10 Best MP4 Editors in 2024 (Desktop, Mobile, Online)

How great are MP4 files? This popular file format is everywhere, so it makes sense if you are looking for a compatible video editing tool. Luckily, software developers are well aware that YouTubers, content creators, marketers, online teachers, filmmakers, and streamers have computers full of raw MP4 footage waiting to be enhanced, polished, and posted.

If you belong to any of these categories, this list is for you. Below, we examine top-rated video editing tools that you can use to edit MP4s. You'll find a solution for every potential use and device so that nobody is excluded. We have also included free tools and compared their capabilities to paid software. These are our honest reviews of the ten best MP4 editors.

Desktop vs Online vs Mobile MP4 Editors: What to Expect

If you've already done some research, you know that video editing tools are available for both mobile and online use, in addition to the "traditional" desktop software. It might be useful to take a closer look at these different editing solutions so that you know what to expect.

Desktop

In general, video editors you need to download and install on your computer are the most powerful. They are usually intended for individual use across the user skill level spectrum. Some are good for beginners, but many are aimed at professionals. These tools are typically timeline-based and better for multi-layer editing.

On the other hand, the majority of MP4 editors for desktops have high system requirements and need sufficient processing power and memory. They are much faster than online tools and ensure more flexibility, but they can't be accessed on the go or shared between teammates - except when they are developed as collaborative tools for teams.

Online

Ideal for online collaboration, browser-based video editors have sufficient tools for creating business and marketing videos. They don't require installation and can be accessed from any device with a stable internet connection. But because of that, they tend to be slower than desktop tools and unsuitable for longer or HD video projects.

Mobile

Mobile MP4 editors are made for convenience and ease of use. They offer fewer capabilities compared to desktop tools, but the best of them pack advanced features such as multitrack editing, background removal, and chroma key. Instant share options are added to cater to the needs of casual users and social media content creators.

Can you create professional-looking videos on your phone? That depends not only on the app you use but also on your phone's hardware and your own skills and creativity. Remember that mobile video editors usually store videos locally, so you need a lot of free space in your phone's memory - or an app with cloud storage.

Best MP4 Video Editor - Quick List

Best MP4 Editors (Desktop, Mobile, Online)

Wondershare Filmora

The best crossplatform MP4 editor for creatives without professional skills.

5/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Pricing: From $9.99 monthly

Free Versions: 7-day free trial

Highlight Features: Keyframe Editing, Green Screen, Motion Tracking, Audio Editing, Auto-Captions, AI Copilot, AI Portrait, AI Music Generator, Text-Based Editing, Templates, Creative Assets

Best For: All types of content creators and aspiring professionals.

Filmora is a powerful video editor that helps produce outstanding multimedia content. Feature-wise, it's a few capabilities shy of a professional-grade tool (it doesn't offer multicam and VR editing), but it's better for it. Using Filmora, you can achieve virtually everything you can imagine without ever missing a tool or being limited by customization options.

One of Filmora's greatest strengths is its versatility. Almost every manual video editing feature has its single-click AI alternative. That makes it perfect for beginners who aren't interested in experimenting, while experienced users can use it to jump-start their projects and then fine-tune them manually. Even the more complex tools, such as motion tracking, are simple to use.

"One of the things that caught my attention was the fact that it was very easy to use and very powerful in terms of flexibility in compiling videos, audio, and texts." - Divaldo (Software Advice)

This combination of professional features and a beginner-friendly approach to editing (shoutout to a neat UI that keeps everything on hand without overwhelming new users) is quite unique. In addition, Filmora offers one of the biggest libraries of creative assets, including stock images, animated presets, themed templates, music, and fonts to make your videos truly stand out.

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Adobe Premiere Pro

Heavy-duty MP4 video maker for professional video editors.

4/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Windows, Mac

Pricing: From $22.99 monthly

Free Versions: 7-day free trial

Highlight Features: Multi-Camera Editing, VR and 360-Degree Video Support, Keyframe Editing, Motion Tracking, Advanced Color Grading, Audio Mixing, Text-Based Editing

Best For: Experienced video editors and industry professionals.

Aptly named to attract its target audience, Adobe Premiere Pro is an MP4 video creator designed for professionals with video editing experience. Every aspect of this tool requires pre-knowledge. The UI is deliberately stripped down to make room for customization, making it intimidating for beginners. If you are fluent in Adobe's keyboard controls, you'll consider this a huge plus.

Adobe Premiere Pro doesn't show its cards until you start sequencing media. Adding video clips, music, and other elements to the timeline gives you access to more assets and other cool options. Merging and editing are precise and easy, like adding pieces to the puzzle. You can zoom in on the sequence, drag and drop assets, and preview them on the right.

