Instagram launches free Edits video editor for Mac with 4K exports

Instagram announced on Thursday that it is bringing Edits, its short-form video editing app, to desktop on Mac.The app is free to download, but it works only on Macs with Apple Silicon chips, from the M1 onwards, and users need an Instagram account to sign in.

Instagram first launched Edits on phones in April 2025 as a rival to CapCut, the editing app owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. More than 50 million creators now use the mobile version, the company told Gulf News.

The Mac app looks similar to the mobile one, but it gives editors more room and more tools for complex projects.

These include a timeline with several tracks, keyframes for smooth transitions, audio waveforms, and colour wheels and curves for adjusting the look of a clip.

Users can also import their own fonts and colour presets, known as LUTs, and set their own keyboard shortcuts.

In addition, the app comes with Instagram’s library of licensed, royalty-free music, hundreds of effects and unlimited automatic captions.

Once a video is finished, creators can post it straight to Instagram from the Mac, with tags and location, instead of moving the file to their phone first. Alternatively, they can export it in vertical or horizontal formats, in up to 4K and without a watermark.

The desktop app also works with AI agents. By switching on the Model Context Protocol, a standard that lets AI assistants use other software, creators can ask an agent to handle parts of the editing for them.

Matthew Simari, who leads Edits, said users can connect the agent they prefer, including Meta’s own Muse assistant. For example, a creator could ask Muse for a rough cut and then finish the edit by hand.

Some features are still missing, however. Users cannot yet work on the same project on both their phone and their Mac, although saved audio and text styles from the mobile app already carry over.

There is also no version for Windows yet, and Instagram said it plans to update the Mac app every week.