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1. Avid Pro Tools (Win/Mac). Avid Pro Tools is more of a DAW, although it can edit existing audio like a champ. Professional musicians use Pro Tools for studio recordings and album mixes, DJs use it.
2. We've tested the most popular options to help you choose the best audio editing software. Apple Logic Pro X (for Mac). Really well for some people—hence the endless 'X is the best and Y.

FL Studio is a truly a professional audio editor. The website description of FL Studio lists it as a DAW i.e., a Digital Audio Workstation. It has a really complicated Interface for a beginner but if you have already used audio editors then you will not hesitate from calling it one of the best audio editing.

Jul 25,2019• Proven solutions

Many people are looking of free Mac video editing software since they have tons of videos and are eager to edit the videos either for better presentation or preservation. Are there any free video editing software for Mac users that are really good? Many people ask this in forums. Here we compare some great Mac video editors, followed by the detailed information of each editor for your reference, and we also made a comparison table for Mac video editor in terms of video format, pros and cons of the 10 best free video editors for Mac. Check it out!

Updates: Are you also looking for video editors for Windows, Linux, mobile phone, or online? Check our latest post 36 Best Video Editors for All the Platforms.

Part 1: Best Free Video Editing Software for Mac Quick Comparison Table

We’ve summarized the features, pros and cons of these best video editing software for Mac users in the comparison table below. You can choose the best suitable one based on your editing skills and needs at the current stage.

From the above comparison table, we can see there are so many pros and cons in different aspects. However, you may want to take look at another software - Filmora9- before you decide to use the one you like. It is anexcellnt Mac video editor that can meet your basic and advanced needs.

Part 2: Best Free Video Editing Software for Beginners: Wondershare Filmora9 for Mac (Video Tutorial)

Wondershare Filmora9 for Mac offers some persuasive advantages over other video editing tools available for Apple Mac. It not only includes basic video editing tools but also provides various advanced video effects for you to apply. Below are some features that can help you understand the best Mac video editor. Download it now to have a try!

• Supports almost all kinds of video formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, AVCHD, MKV and more.
• Complete all classic video editing like crop, trim, cut, split and combine in a few clicks.
• Make your footage look like Hollywood film with color tuning tool.
• Make good use of your music with Audio Mixer and Audio Equalizer.
• Exclusive Action Cam Tool allows you to cut and merge large action cam footages within minutes.
• Advanced video editing tools like Tilt Shift, Face off, Mosaic, Jump Cut, etc for you to explore.
• Convert your edited to any popular video format or fit video to mobile devices.
• Burn your own DVD collection or upload to YouTube and Vimeo instantly.
• Up to 100 audio and video tracks to organize your project and layer media.
• Make exciting GoPro/action cam videos with precise speed controls.

How to Edit Videos with Wondershare Filmora9 (originally Wondershare Video Editor)

Import Media Files

Upload media files from your computer or transport from all kinds of cameras, smart phones and elsewhere. Or directly drag-n-drop them to the program.

Edit Your Video

Easily complete basic video editing by clicking the icons above the timeline. Add different video effects and filters to personalize it. For advanced video editing, you can easily create green screen effects.

Save & Enjoy

Save your video in different formats, share via Vimeo, YouTube, burn to DVD and more.

Part 3: Top 10 Best Free Mac Video Editors for Beginners/Semi-pros/Professionals

We’ve done some research and found out the following free video editing software for Mac users. Some of them are for video editing novice, while some free video editing software are for professionals (but if you need to use the professional features, you may need to purchase the Pro version). Hope you can find the right video editor based on your needs from the following list.

Best Free Video Editing Software for Mac [Beginners]

1. Apple iMovie

iMovie comes with every new Mac (OS X) and you don't need to pay extra money for it. The latest iMovie 11 is a great and free video editor for Mac with many great features such as movie trailer, one step effect, audio editing, etc. And in just a few steps, you can share your movies to YouTube or export videos for your iPhone, iPad, etc. However, iMovie is only free if you buy a new Mac. And when getting started with iMovie, you will find it hard to master this software. All in all, iMovie is one of the best free video editing software for Mac users and receives good reputation. You can learn some iMovie video editing tips and trick at how to use iMovie.

Features:

• Supports editing 4K video
• You can also use it on iPhone/iPad
• 10 video filters are for you

Pros: Available on iPhone/iPad; Comptiable well with Apple ecosystem

Cons: Audio is copyrighted, so you need to download royalty-free music by yourself

2.Avidemux

Avidemux is another great free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux and BSD under the GNU GPL license and supports a variety of video, image and audio formats, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4, MOV, ASF, JPG, AAC, AC3, etc. High compatibility with many video formats is the highlight of this free video editing software for Mac. You can also cut ads from a TV recording, or just save a small part of the video.

