Apr 27, 2020 Final Cut Pro is a professional video editing software developed by Apple Inc. That allows users to post-process videos with multiple video editing features, including moving and trimming clips, multi-cam editing, video rotation, 360 degrees VR editing, VR headset playback, special effects, color grading, etc.
- Is Final Cut Pro compatible with Windows?
- Is Final Cut Pro for Mac only?
- ..
Final Cut Pro is a great choice to edit video, but it can only be used on Mac OS X, and requires some professional editing skills of their users. So if you're a beginner in video editing, or you're a Windows user, then you might wish to find an alternative to Final Cut Pro X video editor, right? Congratulations! You've been the right place.
In this post, I'd like to recommend and list 5 different Final Cut Pro alternative software for your reference. All these video editing software have their own target users, and you can pick up one of them to cut, split, merge, trim or edit a video on Windows or Mac computer as you like.
Now, let's get started.
Filmora Video Editor (Windows/Mac) - Best Final Cut Pro Alternative for Beginner
Filmora Video Editor for Windows or Filmora Video Editor for Mac is the best substitute of Final cut pro for beginners and semi-professionals, because it comes with numerous video editing functions (including both basic and advanced editing skills) to help users to cut, split, or edit a video easily. What's more, this program requires no professional skills for any user.
Why Choose This Final Cut Pro Alternative
- Simple and clear interface, pretty easy to use for every user, especially when you're a beginner.
- Provide users with 1000+ video effects, including transitions, overlays, filters, elements, texts, titles, etc.
- Easy way of trimming, cropping, splitting and merging the clips as you like.
- Effects store are keeping updated to offer you with more effects for specific themes, including Christmas, Thansgiving, Birthday, etc.
- Adjusting the frames, bit rate and rate is hassle free now and export video to 24+ different formats with 1 simple click.
- Fully support all OS X and Windows system.
In order to make you better understand this program, I have picked up several features and explained them as follows:
Criteria #1: Easy to Get Started
Seen from the primary window, Filmora Video Editor has an intuitive and user-friendly interface. This means that you can easily start video editing, even for beginning users. The drag-and-drop feature let you do almost anything - Drag and drop to import video and audio; drag and drop to move items and arrange them on timeline; drag and drop a transition, etc. Video editing made easy with this Final Cut Pro alternative for Mac.
Tips: Broad video formats are supported. Note that HD video formats are also included.
- Video formats: MP4, MOV, F4V, M4V(without DRM), FLV, AVI, VOB, 3GP, 3G2, MPG, MPEG, TS, TRP, M2TS, MTS, TP, DAT, WMV, MKV, ASF, DV, MOD, NSV, TOD, EVO
- Audio formats: MP3, M4A, WMA, WAV, AAC, AC3, OGG,
Criteria #2: Robust Video Editing Tools
When you're looking at purchasing video editing software, the important option is the application's editing tools and options. Filmora Video Editor allows you to split, merge and trim your videos with advanced timeline in a few simple clicks and in precise control. You videos will be instantly enhanced in perfect video quality with special effects, brightness, contrast, saturation and other adjustment tools.
Criteria #3: Share Video Practically Anywhere
You can virtually export your finished movie to any format you want. Publishing your masterpieces to YouTube is great if you have lots of friends and family there. If you have iDevices like iPad, iPhone, and iPod, you can directly export video that will be played perfectly on the go. You'll share with no limits at all.
For more detailed steps of how to split, cut or edit a video, you can read articles as follows:
Adobe Premiere Pro - Professional Final Cut Pro for Windows
Some other Final cut pro for Windows and Mac alternative apps are there that going to make video editing easy and to provide the professional media editors what they want. Adobe premiere is another adobe's presentation to their respectable users who appreciate their efforts and give their opinion to make the product best. Following features makes your editing experience more worthy:
- It support multiple camera footage editing simultaneously at the spot with excellent speed, while mixing the different frames at a given specific sequence at high rate.
- It support NDxHD files and you can export avid as well as final cut pro assignments too with it.
