Instagram has launched a desktop version of Edits, its free video editing app, for Mac. The company announced the launch on Thursday, saying the app is aimed at demanding projects where a computer’s bigger display and precise mouse and keyboard controls help.
Brett Westervelt, head of Edits, said in a blog post: “A lot of creators have described the same moment to us: a project gets too big for your phone.” He added that the company is expanding Edits to take on creators’ most ambitious projects on desktop.
What the Mac app offers
The app has a full multi-track timeline, which lets users stack several video and audio layers and arrange them separately. It also has keyframes for transitions (markers that set how an effect changes over time) and detailed audio waveforms for cutting exactly on the beat.
For colour work, it includes colour wheels, curves and log conversions. Users can import their own LUTs, which are preset colour looks, as well as their own font files. Keyboard shortcuts can be customised, and Instagram says they can also be imported from other editing software.
The app includes Instagram’s licensed audio library, music that carries no royalty payments, hundreds of sound and video effects, and unlimited automatic captions in multiple languages. Audio and text styles saved in the mobile app are already available on desktop.
Publishing and export
Videos can be published straight from the desktop editor to Instagram, with features such as tagging and location. Instagram says creators no longer need to export a file from the computer and carry it over to a phone for extra tweaks before it can be posted.
Edits supports horizontal and vertical formats. It offers 4K export without a watermark, so videos can be shared on other platforms or used for personal projects.
What comes next
Instagram says the desktop app will get weekly updates and that it wants user feedback. Editing the same project smoothly across Mac and mobile is still being developed. The company also said it will keep growing the mobile app, which it says is used by more than 50 million people.
The move places Edits in closer competition with ByteDance’s CapCut, which has been available on Windows and Mac since 2021.