It also offers some filters to use, such as color correction. You can apply these filters to your video to make it more beautiful.

Features:

• It supports AVI MP4 and ASF
• Based on H.264 encoder

Pros: Clean and easy to use interface; Open source software without built-in purchase

Cons: Exporting process is slack, which means it will take longer time

3.OpenShot

OpenShot is a free, simple to use open-source video editor for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is a good video editor for beginners to learn and train video editing skills. If you just want to mae some basic editing without having to spend too much time, OpenShot can be one of your best choices.

Apart from doing basic video editing, you can also render 3D animation. This free editor for Mac also supports more than 70 languages. No need to worry about the language barrier to stop you from editing video.

Features:

• You can trim/slice video quickly
• Show waveforms while editing
• Offer templates to edit titles

Pros: Provide free built in effects and animations; Support 3D title

Cons: Buggy at times; It freezes and crashes often

4.ZS4 Video Editor

ZS4 Video Editor is a free video editor for Mac which provides media experts with a facility to combine a variety of media types into one (or more) output file(s). Besides Mac, it is also available for Windows and Linux. ZS4 Video Editor comes with over 150 built-in video effects which can help you bring your videos to the next level instantly.

More importanly, you can use it to combine various media files into one, like video, audio and photo. With this all-in-one editor, no more needs to install too many annoying apps.

Features:

• You can edit photos, videos, and audio files
• It is easy to use

Pros: More than 120 built-in video effects; unlimited tracks

Cons: User interface is not friendly

5.HyperEngine-AV

HyperEngine-AV is a free video editing software for Mac used to capture, edit, organize process, and export video, audio, and text to create DVD quality movies and slide shows. It comes with twelve studio-quality effects from Arboretum's Hyperprism suite of audio processors. Besides, it offers text features to display credits, section titles, or karaoke lyrics with fully editable font, size, type, color, style, alignment, and scroll direction. Definitely, HyperEngin-AV is really a good free video editor for Mac users.

Features:

• You can use it to create slide shows
• Supports capturing desktop and editing video

Pros: Includes twelve studio-quality effects; Create slide shows

Cons: It is discontinued to release new version

Best Free Mac Video Editing Software for Semi-pros

1.Kdenlive

Although the development team has moved full-stream-ahead on Linux, you can still use this excellent free video editor on Mac with packages available via MacPorts. Kdenlive supports almost all popular media formats, and you can easily add the files to software's multitrack timeline.

You can create 2D titles to light up project like aligning texts and rotating. For editing huge size of video file, it offers proxy to make the editing experience smoother.

Features:

• It allows you to edit several audio and video tracks
• You can customize shortcuts easily

Pros: It is open source software

Cons: Not friendly for greenhands; Update slowly

2.Blender

Like Avidemux, Blender is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD. It's a free 3D graphics application and considered as one of the best free video editor for Mac. It can be used for modeling, rigging, texturing, UV unwrapping, skinning, animating, rendering, water and smoke simulations, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications, animated film, video games, or other visual effects. Blender has lots of advanced features like powerful character animation tools, modifier-based modeling tools, a node-based material and compositing system, Python for embedded scripting and so on.

Features:

• It is a 3D creation suite
• It supports CPU and GPU rendering
• It has various sculpting tools and brushes

Pros: Fast poly modeling tools; Customizable input

Cons: Unintuitive layers system; Animation management is not smooth

Best Free Mac Video Editing Software for Professionals

In our impression, professional-thing costs a lot. But it isn’t true when coming to video editing software like DaVinci Resolve, Lightworks and HitFilm. There are two versions for those video editing software, and the lite version or the free version usually costs no money with limited features which makes them good choice for people who are looking for professional video editing solution to some degree.

1. Davinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design's Davinci Resolve has been growing from an advanced color-grading tool to an video post-production solution. If you are an experienced video maker and want to apply a high quality color correction/grading to your footage, Davinci Resolve's free basic version can be your choice.

Timeline curve function is a powerful feature for you to add keyframe if you want to edit a specific scene. Also it offers full 3D editing particle systems to let you release creativity.

