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Apple computers have long been aimed at the creative professional, particularly when it comes to photo and video editing. Unfortunately, industry-leading packages like Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Apple’s own Final Cut Pro aren’t cheap.
2018 Top 3 Best Professional Video Editing Software for Mac (macOS High Sierra). What Is the Best Professional Video Editing Software? # 1 Best Video Editing Software for Mac. Screen recorder and video maker & editor, compatible with Mac OS X and PC. It supports high-quality output, and most suitable for those videographers or web content. Overall best Mac for video editing. Our pick as best Mac for professional video editors is the 27in iMac with Retina 5K Display. Asking which is the best pixel-based photo editor for Mac OS X may sound like a simple and straightforward question, however, it is a more complex question than it may at first seem. There are lots of factors to consider when deciding which is the best photo editor and the importance of the various. Jahshaka, previously known as CineFX, combines video editing, 2D and 3D animation, compositing, color correction, and video effects into across-platform over Mac, Linux and Windows package. It is probably best compared to Adobe After Effects in terms of what it delivers, but for free it might be worth a punt.
Fortunately, there’s a selection of capable free video editing apps for Mac to sink your teeth into. Some are made for beginners, while others will satisfy seasoned video editors with their impressive feature sets.
These are our favorite free video editors for Mac.
1. iMovie![]()
Summary: A free, consumer-grade video editor. It’s well-optimized for Apple hardware and suitable for most personal projects.
iMovie is free for anyone who owns a Mac. Plus, the iOS version is free to all iPhone and iPad owners. The software is aimed at consumers who want to quickly create videos with footage stored in their Photos library. To facilitate this, iMovie uses a simplified timeline editor that doesn’t allow for multitrack editing.
Despite the linear editing and basic UI, iMovie is a highly optimized piece of software that can handle 4K video and green screen compositing. It also supports picture-in-picture video and slow-motion/fast-forward visual effects. iMovie can generate titles, drag-and-drop transitions, and motion graphics like 3D globes and travel maps.
The app comes with built-in music and sound effects that are ready to go. It can generate Hollywood-style trailers using footage that you supply. Additionally, the app allows you to export directly to YouTube and Vimeo at up to 4K resolution.
Download:iMovie (Free)
Best Video Editor For Mac Os2. DaVinci Resolve
Summary: A powerful, professional-grade video editor that lacks the color grading tools the developers are famous for.
The Studio version of DaVinci Resolve costs nearly $1,000, but the basic version is completely free. Better still, it includes the same high-quality image processing abilities as the pricier version. You get a powerful video editor, some of the best color correction capabilities around, and even support for external hardware panels to enable faster editing.
There are limitations, of course. The main one is that Resolve can only output in SD, HD and Ultra HD, which is likely more than enough for most users. Also, the app places limits on some of the advanced grading and tracking tools. However, these restrictions are mainly in place to convince professional users to upgrade.
The app might have quite a learning curve, but DaVinci Resolve is one of the most powerful video editing suites on the planet and you get a lot for free. See our comparison of DaVinci Resolve and HitFilm ExpressHitFilm Express vs. DaVinci Resolve: The Free Video Editor BattleHitFilm Express vs. DaVinci Resolve: The Free Video Editor BattleWe pit HitFilm Express vs. DaVinci Resolve and compare to see which one wins the free video editor battle.Read More for more on how it stacks up.
Download:Da Vinci Resolve (Free)
3. OpenShot
Summary: A free and open source video editor with an impressive list of features. However, the interface is outdated and may put some users off.
OpenShot is a cross-platform open source tool that’s been around since 2008. It’s built with the aim of providing a stable, free, and accessible video editor. The project receives several major updates per year, in line with the expectations for an open source project with a small team.
OpenShot’s feature list has grown over the years to include great support for a variety of formats, keyframes for animation, and unlimited video/audio tracks. It also packs in transition and compositing support, titles, and a heap of extra features you’d expect from a modern video editor.
Past criticisms have panned OpenShot’s reliability, but it’s still worth a shot for free.
Download:OpenShot (Free)
4. Shotcut
Summary: A capable open source editor with an interface that’s superior to OpenShot.
Here’s another free, open source, cross-platform video editor. Shotcut’s feature list is just as impressive as OpenShot, but Shotcut features a great-looking interface. It more closely resembles a pro-tier application than a free one.
The app supports a wide range of video files and formats, including 4K, ProRes, and DNxHD. Shotcut also includes great support for working with audio, an impressive list of video effects (including compositing and transitions), and a flexible UI.
Of note are support for advanced features like 5.1 surround sound, three-way color correction, and a huge number of video and audio filters. There’s even a full set of official Shotcut video tutorials you can watch to get you up to speed with the editor.
Download:Shotcut (Free)
5. Blender
Summary: Not a purpose-built video editor, but it’s a powerful tool for free.
Blender is a free 3D modeling and compositing app used in some high-profile productions. Yet many don’t realize Blender is also a capable non-linear video editor, provided you’re willing to take the time to learn.
