The key facts
- Instagram's Edits has arrived on Mac — a version for complex projects with a large screen, mouse and keyboard
- It offers a multi-track timeline, keyframes, auto-subtitles, 4K export without a watermark, and direct publishing to Instagram
- Meta promises weekly updates and is working on seamlessly editing a single project across desktop and mobile
Edits goes beyond the smartphone
Instagram announced on Thursday the launch of a desktop version of Edits — its short-video editing app — for Mac. As TechCrunch reports, the company positions the computer version as a tool for more complex projects that call for a large screen, a mouse and a keyboard.
What the desktop version can do
The app includes licensed and royalty-free music, sound and video effects, automatic subtitles in several languages, a full multi-track timeline, keyframes for transitions and audio waveforms for precise trimming. Audio and text styles saved in the mobile app sync with the desktop; users can customize keyboard shortcuts, import them from other editors, and upload their own font files. Both horizontal and vertical formats are supported, and exports go out in 4K without a watermark.
Direct publishing and competition with CapCut
Creators can publish a finished video from the desktop editor straight to Instagram with native tagging and location features — according to the company, this eliminates the routine of 'edit on the computer, download, transfer to the phone, touch up, publish.' Edits head Brett Westwelt described the typical scenario in a blog post: 'the project becomes too big for the phone' — a dozen clips, an attempt to hit the exact beat, while a finger covers the part of the timeline you need.
Context of the launch
The launch puts Edits into more direct competition with ByteDance's CapCut — the very app Meta originally launched Edits against last year. CapCut has been available on desktop for Windows and Mac since 2021, giving it a multi-year head start on that platform. Meta promises weekly updates for the desktop editor and is currently working on the ability to seamlessly edit a single project on both computer and mobile. The Edits mobile app, used by more than 50 million content creators, will continue to evolve.
