From Capture to Cut: A Comprehensive Guide to Editing Sony Camcorder Footage

How to Edit Videos Shot by Sony Digital Camcorder

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Making videos and shooting short films has been growing in popularity for several reasons, among them the proliferation of high-traffic sharing sites like YouTube, and the increased availability of professional quality camcorders and video devices. It’s very easy today to become proficient enough to shoot high-quality videos for entertainment, for business and to assist with teaching. Sony is one of the brands that are popular with video makers, and in this tutorial we walk you through the steps on editing videos shot by Sony camcorder.

How to Edit Videos Shot by Sony Digital Camcorder

Video editing software for Sony camcorder

Video editing software is tiered by level, with options available for basic, mediate, and advanced programs. Here’s a closer look at select software options:

• Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora (Latest version X) is not only one of the most affordable video editing software options, it’s also one of the most advanced. The interface is simple, but there are numerous advanced features available, including overlays, filters, audio editing features and more.

2. Windows Movie Maker

It comes free with Windows, is designed with ease-of-use in mind and offers a surprisingly robust package of features. Convenience and simplicity make Windows Movie Maker the top free video editing software.

See how to edit videos with Windows Movie Maker here.

Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Magix Movie Edit Pro

It excels in areas of advanced features, formats supported and attractive interface. However, it loses points for slow rendering performance and some complexity in the interface. The low price makes the exchange worth it for many users.

2. Lightworks

It has an extensive list of features and capabilities that provide as near to professional performance as you can find in a free video editing program. The learning curve is a little steep, but if you’re willing to invest the time then you have access to a powerful program.

Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Movie Studio 13 Suite

It is from Sony, so you can expect that it works well with Sony digital camcorders. The interface is more inviting than is usually the case with a product aimed at professionals and the roster of advanced features is top-notch. Other than the price, there are very few drawbacks to this product.

Final tip: Understand what you want and balance your needs against your budget and your interest in learning a new application, then you will be able to select the best software to edit videos shot on your Sony camcorder.

How to edit videos shot by Sony camcorder

How easy is it to edit videos shot by Sony digital camcorder? This easy:

• Step 1: Shoot your video
• Step 2: Transfer the video from camcorder to computer (using either USB connection or using the SD card).
• Step 3: Use video editing software to edit your video on the computer.

Steps 1 and 2 are so easy they need no explanation. Step 3 is where you might need some help and some explanation of your options for editing videos shot by Sony digital camcorder is worthwhile.

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Making videos and shooting short films has been growing in popularity for several reasons, among them the proliferation of high-traffic sharing sites like YouTube, and the increased availability of professional quality camcorders and video devices. It’s very easy today to become proficient enough to shoot high-quality videos for entertainment, for business and to assist with teaching. Sony is one of the brands that are popular with video makers, and in this tutorial we walk you through the steps on editing videos shot by Sony camcorder.

How to Edit Videos Shot by Sony Digital Camcorder

Video editing software for Sony camcorder

Video editing software is tiered by level, with options available for basic, mediate, and advanced programs. Here’s a closer look at select software options:

• Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora (Latest version X) is not only one of the most affordable video editing software options, it’s also one of the most advanced. The interface is simple, but there are numerous advanced features available, including overlays, filters, audio editing features and more.

2. Windows Movie Maker

It comes free with Windows, is designed with ease-of-use in mind and offers a surprisingly robust package of features. Convenience and simplicity make Windows Movie Maker the top free video editing software.

See how to edit videos with Windows Movie Maker here.

Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Magix Movie Edit Pro

It excels in areas of advanced features, formats supported and attractive interface. However, it loses points for slow rendering performance and some complexity in the interface. The low price makes the exchange worth it for many users.

2. Lightworks

It has an extensive list of features and capabilities that provide as near to professional performance as you can find in a free video editing program. The learning curve is a little steep, but if you’re willing to invest the time then you have access to a powerful program.

Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Movie Studio 13 Suite

It is from Sony, so you can expect that it works well with Sony digital camcorders. The interface is more inviting than is usually the case with a product aimed at professionals and the roster of advanced features is top-notch. Other than the price, there are very few drawbacks to this product.

Final tip: Understand what you want and balance your needs against your budget and your interest in learning a new application, then you will be able to select the best software to edit videos shot on your Sony camcorder.

How to edit videos shot by Sony camcorder

How easy is it to edit videos shot by Sony digital camcorder? This easy:

• Step 1: Shoot your video
• Step 2: Transfer the video from camcorder to computer (using either USB connection or using the SD card).
• Step 3: Use video editing software to edit your video on the computer.

Steps 1 and 2 are so easy they need no explanation. Step 3 is where you might need some help and some explanation of your options for editing videos shot by Sony digital camcorder is worthwhile.

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Making videos and shooting short films has been growing in popularity for several reasons, among them the proliferation of high-traffic sharing sites like YouTube, and the increased availability of professional quality camcorders and video devices. It’s very easy today to become proficient enough to shoot high-quality videos for entertainment, for business and to assist with teaching. Sony is one of the brands that are popular with video makers, and in this tutorial we walk you through the steps on editing videos shot by Sony camcorder.

How to Edit Videos Shot by Sony Digital Camcorder

Video editing software for Sony camcorder

Video editing software is tiered by level, with options available for basic, mediate, and advanced programs. Here’s a closer look at select software options:

• Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora (Latest version X) is not only one of the most affordable video editing software options, it’s also one of the most advanced. The interface is simple, but there are numerous advanced features available, including overlays, filters, audio editing features and more.

2. Windows Movie Maker

It comes free with Windows, is designed with ease-of-use in mind and offers a surprisingly robust package of features. Convenience and simplicity make Windows Movie Maker the top free video editing software.

See how to edit videos with Windows Movie Maker here.

Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Magix Movie Edit Pro

It excels in areas of advanced features, formats supported and attractive interface. However, it loses points for slow rendering performance and some complexity in the interface. The low price makes the exchange worth it for many users.

2. Lightworks

It has an extensive list of features and capabilities that provide as near to professional performance as you can find in a free video editing program. The learning curve is a little steep, but if you’re willing to invest the time then you have access to a powerful program.

Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Movie Studio 13 Suite

It is from Sony, so you can expect that it works well with Sony digital camcorders. The interface is more inviting than is usually the case with a product aimed at professionals and the roster of advanced features is top-notch. Other than the price, there are very few drawbacks to this product.

Final tip: Understand what you want and balance your needs against your budget and your interest in learning a new application, then you will be able to select the best software to edit videos shot on your Sony camcorder.

How to edit videos shot by Sony camcorder

How easy is it to edit videos shot by Sony digital camcorder? This easy:

• Step 1: Shoot your video
• Step 2: Transfer the video from camcorder to computer (using either USB connection or using the SD card).
• Step 3: Use video editing software to edit your video on the computer.

Steps 1 and 2 are so easy they need no explanation. Step 3 is where you might need some help and some explanation of your options for editing videos shot by Sony digital camcorder is worthwhile.

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Making videos and shooting short films has been growing in popularity for several reasons, among them the proliferation of high-traffic sharing sites like YouTube, and the increased availability of professional quality camcorders and video devices. It’s very easy today to become proficient enough to shoot high-quality videos for entertainment, for business and to assist with teaching. Sony is one of the brands that are popular with video makers, and in this tutorial we walk you through the steps on editing videos shot by Sony camcorder.

How to Edit Videos Shot by Sony Digital Camcorder

Video editing software for Sony camcorder

Video editing software is tiered by level, with options available for basic, mediate, and advanced programs. Here’s a closer look at select software options:

• Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders
• Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

Basic Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora (Latest version X) is not only one of the most affordable video editing software options, it’s also one of the most advanced. The interface is simple, but there are numerous advanced features available, including overlays, filters, audio editing features and more.

2. Windows Movie Maker

It comes free with Windows, is designed with ease-of-use in mind and offers a surprisingly robust package of features. Convenience and simplicity make Windows Movie Maker the top free video editing software.

See how to edit videos with Windows Movie Maker here.

Mediate Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Magix Movie Edit Pro

It excels in areas of advanced features, formats supported and attractive interface. However, it loses points for slow rendering performance and some complexity in the interface. The low price makes the exchange worth it for many users.

2. Lightworks

It has an extensive list of features and capabilities that provide as near to professional performance as you can find in a free video editing program. The learning curve is a little steep, but if you’re willing to invest the time then you have access to a powerful program.

Advanced Editing Software for Sony Digital Camcorders

1. Movie Studio 13 Suite

It is from Sony, so you can expect that it works well with Sony digital camcorders. The interface is more inviting than is usually the case with a product aimed at professionals and the roster of advanced features is top-notch. Other than the price, there are very few drawbacks to this product.

Final tip: Understand what you want and balance your needs against your budget and your interest in learning a new application, then you will be able to select the best software to edit videos shot on your Sony camcorder.

How to edit videos shot by Sony camcorder

How easy is it to edit videos shot by Sony digital camcorder? This easy:

• Step 1: Shoot your video
• Step 2: Transfer the video from camcorder to computer (using either USB connection or using the SD card).
• Step 3: Use video editing software to edit your video on the computer.

Steps 1 and 2 are so easy they need no explanation. Step 3 is where you might need some help and some explanation of your options for editing videos shot by Sony digital camcorder is worthwhile.

