and there are 576 individual dimming zones for backlight control. It’ll cost you though. Read more below
The BenQ SW321C PhotoVue might be a little on the pricey side, but it’s very easy to justify that due to its top-notch performance and impressive features. It boasts a nice 32-inch panel and a sharp 4K resolution, as well as 99% AdobeRGB, 95% P3, and 100% sRGB colour gamut, and Delta E ≤ 2 colour accuracy that lets you see your work the way it’s supposed to be seen.
In tests, we found it to be incredibly uniform across the whole screen. It also has just about all the ports you could need, allowing you to connect multiple sources, as well as an SD card reader, something we don’t often see on many monitors. Its multiple input ports are made better by the fact that it comes with picture-by-picture and picture-in-picture modes, allowing you to create a screen setup for a seamless workflow.
Of course, it’s not perfect, as we’ve pointed out in our BenQ SW321C PhotoVue review – the built-in ODS controls aren’t very intuitive. However, the monitor somewhat makes up for that with the inclusion of a hotkey puck. A USB hub and an affordable price tag (for a professional-grade monitor) round out what is an almost perfect monitor for video editing.
Great value for 4K resolution and decent colour accuracy
+
Nice and bright
Reasons to avoid
–
Mediocre HDR and colour coverage
If you’re on a tight budget, the best cheap monitor for video editing that we can recommend is this offering from the ever-reliable Dell. It doesn’t offer fantastic colour coverage, but it is bright and accurate and offers 4K resolution for under $400. The contrast ratio is unimpressive at 270:1 but is boosted in HDR mode.
The HDR mode itself has its limitations as we’d expect from a monitor at this price: there’s no dynamic backlight dimming so performance isn’t great in scenes with stark contrasts like starlit skies. But with integrated speakers and plenty of connection options, we think this is a fantastic value screen for novice video editors.
The BenQ monitor at number 1 in our list is pricey, but it’s relatively affordable compared to this pro screen. However, the Eizo ColorEdge CG319X might just be the ultimate monitor for video editing with its stunning performance and a rare self-calibration feature. Its range of broadcast and cinema presets – with Rec. 2020 and DCI-P3 with 98% colour coverage – make it an excellent choice for most professional video editors.
We found the colour accuracy to be top-notch during our testing, as noted in our full Eizo ColorEdge CG319X review. The wider DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution works a treat for filmmakers shooting in this format, letting them see the original footage at 1:1 pixels no matter what format you might switch to during editing.
Best of all, the display has a self-calibration system built-in, with a sensor automatically checking its accuracy periodically and correcting any issues. This means that you can spend less time fine-tuning the screen and more time polishing your footage. The only downside is the price. It’s by far the most expensive monitor for video editing in our list, which is the only reason it isn’t at the top. But if you can afford it, this is the best monitor for video editing overall.
The BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA offers a good screen size, quality and feature set for the price, making it great value. And features it certainly has, including a programmable hotkey puck that can be used for navigation as well as a stellar range of colours (100% Adobe RGB, 95% P3, 100% Rec.709) and sharp 4K resolution. It’s factory calibrated straight out of the box for perfect colours straight away, so there’s no faffing around with calibration either.
The refresh rate is just 60Hz, which won’t appeal to gamers, but this should be enough for most video editors’ needs. It’s got plenty of ports, too, which are hidden using a plastic panel. We found that you can move the monitor around easily with the C-clamp design, which is another bonus. Find out more in our BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA review.
Most of our picks in our list of the best monitors for video editing offer 4K resolution, but 4K is now almost a minimum for video editing, with many professional videographers and even some novices shooting in up to 8K now that more accessible cameras can shoot at this resolution. If you’re working with 8K or 6K footage and need a way to view it at full 1:1-pixel quality, this is our pick as the best 8K video editing monitor.