You can use Blender to cut and splice video, mix and sync audio, or apply adjustment layers, transitions, and filters. You probably won’t edit a whole film together in Blender, but for basic editing tasks it might suffice.
Blender isn’t the easiest system to learn, but underneath the hood is a powerful non-linear video editor. Best video editor mac free. Check out Daniel Pocock’s quick guide to editing video in Blender and the official Blender video sequencer manual to learn more.
Download: Blender (Free)
6. Lightworks
Summary: A powerful editor with plenty of features, but some seriously restrictive output options make the free version feel more like a trial. https://sheettree878.weebly.com/blog/code-editor-for-mac-free-download.
Lightworks is one of the most powerful apps on this list. I’d happily recommend it above all other packages if it wasn’t so restrictive for the free user. The free version includes video effects, multicam editing, and titling, as well as the usual multi-layered timeline approach you’d expect from a comprehensive editor.
Unfortunately, rendering (exporting your project) is limited to 1080p output on Vimeo, and 720p output to YouTube. You can also render to Lightworks Archives, but you lose H.264, MP4, or even DVD export options.
So while the toolkit is vast, Lightworks isn’t a very appealing free editor unless you’d like to thoroughly try it out for free and upgrade at a later time.
Download:Lightworks (Free, premium version available)
7. Avidemux
Summary: A capable freebie, but lacking in polish and features.
Avidemux made our list of the best Linux video editors7 Free Open Source Video Editors for Linux7 Free Open Source Video Editors for LinuxVideo editing on Linux is constantly improving. A good selection of open source video editing software is now available to Linux users, and we've got seven of the best for you to check out.Read More. Though it’s basic in nature, it works well for simple editing tasks. The app supports a wide variety of input and output formats. The project undergoes several updates a year, with development continuing at a steady pace.
Thankfully, the team maintains parity among all three major versions, so you won’t miss out on any features if you opt for the Mac package.
Avidemux is best reserved for simple tasks like cutting a video down to size, applying video or audio filters, and transcoding. If you’re willing to dig a little deeper, you’ll find a highly capable script editor to automate many of these common tasks.
Be sure to check out the Avidemux wiki for learning materials, and the Avidemux forum can help in case you get stuck.
Download:Avidemux (Free)
Mac Video Editing on a Budget
So which is the best video editor for you? iMovie is probably the best all-rounder. It’s free, easy to use, and carefully optimized for Apple hardware. There are plenty of features in it to satisfy beginners and mid-tier users. However, it lacks the raw power to compete with Final Cut or Premiere Pro.
Da Vinci Resolve, on the other hand, is surprisingly-feature rich. It offers multi-track editing and a huge number of professional-tier features to play with. Blender is open source and powerful, but is bogged down by complexity. Shotcut and Openshot are pretty evenly matched, so why not test drive them both? And if you’re looking for something specific to 4K video editing, check out VideoProc.
If you want a simple video conversion app instead of a full-fledged video editor, try these top macOS video convertersThe 7 Best Video Converter Apps for macOSThe 7 Best Video Converter Apps for macOSNeed a Mac video converter app? Here are the best options for easily converting any kind of video on macOS.Read More. And if you need to edit images as well as video, check out our lists of free and paid image editors for MacThe 8 Best Free and Paid Image Editors for MacThe 8 Best Free and Paid Image Editors for MacHere are the best free and paid Mac image editors, whether you're a professional professional or amateur shutterbug.Read More and free Mac photo editorsThe 8 Best Free and Paid Image Editors for MacThe 8 Best Free and Paid Image Editors for MacHere are the best free and paid Mac image editors, whether you're a professional professional or amateur shutterbug.Read More too.
Image credit: Gustavo Devito/Flickr
Explore more about: iMovie, Mac Apps, Video Editing, Video Editor.
Video editing can be a very sophisticated task. Mac users are famous for their skills in this area. Two applications stand out for their excellence and quality, namely Final Cut Pro and Blender. Both have been used in famous films and TV programs. Here below is a description of these two apps and five others that are also a frequent choice amongst Mac users.
1. Movavi Video Editor For Mac![]()
Movavi is a video editor application for the Mac that has a free version as well as a more full-featured Pro alternative. It runs on the Mac OS X 10.7 or later and is an easy to learn editing tool that can be mastered in well under an hour. Let’s take a look at the features included in this powerful editing software.
Free Features
Pro Features
In addition to all of the features in the free version, the professional tool adds sample videos and more music tracks. It also introduces keyframe animation to add movement to titles and overlay clips. Whether you opt for the pro or free version, Movavi gives you the ability to create quality videos in a simple and painless manner.
2. Filmora for Mac
Filmora by Wondershare is a powerful video editing application for your Mac machine running OS X 10.10 or later. Its intuitive design makes it easy for anyone to create great videos using its array of advanced features. The developers have included creative tools that enable the user to make outstanding videos by dragging and dropping moving graphics into your videos or adding effects by taking advantage of their regularly updated effects store. You can download a free trial version of Filmora to see if it’s right for you.