- It provide predetermined colors that help you to promptly select the color grades of your choice and reduce the time of adjusting the shades.
- Its audio manager gives the media editing a living effect make the sound tracks more natural and exquisite to hear.
- Whatever you are doing on devices, fear of losing the precious data make you to show concern at this point.
- Adobe premiere pro provide the facility to stockpile backup files anywhere on a hard or somewhere else.
iMovie - Mac Alternative to Final Cut Pro (for Beginner)
If you are in need of Final cut pro alternate then iMovie could be a best choice for you. The professional as well as individual media editor can use this app on their Mac and iOS without any issue or disruption. Changing the audio effects and mixing the video clipping, adding the title and background music tracks is not a big deal now just because of iMovie. Simply interface with predefined setting and availability of many editing options for further processing make its use easy for the first-hand users.
- As for as its interface matters, it is simple and one-piece as comprise all what any can want in its media editing need.
- Its high processing speed make it easy for user to accomplish the task in couple of seconds like sharing, importing and deleting the non-essential files. So no need to watch progress bar and get to bore.
- One most exciting thing about iMovie is making trailer. Either you want to use a template or want to make of your own, you will find all here to make your editing experience more enjoyable and without getting exhausted.
- Undo button is no doubt a great help in editing procedure when you are a new user. This software contains 'Undo' button to help you get rid of unintentionally, or mistakenly selected changes.
- After editing if you want to share your final project with someone else then it is not a big deal with 'Share' button. Just click on it and you can share your files via Email, YouTube, iTunes, theater, Vimeo, Facebook and many more.
- Audio editing effect are also supported by iMovie, you can have different sound effects by changing modulation, speed and pitch and amplitude.
- You can make slow motion videos with help of iMovie's camera.
- You can share and can store projects to Air drop to have a backup of your all edited data.
Sony Vegas Pro - Final Cut Pro for PC (for Semi-professional or Professional)
Sony Vegas pro is media editing software that has a natural approach of nonlinear editing of the media files. Firstly, it was only an audio editor but with time development of compositing features, independent resolution video sequencing and highly complex and detailed effects have make it able for both audio and video editing. With time it is becoming a first choice for professional user because of following bewitching features.
- It supports many video formats like 2K, 4K, HD and SD for both 2D and 3D editing.
- Have Easy Drag and Drop features to simply add files to workstation.
- Can easily Transfer and share projects between two different Sony Vegas Pro working on two different devices.
- For creative production it have many advanced tools, solicitous touches and precisely customized workstation.
- Precisely defines color range and preset audio effects make editing more up to mark.
- Have a large range of audio effects with supporting the 24-bit/192 kHz audio files with high resolution.
Avid Media Composer - Video Editing Software for Hollywood
Avid is a thing to which the audio professionals going to love. It is a alternative to Final cut pro that has remarkable expertise to control, modify and edit the sound tracks. With great performance speed it make its place in other popular editing apps. With maximum processing speed it makes editing and mixing easy for you. Here are Avid's features:
- Smart tools of easy drag and drop.
- Stereoscopic cutting out abilities.
- Finest tools for color adjustment.
- Live mate key.
- Easy text searching with smart phrase finder.
- Easy matching and mixing of different video clips and footages from different sources.
- 3D raping and animation making.
Choose the best Final Cut Pro That Meets Your Need
| Media editing Software | Price | Operating System | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filmora Video Editor | $39.99/year; $59.99/Lifetime | Win/Mac |
|
Might cannot satisfy the professional users' needs. |
| Avid Media composer | $1,299 / Year | Win/Mac |
|
Avid media composer is a bug free software and with further updates you get rid of being screwed up with any type of limitations. And it is too expensive for a beginner and semi-professional. |
| Adobe Premier Pro |
$49.99 / Month |
Win/Mac |
|
Adobe Premiere pro is free of limitations but its trial version has some. When you download a trial version of it, you have to separately download the templates and the dictionaries other than English languages. And it cannot purchase alone. |
| iMovie | $14.99 / Lifetime | Mac |
|
The iMovie Theater have difficulty sharing edited videos from iCloud. With limited storage space it becomes difficult to have a large number of your projects there and you soon run short for space and you need external hard drive for this purpose. |
| Sony Vegas | $599.95 / Lifetime | Win |
|
With up gradation of the software with time reduces the limitations. Just a minor issues are there like no updates for some programs in the software. |
Related Articles & Tips
What should you look for in video editing software for Mac? That is a question you may ask when looking for an application to edit your videos. But the better question is–where do you plan to use your videos? The answer can help you choose, as some solutions are simpler than others, allowing for the quick creation of professional-quality presentation or tutorial videos. Other platforms are the more advanced types, with an array of high-tech tools suitable for use by commercial video/film producers and editors.
