YouTube has already made its powerful new feature live: the video editor.

The JavaScript-based YouTube editor handles the basics of video editing:

• Combine multiple videos you’ve uploaded
• Trim your videos
• Add audio from the AudioSwap library of 40,000 approved songs
• Create new videos without worrying about file formats and publish them to YouTube with one click

The people behind YouTube said that the core idea behind the video editor is to give users the basic features they need in the cloud. YouTube isn’t out to recreate existing video editors. Instead, YouTube is trying to make video editing accessible to everybody—it’s taking the core features that have broad appeal and putting them in such a way that’s accessible to everybody.

They also added that one of the main goals of the project is to keep the interface very simple for the user (they’ve left the major processing to Google’s massive infrastructure). He contrasts that with current video editing solutions (those that are simple to use), the not-so high end computers can struggle editing content that’s shot in HD. You won’t be having this problem in YouTube’s video editor.

Some feature like video transitions, effects, titles, and audio layers are also being considered. But again, these will depend upon user demand). Finally, they also hinted on concerns regarding mash up videos (those that combine low and high resolution content). Future announcements are still to be made on how to deal with this.

Your thoughts

What do you think? Have you used this feature of YouTube already? What are your experiences? Do you think they should improve more on this feature?

Let us all know in the comments!