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• Complete MP4 video editing guide
1. MP4 video editing tools for Windows
1.1 MP4 editor
1.2 MP4 cutter
1.3 MP4 joiner
1.4 MP4 resizer
1.5 MP4 rotator
1.6 MP4 trimmer
1.7 MP4 merger
2. MP4 video editing tools for Mac
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3. MP4 video editing tips
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The best MP4 video editor to touch up your unique videos.
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Top 10 Best MP4 Video Editors

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Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

MP4 is one of the most popular video formats in the world, however, finding a free video editing software which can edit MP4 or MOV formats videos can be hard - with so many video editing software on the market, you don't know what is great and what is a piece of junk, you don't have time to test it one by one. 

 Thankfully, we have produced a top-five list of the best free MP4 editors for you to check. That's right - with these video editors, you can just go with it and edit your MP4 video files in no time at all!

Recommended: Wondershare Filmora

If you’re inclined to edit videos with presets and templates and looking for a fully-featured product, you may also want to consider a commercial product like Wondershare Filmora

This video editing tool enables you to seamlessly put together video clips, music & text, apply effects and get a professional-looking home movie in minutes. Download and try it out.

Download Win Version Download Mac Version

See also: Best Video Editing for Windows


Here is a comparison table about the top MP4 editors. Have a quick look.

Supported system Ratings from G2 Pricing Free Trial Level
Filmora Windows/Mac  4.4/5 $49.99/Year, $79.99/Perpetual Available Newbies and experts. All levels of users.
Windows Movie Maker Windows 4.0/5 Free Available User-friendly. Suitable for all levels.
iMovie Mac 4.4/5 Free Available Beginner friendly
Avidemux Mac/Windows/Linux 4.4/5 Free Available Great for beginners
Lightworks Mac/Windows/Linux 3.5/5 $9.99 per user per month. Not available Suitable for all levels of users
VSDC Windows 4.0/5 $19.99 per month Not available Intermediate
VEGAS Pro Windows 4.3/5 $12.99 per month 30-day free trial Suitable for experts.
Openshot Mac/Windows/Linux 4.4/5 Free Available Suitable for newbies and experts.
Clipchamp Web-based 4.3/5 $6 per month Available Newbie-friendly
Freemake Windows 3.8/5 $24 per month. Available Simple. No learning curve. Suitable for all levels of users.
MiniTool MovieMaker Windows 4.0/5 $12.99 per month Not available Suitable for all levels of users.

1. Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a great video editing tool and has been a part of the Windows system for many years. It supports various video formats including MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, M4V and more. The drag-n-drop functionality enables you to easily add video clips from the computer and drop them to the program. 

With it, you can easily combine photos and videos, apply transitions and effects, add music or sound, move images and videos around and have them play at the speed of your choice, post to YouTube and much more.

free mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • Various video editing options;
  • Easy-to-use;
  • Different output options.

Cons:

  • It crashes a lot;
  • Many different versions of the same product;
  • Not available anymore as a part of Windows OS.

Learn more details about Windows Movie Maker

2. iMovie

As the equivalent of Windows Movie Make for Mac OS X, iMovie gives you the chance to turn any movie into a major production. With a simple to use UI, you can easily enhance your videos quicker than ever. Now just import your video clips from computer or external devices, arrange them on the timeline, drop titles, effects and sounds on to the part of the video you wish to edit, and preview the results. 

Once it's all done, one-click to export your file for iOS or Internet usage.

free mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • User-friendly interface;
  • Improved audio editing and fun Movie Trailers.

Cons:

  • No native AVCHD editing or direct import;
  • Pre-processing and import trans-coding can be time-consuming.

Learn more details about iMovie video editing tips

3. Avidemux

Avidemux is a free open-source video editing program for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It natively supports a great number of video formats like MP4, AVI, MPEG, MKV and ASF and comes with a well selected feature set to get your cutting, filtering and encoding tasks done. It's also filled with features like different filters, decoding options, frame rate configuration, processing tools etc. 

Other great feature is that tasks can be automated using projects and job queue.

free mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • Lightweight and fairly simple;
  • A wide selection of filters;
  • Provides command-line interface for advanced users.

Cons:

  • Outdated interface;
  • May drop frames in certain formats;
  • Can be complicated for beginning users.

4. Lightworks

Lightworks is one of the most advanced free video editing tools available. With the user-friendly interface and packed timeline, you can easily import, trim and seamlessly weave audio and video files together with a few effortless mouse clicks. 

On top of that, it also includes the features like profession-level color correction, video capture function, GPU-accelerated real-time effects and board video formats support.

free mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • Customizable screens;
  • Amount of video editing options;
  • High video quality.

Cons:

  • It crashes occasionally;
  • Requires a long learning curve.

5. VSDC Free Video Editor

VSDC is a free video editing program for Windows. The support video formats include MP4, AVI, MKV, MPG, WMV, FLV and more. It provides various video filters, transitions, audio effects as well as drawing and selection tools. 

When the editing done, you can choose the optimized save outputs for a variety of devices, including smart phones and gaming consoles.

top mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • Provides various useful filters;
  • Different output options.

Cons:

  • Computer resources (CPU and RAM) are required at a high level.

6. VEGAS Pro MP4

VEGAS Pro is one of the highly-rated premium MP4 editor tools in the market. This program has many amazing features, including advanced HDR color correction, scene detection, sound design, and live streaming.