Features:

• Multi track timeline you can choose
• Trimming video is easy to use
• You can adjust constant or variable speed

Pros: Learning curve is not steep; Offer advance color grading

Cons: Single screen editing workflow is not friendly

2.Lightworks

Lightworks is a professional video editing software for Windows and Mac, its free version offers you limited export option. It includes video effects, multicam editing, titling, as well as the multi layered timeline approach which is perfect for advanced video editing needs.

Features:

• It is a rewarded editor in the world
• It offers Proxy for 4K
• Compatible well with Mac

Pros: Package is lightweight; Only need 3GB RAM to use

Cons: Effects library is limited

3.HitFilm Express

HitFilm Express is more like a compositing video editor, compared with Adobe After Effects, it's more easy-to-use and friendly to semi-pros. People who are not familiar with the video editing process may find using HitFilm Express difficult.

Features:

• Various courses are available
• It offers Proxy for 4K
• More than 400 video effects

Pros: High level ideo effects compositor

Cons: It lacks motion graphics feature

Conclusion

You may have found the best video editor for Mac after reading this article. I’ll try my best to keep the list up to date, but if your favorite free video editor for Mac isn’t listed above, please leave a comment and let me know. This article is for mac version, click here to get more info about free video editing software for Windows.

Easy-to-use and powerful video editor for all creators.

Bring up your video to a professional level with straightforward tools.

• Choosing Video Editing Software
• Video Editing Tips

Whether you want to make music, record a podcast, or just knock together a ringtone, you’ll need a good quality Mac audio editor. There are some amazing audio editors for Mac available that won’t break the bank. In fact, many won’t cost you anything at all.

So, from quick and simple apps to professional level tools, here’s our pick of the best affordable and free audio editing software for Mac.

1. Audacity

Audacity is the first audio editor that most people will stumble upon through a Google search. It’s an easy recommendation. It’s free and open source, has a fairly straightforward interface, and supports a massive number of file types, including MP3 and WAV.

You can record straight into the app (though not using instruments), or edit existing files. There’s an enormous number of effects you can use, a spectrogram for analyzing frequencies, and it supports high quality 32-bit audio as well.

Audacity is a fantastic starting point for anyone who needs a simple editor, but has enough power to grow as you become more experienced. The only downside is that it doesn’t support full non-destructive editing, so make sure you’ve got a backup of your original audio before you begin.

Download:Audacity (Free)

2. WavePad

WavePad is another highly competent Mac audio editor that’s free so long as you’re only using it non-commercially.

It supports a large number of file types. It allows you to work on multiple files at the same time, and you can even batch process thousands of files at once. WavePad supports audio bookmarking, the usual range of effects and some text-to-speech and vocal manipulation tools to boot.

The multi-window interface takes a little getting used to, but as a free WAV or MP3 editor for Mac it’s well worth a look.

Download:WavePad (Free for non-commercial use)

3. OcenAudio

A completely free and feature-packed cross-platform audio recorder and editor from Brazil, OcenAudio is another option for the budget sound engineer. The app supports a huge number of file types including MP3, FLAC, and WMA. It also supports various videos formats including the MKV container.

OcenAudio is often seen as the main alternative to Audacity. It has a similar feature set, but a much more refined interface that makes it super accessible. There’s also support for VST instruments, a range of effects, a fully featured spectrogram, and the ability to edit very large files without kissing goodbye to all of your Mac’s memory.

Download:OcenAudio (Free)

4. PreSonus Studio One Prime

For the best free audio mixing software look no further than Studio One Prime. It’s a free version of a professional suite that would normally set you back $399.

You can create or mix music with the built-in effects, instruments, and loops. And it’s just as good for recording and editing podcasts and voiceovers. It takes some time to find your way around the interface—let alone master. But if you’re willing to invest the time Studio One Prime has got everything you’ll need in a free package.

Download:PreSonus Studio One Prime (Free)

5. Avid Pro Tools First

Pro Tools is the industry standard for audio production. Pro Tools First is a free, stripped down taster for new users.

It’s feature rich but a daunting proposition, with a complex interface and steep learning curve. It also needs a more powerful computer than the other apps we’ve listed here. There’s a big limitation on free users—you can only save your files to the Avid cloud servers, and you can only have three projects on the go at once.

Pro Tools First is overkill if you’re only looking to edit your podcast. But if you want to try your hand at recording and mixing music you won’t find better free sound editing software.

Download:Avid Pro Tools First (Free)

6. GarageBand

Finally, as far as free audio editors for Mac are concerned, don’t overlook the app you’ve already got installed on your machine… GarageBand.

Although it’s designed primarily as a tool for making music, the app works as basic audio editing software. You can record directly into the app, or import and edit existing recordings. It’s a decent option for podcasters, too, with voice-optimized features built in.