You’ll be surprised at the diverse range of video editing software for Mac in the market today. If you research all of them, you’ll need to take a few days of leave from work. Don’t worry; we have done the heavy lifting for you and came up with a lineup of the 12 best video editing software for Mac. These best video editing tools are either intuitive to casual users or powerful for pros, while some are scalable so that they can be used by both types of users. We also highlight the key features of each software to make it easier to compare them.
What are the best 12 video editing software solutions for Mac?
Employees prefer Mac for work because it increases productivity, a survey found. Also, workers believe that Mac computers boosted their creativity and collaboration. What’s more, they say that Mac enables them to be self-sufficient.
Workers choose Mac for better productivity
Source: Apple Insider
Designed by
Since workers across a broad stream of departments prefer to use Mac, it is a natural course for software vendors like video editing software companies and developers to take their product right at Mac’s doorstep. As one of the 100 million Mac and MacBook users worldwide, you’re on the right track upping the ante of your video quality (our apologies, PC users), not just with the right machine, but with any of the software on our list. If your requirement is not Mac-specific, you can read our 20 best video editing tools for more options.
12 Best Video Editing Software for Mac
1. Final Cut Pro
First on our list of 12 best video editing software for Mac is Final Cut Pro. It is Apple’s premier professional video editing software for macOS users. The application is built to tap into the robust processing core, graphics card, and VRAM that power the latest Mac machines. With the software harnessing multi-core and multi-thread hardware capabilities of Macs, together with a huge set of cutting-edge editing tools, the result is smooth and accelerated post-production work from start to finish.
Final Cut Pro gives you the ability to import, share, and edit videos from a variety of cameras and devices with support for multiple formats. It has numerous tools for editing and timeline, trimming, effects, audio enhancement, color correction, closed captions, multimedia management, and project workflow. It can handle VR headset playback and 360-degree video editing, as well as HDR and ProResRAW sources. The software allows you to integrate dozens of third-party tools, devices, content, and plug-ins to give you an extendable platform.
The software is a standalone, on-premise solution priced at $299 (one-time payment). While it is locally deployed, the software allows you to upload, organize, and download files from online storage and stock media sites for project collaboration and sharing. It is designed for iMac and MacBook computers with macOS 10.13.6 or later versions of the operating system.
- Advanced tools for video/audio editing, motion graphics, and delivery
- Built on 64-bit architecture for handling complex projects and effects
- Extendable workflow via integration with dozens of external tools
2. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing software for professionals and enthusiasts. Its claim of being “a cut above the rest” has an element of truth about it. That’s because it has become a popular tool for filmmakers, videographers, TV editors, and YouTube content creators. It has evolved into an industry-standard not only in video editing but also in workflow automation and media asset management. It supports all kinds of cameras, all types of formats, and any platform, including Mac and PC. This would make an excellent platform to use in conjunction with content marketing software, which could assist you in reaching out to your audience.
From its extensive R&D and the suggestions of its horde of users, Adobe Premiere Pro is a continually improving product with new features rolled out for every new release. It offers a new Freeform view for organizing and viewing storyboard and media files; rulers and guides for the precise layout of clips, text, and graphics; auto-Ducking for adding ambient sounds into your audio mix; faster mask tracking; and a dozen other enhancements on audio and video.