To be honest, we’re not exactly swimming in options at this resolution, but Dell’s UltraSharp UP3218K delivers in many ways, providing 100% AdobeRGB, 100% sRGB, 100% Rec. 709, and 98% DCI-P3 colour coverage. At 32 inches, it’s a workable size despite the ridiculous number of pixels, although the screen is let down by a lack of HDMI 2.1 or USB-C – the only connections for 8K support are the dual DisplayPort connectors.
Apple‘s sleek Pro Display XDR offers resolution of 6016 x 3384, which is enough for many 6K formats (though not quite the 6K full-frame recording of a RED camera). Added to that is an incredible HDR peak brightness of up to 1,600 nits, with a typical brightness of 1,000 nits, and there are 576 individual dimming zones for backlight control, so the contrast is colossal.
In terms of colours, there are specific reference modes for DCI P3, sRGB, NTSC, BT.709, and many more. That includes a reference mode for ‘Apple display’, which will make it match a MacBook Pro for brightness, so you get a consistent look if you have them side by side. There’s the option of a nanotexture effect on the screen to reduce reflectivity as low as it goes for monitors like this, too.
It comes with one Thunderbolt 3 port (meaning it can go at the end of a Thunderbolt chain, but can’t be a Thunderbolt hub), plus three USB-C ports for connecting accessories. We think it’s the perfect video editing monitor for Apple fans but… it’s priced at almost $5,000 and the official stand costs a further $999 / £949 / AU$1,699 (although you can also get a VESA mount adapter, if you prefer). See our Apple Pro Display XDR monitor review for more details.
Inputs: 2 x HDMI, DisplayPort 1.4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream with Battery Charging 1.2, 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream, USB 3.2 Gen 1 upstream, Headphones, Audio line-out
Brightness: 500 nits
Colour gamut: 100% sRGB, 95% DCI-P3
HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 600
Reasons to buy
+
100% sRGB colour coverage
+
Speedy refresh rate
+
Good preset modes
Reasons to avoid
–
Bulky
Dell’s Alienware AW2723DF is designed for gaming, but its 240Hz refresh rate also makes it fantastic for video editing. The build is solid (though a little bulky), and there’s an anti-glare Fast IPS panel. We’ve picked it as our favourite HDR model as its HDR mode is beautifully bright, with a maximum of 1,000 nits. There’s also a SRGB preset mode, which is ideal for photo and video editing.
We found it to be extremely impressive when we reviewed it, and felt that “the combination of presentation, build quality and performance more than justifies the price”.
It’s not a monitor for novice and budget video editors, but professional designers and content creators, especially those who like gaming, would be wise to invest. Read more in our Alienware AW2723DF review.
The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 is one of the best ultrawide monitors we’ve ever tested. Our reviewer loved the gentle curve of the 1800R screen, which he found handled any creative task he threw at it, and struck a neat balance between practicality and immersion.
With 450 nits in HDR mode and 250 in SDR mode, plus peak brightness of 1,000 nits, our reviewer found this monitor to be “consistently fantastic to look at”, which makes it an ideal piece of kit for video editing.
It has a 175Hz refresh rate, making it ideal for gaming and entertainment, too, so it works well as a monitor that you can use all day for work and then come back to in the evenings.
If you can afford to go ultrawide, then we really recommend this monitor, which we gave 4.5 stars in our Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 review.
The over-$1,000/£1,000-plus price tag may be a hard pill to swallow, even for consumers who aren’t looking for cheap options. However, as we noted in our Acer ConceptD CP3271K review, this superb piece of kit boasts a few premium features that make it worth the price for creative professionals.
We were a little disappointed when we did our initial Apple Studio Display review. However, we think it’s a solid choice for Apple users who need to edit video, and, perhaps surprisingly for Apple, it actually provides very competitive value, offering 5K resolution at a price that’s by no means the most expensive in our list.
This budget monitor does have a distinct lack of ports, just a HDMI connection, but we found that it worked well for general photo editing, although more in-depth video editing may be a little too much for it. This is a decent monitor if you want a cheaper option for quicker or less in-depth edits.