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Shrink Your Videos: The Top Free Compression Apps for iPhone and iPad

5 Best Free Video Compressor Apps That Reduce Video Sizes on iPhone and iPad

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Capturing full HD or 4K footage with your iPad or iPhone is a straightforward process, but sharing that footage through messaging apps or social media can be a bit more complicated.

The size of video files recorded in 4K resolution is often measured in gigabytes and you have to compress them in order to share them with your friends.

We’ve selected the five best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads that will enable you to shrink your videos in minutes and post them on social networks or send them through email and messaging apps.

So, let’s take a look at how you can reduce the size of your videos using free video compressing apps for iOS.

5 Best Video Compressor Apps for iOS that Reduce Video Size

Shrinking a video’s size is easy, even after you record a video clip. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in our top five list allows you to reduce a video’s size quickly before sharing it on social media or sending it to your friends. Read on if you would like to find out more about the best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads.

1. Compress Videos & Resize Videos

Price: Free, but contains in-app purchases

With this free video compressor app, you won’t have to worry about the quality of the videos you’re resizing, because it preserves the video’s quality even when videos are shrunk by more than 80%. In this manner, the Compress Videos & Resize Video app can help you free up space on your iPhone or iPad.

How to reduce video size with Compress Videos & Resize Videos?

To start reducing a video’s size you just have to open the app and select all videos, recently added or any other available categories.

After tapping on a particular category, you can proceed to select one or more video clips you would like to reduce. The app is going to display the videos that are stored on your phone or in your iCloud Photo Library and show you the exact size of each video.

Once you’ve selected the videos you’d like to shrink, you should click on the Next button and proceed to the Compression Settings window. Afterward, you can simply change the Frame Rate and Video Dimensions settings by dragging the sliders to the left or to the right. When ready, tap on the Compress button and the Compress Videos & Resize Video app will shrink your videos and save to the Compressed Videos album.

2. Video Compress – Shrink Vids

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

You can reduce the size of videos recorded in 4K, Full HD or HD resolution in just a few simple steps. The app lets you resize one or more videos at the same time and choose the resolution of the output video. The only downside is that you must make in-app purchases to remove ads or unlock access to all of the app’s features.

How to compress video with Video Compress – Shrink Vids?

Once you installed this free compressor app for iOS on your device, you should launch it and tap on the + icon to import the video you want to compress into the app. Grant the app permission to access the Photos app and head over to the folder in which the videos you want shrink are stored.

After selecting the videos, you should tap on the Choose Preset button and select one of the available presets. Optionally, you can adjust the bitrate or preview how the videos look before and after the compression. Tap on the Continue button when you are ready and then select the destination album to which the resized videos are going to be exported. After the video compression process is completed the app will ask you if you want to delete the original video files and only keep their resized versions.

3. Video Slimmer App

Price: Free or $2,99 for Pro

Video Slimmer is much more than a simple video compressor app for iOS, as it lets its users trim, rotate or merge videos. The app’s batch processing capabilities are remarkable since you can export resized videos from Video Slimmer quickly. You can free up to 80% of your iPhone’s or iPad’s storage space by compressing videos you store on your iOS-based device.

How to compress videos with Video Slimmer App?

Shrinking multiple videos with Video Slimmer won’t take too much of your time, although the duration of the compression process depends on the size of the video clips. Click on the + icon after you launch the app, in order to select the videos from the camera roll.

Tap on the Gear icon located in the lower right corner of the screen if you would like to adjust the Video Quality and Video Size settings. In addition, the Video Slimmer App lets you choose if you want to delete the original videos from your device after the compression or add a copy of the video to the Photo Library.

Head back to the app’s main menu and tap on the Slim Now button to start compressing the videos you selected. After reducing the size of your videos you can share them on social media or send them to your friends much faster than the original high-resolution files.

4. Video Compress – Reduce Movie Size – Shrink Video

Price: Free

If you are looking for a simple and efficient free video compressor app for iPhone and iPad then Video Compress may be the right choice for you. Its interface is intuitive so you won’t need much time to get used to it even if you never compressed a video before.

How to compress video with it?

All you have to do to start compressing a video is to launch the app and select the videos you’d like to shrink from the Camera Roll. Afterward, you will be taken to the Compress window where you can see the Target Size and the percentage to which the video is going to be compressed. The only limiting factor are the output file formats because the app only allows you to save shrunk videos as MPEG-4 and QuickTime files.

All the compressed videos can be easily shared on social media or sent through email and messaging apps directly from Video Compress.

5. Video Compressor – Shrink Videos

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

Video Compressor app makes shrinking videos look easy because it offers a number of presets that let you choose how much you want to reduce the size of a video. Besides saving time this free video compressor for iPhones and iPads can create more storage space on your device.

How to shrink video size with this app?

Identifying large video files on your camera roll won’t take too much time since the app displays the size of all videos. Besides compressing videos, the Video Compressor app also lets you shrink photos you store on your iPhone or iPad.

Select a video you want to compress, by simply tapping on it, and then choose a preset resolution to which that video clip is going to be compressed. Optionally, you can change the Bitrate before tapping on the Compression button.

After the video compression process is over you can organize the shrunk videos effortlessly, however, you must purchase the Pro version of the app if you want to have access to all of the tools Video Compressor has to offer.

Is there any iPhone free video compressor with editor built in?

Editing a video before you share it on social media can help you get rid of unwanted parts and make the colors more vivid. iMovie is an excellent choice if you would like to trim a video or add filters and effects to it and reduce the video size. What’s more, you can use this iOS-native video editing app to reduce the size of the original video files.

Once you complete all video editing tasks you should exit the app’s Edit window by tapping done and then tap on the Share/Save Video option. iMovie offers a variety of output video file formats, so you can choose if you want to save your video in 360p, 540p, HD or 4K resolution. After you pick a preferred output resolution the iMovie is going to add the video to the Photo Library.

Bonus: How to reduce video size on iPhone & iPad when recording?

All recent iPhone and iPad models support recording in a broad spectrum of video resolutions. If you would like to decrease the resolution at which your device captures videos you should head to the Settings menu and tap on the Camera option.

Select Record Video from the Camera menu and then choose the new resolution for your videos. The default resolution is set at 1080p at 30fps, but you can easily reduce it to 720p at 30fps if you want to create videos that don’t take too much storage space.

The Record Slo-Mo option lets you choose between 720p HD at 120fps or 720p HD at 240 fps which allows you to preserve storage space while recording high-quality slow-motion videos.

Conclusion

Videos recorded with iPhones and iPads can be huge in size, and sending them or uploading them to the Internet can be a time-consuming process. Installing a free video compressing app for iOS can be a good idea if you record videos with your iPhone or iPad often. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in this article can shrink videos quickly and efficiently. Which free video compressor app are you going to choose? Leave a comment and let us know.

Supported iOS	Supported format	User rating
Video Slimmer	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI…	3.7
Video Compress - Shrink Vids	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6
iMovie	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI, QuickTime…	3.9
Compress Videos & Resize Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MPEG-4 and QuickTime	4.6
Video Compressor-Shrink videos	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.7
Video Compress - Reduce Movie Size, Shrink Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Capturing full HD or 4K footage with your iPad or iPhone is a straightforward process, but sharing that footage through messaging apps or social media can be a bit more complicated.

The size of video files recorded in 4K resolution is often measured in gigabytes and you have to compress them in order to share them with your friends.

We’ve selected the five best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads that will enable you to shrink your videos in minutes and post them on social networks or send them through email and messaging apps.

So, let’s take a look at how you can reduce the size of your videos using free video compressing apps for iOS.

5 Best Video Compressor Apps for iOS that Reduce Video Size

Shrinking a video’s size is easy, even after you record a video clip. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in our top five list allows you to reduce a video’s size quickly before sharing it on social media or sending it to your friends. Read on if you would like to find out more about the best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads.

1. Compress Videos & Resize Videos

Price: Free, but contains in-app purchases

With this free video compressor app, you won’t have to worry about the quality of the videos you’re resizing, because it preserves the video’s quality even when videos are shrunk by more than 80%. In this manner, the Compress Videos & Resize Video app can help you free up space on your iPhone or iPad.

How to reduce video size with Compress Videos & Resize Videos?

To start reducing a video’s size you just have to open the app and select all videos, recently added or any other available categories.

After tapping on a particular category, you can proceed to select one or more video clips you would like to reduce. The app is going to display the videos that are stored on your phone or in your iCloud Photo Library and show you the exact size of each video.

Once you’ve selected the videos you’d like to shrink, you should click on the Next button and proceed to the Compression Settings window. Afterward, you can simply change the Frame Rate and Video Dimensions settings by dragging the sliders to the left or to the right. When ready, tap on the Compress button and the Compress Videos & Resize Video app will shrink your videos and save to the Compressed Videos album.

2. Video Compress – Shrink Vids

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

You can reduce the size of videos recorded in 4K, Full HD or HD resolution in just a few simple steps. The app lets you resize one or more videos at the same time and choose the resolution of the output video. The only downside is that you must make in-app purchases to remove ads or unlock access to all of the app’s features.

How to compress video with Video Compress – Shrink Vids?

Once you installed this free compressor app for iOS on your device, you should launch it and tap on the + icon to import the video you want to compress into the app. Grant the app permission to access the Photos app and head over to the folder in which the videos you want shrink are stored.