For more, see our guide detailing how to use GarageBand.

Download:GarageBand (Free)

7. Reaper

On to the paid options, and at $60 Reaper is at the upper end of what we’d class as a cheap audio editor. But it comes with a very generous 60-day free trial, so you’ll know whether or not it’s for you long before you have to stump up any cash.

And the signs look good. Reaper is loved by its userbase. It’s a small download, and much lighter than the likes of Pro Tools First. It supports all common file formats at whatever quality you need, and you can use free VST plugins12 Free VST Plugins Every Musician Must Have12 Free VST Plugins Every Musician Must HaveVirtual Studio Technology makes music production easier than ever, and these free VST plugins are the best of the best.Read More, making thousands of instruments and effects available.

What it lacks compared to similar commercial products is a sound library. But the internet is packed with thousands of freely downloadable samples you can use to build your own.

Download:Reaper ($60)

8. Adobe Audition

I know what you’re thinking—no Adobe products are cheap! It’s true that using Audition long term will set you back hundreds of dollars. But if you’re just working on a specific project and you want the best, you can pick it up for a month for a little over $30.

Adobe Audition is a popular choice for all types of audio editing and mixing. It’s great for music and podcasts, and even integrates with Adobe Premiere Pro so you can create soundtracks for your videos. There’s very little it can’t do and very few file types it doesn’t support.

Adobe has even produced a full range of tutorials to get you up and running straight away—in terms of functionality, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Download:Adobe Audition (Subscription from $20.99/month)

9. Fission

Best Audio Editing Software Mac

Fission is an audio editor that focuses on fast, lossless editing in a neat and stylish package. The app comes with a decent free trial which provides unhindered access to all functions, except for one thing: audio files are saved at lower quality.

Fission has a long list of features including batch editing, simple waveform editing, support for FLAC and WAV (among others), and the lossless editing of already-compressed MP3 and AAC files. You can batch convert from one file format to another, while a handy Podcasts panel makes it easy to package your broadcasts to share online.

Download:Fission ($35)

More Mac Software for Creative Types

It’s surprising just how good the free or cheap audio editors for Mac are. There are apps in this list that are suitable for anything, from quick 5-minute jobs to launching your recording empire. However, if you’re planning to use one of these apps to start a podcast, make sure you invest in the best podcasting equipment first.

Apple’s macOS has always been the platform of choice for creative types. If video is more your thing, check out the best free macOS video editorsThe 8 Best Free Video Editors for MacThe 8 Best Free Video Editors for MacNeed to edit video on a budget? These free Mac video editors let you perform essential video editing tasks at no cost.Read More to get started.

Audacity

Explore more about: Audacity, Audio Editor, GarageBand, .

Audacity For Mac

1. Check out Acon Digital's Acoustica (version 7 onwards). It has been completely redesigned and now has a Mac version. I was looking for a replacement for Audition on PC, and after trying so many wave editors, Acoustica 7 was the most promising. I have now switched to Mac, so will be taking the Mac version for a spin.
   A huge bonus is that it doesn't look like shareware from 20 years ago (Audacity).

2. Hi,
   I am looking for an app that can cut a MP3 in many MP3 automatically based on the silences between the words. Each MP3 will then gets it own id.

   IMac El Capitane, no experience in audio editing

   • Rob B:
     What you are asking to do is a Two step process, and you are not going to be able to do this on the cheap.
     First, you need a proper DAW like Logic or Digital Performer. These are EXPENSIVE, but they WILL isolate the silent bits automatically without you having to do this by hand.
     Second, if you want the tagging, you need a Batch Editor, like Adobe Audition. Which will tag all of those bits for you.
     Treatment

3. Wavepad is NOT free. You get a demo that allows you to save/export a very few file. To continue saving, you MUST by the full edition. If you don't, all your work is LOST !!!
   :=( (

   • Don't select the main download link. Instead use the link to the free version buried in the text.

     • I do not know what's going on there, but all the links point to the same apparent file 'http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/wavepadmaci.zip'. However what is downloaded is a dmg file and the installed version finally is a version with limited capabilities after some trial.

       • Oops! I have to correct myself. The links are different. Although the link of the file showed by the browser is misleadingly 'zip' and the files downloaded have the same name, BUT the free version instance eventually works as advertised.

4. I cant believe Adobe are trying to charge customers per month for using software? who came up with that pricing model? It wouldn't be so bad if the pricing was sensible, but $20 a month? this needs to be nipped in the bud, and Adobe need to go back to selling products not renting them out! Ridiculous!