Free Features
Pro Features
In addition to Filmora’s basic features, the application includes advanced tools that allow you to create professional grade videos. Editing is made easier by the scene detection feature, which identifies scene changes automatically. Audio separation, equalization, and mixing capabilities let you fine tune the sound of your video. You can split your screen to play two or more videos at once and layering of multiple video clips can be done with the picture-in-picture feature. With advanced text editing that allows you to animate the text and titles of your videos, Filmora provides a powerful video editing tool for your Mac.
3. iMovie
iMovie was developed by Apple Inc. for its iOS and Mac devices. Released in 1999, it has been enhanced in later versions.
This app is a simple video editor for Mac that can be used to import videos using FireWire, from a USB drive or a hard drive. It has basic editing capabilities that can be used in video clips, to add effects and music. It also has video enhancing and color correction tools.
Overall, iMovie is ideal for the person looking for an easy to use tool, who is mainly interested in doing some basic editing to movie clips.
4. Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs, initially developed by Macromedia Inc. and later continued by Apple Inc. This well-known professional video editor for Mac stands out for its user-centered design, which has resulted in Final Cut Pro being at the top amongst the Mac video editing software programs currently available on the market.
The secret behind Final Cut Pro’s success is its interface, which has been designed based on non-computerized editing workflows, and thus, working the same way professionals do. Its interface has four main windows for organizing, editing and viewing. They are the browser, the timeline, the canvas and the viewer.
The browser is a virtual space for referencing and arranging clips. It is complemented by the timeline, where clips are grouped in sequences, which can also be nested inside other sequences. The canvas is used to output the contents of the timeline, and editing them with features such as overwrite, replace, insert, fit to fill and superimpose.
Finally, the viewer shows the content for each different channel of the selected clip’s audio, and has tools to adjust for scale, opacity, cropping, rotation, distortion and many more.
Final Cut Pro’s many users reflect the success of its design approach. In 2007 they amounted to 47% of the professionals in the USA market. Prizes, such as the Primetime Emmy Engineering Award in 2002, echoed this market judgment.
This video editing software for Mac has a proven record of excellence in the many movies in which it has been used. Amongst the best known titles in a long list are: The Rules of Attraction (2002), Happy Feet (2006), The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2009), Gamer (2009), By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2009), The Patrol (2013), and the recent Saved by Grace (2016).
Other technical information includes being written in the Cocoa language, outputting films in DV, P2 MXF, HDV, XDSCAM, 2K, 4K and 5K, and running on Intel-based Mac computers supported by OS X Yosemite or later versions.
Based on its success, Apple has presented this app to the market in two versions: Pro and Express. This second version presents the same interface, but without some advanced functionality. Aimed at the non-professional editor, it is available at a more affordable price.
5. Blender
Blender is an open source and free video editing software for Mac with an outstanding differentiator over other similar apps: great functionality. Much more than just rendering – Blender is also a capable free video editor for Mac.
Written in C, C++ and Python, and available for Mac OS X 10.6 and above, this software has been used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, video games, engineering simulations, and many more.
Although Blender has been described as difficult to use, it has been very successful on the market. This app has been used for television commercials in several countries, amongst them Australia, Iceland, Brazil, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently used by the History Channel and NASA, and has been a tool for the film Spider-Man 2.
Features
Its vast array of features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, raster graphics editing, fluid and smoke simulation, particle simulation, soft body simulation, sculpting, animation, match moving, camera tracking, rendering, video editing and composing, and an integrated game engine.
This free video editing software Mac works by organizing data into data blocks of different types. Blocks are grouped in objects, which are edited in different modes.
The video editing is done with its Video Sequence Editor (VSE), which has plenty of functions. Examples are: Gaussian blur, color grading and several transformations.
In summary, Blender has filled a niche where high technical functionality is required. This great video editing software for Mac is the best option for complex editing tasks, such as engineering simulation and sophisticated 3D animations.
6. Avidemux
Avidemux is an open source and free video editing software for Mac, whose main characteristic is user-friendliness. Its ease of use and installation, with the added availability of a good tutorial, makes Avidemux an ideal tool for beginners in video editing.
The app can work with many video formats such as DVD, MPEG, AVI and many more. It can also handle several common audio formats, such as WAV, MP3, AAC and others.
In addition, it includes several functions for editing, cutting and filtering, which make this app a very practical tool.
Best Free Video Editing Mac
In brief, Avidemux is a great tool for the beginner or unsophisticated video editor, who prefers something friendly and easy to learn.
7. Kdenlive
Kdenlive, which stands for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor, is an open source video editor for Mac. Microsoft visual stodeo editor for mac. It is based on the MLT Framework, which is characterized by simplicity.
The application supports many formats, including AVI, QuickTime, FlashVideo, WMV and MPEG, among others. It also supports 16:9 and 4:4 ratios for NTSC, PAL and HD standards. A video capture Mac can be saved on a DVD.
Best Video Editor For Mac
On the other side, Kdenlive falls short in user-friendliness, particularly with its difficult interface. However, it comes with a manual that can help in answering questions.
In summary, Kdenlive is a good app for those friends of open source software, who want to edit small videos.
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