After selecting the videos, you should tap on the Choose Preset button and select one of the available presets. Optionally, you can adjust the bitrate or preview how the videos look before and after the compression. Tap on the Continue button when you are ready and then select the destination album to which the resized videos are going to be exported. After the video compression process is completed the app will ask you if you want to delete the original video files and only keep their resized versions.

3. Video Slimmer App

Price: Free or $2,99 for Pro

Video Slimmer is much more than a simple video compressor app for iOS, as it lets its users trim, rotate or merge videos. The app’s batch processing capabilities are remarkable since you can export resized videos from Video Slimmer quickly. You can free up to 80% of your iPhone’s or iPad’s storage space by compressing videos you store on your iOS-based device.

How to compress videos with Video Slimmer App?

Shrinking multiple videos with Video Slimmer won’t take too much of your time, although the duration of the compression process depends on the size of the video clips. Click on the + icon after you launch the app, in order to select the videos from the camera roll.

Tap on the Gear icon located in the lower right corner of the screen if you would like to adjust the Video Quality and Video Size settings. In addition, the Video Slimmer App lets you choose if you want to delete the original videos from your device after the compression or add a copy of the video to the Photo Library.

Head back to the app’s main menu and tap on the Slim Now button to start compressing the videos you selected. After reducing the size of your videos you can share them on social media or send them to your friends much faster than the original high-resolution files.

4. Video Compress – Reduce Movie Size – Shrink Video

Price: Free

If you are looking for a simple and efficient free video compressor app for iPhone and iPad then Video Compress may be the right choice for you. Its interface is intuitive so you won’t need much time to get used to it even if you never compressed a video before.

How to compress video with it?

All you have to do to start compressing a video is to launch the app and select the videos you’d like to shrink from the Camera Roll. Afterward, you will be taken to the Compress window where you can see the Target Size and the percentage to which the video is going to be compressed. The only limiting factor are the output file formats because the app only allows you to save shrunk videos as MPEG-4 and QuickTime files.

All the compressed videos can be easily shared on social media or sent through email and messaging apps directly from Video Compress.

5. Video Compressor – Shrink Videos

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

Video Compressor app makes shrinking videos look easy because it offers a number of presets that let you choose how much you want to reduce the size of a video. Besides saving time this free video compressor for iPhones and iPads can create more storage space on your device.

How to shrink video size with this app?

Identifying large video files on your camera roll won’t take too much time since the app displays the size of all videos. Besides compressing videos, the Video Compressor app also lets you shrink photos you store on your iPhone or iPad.

Select a video you want to compress, by simply tapping on it, and then choose a preset resolution to which that video clip is going to be compressed. Optionally, you can change the Bitrate before tapping on the Compression button.

After the video compression process is over you can organize the shrunk videos effortlessly, however, you must purchase the Pro version of the app if you want to have access to all of the tools Video Compressor has to offer.

Is there any iPhone free video compressor with editor built in?

Editing a video before you share it on social media can help you get rid of unwanted parts and make the colors more vivid. iMovie is an excellent choice if you would like to trim a video or add filters and effects to it and reduce the video size. What’s more, you can use this iOS-native video editing app to reduce the size of the original video files.

Once you complete all video editing tasks you should exit the app’s Edit window by tapping done and then tap on the Share/Save Video option. iMovie offers a variety of output video file formats, so you can choose if you want to save your video in 360p, 540p, HD or 4K resolution. After you pick a preferred output resolution the iMovie is going to add the video to the Photo Library.

Bonus: How to reduce video size on iPhone & iPad when recording?

All recent iPhone and iPad models support recording in a broad spectrum of video resolutions. If you would like to decrease the resolution at which your device captures videos you should head to the Settings menu and tap on the Camera option.

Select Record Video from the Camera menu and then choose the new resolution for your videos. The default resolution is set at 1080p at 30fps, but you can easily reduce it to 720p at 30fps if you want to create videos that don’t take too much storage space.

The Record Slo-Mo option lets you choose between 720p HD at 120fps or 720p HD at 240 fps which allows you to preserve storage space while recording high-quality slow-motion videos.

Conclusion

Videos recorded with iPhones and iPads can be huge in size, and sending them or uploading them to the Internet can be a time-consuming process. Installing a free video compressing app for iOS can be a good idea if you record videos with your iPhone or iPad often. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in this article can shrink videos quickly and efficiently. Which free video compressor app are you going to choose? Leave a comment and let us know.

Supported iOS	Supported format	User rating
Video Slimmer	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI…	3.7
Video Compress - Shrink Vids	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6
iMovie	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI, QuickTime…	3.9
Compress Videos & Resize Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MPEG-4 and QuickTime	4.6
Video Compressor-Shrink videos	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.7
Video Compress - Reduce Movie Size, Shrink Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Capturing full HD or 4K footage with your iPad or iPhone is a straightforward process, but sharing that footage through messaging apps or social media can be a bit more complicated.

The size of video files recorded in 4K resolution is often measured in gigabytes and you have to compress them in order to share them with your friends.

We’ve selected the five best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads that will enable you to shrink your videos in minutes and post them on social networks or send them through email and messaging apps.

So, let’s take a look at how you can reduce the size of your videos using free video compressing apps for iOS.

5 Best Video Compressor Apps for iOS that Reduce Video Size

Shrinking a video’s size is easy, even after you record a video clip. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in our top five list allows you to reduce a video’s size quickly before sharing it on social media or sending it to your friends. Read on if you would like to find out more about the best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads.

1. Compress Videos & Resize Videos

Price: Free, but contains in-app purchases

With this free video compressor app, you won’t have to worry about the quality of the videos you’re resizing, because it preserves the video’s quality even when videos are shrunk by more than 80%. In this manner, the Compress Videos & Resize Video app can help you free up space on your iPhone or iPad.

How to reduce video size with Compress Videos & Resize Videos?

To start reducing a video’s size you just have to open the app and select all videos, recently added or any other available categories.

After tapping on a particular category, you can proceed to select one or more video clips you would like to reduce. The app is going to display the videos that are stored on your phone or in your iCloud Photo Library and show you the exact size of each video.

Once you’ve selected the videos you’d like to shrink, you should click on the Next button and proceed to the Compression Settings window. Afterward, you can simply change the Frame Rate and Video Dimensions settings by dragging the sliders to the left or to the right. When ready, tap on the Compress button and the Compress Videos & Resize Video app will shrink your videos and save to the Compressed Videos album.

2. Video Compress – Shrink Vids

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

You can reduce the size of videos recorded in 4K, Full HD or HD resolution in just a few simple steps. The app lets you resize one or more videos at the same time and choose the resolution of the output video. The only downside is that you must make in-app purchases to remove ads or unlock access to all of the app’s features.

How to compress video with Video Compress – Shrink Vids?

Once you installed this free compressor app for iOS on your device, you should launch it and tap on the + icon to import the video you want to compress into the app. Grant the app permission to access the Photos app and head over to the folder in which the videos you want shrink are stored.

After selecting the videos, you should tap on the Choose Preset button and select one of the available presets. Optionally, you can adjust the bitrate or preview how the videos look before and after the compression. Tap on the Continue button when you are ready and then select the destination album to which the resized videos are going to be exported. After the video compression process is completed the app will ask you if you want to delete the original video files and only keep their resized versions.

3. Video Slimmer App

Price: Free or $2,99 for Pro

Video Slimmer is much more than a simple video compressor app for iOS, as it lets its users trim, rotate or merge videos. The app’s batch processing capabilities are remarkable since you can export resized videos from Video Slimmer quickly. You can free up to 80% of your iPhone’s or iPad’s storage space by compressing videos you store on your iOS-based device.

How to compress videos with Video Slimmer App?

Shrinking multiple videos with Video Slimmer won’t take too much of your time, although the duration of the compression process depends on the size of the video clips. Click on the + icon after you launch the app, in order to select the videos from the camera roll.

Tap on the Gear icon located in the lower right corner of the screen if you would like to adjust the Video Quality and Video Size settings. In addition, the Video Slimmer App lets you choose if you want to delete the original videos from your device after the compression or add a copy of the video to the Photo Library.

Head back to the app’s main menu and tap on the Slim Now button to start compressing the videos you selected. After reducing the size of your videos you can share them on social media or send them to your friends much faster than the original high-resolution files.

4. Video Compress – Reduce Movie Size – Shrink Video

Price: Free

If you are looking for a simple and efficient free video compressor app for iPhone and iPad then Video Compress may be the right choice for you. Its interface is intuitive so you won’t need much time to get used to it even if you never compressed a video before.

How to compress video with it?

All you have to do to start compressing a video is to launch the app and select the videos you’d like to shrink from the Camera Roll. Afterward, you will be taken to the Compress window where you can see the Target Size and the percentage to which the video is going to be compressed. The only limiting factor are the output file formats because the app only allows you to save shrunk videos as MPEG-4 and QuickTime files.

All the compressed videos can be easily shared on social media or sent through email and messaging apps directly from Video Compress.

5. Video Compressor – Shrink Videos

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

Video Compressor app makes shrinking videos look easy because it offers a number of presets that let you choose how much you want to reduce the size of a video. Besides saving time this free video compressor for iPhones and iPads can create more storage space on your device.

How to shrink video size with this app?

Identifying large video files on your camera roll won’t take too much time since the app displays the size of all videos. Besides compressing videos, the Video Compressor app also lets you shrink photos you store on your iPhone or iPad.

Select a video you want to compress, by simply tapping on it, and then choose a preset resolution to which that video clip is going to be compressed. Optionally, you can change the Bitrate before tapping on the Compression button.