Of course, all the other features Adobe Premiere is known for are still there, including precise color grading, motion graphics, and animation, instant audio improvement, and integration with hundreds of partner technologies. The software also works seamlessly with its sibling Adobe products like After Effects, Audition, Photoshop, InDesign, and others. The software is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which means it is accessible online from any connected device. It has several packages for business, students, and schools. For individuals, the plan is pegged at $29.99/month or $239.88/year.
- Established industry leader
- Multi-platform, multi-format, compatibility
- Regular roll out or updates and new features
3. iMovie
iMovie is another Apple product designed for macOS and iOS platforms. It is an entry-level video clip editing tool to help you produce visual stories from photos and videos. It gives you access to themes, templates, and tools for adding music, titles, and effects. It makes it easy for you to capture and cut photos directly from your iPhone, transfer them automatically to your iCloud Drive, then download them to your Mac or iPad, where you can add music, transitions, and fades, special effects, and other final touches.
iMovie, however, is not a barebones application. It can handle 4K videos and is loaded with dozens of design styles for creating animated titles and credits. You can also apply cinematic filters and effects on the entire video or the selected clip. In addition, it lets you control video speed (speed up or slow down), include green screen effects for changing backgrounds, put in picture-in-picture or split screens, and add or edit audio elements. iMovie is free and can be downloaded from the App Store.
- Zero-cost solution video editing tool for Mac and iOS devices
- Easy to navigate and simple to use with intuitive features
- Allows for quick creation of short videos and sharing them online
4. WeVideo
WeVideo is a cloud-hosted video editing and sharing software that can support multiple formats and multiple platforms, including Mac, PC, Chromebook, Android, and iOS devices. The software makes it a breeze for you to capture, create, view, and share your videos even at up to 4K resolution. Its advanced editing features and simple interface allow you to produce professional-level videos without the needed expertise and without having to pay for expensive tools.
With WeVideo, you can edit anywhere on any device with full control over tools for video editing and processing, motion titles, green-screen effects, screencasting, picture-in-picture, voiceovers, collaboration, and sharing, and media management. It utilizes Jumpstart technology that lets you start editing without waiting for your video to upload, allowing you to create movies in minutes. It has a storyboard, timeline, pre-built templates, and advanced text editing features to further speed up your video creation.
WeVideo has a free plan, and four paid plans that start at $3.74/month. Its higher-priced plans give you access to a library containing thousands of video, music, and image files that you can use for your video projects. But if you prefer an all-around solution, you can look at digital asset management software instead.
- Provides file and media management, collaboration, and sharing tools
- Supports more than 600 video, audio, and video formats
- Maintenance-free cloud platform
5. Filmora
Filmora is designed to simplify the video editing process through an online solution that can be accessed through any connected device. It can be used by all kinds of video creators, whether for creating personal movies or for coming up with business presentations, product demos, or marketing videos. It allows you to incorporate overlays, filters, custom titles, and transitions as well as adjust audio, remove background noise, and set keyframes. Aside from basic editing tools, you also have compositing tools for imaginative videos using green-screen effects and layering clips.
Mac Video Editing Software Final Cuts
Filmora supports 4K video editing, multiple footage, and multi-format sources. It is capable of importing multiple videos and using up to a hundred layers of multimedia materials for creating complex stories, without having to pour in hours of work. Once you’re done with your video project, you can quickly transfer it to DVD or sharing directly to Facebook or Vimeo right from the Filmora platform. The software offers various pricing plans for schools, individuals, and businesses and has dedicated plans for Mac and Windows users. Its Filmora plans for Mac are priced at $49.99/year for a one-year subscription for one Mac; $59.99 for a lifetime license; and $179.97 for a lifetime license of up to five Macs.
- Simplified professional-level video editing
- Dozens of creative filters and special effects
- Dedicated packages for Mac users
6. DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is a professional, on-premise editing solution that brings together tools for 8K editing, visual effects, color correction, and audio editing in one package. It is built to streamline post-production workflows and enable multi-user collaboration. It allows for one-click shuttling between tools for editing, effects, color, and audio. These capabilities enable members of a post-production team – producer, director, video and sound editors, graphic artists, and others – to easily work together on completing the project, whether it is a TV show, music video, or full-length feature film.