"I like Adobe Premiere Pro, it's a highly powerful software, and I can always achieve great quality in every project I do in this video editor, sometimes I imagine Adobe Premiere as a sandbox, I can always create something from 0 in this video editor because it allows me to build and develop all aspects of a video or major post-production without the need to have to resort to other software to complete my idea." - Cristhian Josue (Software Advice)

Premiere has plenty of fancy new features, too. You can use AI to generate objects, expand clips, and add subtitles from spoken audio. Text-based video editing will soon be out of beta, along with speech enhancement and more. All things considered - including the price tag - Adobe Premiere Pro feels like a tool for "adult" video editors. For enthusiasts, it's all work and zero fun.

Clipchamp

A simple MP4 editor for online use.

4/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Windows, online

Pricing: From $11.99 monthly

Free Versions: Freemium with limitations

Highlight Features: Templates, Auto-Captions, Green Screen, AI Video Composing, Speaker Coach

Best For: Online presentations and home projects.

Clipchamp is Microsoft's MP4 video editor for online and offline use - if your PC runs Windows 11, you already have it. The two versions are completely the same, but that doesn't mean that you can switch between them mid-project. The free online version doesn't even allow you to edit the same project on different computers. You must subscribe to make it convenient.

With or without the subscription, Clipchamp is a solid tool for entry-level users. It sports a simplified version of the timeline-centric UI, with all the tools stacked in sidebars. Save for more advanced tools like motion tracking, Clipchamp offers a standard kit for vloggers, online teachers, and social media influencers, including many ready-made templates for specific networks.

"As a browser video editing tool being able to edit videos with basic effects and overlays is great excellent for short projects with little editing needed or for home projects. It is fairly intuitive to use but does require a good Wi-Fi connection to make the best use out of it. The timeline was easy to scrub through and from my experience computer hardware was not an issue at all (I could run it on a basic laptop pretty easily). With that in mind, this may be a useful tool for people using Chromebooks." - Catherine (Software Advice)

There are several outstanding features that we must mention. First, Clipchamp has a full AI video generator that lets you create videos by style. For original content creators, we like the Speaker Coach feature that analyses your voice recording and gives you tips on how to sound better and more confident. Not a bad way to offset the lack of advanced editing.

Canva

A powerful design studio for marketers to edit MP4 for free online.

4/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Online

Pricing: From $15 monthly

Free Versions: 30-day free trial and Freemium with limitations and a watermark

Highlight Features: Templates, Magic Design, Background Remover, Animations

Best For: Small businesses and marketing teams.

Canva is a safe choice if you need a quick MP4 editor for social media promos and branded marketing material. To be clear, this isn't a timeline-based video editing tool like Filmora or Adobe. Instead, Canva employs a modern reel–based approach with "Pages" that can be edited separately or together and arranged into a video using templates and transitions.

Consequently, Canva's workflow is easy to understand, even for users who've never edited or created videos before. When you're starting from scratch, using templates makes more sense than building a new video from nothing - and Canva's library is brimming full with them. But when you want to edit an existing MP4, you are limited to trimming, cutting, and flipping.

"Canva will do the work and that too cloud based, you can do your work from anywhere with any device and their phone integration also pretty impressive. I still use Canva for instant visuals. And Canva is my savior when it comes to my business proposals and presentations." - Jinshina (Software Advice)

Canva can't help you enhance raw footage. However, it can help you embellish and brand clips that have already gone through post-production. That's where it truly excels: turning lifeless stock videos into gorgeous social media marketing content. Canva Pro is even more powerful, as it includes a Magic Design studio full of AI tools to help you out.

Riverside

Text-based MP4 editor with an online freemium.

4/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Online

Pricing: From $15 monthly

Free Versions: Freemium with limitations

Highlight Features: Text-Based Editing, Magic Clips, AI Silence Removal, Smooth Speech, Show Notes

Best For: Podcasts and informational videos.

If you are a podcaster, you know about Riverside. However, this online recording studio is not only for podcasters. The service has recently launched new tools aimed at different types of content creators, ranging from influencers to professional marketers. Everything is still browser-based and available on subscription. And you get to personalize your UX before you set up a studio.

For this review, we've used Riverside to edit video clips. The recording options are still easily available no matter which mode you choose: quickly record your voice over an imported video or add a freshly taped video clip to the mix. While there is a timeline, you can do the majority of editing on the transcription panel simply by deleting or rearranging parts of the text.

"Having used both Zoom and Riverside to record remote podcasts, it is clear that Riverside's system is far superior for this kind of work. I've rarely had any issues having clients or guests use Riverside for their podcast recordings. the video quality is always great, the audio quality is always great, and being in control of things as the"producer" allows me to ensure the call goes smoothly for everyone." - Jordan (Software Advice)

AI-based tools like silence removal and Smooth Speech automatically cut out scenes with pauses or "ums" and "hms." Another AI feature we think is very useful is Magic Clips, which detects exciting parts of long videos and picks them out for social media shorts. However, be careful with text-based editing in Riverside because it tends to leave out important information.