After the video compression process is over you can organize the shrunk videos effortlessly, however, you must purchase the Pro version of the app if you want to have access to all of the tools Video Compressor has to offer.

Is there any iPhone free video compressor with editor built in?

Editing a video before you share it on social media can help you get rid of unwanted parts and make the colors more vivid. iMovie is an excellent choice if you would like to trim a video or add filters and effects to it and reduce the video size. What’s more, you can use this iOS-native video editing app to reduce the size of the original video files.

Once you complete all video editing tasks you should exit the app’s Edit window by tapping done and then tap on the Share/Save Video option. iMovie offers a variety of output video file formats, so you can choose if you want to save your video in 360p, 540p, HD or 4K resolution. After you pick a preferred output resolution the iMovie is going to add the video to the Photo Library.

Bonus: How to reduce video size on iPhone & iPad when recording?

All recent iPhone and iPad models support recording in a broad spectrum of video resolutions. If you would like to decrease the resolution at which your device captures videos you should head to the Settings menu and tap on the Camera option.

Select Record Video from the Camera menu and then choose the new resolution for your videos. The default resolution is set at 1080p at 30fps, but you can easily reduce it to 720p at 30fps if you want to create videos that don’t take too much storage space.

The Record Slo-Mo option lets you choose between 720p HD at 120fps or 720p HD at 240 fps which allows you to preserve storage space while recording high-quality slow-motion videos.

Conclusion

Videos recorded with iPhones and iPads can be huge in size, and sending them or uploading them to the Internet can be a time-consuming process. Installing a free video compressing app for iOS can be a good idea if you record videos with your iPhone or iPad often. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in this article can shrink videos quickly and efficiently. Which free video compressor app are you going to choose? Leave a comment and let us know.

Supported iOS	Supported format	User rating
Video Slimmer	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI…	3.7
Video Compress - Shrink Vids	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6
iMovie	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI, QuickTime…	3.9
Compress Videos & Resize Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MPEG-4 and QuickTime	4.6
Video Compressor-Shrink videos	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.7
Video Compress - Reduce Movie Size, Shrink Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Capturing full HD or 4K footage with your iPad or iPhone is a straightforward process, but sharing that footage through messaging apps or social media can be a bit more complicated.

The size of video files recorded in 4K resolution is often measured in gigabytes and you have to compress them in order to share them with your friends.

We’ve selected the five best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads that will enable you to shrink your videos in minutes and post them on social networks or send them through email and messaging apps.

So, let’s take a look at how you can reduce the size of your videos using free video compressing apps for iOS.

5 Best Video Compressor Apps for iOS that Reduce Video Size

Shrinking a video’s size is easy, even after you record a video clip. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in our top five list allows you to reduce a video’s size quickly before sharing it on social media or sending it to your friends. Read on if you would like to find out more about the best free video compressor apps for iPhones and iPads.

1. Compress Videos & Resize Videos

Price: Free, but contains in-app purchases

With this free video compressor app, you won’t have to worry about the quality of the videos you’re resizing, because it preserves the video’s quality even when videos are shrunk by more than 80%. In this manner, the Compress Videos & Resize Video app can help you free up space on your iPhone or iPad.

How to reduce video size with Compress Videos & Resize Videos?

To start reducing a video’s size you just have to open the app and select all videos, recently added or any other available categories.

After tapping on a particular category, you can proceed to select one or more video clips you would like to reduce. The app is going to display the videos that are stored on your phone or in your iCloud Photo Library and show you the exact size of each video.

Once you’ve selected the videos you’d like to shrink, you should click on the Next button and proceed to the Compression Settings window. Afterward, you can simply change the Frame Rate and Video Dimensions settings by dragging the sliders to the left or to the right. When ready, tap on the Compress button and the Compress Videos & Resize Video app will shrink your videos and save to the Compressed Videos album.

2. Video Compress – Shrink Vids

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

You can reduce the size of videos recorded in 4K, Full HD or HD resolution in just a few simple steps. The app lets you resize one or more videos at the same time and choose the resolution of the output video. The only downside is that you must make in-app purchases to remove ads or unlock access to all of the app’s features.

How to compress video with Video Compress – Shrink Vids?

Once you installed this free compressor app for iOS on your device, you should launch it and tap on the + icon to import the video you want to compress into the app. Grant the app permission to access the Photos app and head over to the folder in which the videos you want shrink are stored.

After selecting the videos, you should tap on the Choose Preset button and select one of the available presets. Optionally, you can adjust the bitrate or preview how the videos look before and after the compression. Tap on the Continue button when you are ready and then select the destination album to which the resized videos are going to be exported. After the video compression process is completed the app will ask you if you want to delete the original video files and only keep their resized versions.

3. Video Slimmer App

Price: Free or $2,99 for Pro

Video Slimmer is much more than a simple video compressor app for iOS, as it lets its users trim, rotate or merge videos. The app’s batch processing capabilities are remarkable since you can export resized videos from Video Slimmer quickly. You can free up to 80% of your iPhone’s or iPad’s storage space by compressing videos you store on your iOS-based device.

How to compress videos with Video Slimmer App?

Shrinking multiple videos with Video Slimmer won’t take too much of your time, although the duration of the compression process depends on the size of the video clips. Click on the + icon after you launch the app, in order to select the videos from the camera roll.

Tap on the Gear icon located in the lower right corner of the screen if you would like to adjust the Video Quality and Video Size settings. In addition, the Video Slimmer App lets you choose if you want to delete the original videos from your device after the compression or add a copy of the video to the Photo Library.

Head back to the app’s main menu and tap on the Slim Now button to start compressing the videos you selected. After reducing the size of your videos you can share them on social media or send them to your friends much faster than the original high-resolution files.

4. Video Compress – Reduce Movie Size – Shrink Video

Price: Free

If you are looking for a simple and efficient free video compressor app for iPhone and iPad then Video Compress may be the right choice for you. Its interface is intuitive so you won’t need much time to get used to it even if you never compressed a video before.

How to compress video with it?

All you have to do to start compressing a video is to launch the app and select the videos you’d like to shrink from the Camera Roll. Afterward, you will be taken to the Compress window where you can see the Target Size and the percentage to which the video is going to be compressed. The only limiting factor are the output file formats because the app only allows you to save shrunk videos as MPEG-4 and QuickTime files.

All the compressed videos can be easily shared on social media or sent through email and messaging apps directly from Video Compress.

5. Video Compressor – Shrink Videos

Price: Free, but offers in-app purchases

Video Compressor app makes shrinking videos look easy because it offers a number of presets that let you choose how much you want to reduce the size of a video. Besides saving time this free video compressor for iPhones and iPads can create more storage space on your device.

How to shrink video size with this app?

Identifying large video files on your camera roll won’t take too much time since the app displays the size of all videos. Besides compressing videos, the Video Compressor app also lets you shrink photos you store on your iPhone or iPad.

Select a video you want to compress, by simply tapping on it, and then choose a preset resolution to which that video clip is going to be compressed. Optionally, you can change the Bitrate before tapping on the Compression button.

After the video compression process is over you can organize the shrunk videos effortlessly, however, you must purchase the Pro version of the app if you want to have access to all of the tools Video Compressor has to offer.

Is there any iPhone free video compressor with editor built in?

Editing a video before you share it on social media can help you get rid of unwanted parts and make the colors more vivid. iMovie is an excellent choice if you would like to trim a video or add filters and effects to it and reduce the video size. What’s more, you can use this iOS-native video editing app to reduce the size of the original video files.

Once you complete all video editing tasks you should exit the app’s Edit window by tapping done and then tap on the Share/Save Video option. iMovie offers a variety of output video file formats, so you can choose if you want to save your video in 360p, 540p, HD or 4K resolution. After you pick a preferred output resolution the iMovie is going to add the video to the Photo Library.

Bonus: How to reduce video size on iPhone & iPad when recording?

All recent iPhone and iPad models support recording in a broad spectrum of video resolutions. If you would like to decrease the resolution at which your device captures videos you should head to the Settings menu and tap on the Camera option.

Select Record Video from the Camera menu and then choose the new resolution for your videos. The default resolution is set at 1080p at 30fps, but you can easily reduce it to 720p at 30fps if you want to create videos that don’t take too much storage space.

The Record Slo-Mo option lets you choose between 720p HD at 120fps or 720p HD at 240 fps which allows you to preserve storage space while recording high-quality slow-motion videos.

Conclusion

Videos recorded with iPhones and iPads can be huge in size, and sending them or uploading them to the Internet can be a time-consuming process. Installing a free video compressing app for iOS can be a good idea if you record videos with your iPhone or iPad often. Each of the free video compressor apps we included in this article can shrink videos quickly and efficiently. Which free video compressor app are you going to choose? Leave a comment and let us know.

Supported iOS	Supported format	User rating
Video Slimmer	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI…	3.7
Video Compress - Shrink Vids	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6
iMovie	iOS 10.3 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI, QuickTime…	3.9
Compress Videos & Resize Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MPEG-4 and QuickTime	4.6
Video Compressor-Shrink videos	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.7
Video Compress - Reduce Movie Size, Shrink Video	iOS 8.0 or later	MP4, MOV, AVI	4.6

Ollie Mattison

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

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Unlock Free Sound Effects: A Step-by-Step Guide for Final Cut Pro Users

How to Find Free Sound Effect and Add Them in Final Cut Pro

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Suppose you have recorded a cinematic video of a beach in the evening visualizing the sunset and a few birds flying in the sky. Everything looks perfect except the audio, which seems to be fluctuating and breaking at some points. How would you address this challenge?