DaVinci Resolve is a complete color grading program for film and video editing. It offers color correction and finishing tools that editors and colorists can use to create cinematic results regardless of whether the project is intended for theater, TV, or online viewing.
DaVinci Resolve is available in just two plans. First is a free one with all the tools for editing, motion graphics, visual effects, color correction, and audio enhancement. The second is a paid plan at $299 that adds several 3D tools, plugins, special effects, and collaboration capabilities.
- Affordable high-end video/audio post-production platform with advanced features
- Over 250 tools for compositing, keying, compositing, rotoscoping, text animation, etc.
- Optimizes CPU and GPU for smooth and responsive playback
7. HitFilm Express
HitFilm Express is a free online video editing and visual effects software that gives you all the tools you need to prepare you for professional filmmaking. You can create Hollywood-style movies right from your home studio without the need to hire professional video editors. The software supports both Mac and Windows and is ideal for indie filmmakers out to make theater-ready movies. It gives you a revolutionary workflow that can combine timelines, customize the interface, work with various formats, configure export settings, and more.
With HitFilm Express, you get video editing tools for adding animations, enhancing composite shots, add unlimited video/audio tracks, modify layers, make precise cuts, and add smooth transitions. You also have at your disposal tools for color correction and grading, keying and extraction, 3D modeling, simulating objects and particles, and an array of other special effects.
HitFilm Express requires a high-end system such as that of MacOS 10.11 or higher. While the software is entirely free, you have to buy add-on packs and modules ranging from $10 to $50 each, which extend the software’s functionalities and give you more specialized effects to work on.
- Offers extensive, regular tutorials for recreating FX footage from hit movies
- Cost-effective, feature-rich editing/special VFX software
- Dedicated technical support team and active online community
8. Wideo
Wideo is an online animated video platform accessible by Mac, Windows PC, and other connected devices. It is intended to help businesses come up with fun and engaging promotional, explainer, and marketing videos. Creating presentation videos through Wideo is fast and easy, with 80 ready-made templates. You can create, edit, and share videos using the drag and drop interface. You don’t have to start from the ground up since there are ready-made templates that allow you to create animations in no time, even without any video editing background. And while you are at it, you can keep these 13 video marketing trends for 2020 in mind to ensure that your efforts hit the mark.
There are several template categories you can choose from to match your business and industry, including those for ecommerce, marketing, product demos, startups, school projects, company presentations, and more. The process is simple – sign up to create your account, then choose from the ready-made templates or, if you prefer, upload your own. You can then customize your video by adding transitions, apply effects, change the animation speed, copy or remove keyframes, and preview your work before uploading them online and sharing interactive links.
Only paid plans allow branding, longer videos, and full HD downloads. There are three paid plans offered, starting at $59/month or $19/month if billed annually.
- Over 80 video templates built by professionals
- You get premium support, priority downloads, privacy control, and monetization rights
- Easy drag-and-drop video creation and editing
9. VideoPad
VideoPad is a full-featured digital video editor built with a simple user interface and intuitive tools. It is suitable for use by individuals and businesses looking to create professional-quality videos minus the complexity and high cost. With the software, you can create and edit videos simply by adding clips through drag-and-drop function, apply video effects from a library of over 50 transitions and effects, and burn your videos on DVD or upload them online. The software supports all major video formats such as avi, wmv, mpv, and DivX, regardless of the video source.
Mac Video Editing Software Final Cut 2017
VideoPad comes with video optimization tools to fine-tune colors, adjust video speed, and add images to sequences, and do 360-degree or 3D editing. The on-premise software is available in several pricing plans, including a lifetime license at a discounted price of $34.99. Several add-on tools for capturing, converting, recording, labeling, and more, are offered at additional cost. There are also separate editions available for Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone/iPad, Android, and Kindle devices.