   • I am finally able to enter the digital photography field because of the Adobe CC subscription based model. I am sure you have good reason for objecting, but I get immediate access to thousands of dollars worth of software for an extremely approachable fee.
     I believe you can still purchase all their products as always, but the CC model lets the the working class have access too.

5. I've used Audacity in the past for simple audio conversion and slice & dice, but I've upgraded to Yosemite 6 months ago, but I see there's still no OSX 10.10 support, so I've just downloaded & installed WavePad to give that a try and I have to say it looks better then Audacity.
   Seriously the GUI, the icons and the waveform of Audacity looks like it's some crappy Windows software.

6. I have been doing DSP for over 35 years. I remember back in the day before wav files even existed and it was all just raw data. These days, I mostly edit by frequency (spectral editing) instead of amplitude. David Johnston created Cool Edit, then pro before Adobe bought them out. I get free copies from SW companies all the time. I sandbox them all and I must admit that Adobe has kept their word to David that his foundational CEP program will always be the best. Because of the plugs available, Audition is way ahead of them all. I can not only transpose vocal pitch, but I can also manipulate depth, width, and length of the vocal cavity. I know and understand why Wayne Newton sounded like a girl when he was young and I give credit to Adobe for that. Other wav editors cant even come close to that, and many other intricacies that you can do like using plugs to manipulate algorithmic sets to make your edits way over the studio standard. Even if it's only me that can hear these differences. Adobe Audition might cost substantially more money, but you get what you pay for. Just because I am sponsored and get Adobe Audition cost free means nothing. I never asked them for sponsorship, and they know I could care less if they sponsor me or not. As of this 1st day of 2015, Audition IS the best wav editor for single track editing. I use it as my wav editor for Reaper, which I use as a multitrack editor. Adobe is also OK for mastering although I personally prefer doing that task with outboard hardware type gear. Happy New Year! Morph Mode

7. Mote of a DAW than a simple wave editor, but Reaper is also a pretty amazing value: http://www.reaper.fm/

8. Are you aware that 'five-finger discount' means theft, usually shoplifting? Your use of the term to refer to 'free for non-comercial use' is a bit disconcerting.

   • Yes, thank you! I've used several DAWs, but having had several upgraded out from under me (wanting a re-purchase) I've been looking for lower-price alternatives. This article got me to download ocenaudio, and so far, I'm impressed!
     BTW, several DAWs have iOs versions. TwistedWave is one. There is an iOs WavePad, but apparently the integration to the desktop is not terribly good (hearsay; I haven't tried it.) Might be a topic for a future article.

9. That should read *for Linux :)

10. Hi, have you got a similar article planned or Linux?

11. Thanks for the reply. WavePad does work (and is also on the iPad), but I will be using it for commercial use and desktop suite integration makes it a bit cumbersome.

    Honestly, OcenAudio may be the one. I learned about it from the comments section.

    It's incredible because I need very little from the program, as I am only editing the timeline of .wav or .aiff files that are already premixed. I'll be putting OcenAudio to the test tonight!Thanks again for the article.

12. Good article. I've been looking for a replacement for Cool Edit Pro 2.1 for about 10 years. Audacity is not really an adequate replacement, and there is no way I am paying $20+ a month for any software. I've actually had to install Windows XP just to use Cool Edit because the Wine emulation suffers from latency issues. SMH, SMH.

13. OcenAudio is free and runs on Mac. It's very slick for a free offering and meets all my needs managing my sample collection when i don't want to open Ableton up. Has the added bonus of metadata handling too. Worth a look!

14. Don't forget Ardour. Inexpensive and arguably the most powerful editor in the no- to low-cost category.

    • Agreed. If you're not coming from a DAW background or something like Pro Tools or Logic, Audacity is much more accessible, but they're definitely in two different classes.

15. To Tim B: you are wrong about this for GarageBand 11, which is pretty new. See Apple Support document http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2008?viewlocale=en_US 'To import an audio file: Drag the audio file you want to import from the Finder into the timeline, to the empty area below the existing tracks. A new Real Instrument track is created, and the audio file appears as an orange region in the track.' You can import many kinds of audio files to GarageBand.

16. Doesn't Apple's native Garageband come for free? It used to. I'm pretty sure that you can edit sounds and do a lot more with it. Also, there's QuickTime, which I believe comes free on all Macs. It can do basic sound file editing.

17. What I want is an audio editor that can splice out certain segments. An analogous example would be to cut oot commercials from a TV show. Do any of these do this?