Instagram has released a desktop version of Edits, its video editing app, for macOS. The company described the Mac app as the first version of its desktop editor. It said 50 million people have made Edits part of how they create in just over a year. The new app extends the product to projects that benefit from a larger screen, a mouse, and a keyboard.

In a November 5 blog post, Brett Westervelt, who leads the Edits app, said creators have described a recurring limit on mobile: the moment “a project gets too big for your phone.” Westervelt said the desktop editor is built for creators’ most ambitious projects, and Instagram describes it as free.

Tools for Precision Editing

The desktop editor includes a full multi-track timeline, keyframes for transitions, and audio waveforms for beat-accurate cuts. Color wheels, log conversions, and curves handle grading. Creators can import their own LUTs and font files to match a brand’s style. Instagram said creators who use AI agents can connect them to the desktop editor through MCP.

The app includes Instagram’s licensed and royalty-free audio libraries, hundreds of sound and video effects, and unlimited automatic captions in multiple languages. Audio and text styles saved on mobile carry over to desktop, and users can customize keyboard shortcuts or import them from another editor.

Filmmaker Alex Cissé, an early tester, said the app keeps what defines Edits, including the Instagram music library, profile sync, and direct upload. “What desktop changes is space,” he said.

Creators can publish from the desktop editor directly to Instagram, with tagging, location, and trial reels built in. Instagram said many creators currently edit on desktop, download the file, move to mobile for further edits, and then post. The app supports horizontal and vertical aspect ratios and exports in 4K without a watermark, for sharing on other platforms or for personal projects.

Competition with CapCut

Meta launched Edits as a standalone app in April 2025 with tools modeled on ByteDance’s CapCut, including background replacement, automatic captioning, and AI-powered image-to-video animation. The launch came as CapCut faced a potential U.S. ban tied to TikTok’s ownership fight. CapCut has been available on desktop for Windows and Mac since 2021. According to Engadget, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the company’s most recent earnings call that Edits has more than 50 million active users.

Edits has added features steadily since launch. Meta rolled out the Edits assistant to all U.S. users on Sept. 30. The AI tool draws on a creator’s Instagram metrics, including follows, views, video retention, likes, and shares, to generate concepts, hooks, captions, and scripts. It is free with a daily prompt limit, and Meta said power users will soon be able to unlock additional usage through a Meta One subscription.

On October 7, Instagram added a carousel editor that lets creators combine photos and videos on a single canvas and post directly to Instagram. The feature is available on iOS, with Android support still in development. Meta had previewed a desktop version of Edits before this release.

Instagram said it will update the desktop app weekly. It is also working on letting creators edit one project seamlessly across desktop and mobile, a capability creators said would help during testing. The company said it will continue to grow the mobile app as well.

Image source: Instagram

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