The best solution to this problem is adding sound effects, which can make your video more interesting and adorable. Setting the frequency of audio with on-screen visuals will invoke the viewers’ emotions and attach them to the scene.

Read this article to learn how to add sound effects to your video with Final Cut Pro.

Part 1: What are Different Types of Sound Effects?

Sound effects have four major types:

1. Ambiance SFX

These sounds fill the screen space to create a virtual sense of an environment or location such as the clattering sound of dishes in a restaurant or the sound of engines on a highway.

1. Foley SFX

A mixture of live performance and digital sound editing, these sounds are produced by the artists of Foley studio to match their sounds to the on-screen visuals.

1. Hard and Soft SFX

Hard SFX synchronizes a visual to what’s happening in the picture while SFX indicates the location to the audience.

1. Electronic SFX

These sounds are generated by instruments that create electronic-sounding effects like electronic keyboards, synthesizers, or plug-ins.

Part 2: How to Add Sound Effects in Final Cut Pro?

Cinematographic productions need well-balanced music and sound effects. Luckily, Final Cut Pro comes with built-in audio enhancement features and third-party Audio Units (AU) effects that allow users to add sound effects to their videos and manage all audio processing tasks.

You can add sound effects in your video with Final Cut Pro. Wonder how? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Photos and Audio Sound Bar

• In the top-left corner, there is a Photos and Audio Click on this button as shown in the figure below:
• Select the Window and Go To Either press Shift + Command + 1 or tap Photos and Audio from the dropdown menu

Step 2: Select the Sound Category

• Choose a sound category or app from the Photos and Audio sidebar
• A list will appear contacting the audio clips in that specific category as shown in the figure below:
• You can find multiple music and sound clips in the Sound Effects category. The list also contains various apps you use on your Mac such as GarageBand, Music, and Logic Pro, etc.

Step 3: Select the Music or Sound to be added

• Filter the items in the browser by using the pop-up menu. Go to Music > Purchased or select Sound Effects > Final Cut Pro Sound Effects > Impacts & Crashes.
• Preview your selected audio file by selecting it from the list and clicking the Play
• If you want to select multiple items, command-click each item individually.

Step 4: Use the Selected Music or Audio

• Drag your selected sound clip to the timeline or the sidebar
• Once the Photos and Audio sidebar has been replaced by the Libraries sidebar, you can add the selected audio or music files to an event. The Photos and Audio sidebar will reappear as you drag those files.
• Play the video to make sure sound effects have been successfully added

For enhanced playback experiences, all MP audio files are automatically transcoded to MOV audio files. However, you can also find the original MP3 files in the source media files section of Final Cut Pro. Besides, by adding mono audio clips to a stereo project, only the single mono audio will be plated in both left and right channels. You can view them in the stereo audio meters of your project.

Surely you don’t want to see your sound effect missing in your footage, but that happens a lot in FCPX. Just in case, you may want to see this article: Proven Ways to Get Missing Sound Effects Back in Final Cut Pro .

Part 3: How to Improve Your Video with Sound Effects?

In addition to Final Cut Pro, you can also use advanced video-editing software like Wondershare Filmora to improve your video by adding special sound effects. Here’s how you can do this:

Add the original video to Filmora by clicking the Import button or directly dragging the file to the primary window

Tap Sound to open a box listing different sound effects. Select your favorite sound effect and drag it down to the soundtrack below the video clip. Now, move the sound icon and the playhead to set the beginning and ending points. Press the Play button to ensure the newly added sound effect sounds well.

Once you’ve done the final review, tap the Create button and Format tab. Then, choose your preferred format and location where the file needs to be exported. You can also upload this video on YouTube or Facebook, play it on different iOS devices, or burn it to DVD.

Part 4: Where to Find Sound Effects?

Both Final Cut Pro and Wondershare Filmora have a variety of built-in sound effects. You can select and drop these effects to directly add them to your video. However, if you are searching for sound effects, given below are two methods:

1. Self-recording

Professional filmmakers and sound experts often record sound effects by themselves according to their requirements. For example, if they want to visualize some scene from school, they can go to an educational institution and record audio. After proper editing, these sound effects are added to the video.

1. Online Resources

Different websites also allow their users to download their favorite sound effects. Given below are some of the top-rated websites for downloading sound effects based on their quality, variety, and usefulness:

1. Filmostock
2. Adobe Audition Sound Effects
3. Freesound
4. Partners In Rhyme
5. AudioMicro
6. 99Sounds
7. Sounds Crate
8. Zapsplat
9. BBC Sound Effects
10. FreeSFX
11. GameSounds
12. SoundEffects+
13. SoundGator
14. PacDV
15. Sound Effects for Free

For more details, please check this article: 9 Great Websites To Download Royalty-Free Sound Effects.

Part 5: Extensive Reading: What are Sound Effects and Why are they Important?

Sound is the most important aspect of video editing that engages audiences, evokes emotional responses, and connects people to what they’re seeing. A melodious sound helps the video editors deliver information and creatively and define the tone of their narrative.

Sound effects (SFX) refer to audio clips or sounds that are not part of the recoded video. They are added to movies, documentaries, video games, and even reality shows to invoke the viewers’ emotions and increase their interest in the video.

Similarly, the addition of sound effects increases the production value and creates a complete audience experience. If you want to elevate your video dramatically and make it magnetic, have to balance sound effects, silence, and music in such a way that they support each visual and every cut. Although audio cannot fix slipshod editing or amateur camera work, it becomes more crucial than video quality while you are trying to deliver a specific message in your video.

Professional video editors and filmmakers consider sound effects crucial to their video quality. A clear, melodious, and well-balanced audio adds depth to the visuals, evokes more emotions than the picture, and paints the audio picture of a particular setting.

Even silence, a powerful tool of the audio arsenal, speaks louder than the picture itself. Hence, balancing audio by adding sound effects can make your video stimulating, captivating, and emotional.

That’s why a good editing tool always stocks a great number of sound effects for users, like Filmora. Click to download and take a look at all the effects in Filmora

Conclusion

Sound effects are external audio files added to the videos to make them look interesting and worth watching. A perfect balance of sound, music, and silence allows the filmmakers to define the tone of their narrative and deliver their message creatively.

You can create sound effects through self-recording or by downloading them from external resources. To add sound effects to your video, use professional video-editing software like Final Cut Pro or Filmora. Both these applications are user-friendly and possess a huge library of a variety of sound effects and music files. Besides, their advanced features allow you to naturally add sound effects without affecting the video quality.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Suppose you have recorded a cinematic video of a beach in the evening visualizing the sunset and a few birds flying in the sky. Everything looks perfect except the audio, which seems to be fluctuating and breaking at some points. How would you address this challenge?

The best solution to this problem is adding sound effects, which can make your video more interesting and adorable. Setting the frequency of audio with on-screen visuals will invoke the viewers’ emotions and attach them to the scene.

Read this article to learn how to add sound effects to your video with Final Cut Pro.

Part 1: What are Different Types of Sound Effects?

Sound effects have four major types:

1. Ambiance SFX

These sounds fill the screen space to create a virtual sense of an environment or location such as the clattering sound of dishes in a restaurant or the sound of engines on a highway.

1. Foley SFX

A mixture of live performance and digital sound editing, these sounds are produced by the artists of Foley studio to match their sounds to the on-screen visuals.

1. Hard and Soft SFX

Hard SFX synchronizes a visual to what’s happening in the picture while SFX indicates the location to the audience.

1. Electronic SFX

These sounds are generated by instruments that create electronic-sounding effects like electronic keyboards, synthesizers, or plug-ins.

Part 2: How to Add Sound Effects in Final Cut Pro?

Cinematographic productions need well-balanced music and sound effects. Luckily, Final Cut Pro comes with built-in audio enhancement features and third-party Audio Units (AU) effects that allow users to add sound effects to their videos and manage all audio processing tasks.

You can add sound effects in your video with Final Cut Pro. Wonder how? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Photos and Audio Sound Bar

• In the top-left corner, there is a Photos and Audio Click on this button as shown in the figure below:
• Select the Window and Go To Either press Shift + Command + 1 or tap Photos and Audio from the dropdown menu

Step 2: Select the Sound Category

• Choose a sound category or app from the Photos and Audio sidebar
• A list will appear contacting the audio clips in that specific category as shown in the figure below:
• You can find multiple music and sound clips in the Sound Effects category. The list also contains various apps you use on your Mac such as GarageBand, Music, and Logic Pro, etc.

Step 3: Select the Music or Sound to be added

• Filter the items in the browser by using the pop-up menu. Go to Music > Purchased or select Sound Effects > Final Cut Pro Sound Effects > Impacts & Crashes.
• Preview your selected audio file by selecting it from the list and clicking the Play
• If you want to select multiple items, command-click each item individually.

Step 4: Use the Selected Music or Audio

• Drag your selected sound clip to the timeline or the sidebar
• Once the Photos and Audio sidebar has been replaced by the Libraries sidebar, you can add the selected audio or music files to an event. The Photos and Audio sidebar will reappear as you drag those files.
• Play the video to make sure sound effects have been successfully added

For enhanced playback experiences, all MP audio files are automatically transcoded to MOV audio files. However, you can also find the original MP3 files in the source media files section of Final Cut Pro. Besides, by adding mono audio clips to a stereo project, only the single mono audio will be plated in both left and right channels. You can view them in the stereo audio meters of your project.