As a work monitor, the Iiyama Prolite XUB3293UHSN-B5 is a strong proposition. It has the brightness, the colour response, and the convenience of the built-in KVM to be a handy desk companion, and it’s cheaper than most similar 4K screens. If you’re looking for something that can fullscreen Premiere Pro, but can’t quite stretch to a 5K screen, then this package is an attractive proposition.
This 240Hz screen will appeal to video editors who like gaming after work, and the OLED panel attracts too. It’s a screen that can easily pull double duty between your MacBook and your games PC, and if you want excellent colour, brightness, framerate and versatility in one package, then the Predator X27U is worth checking out. It is expensive, though.
There are certain factors you’ll want to bear in mind while looking for a monitor for video editing. First up, consider screen size. How big do you need to go? You may find that a small screen that’s more portable might suit you better if you don’t have a dedicated setup space. If you can afford it, then a bigger screen will enable you to see your creations in more detail, easier.
You’ll need to decide whether you want a 4K screen or not, we’d say go for 4K if you can, as 4K video footage is becoming the norm. You also need to look at colour accuracy, Delta E < 2 or better, a colour gamut of at least 95% DCI-P3 are ideal and you’ll want a high contrast ratio and brightness level (nits of 400 and above are best, or 1,000 for HDR).
If you can afford HDR support then that’s also another plus. Price will of course be a factor, we’ve included a range of options here to suit everyone who wants the best video editing monitor on the market to those with a more limited budget.
Don’t forget to also look at number of ports, think about how many you’ll need for your setup and look at a monitor that can match your needs (although a decent dock can help). For other uses, also see our guide to the best monitors for graphics artists.
How we test
We’ve made our picks of the best monitors for video editing based on our own tests. Our contributors are working creatives and test each screen for video editing and other creative work over several weeks, carrying out a number of projects as well as testing for everyday use. We’ve also taken into account recommendations and feedback from other creatives and customer reviews.
We look at various things in our tests, and try to go beyond just specs to look at how fast the monitor responds, how easy it is to set up and use, and the accuracy with which it displays colours. We also test it out with footage that uses a range of colours to see how well they display.
We also know that generally if a monitor works for gaming, it’s also good for creatives, so we’ve picked out some of the best gaming monitors we’ve tried and included them when relevant here.
Resolution isn’t everything when it comes to choosing the right monitor for video editing. But, if you’re hoping to produce content in UHD, you’ll need to be able to see your work in its native resolution. So, having a monitor capable of 4K resolution isn’t just good, for most video editors, it’s necessary. Just keep in mind that you’ll need a computer powerful enough to be able to deliver that high resolution content to a 4K monitor.
Are curved monitors good for video editing?
It’s not necessary to have a curved monitor to do great work on your video editing projects. But, curved monitors do offer a few advantages. Since they make the whole screen equidistant from your eyes, they’re easy to work with since you won’t have to strain as much to see the corners of your screen. And, many curved monitors come in a wider 21:9 aspect ratio, meaning you’ll have more screen real estate and can work on projects in their native resolution while still having instant access to your editing tools. However, you do have more limited viewing angles compared to flat displays. If you need to show your work to colleagues, they might not see an accurate representation of your project.
While refresh rate is crucial for video editing, just about every contemporary monitor comes with at least a 60Hz refresh rate. And, considering that most video is shot at 30 or 60 fps, having a faster refresh rate won’t make much of a difference. Of course, if you’re also doing animation or are hoping to game on that same display, having a speedier refresh rate becomes a bit more of a priority.
What is a HDR monitor?
HDR monitors have better contrast ratio than non-HDR ones, meaning that there’s a bigger difference between bright and dark areas of an image. For video editing, this is helpful as it helps you more accurately see your footage. Note that switching to HDR will only work where a monitor has a wide range of colours, high contrast levels and ample brightness.
Best overall
Best budget
Best premium
Best value
Best 8K
Best Apple