InShot

MP4 video cutter and editing app for social media content creators.

3.5/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Android, iOS

Pricing: From $15 monthly

Free Versions: Freemium with limitations

Highlight Features: Effects, PIP, Cutout, Mask, Chroma Key, Voice Effect

Best For: Social media shorts.

InShot is a capable smartphone app that lets you modify an MP4 video and post it online. The video editor (photo editor and collage maker are also included) has a full set of features, ranging from cutting, trimming, and splitting to masking, cutout, and chroma key. Users can also count on InShot to equip them with texts, stickers, effects, animations, and more.

Made for ease of use, InShot lays out all available tools in a bar above the timeline, which is also simplified to a single track. If you want to add overlays or compose complex sequences from multiple clips, you can pile effects on top of each other and use PIP, mask, and chroma key to add layers, and keyframe endpoints for in-detail editing. It's a bit touchy but doable.

"I am a beginner in video editing, but with InShot, my first video was super easy. I could add text to my video so easily. The ability to also increase my volume is something that is incredible for people who don't have equipment to amplify sound. I will keep exploring to update my view of this fantastic app. Thanks." - Omoniyi Kazeem (Google Play Store)

Almost all AI features are subscription-based, so you have to pay for InShot Pro to use them. Some of them, like Cutout, have a free alternative that doesn't work very well. You can still use InShot as an MP4 clip editor without these tools, but get ready to be bombarded with ads and nudged again into subscribing to Pro by a large watermark on your video.

Photos App

Free video MP4 editor for basic editing on iPhone.

3/5

Specifications

Supported OS: iOS

Pricing: $0

Free Versions: Free

Highlight Features: Trim, Crop, Filters, Auto-Enhance, Live Photos

Best For: Personal use on iOS devices.

If you own an iPhone, the easiest and quickest way to edit MP4 files is with your Photos app. Many users don't know this, but the built-in photo management app that comes with Apple phones has several video editing tools for performing basic tasks. For example, you can use your Photos app to trim, crop, rotate, and flip clips, fix colors, and adjust the perspective.

As expected, the Photos app has a simple interface with an even simpler timeline view below the preview window. The single timeline track is purely for trimming clips because you can't merge and overlay videos in the Photos app. You can, however, add filters and fine-tune colors, exposure, saturation, etc. There is an Auto-correction tool that works pretty well.

"In general, Apple Photos is perfect for managing a large group of photos, it detects all kinds of people's faces in the photos, it allows you to see the Live playback of all the photos you have taken, in addition, Apple Photos also has a video cropping feature , add filters to photos and videos, add shapes or drawings, and much more. Apple Photos covers the gallery section of my phone very well, I am completely satisfied." - Carlos M. (Slashdot)

In the absence of video sequencing options, the Photos app offers the possibility to stitch together Live Photos into a sequence that resembles an Instagram Reel. All in all, these are valuable options, especially since iPhone users already have them. The Photos app is a completely free and convenient way to store and organize your MP4 files.

iMovie

The best free MP4 editor for Mac users.

4.5/5

Specifications

Supported OS: MacOS, iOS

Pricing: $0

Free Versions: Freemium

Highlight Features: Trailers, Chroma Key, Stabilization, Clip Filters, Themes

Best For: Simple video projects on Mac computers.

Every Mac computer gets iMovie for free. You can download it from the App Store right now if you don't have it already. Apple's video editor is a no-brainer, and not just because it costs nothing. It's an excellent tool for creating simple video projects and is easily one of the best free MP4 video editors around - at least in an entry-level, no-limitations category.

iMovie welcomes you with a simple three-pan layout: media on the right, preview on the left, and the editing timeline below. The timeline itself is simpler than experienced editors might be used to, as it shows clips instead of tracks. In a true beginner-friendly fashion, iMovie lets you trim clips in the Media pane before you drag and drop them into the timeline sequence.

"iMovie works great for quick edits of footage down to something presentable quickly. It is not as quick or intuitive if needing to produce higher-quality output. It can be done, just not quickly. By that I mean, it takes a fair bit of practice and learning to get to the point of comfort in doing fancier presentations." - Tim Corbett (TrustRadius)

Feature-rich for a free tool, iMovie has virtually everything you need to craft a basic video and make it look polished. There's an excellent chroma key feature that is very simple to use, as well as a Magic Wand for auto-corrections and the stabilization option. iMovie's absolute winner is Trailers, a brilliant feature that guides you through the movie production process step by step.

Avidemux

Open-source MP4 editor for with rudimentary functions.