Surely you don’t want to see your sound effect missing in your footage, but that happens a lot in FCPX. Just in case, you may want to see this article: Proven Ways to Get Missing Sound Effects Back in Final Cut Pro .

Part 3: How to Improve Your Video with Sound Effects?

In addition to Final Cut Pro, you can also use advanced video-editing software like Wondershare Filmora to improve your video by adding special sound effects. Here’s how you can do this:

Add the original video to Filmora by clicking the Import button or directly dragging the file to the primary window

Tap Sound to open a box listing different sound effects. Select your favorite sound effect and drag it down to the soundtrack below the video clip. Now, move the sound icon and the playhead to set the beginning and ending points. Press the Play button to ensure the newly added sound effect sounds well.

Once you’ve done the final review, tap the Create button and Format tab. Then, choose your preferred format and location where the file needs to be exported. You can also upload this video on YouTube or Facebook, play it on different iOS devices, or burn it to DVD.

Part 4: Where to Find Sound Effects?

Both Final Cut Pro and Wondershare Filmora have a variety of built-in sound effects. You can select and drop these effects to directly add them to your video. However, if you are searching for sound effects, given below are two methods:

1. Self-recording

Professional filmmakers and sound experts often record sound effects by themselves according to their requirements. For example, if they want to visualize some scene from school, they can go to an educational institution and record audio. After proper editing, these sound effects are added to the video.

1. Online Resources

Different websites also allow their users to download their favorite sound effects. Given below are some of the top-rated websites for downloading sound effects based on their quality, variety, and usefulness:

1. Filmostock
2. Adobe Audition Sound Effects
3. Freesound
4. Partners In Rhyme
5. AudioMicro
6. 99Sounds
7. Sounds Crate
8. Zapsplat
9. BBC Sound Effects
10. FreeSFX
11. GameSounds
12. SoundEffects+
13. SoundGator
14. PacDV
15. Sound Effects for Free

For more details, please check this article: 9 Great Websites To Download Royalty-Free Sound Effects.

Part 5: Extensive Reading: What are Sound Effects and Why are they Important?

Sound is the most important aspect of video editing that engages audiences, evokes emotional responses, and connects people to what they’re seeing. A melodious sound helps the video editors deliver information and creatively and define the tone of their narrative.

Sound effects (SFX) refer to audio clips or sounds that are not part of the recoded video. They are added to movies, documentaries, video games, and even reality shows to invoke the viewers’ emotions and increase their interest in the video.

Similarly, the addition of sound effects increases the production value and creates a complete audience experience. If you want to elevate your video dramatically and make it magnetic, have to balance sound effects, silence, and music in such a way that they support each visual and every cut. Although audio cannot fix slipshod editing or amateur camera work, it becomes more crucial than video quality while you are trying to deliver a specific message in your video.

Professional video editors and filmmakers consider sound effects crucial to their video quality. A clear, melodious, and well-balanced audio adds depth to the visuals, evokes more emotions than the picture, and paints the audio picture of a particular setting.

Even silence, a powerful tool of the audio arsenal, speaks louder than the picture itself. Hence, balancing audio by adding sound effects can make your video stimulating, captivating, and emotional.

That’s why a good editing tool always stocks a great number of sound effects for users, like Filmora. Click to download and take a look at all the effects in Filmora

Conclusion

Sound effects are external audio files added to the videos to make them look interesting and worth watching. A perfect balance of sound, music, and silence allows the filmmakers to define the tone of their narrative and deliver their message creatively.

You can create sound effects through self-recording or by downloading them from external resources. To add sound effects to your video, use professional video-editing software like Final Cut Pro or Filmora. Both these applications are user-friendly and possess a huge library of a variety of sound effects and music files. Besides, their advanced features allow you to naturally add sound effects without affecting the video quality.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Suppose you have recorded a cinematic video of a beach in the evening visualizing the sunset and a few birds flying in the sky. Everything looks perfect except the audio, which seems to be fluctuating and breaking at some points. How would you address this challenge?

The best solution to this problem is adding sound effects, which can make your video more interesting and adorable. Setting the frequency of audio with on-screen visuals will invoke the viewers’ emotions and attach them to the scene.

Read this article to learn how to add sound effects to your video with Final Cut Pro.

Part 1: What are Different Types of Sound Effects?

Sound effects have four major types:

1. Ambiance SFX

These sounds fill the screen space to create a virtual sense of an environment or location such as the clattering sound of dishes in a restaurant or the sound of engines on a highway.

1. Foley SFX

A mixture of live performance and digital sound editing, these sounds are produced by the artists of Foley studio to match their sounds to the on-screen visuals.

1. Hard and Soft SFX

Hard SFX synchronizes a visual to what’s happening in the picture while SFX indicates the location to the audience.

1. Electronic SFX

These sounds are generated by instruments that create electronic-sounding effects like electronic keyboards, synthesizers, or plug-ins.

Part 2: How to Add Sound Effects in Final Cut Pro?

Cinematographic productions need well-balanced music and sound effects. Luckily, Final Cut Pro comes with built-in audio enhancement features and third-party Audio Units (AU) effects that allow users to add sound effects to their videos and manage all audio processing tasks.

You can add sound effects in your video with Final Cut Pro. Wonder how? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Photos and Audio Sound Bar

• In the top-left corner, there is a Photos and Audio Click on this button as shown in the figure below:
• Select the Window and Go To Either press Shift + Command + 1 or tap Photos and Audio from the dropdown menu

Step 2: Select the Sound Category

• Choose a sound category or app from the Photos and Audio sidebar
• A list will appear contacting the audio clips in that specific category as shown in the figure below:
• You can find multiple music and sound clips in the Sound Effects category. The list also contains various apps you use on your Mac such as GarageBand, Music, and Logic Pro, etc.

Step 3: Select the Music or Sound to be added

• Filter the items in the browser by using the pop-up menu. Go to Music > Purchased or select Sound Effects > Final Cut Pro Sound Effects > Impacts & Crashes.
• Preview your selected audio file by selecting it from the list and clicking the Play
• If you want to select multiple items, command-click each item individually.

Step 4: Use the Selected Music or Audio

• Drag your selected sound clip to the timeline or the sidebar
• Once the Photos and Audio sidebar has been replaced by the Libraries sidebar, you can add the selected audio or music files to an event. The Photos and Audio sidebar will reappear as you drag those files.
• Play the video to make sure sound effects have been successfully added

For enhanced playback experiences, all MP audio files are automatically transcoded to MOV audio files. However, you can also find the original MP3 files in the source media files section of Final Cut Pro. Besides, by adding mono audio clips to a stereo project, only the single mono audio will be plated in both left and right channels. You can view them in the stereo audio meters of your project.

Surely you don’t want to see your sound effect missing in your footage, but that happens a lot in FCPX. Just in case, you may want to see this article: Proven Ways to Get Missing Sound Effects Back in Final Cut Pro .

Part 3: How to Improve Your Video with Sound Effects?

In addition to Final Cut Pro, you can also use advanced video-editing software like Wondershare Filmora to improve your video by adding special sound effects. Here’s how you can do this:

Add the original video to Filmora by clicking the Import button or directly dragging the file to the primary window

Tap Sound to open a box listing different sound effects. Select your favorite sound effect and drag it down to the soundtrack below the video clip. Now, move the sound icon and the playhead to set the beginning and ending points. Press the Play button to ensure the newly added sound effect sounds well.

Once you’ve done the final review, tap the Create button and Format tab. Then, choose your preferred format and location where the file needs to be exported. You can also upload this video on YouTube or Facebook, play it on different iOS devices, or burn it to DVD.

Part 4: Where to Find Sound Effects?

Both Final Cut Pro and Wondershare Filmora have a variety of built-in sound effects. You can select and drop these effects to directly add them to your video. However, if you are searching for sound effects, given below are two methods:

1. Self-recording

Professional filmmakers and sound experts often record sound effects by themselves according to their requirements. For example, if they want to visualize some scene from school, they can go to an educational institution and record audio. After proper editing, these sound effects are added to the video.

1. Online Resources

Different websites also allow their users to download their favorite sound effects. Given below are some of the top-rated websites for downloading sound effects based on their quality, variety, and usefulness:

1. Filmostock
2. Adobe Audition Sound Effects
3. Freesound
4. Partners In Rhyme
5. AudioMicro
6. 99Sounds
7. Sounds Crate
8. Zapsplat
9. BBC Sound Effects
10. FreeSFX
11. GameSounds
12. SoundEffects+
13. SoundGator
14. PacDV
15. Sound Effects for Free

For more details, please check this article: 9 Great Websites To Download Royalty-Free Sound Effects.

Part 5: Extensive Reading: What are Sound Effects and Why are they Important?

Sound is the most important aspect of video editing that engages audiences, evokes emotional responses, and connects people to what they’re seeing. A melodious sound helps the video editors deliver information and creatively and define the tone of their narrative.

Sound effects (SFX) refer to audio clips or sounds that are not part of the recoded video. They are added to movies, documentaries, video games, and even reality shows to invoke the viewers’ emotions and increase their interest in the video.

