Instagram's Edits moves beyond the iPhone with Mac app

Instagram is bringing its popular video editing app, Edits, to Mac users, competing with CapCut, the desktop video editing app from ByteDance. The free Mac version of Edits offers a range of advanced features, such as a multi-track timeline, color controls, and direct publishing to Instagram. The desktop app supports both horizontal and vertical videos, with the ability to export in up to 4K resolution without watermarks.

Users can take advantage of mouse and keyboard controls, customize keyboard shortcuts, and even import their own LUTs and font files for added customization. Instagram's licensed audio libraries and hundreds of sound and video effects are also available for use. The app also provides unlimited automatic captions in multiple languages.

Additionally, users can save and use audio and text styles from their mobile devices on the desktop app. Although cross-platform editing is not currently available, Instagram plans to introduce it in the future. The Mac version of Edits can directly publish content to Instagram, allowing users to add tags, locations, and create trial reels.

Users can also prepare their edited videos for other platforms or personal projects. Instagram plans to release weekly updates to the Mac app. The app is now available for download on Mac, but there is no Windows version at this time. Edits poses a direct challenge to CapCut, which released its own macOS version in 2021. According to Meta's latest earnings call, Edits has already attracted over 50 million active users.