Simple Uploading to Computer The PCM-D50 conforms to the USB 2.0 Mass Storage Class Device standard and this recorder's native recording file format is.WAV. Pcm d50 sony. This means recordings can be rapidly uploaded to a computer and used in conjunction with most common audio production software.
- Has a dedicated edition for Mac users
- Utilizes pure digital editing tools
- Equipped with complete video optimization capabilities
10. Lightworks Pro
Lightworks Pro is a big player in the video editing industry, having been used in blockbuster films like Pulp Fiction and Heat. The software is a complete video creation, and editing package for work intended not only for big-screen projects but also for TV, social media, video sharing sites, and for professional-level business projects. Lightworks is loaded with features that include an intuitive interface, easy timeline editing, and trimming, audio and video effects, multi-format support, up to 4K video export, and access to royalty-free video and audio content.
Mac Video Editing Software Final Cutter
Whether you’re making a short video or feature-length films, Lightworks got you covered with all the professional-grade tools you need to do precise edits and enhancements like color grading, blending, transitions, keyframing, and adding special effects. The video editor integrates with Blackmagic Fusion, an image compositing tool for creating VFX for movies, commercials, and TV shows. Also, you can utilize plug-ins from Boris, a vector-based titling tool, for adding filters, graffiti, and graphics. The online platform offers a free version with limited features and three premium editions with prices starting at $24.99. You can also get a full license with no expiration for $437.99.
Imovie
- Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux systems
- Enhanced VFX with Boris FX plug-ins and Blackmagic Fusion tools
- A vast set of tutorial videos and vibrant online user community
11. macXvideo
macXvideo is a free, next-generation video processing application dubbed as the best tool for 4K video processing. Despite its name, it is not an Apple product but is designed to leverage the computing capabilities of Mac machines for efficient and effortless compression of 4K (up to 8K) videos without loss of quality. The software is simple to use with intuitive tools that do not require video editing expertise for editing, decoding, encoding, and compressing ultra-high-definition 4K or higher resolution videos.
macXvideo offers a number of video editing features for transforming raw videos into high-quality movies. It comes with tools for video trimming/cutting, splitting, merging, variable playback speed, captions/subtitles, and audio enhancements. It also has capabilities for adjusting and correcting colors, saturation, gamma, contrast, and hue. The software supports videos from whatever source and is compatible with all types of audio/video formats, codecs, size, and quality.
- Entirely free on-premise video editing solution
- Superior and fast processing for UHD video materials
- Next-gen video compression technology while retaining near original video quality
Mac Video Editing Software
12. Rocketium
Rocketium is a cloud-based video creation and editing software that makes it easy to produce business videos. Targeted at marketers, publishers, and agencies, the software provides a simple and hassle-free way for businesses to tell their stories or relay their messages through promotional videos, product or company presentations, or ad campaigns. It offers powerful and professional design and editing tools for video scene trimming, cropping, and adding multimedia elements like music and images. You get single-click styling, colors, fonts, animation options, and timing, and positioning, among others.
Rocketium is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. It gives you access to millions of royalty-free video footage, images, and soundtracks so you can easily complete your video with all the components you need. You can likewise customize your video to reflect your brand and use the software’s “workspaces” to collaborate with colleagues on your project. Rocketium is available in four paid plans starting at $9/month.
Mac Video Editing Software Final Cut Software
- Access to huge multimedia content
- Trello-like task boards for managing projects
- Built-in video content translation tool for 100+ languages
Mac Video Editing Software Final Cut Tool
Use Free Trials to Find the Best Video Editing Software for You
Reading up on a video editing software and watching demos and tutorials may not be enough. For you to find which application works best for you, you need to have hands-on experience with a platform. But subscribing to each program on your shortlist could be unnecessarily expensive. Fortunately, vendors now offer free trials of their products. You can take advantage of these to test drive tools and features.
Speaking of finances, it is an easy choice to go for the most expensive video editing software from a well-known developer. This is because you can be sure it packs a punch, feature-wise. It may not be suitable for your budget, though. Still, there are other solutions on the list that could serve as an alternative to your first choice. With those, you have the powerful tools you need that will still enable you to create the best videos.