Top 5 Best MOV Editors: Recognizing & Respecting Media Diversity
The MOV extension is by far the most nuanced container for digital content. People rarely realize how complicated handling .mov files can get.
There are different tracks that hold different types of data – audio, video, time-stamps and even text. And any player or editor working with MOV needs to use codecs that are compatible with the varied content streams. Phew! This is no walk in the park.
But there are some editors that do make MOV editing a breeze. Here are our top five picks.
Option #1: Movavi Editor (Highly Recommended)
Movavi is the best of both worlds.
On one hand it has a clean interface, prototypical icons (you don’t have to guess what does what) and intuitive navigation. On the other, it gives video creators the freedom to add pro quality special effects and filters to their clips without any learning curve at all. It is literally drag and drop.
Movavi not only supports MOV files, it is capable of rendering outputs in over 30 digital formats. In short you can extract footage from your phones, tablets, camcorders and online communities and let the tool export the result as a .mov creation to YouTube!
Option #2: iMovie for Mac
iMovie is Apple’s native video editing tool and it comes bundled with the Mac operating system.
Anything Apple tends to have a minimalistic interface. iMovie is no exception. But to users who rely on social media like solutions (which is the dominant UX trend right now), the logic of the button and menu placement may take a while to adjust to.
iMovie has a number of advantages:
- It can support MOV files flawlessly.
- It can export the output to a plethora of social platforms – including Facebook and YouTube.
- It offers the basic features of joining clips, trimming them, cropping them and applying filters
But do keep in mind that:
- iMovie direct to YouTube uploads don’t work reliably and files are often lost
- This solution is prone to crashes if your system hard disk space is scant
- Even thought latest iMovie versions support 4K video, where advanced options like Chroma Key are concerned, the tool fails to deliver
Option #3: Windows Movie Maker
The Windows Movie Maker has been around for a while.
But unfortunately, the days of it being baked into the OS are gone. You can still download this editor separately. But the question is – should you?
If you’re looking to stitch together clips, add PowerPoint like animations and effects – The Windows Movie Maker is a straight-forward, no frills, effective solution.
But if you’re looking to experiment and enjoy the feel of a powerful yet sleek editing tool, you’ll end up disappointed. The room for growth is simply not there in this legacy option.
Option #4: The QuickTime Player
Even though the QuickTime framework is Apple’s proprietary multi-media technology, it is compatible with both the Mac OS and Windows devices.
Let’s get one thing straight – the QuickTime Player doesn’t call itself a video editing tool. Far from it. The solution sticks to the claim of playing MOV content. But if you click on the ‘Edit’ option in the navigation panel, you can use the player to actually perform rudimentary edits.
Users are able to:
- Rotate the alignment of scenes in a clip
- Join clips and segments together
- Trim the clips and eliminate the parts that aren’t required
But that is where the capabilities of the QuickTime player as an editor stop.
In short, it is an interim solution and not something an amateur content creator can rely on to tackle larger MOV projects.
Option #5: Avidemux Cutter & Editor
Avidemux is a fairly popular name in the world of MOV file editing – even though the solution has retained its dated interface.
But at least users aren’t overwhelmed by a selection of bells and whistles that they will rarely use. The promise of this tool is simple. You’ll be able to cut and join .mov content without needing to jump through hoops.
Avidemux is capable of:
- Cutting video snippets
- Joining several video snippets to create a seamless final result
- Filtering the .mov content
- Automating repetitive tasks through workflows and powerful scripting. It proves to be particularly helpful if you need to take on the editing of multiple MOV files.
- Sharpening, blurring, colour adjusting and vertically flipping footage
Avidemux is an open source tool and so the support comes through its community.
Have you recently used a MOV video editor that respects the intricacy of the data tracks this format holds? Let us know.