Similarly, the addition of sound effects increases the production value and creates a complete audience experience. If you want to elevate your video dramatically and make it magnetic, have to balance sound effects, silence, and music in such a way that they support each visual and every cut. Although audio cannot fix slipshod editing or amateur camera work, it becomes more crucial than video quality while you are trying to deliver a specific message in your video.

Professional video editors and filmmakers consider sound effects crucial to their video quality. A clear, melodious, and well-balanced audio adds depth to the visuals, evokes more emotions than the picture, and paints the audio picture of a particular setting.

Even silence, a powerful tool of the audio arsenal, speaks louder than the picture itself. Hence, balancing audio by adding sound effects can make your video stimulating, captivating, and emotional.

That’s why a good editing tool always stocks a great number of sound effects for users, like Filmora. Click to download and take a look at all the effects in Filmora

Conclusion

Sound effects are external audio files added to the videos to make them look interesting and worth watching. A perfect balance of sound, music, and silence allows the filmmakers to define the tone of their narrative and deliver their message creatively.

You can create sound effects through self-recording or by downloading them from external resources. To add sound effects to your video, use professional video-editing software like Final Cut Pro or Filmora. Both these applications are user-friendly and possess a huge library of a variety of sound effects and music files. Besides, their advanced features allow you to naturally add sound effects without affecting the video quality.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Suppose you have recorded a cinematic video of a beach in the evening visualizing the sunset and a few birds flying in the sky. Everything looks perfect except the audio, which seems to be fluctuating and breaking at some points. How would you address this challenge?

The best solution to this problem is adding sound effects, which can make your video more interesting and adorable. Setting the frequency of audio with on-screen visuals will invoke the viewers’ emotions and attach them to the scene.

Read this article to learn how to add sound effects to your video with Final Cut Pro.

Part 1: What are Different Types of Sound Effects?

Sound effects have four major types:

1. Ambiance SFX

These sounds fill the screen space to create a virtual sense of an environment or location such as the clattering sound of dishes in a restaurant or the sound of engines on a highway.

1. Foley SFX

A mixture of live performance and digital sound editing, these sounds are produced by the artists of Foley studio to match their sounds to the on-screen visuals.

1. Hard and Soft SFX

Hard SFX synchronizes a visual to what’s happening in the picture while SFX indicates the location to the audience.

1. Electronic SFX

These sounds are generated by instruments that create electronic-sounding effects like electronic keyboards, synthesizers, or plug-ins.

Part 2: How to Add Sound Effects in Final Cut Pro?

Cinematographic productions need well-balanced music and sound effects. Luckily, Final Cut Pro comes with built-in audio enhancement features and third-party Audio Units (AU) effects that allow users to add sound effects to their videos and manage all audio processing tasks.

You can add sound effects in your video with Final Cut Pro. Wonder how? Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Photos and Audio Sound Bar

• In the top-left corner, there is a Photos and Audio Click on this button as shown in the figure below:
• Select the Window and Go To Either press Shift + Command + 1 or tap Photos and Audio from the dropdown menu

Step 2: Select the Sound Category

• Choose a sound category or app from the Photos and Audio sidebar
• A list will appear contacting the audio clips in that specific category as shown in the figure below:
• You can find multiple music and sound clips in the Sound Effects category. The list also contains various apps you use on your Mac such as GarageBand, Music, and Logic Pro, etc.

Step 3: Select the Music or Sound to be added

• Filter the items in the browser by using the pop-up menu. Go to Music > Purchased or select Sound Effects > Final Cut Pro Sound Effects > Impacts & Crashes.
• Preview your selected audio file by selecting it from the list and clicking the Play
• If you want to select multiple items, command-click each item individually.

Step 4: Use the Selected Music or Audio

• Drag your selected sound clip to the timeline or the sidebar
• Once the Photos and Audio sidebar has been replaced by the Libraries sidebar, you can add the selected audio or music files to an event. The Photos and Audio sidebar will reappear as you drag those files.
• Play the video to make sure sound effects have been successfully added

For enhanced playback experiences, all MP audio files are automatically transcoded to MOV audio files. However, you can also find the original MP3 files in the source media files section of Final Cut Pro. Besides, by adding mono audio clips to a stereo project, only the single mono audio will be plated in both left and right channels. You can view them in the stereo audio meters of your project.

Surely you don’t want to see your sound effect missing in your footage, but that happens a lot in FCPX. Just in case, you may want to see this article: Proven Ways to Get Missing Sound Effects Back in Final Cut Pro .

Part 3: How to Improve Your Video with Sound Effects?

In addition to Final Cut Pro, you can also use advanced video-editing software like Wondershare Filmora to improve your video by adding special sound effects. Here’s how you can do this:

Add the original video to Filmora by clicking the Import button or directly dragging the file to the primary window

Tap Sound to open a box listing different sound effects. Select your favorite sound effect and drag it down to the soundtrack below the video clip. Now, move the sound icon and the playhead to set the beginning and ending points. Press the Play button to ensure the newly added sound effect sounds well.

Once you’ve done the final review, tap the Create button and Format tab. Then, choose your preferred format and location where the file needs to be exported. You can also upload this video on YouTube or Facebook, play it on different iOS devices, or burn it to DVD.

Part 4: Where to Find Sound Effects?

Both Final Cut Pro and Wondershare Filmora have a variety of built-in sound effects. You can select and drop these effects to directly add them to your video. However, if you are searching for sound effects, given below are two methods:

1. Self-recording

Professional filmmakers and sound experts often record sound effects by themselves according to their requirements. For example, if they want to visualize some scene from school, they can go to an educational institution and record audio. After proper editing, these sound effects are added to the video.

1. Online Resources

Different websites also allow their users to download their favorite sound effects. Given below are some of the top-rated websites for downloading sound effects based on their quality, variety, and usefulness:

1. Filmostock
2. Adobe Audition Sound Effects
3. Freesound
4. Partners In Rhyme
5. AudioMicro
6. 99Sounds
7. Sounds Crate
8. Zapsplat
9. BBC Sound Effects
10. FreeSFX
11. GameSounds
12. SoundEffects+
13. SoundGator
14. PacDV
15. Sound Effects for Free

For more details, please check this article: 9 Great Websites To Download Royalty-Free Sound Effects.

Part 5: Extensive Reading: What are Sound Effects and Why are they Important?

Sound is the most important aspect of video editing that engages audiences, evokes emotional responses, and connects people to what they’re seeing. A melodious sound helps the video editors deliver information and creatively and define the tone of their narrative.

Sound effects (SFX) refer to audio clips or sounds that are not part of the recoded video. They are added to movies, documentaries, video games, and even reality shows to invoke the viewers’ emotions and increase their interest in the video.

Similarly, the addition of sound effects increases the production value and creates a complete audience experience. If you want to elevate your video dramatically and make it magnetic, have to balance sound effects, silence, and music in such a way that they support each visual and every cut. Although audio cannot fix slipshod editing or amateur camera work, it becomes more crucial than video quality while you are trying to deliver a specific message in your video.

Professional video editors and filmmakers consider sound effects crucial to their video quality. A clear, melodious, and well-balanced audio adds depth to the visuals, evokes more emotions than the picture, and paints the audio picture of a particular setting.

Even silence, a powerful tool of the audio arsenal, speaks louder than the picture itself. Hence, balancing audio by adding sound effects can make your video stimulating, captivating, and emotional.

That’s why a good editing tool always stocks a great number of sound effects for users, like Filmora. Click to download and take a look at all the effects in Filmora

Conclusion

Sound effects are external audio files added to the videos to make them look interesting and worth watching. A perfect balance of sound, music, and silence allows the filmmakers to define the tone of their narrative and deliver their message creatively.

You can create sound effects through self-recording or by downloading them from external resources. To add sound effects to your video, use professional video-editing software like Final Cut Pro or Filmora. Both these applications are user-friendly and possess a huge library of a variety of sound effects and music files. Besides, their advanced features allow you to naturally add sound effects without affecting the video quality.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

Create Stunning Animations with These Free Tools for Windows and Mac

Best 12 Free Download Animation Software for Windows and Mac

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

In your search for quality animation software, you may have found that many of the programs cost a lot of money no matter it is 2D animation software or 3D animation editor. The good news is that you can choose free animation tools to make different animation types easily.

That is why we created a list of the best animation software on both Mac and Windows. Whether you are a professional editor or just a beginner to start making animation, you will find the tools listed below are easy to use without watermark and won’t cost money to improve your skills.

The best part is you will find these free animation programs are also very useful for content creation on Mac and Windows. Besides, we have listed the pros and cons of each software. Keep reading!

• Part 1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac
• Part 2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows
• Part 3: FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

Here we have made a table of 12 free animation software without watermark on Windows and macOS. Take a look.

6 Free Animation Software for macOS

5K-3DMiddleIt is a great tool for 3D artists6KritaDifficultPerfect software for 2D animation

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	Synfig Studio	Easy	Calculate vector shape to animation automatically
2	Pencil2D Animation	Easiest	Straightforward interface for beginners
3	Tupi	Middle	Its community is active to offer solutions
4	Blender	Difficult	It is a powerful animation tool to render and make modeling

6 Free Animation Software for Windows

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	DAZ Studio	Difficult	For professional users with the fast animation process
2	Terragen	Middle	It can make realistic CG environments
3	Anim8or	Difficult	3D animation is Anim8or’s main function
4	Seamless3d	Easy	It has many features for 3d modeling
5	OpenToonz	Middle	Make cartoon animation with plugins
6	Stykz	Easy	Quickly make animation if you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator

Best Animation Software on Windows and Mac - Filmora

Looking for a simple while powerful Mac video editing tool ? We recommend using Wondershare Filmora. You can use it to create 2D/3D animated texts, shapes, or anything you like for YouTube videos.