Furthermore, it has hundreds of filters, effects, titles, and transitions to transform your output file. This array of features makes it easy to edit videos on Windows PC.

vegas pro mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • This program has plenty of video editing features.
  • It offers many filters, titles, and transitions.
  • It allows unlimited video and audio tracks.
  • It allows a nested timeline.
  • The color grading tools are clear and top-grade.

Cons:

  • Many users feel the interface is disorganized and difficult for newbies to navigate.
  • The Multicam feature, although present, is nearly unusable.
  • There are no welcome tutorials to get you started with ease.
  • Vegas Pro is expensive and is only suitable for Windows. You can buy it at $249 or subscribe for $12.99 monthly.

7. OpenShot MP4 Video Editor

OpenShot is a popular free media editor for Windows, Linux, and Mac. This open-source tool has evolved and now supports many media formats, including audio, video, and image formats.

This tool has one of the simplest user interfaces designed with all categories of users in mind. It supports over 70 languages, and users can add as many layers of tracks.

OpenShot offers a powerful animation framework to allow users to play around with animations to produce quality output videos. OpenShot also provides transitions and over 14 effects to make your output MP4 file attractive.

openshot mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • OpenShot is a cross-platform video editor; hence, you can use it on Windows, Mac, and Linux without compatibility issues.
  • It offers a good collection of animations and effects to make your video more appealing.
  • It has a simple and user-friendly interface. Therefore, amateurs won’t struggle to edit their MP4 videos.
  • It supports over 70 different languages.
  • It is free.

Cons:

  • Some of the purported features don’t function well.
  • Although it has a good collection of features, several other useful features are missing.
  • It cannot open AVCHD files.

8. Clipchamp MP4 Editor Online

Clipchamp is a free, easy-to-use video editor that is suitable for small business marketing. This web-based MP4 editor is designed with simplicity; hence, users can easily edit videos.

With Clipchamp, you can edit videos of all sizes directly on your browser without experience! You can add special effects, transitions, background music, and texts to make your output MP4 file eye-catchy.

Furthermore, you can trim, cut, split, combine, rotate, flip, and mirror videos depending on your need.

clipchamp edit mp4

Pros:

  • The combination of intelligent features and shortcuts significantly saves your time and energy.
  • It offers a sleek and intuitive interface to edit MP4 videos seamlessly.
  • It provides styling effects and lots of good transitions.
  • It offers several templates to get started.

Cons:

  • Users have limited control over the effects.
  • Most useful content requires subscriptions.
  • Users complain of slow export rendering.

9. Freemake MP4 Video Editor

Freemake is a common name in the media editing industry and is undoubtedly one of the best MP4 video editor tools.

Although it is not a fully-fledged app like other hot names, it allows you to quickly and easily edit MP4 videos on Windows. With Freemake, you can cut, rotate, and import files directly from YouTube.

freemake mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • It supports direct uploads from YouTube.
  • It supports several file formats.
  • It is easy to use.

Cons:

  • It offers basic video editing features.
  • It does not provide Mac support.

10. MiniTool MovieMaker

MiniTool MovieMaker is an easy-to-use video editor enriched with plenty of good video editing features. This tool offers an intuitive interface and collection of features that easily transform how you produce stunning videos.

With several video templates, you are one click away from generating stylish videos. The good with this tool is that it gives you a platform to inspire your creativity and export 1080P videos without a watermark.

minitool mp4 video editor

Pros:

  • It is friendly for beginners. Thanks to the simple and intuitive interface.
  • It offers plenty of templates, filters, themes, and stickers.

Cons:

  • It has limited editing features compared to top-grade tools like Filmora.
  • The free version is ad-laden and has a forced watermark on the exported file.

FAQs About MP4 Video Editing 

1. How Do I Shorten an MP4 Video?

In this article, we have listed 10 free MP4 video editors, but Filmora is one the best tool for shortening mp4 videos. It comes with Auto Scene Detection tool, Instant cutter tool & the Trim feature. The Instant Cutter tool allows you to trim MP4 videos quickly without re-encoding. On the timeline, drag the trim icon to the right or left to remove the video's beginning and end parts, respectively, and trim your video to shorten an MP4 video easily. The instant cutter tool is totally free to use and there is no watermark. 

2. How Can I Split MP4 Files Into Parts for Free?

With the instant cutter tool in Filmora, you can easily split mp4 videos into parts for free as you require. Click Import with Instant Cutter Tool and then open the file, move the playhead to the start position of the video part that you want to keep, and then click the Set In icon. Repeat the process to find the ending point, and then click the Add Segment button to split the video and save it as a new one. You can split several clips from the original footage. 

A more accessible alternative to this approach is using the Auto Scene Detection tool. It splits your video into multiple strategic segments automatically based on scene changes. You then end up with multiple split parts of the original video which you can selectively delete and then add to the timeline. 

Conclusion

This article has highlighted some of the best MP4 converters worth trying. However, not every tool works for you. Choosing a tool that meets your needs and gives you desired MP4 editing experience is important.

Fortunately, the all-in-one Video editor-Filmora Video Editor, ticks all the boxes and easily becomes the best choice. This MP4 editor offers an unmatchable video and audio editing experience within your budget. Try Filmora today and take your MP4 editing experience to another level.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version

author avatar
Ollie Mattison
Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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