2/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Linux, Windows, MacOS

Pricing: $0

Free Versions: Freeware

Highlight Features: Cut, Merge, Flip, Rotate, Add Filters

Best For: Basic video editing on Linux.

Avidemux is an open-source, cross-platform software best used as a video cutter and decoder. While it does include several video editing options, we could hardly describe it as an MP4 editor, especially compared to tools like Filmora or Adobe. To be fair, Avidemux is an old solution with a loyal user base gathered around the Linux operating system. Unfortunately, it also looks its age.

Let's count the positive traits first. Avidemux is lightweight and can be run on many older computers in addition to Linux. It has extensive file format support and comes with a decoder that can still be put to good use. Basic functions like trim, cut, rotate, and flip work as intended and shouldn't be difficult to master. To top it all, Avidemux is completely free to download and use.

However, even these "pros" seem to be frozen in time. Avidemux still has the same outdated UI with the editing process operated by sliders and buttons rather than a timeline and playhead. That means that even though you can merge two clips together, you can't compose a video project with multiple layers by adding separate video and audio tracks. Editing shouldn't be this simple.

"Too simple, not much features but some people like it that way, it can be less confusing! Great for young kids who want to practice video making!" - Jayla A. (Capterra)

Kdenlive

Free video MP4 editor for Linux users with editing experience.

3/5

Specifications

Supported OS: Linux, Windows, MacOS

Pricing: $0

Free Versions: Freeware

Highlight Features: Timeline Track Compositing, Transitions, Smooth Keyframe Interpolation, Proxy Editing, Timeline Preview Rendering

Best For: Linux users with intermediary editing needs.

Kdenlive is an open-source video editor made for Linux. As of recently, it is also available for PC and Mac users, but these versions are either bug-ridden or simply don't work. This review is about the Linux software alone, one of the best free MP4 video editors in terms of features and tools. In terms of capabilities, Kdenlive is best suited for intermediate skill levels.

In certain aspects, however, it resembles huge video editing tools aimed at professionals. Take UI, for example. The layout looks daunting, mostly thanks to the additional preview window and multitrack timeline. The latter is one of Kdenlive's best features, as it allows really complex sequencing. You can even add transitions from the corner of the clip without leaving the timeline.

Aside from this lonely example, efficiency and ease of use are not Kdenlive's strongest suites. On the contrary, tools and effects are rarely where you expected them to be, so it takes a lot of time to learn the software and adjust it to your workflow. In addition, Kdenlive is prone to sudden crashes, a flaw partially redeemed with the new auto backup feature.

"Kdenlive does an adequate job, but, from my limited experience with it, has a large learning curve. I have used it on several projects. It has good sound mixing and hooks to all of the features in ffmpeg and other video editing libraries. As far as features go, it compares well with the professional video editors available on Windows and Mac, but isn't as polished, and tends to crash on very complex projects, as do some others." - Larye Parkins (Quora)

Things to Consider When Picking an MP4 Editor

Picking an MP4 editor is no easy deed, especially with so many options available. We have made a quick checklist of things to consider to help you make the best decision:

• Ease of Use - Choosing the solution you can actually work with is more important than anything else. Consider your skills, experience level, editing needs, and priorities, and ensure the tool's workflow matches your own.
• Feature List - Do you need advanced tools like keyframing and motion tracking, or will basic trimming, cutting, and merging suffice? If you are a beginner who aspires to learn, take some time to understand video editing tools before you pick a solution.
• Compatibility – It sounds obvious, but double-check that the editor is compatible with your device's OS and supports HD MP4 files. Also, consider your future needs and opt for a cross-platform tool if you want to change devices.
• Performance - Unless you need an MP4 editor for home projects and basic functions, don't forget to read system requirements. The more robust the software, the more processing power it needs. Plus, large MP4s tend to occupy a lot of space.
• Pricing Plans - You don't always get more if you pay more, at least not when it comes to MP4 editors. Always compare pricing plans for tools you intend to buy and pay attention to the fine print: how many features are included and how it is billed.
• Export Options - Finally, you must understand the export options provided by the tool. It's especially important for online and mobile solutions because you should be able to safely store your projects or post them directly online.

Conclusion

You've been looking for the best tool to edit MP4 files, and hopefully, you've found your answer. All video editing solutions on this list were compared to each other and rated for overall functionality and value-to-price ratio. In addition to features and performance, ease of use was high on our list of priorities, but it may be different for you - especially if you are a pro user.

Ultimately, Filmora is the best and most versatile MP4 video editor, in our opinion. It combines the sophistication of advanced video editing tools like Adobe with beginner-friendly options seen in Clipchamp and iMovie, but it also has a huge library of templates and assets like Canva. You can use it on all devices, including mobile, and you don't have to pay a fortune.