The keyframing features will help you make animation effects smooth and precise. When exporting, you can also make it transparent.

Besides, various title templates and transitions are also available for you. Download it now to have a try! Or learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Key features

• Create various shapes that you like
• Add keyframing to make it move
• Fine-tuning to make it smooth
• Add visual effects/text/color before export it

You can even create photo cut animation which has been very trendy on Tiktok and Instagram. Here is a video to present you how you can do it in Filmora.

Part 1 Best Free Animation Software for Mac

Listed below is free animation software on Mac. Take a look.

01 Synfig Studio - Mac Software to Animate Video

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.

Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.

An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions, or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut-out videos using bitmap images!

The thoughtful part is there are two download versions on the homepage: the stable version and the development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package gives you access to the use of the latest features.

For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipedia and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch, and French for a video course.

You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.

Features:

• It offers support for many layers within the animation.
• The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
• It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.

02 Pencil2D Animation - Animation Program for 2D Pencil Lover

Difficulty Level: Easiest

Pro: Easy to start and make animation as the interface is user-friendly for many people.

Con: You need to set your preference every time to open it up, so it takes up some time

Pencil2D Animation is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn tools available. It will work flawlessly on Mac computers. It is ideal for beginners, as the commands and interface are very easy to understand.

Whether you want to create a simple one, or you want something with many layers for videos on YouTube, you can use Pencil2D animation to get it done. Its timeline is easy to use at first glance. You can add and duplicate different frames on a different track.

The frequency of releasing the new version is very fast as Pencil2D is committed to bringing the lasted features to each user. The newest version is v0.6.4 (as of August 2019). Its user guide is informative with video tutorials, FAQs, and manual material.

Features:

• Lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for beginners.
• Features raster and vector workflows, with easy switching between them. You can paint and sketch as you want!
• Will run on all platforms - Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Completely free and open source.

03 TupiTube - Free Animation Application for Mac Users

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.

Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.

A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.

It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shapes.

It also offers a solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support, and ads-free, so many schools choose to use this one to teach kids how to make an animation video.

Features:

• Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
• You can import raster images using this program.
• You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
• Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear, and rotations.

04 Blender - Need Some Time to Learn This Animation Tool

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Really powerful software that you can make for professional users.

Con: It is not easy to make image animation as it focuses on 3D.

Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation suite without a watermark. If you find that 2D is a little bit limiting, we think that you will be very happy with what this free program offers. You can take your projects to a whole new level when you can use this program on your Mac.

You can use Blender to make a video game, modeling, and high-quality animation. However, it involves a steep learning curve. Luckily, there are many tutorials to guide you through the journey. You can also ask for help in the Blender community that millions of talented people like you are there.

Features:

• Creating renders is no problem with this program.
• Modeling, such as sculpting, retopology, and creating curves is not an issue either.
• VFX and animation features are better than any option on the market.
• It offers powerful simulation tools.
• Integration with pipeline tools is easy.

05 K-3D - Best for Animation and Modeling in 3D

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: Ideal for designing simple 3D animations and models.

Con: It has an old-fashioned interface. Also, the built-render (RenderMan) feature is difficult to use by beginners.

K-3D is an animation and 3D modeling software. You can download this tool for free on your Mac. Besides, you can also install and run it on your Windows and Linux systems. If you look at the design, you will find that the software is quite old. But don’t judge a book by its cover. Why so? It is because K-3D is one of the strongest and most versatile tools for 3D artists with many options.

For example, K-3D offers extremely systematic and methodological workflows. You can easily adjust the properties of the features in real-time and get instant results. It has a node-oriented visualization pipeline to enjoy more freedom. That means you can create animation using a variety of combinations.

One of the best things about K-3D is that it has three subdivisions of animation. You can work on your model on one side while showing the other side in a mirrored form. Then, experience the final result combined together. And in case you need to make the changes to the end results, you can simply work on the first subdivision and savor automatic changes to the results.

K-3D has an advanced redo and undo mechanism to ensure you can go back or move forward to make corrections or amendments without limits. Additionally, the tool is developed keeping in mind all the industrial standards. For instance, it has complete support and integration of native RenderMan™ to its user interface. This is an excellent feature because most free animation software for Mac requires third-party render plugins.

Features:

• Parametric workflow.
• 2D and 3D animation tools.
• Allows Python and K3DScript scripting.

06 Krita - For Professional 2D Animators

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Advanced tools with numerous animation options and online training material.

Con: Not suitable for beginners.

If you love 2D animation, then you’ll surely love Krita. It is entirely free software available on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Also, it offers a full platform for drawing and frame-by-frame animation.

The number one reason for adoring Krita is its brush library. There are more than 100 professional brushes to give you a wide range of effects. Moreover, the strokes are pretty amazing and similar to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Another great thing about Krita is the brush stabilization feature designed for shaky hands. You can add a stabilizer to your chosen brush to smoothen its flow. Besides, there’s a special Dynamic Brush tool to make animation more fun. At the same time, you can also customize your brushes through different brush engines, including filter engines, color smudge engines, and many more.

Apart from the basic brush options, the preloaded vector tools are next to admire. These tools help you make great comic panels. All you need to do is choose and drag the word bubble template on your canvas. Then, make changes with the anchor point to make new shapes. At the same time, you can also add text to your animation by using the text tool.

Last but not least, there’s a wrap-around mode to create seamless patterns and textures. That means the image or drawing makes its own references along the x-axis and y-axis. This gives you the freedom to continue painting and enjoy updates to your animation instantly.

Features:

• HDR painting.
• PSD support.
• Python scripting.
• Selection and transformation tools.
• Proper group, filter, vector, and file layer management.
• Complete color management for extraordinary results.
• Drawing assistant to help you with straight lines and vanishing points.

Part 2 Best Free Animation Software for Windows

Below is free animation software on Windows. Keep reading.

01 Anireel - Easy to Use Animation Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Anireel is a simple yet powerful Video Creativity tool used to make 2D animated explainer videos. Developed by Wondershare, one of the most popular Windows software and tool developers, Anireel uses rich, ready-to-use, and diverse assets to help one effortlessly make animated videos.

Features:

• There are tons of drag and drop characters, actions, props, text, and audio assets.
• Easy Text-to-Speech conversion via deep studying technology.
• Animate integrated and imported assets.
• Tons of templates that match many script types.

02 DAZ Studio - Free Software for 3D Lovers

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.

Con: It has a high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.

Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.

3D effects are the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build a model, render, and pose animation within the skin texture level. It has a high requirement for the device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.

Features:

• Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
• GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
• Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
• Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!

03 Terragen - Use It to Make CG Animation

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: The recently updated version is the best one. Ray-traced preview is a great function to help us make animation.

Con: The interface looks complicated, but it gets easy to know after you are familiar with it.

A completely free program that you can download and install on all Windows computers and tablets, Terragen is the ideal program for you to create the 3D animations and environments that you want. If you want a photo-realistic CG environment, using Terragen is the best way to do it!

Releasing imagination instantly, Terragen Creative is the one tool you’d like to consider. You can use it to make beautiful scenery.

For advanced tools, you can choose FBX to make animation quickly. The featured image gallery on its homepage will give you a deep understanding of the final outcome you can achieve with Terragen.

Features:

• Ray-traced preview. Without watermark after exporting
• Photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulation
• Rendering is twice as fast as the previous version of the program.
• Adding terrain, objects, and shader to your final product is very easy with the intuitive interface.

04 Anim8or - Free Tool to Make 3D Modeling

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Anim8or supports 3D modeler and TrueType fonts to meet advanced needs.

Con: Beginners will find it difficult to learn.

Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program that will let you create the unique work that you want. It is a personal project from an animator, but the program does get regular updates and troubleshooting.

It is not going to give you the same features as something like Studio Max or Maya, but you will get the basics. Beginners who are getting into animations will love this program.

Anim8or is a great tool to step into 3D animation ff you think other software is too different to start. In some way, it means you need to give up some advanced features. But all in all, it’s still recommended for you.

Features:

• A full 3D modeler that allows you to create spheres, cylinders, platonic solids, and any other objects that you want.
• Features support for TrueType fonts.
• Easy to create 3D scenes and output them as video files or images.

05 Seamless3d - Open-source Free Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is an open-source 3D modeling package. The good thing is the handy infinite Undo/Redo operation.

Con: Some advanced features are missing like drawing.

Seamless3d, an open-source 3D modeling software that you can download, is among the best animation worktables if you want to create specialized images, animated videos, or 3D characters.

It supports FFmpeg video format, so you can use AVI, MP4, and more. Besides, the forum is not active compared with before, but you still can find answers from many tutorials .

Features:

• It comes with infinite undo and redo options for complete flexibility to correct mistakes.
• It allows for partitioned and seamless texture mapping for YouTube videos.
• Has a specialized tree view interface.

06 OpenToonz - Support Plug in to Make Animation Freely

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It is open-source software, so you can change the code freely.

Con: The plug-in effects are limited.

This animation program is made for beginners on Windows. It is among the best 2D animation software in the market. You can use plug-in effects to change image style, add lights, and distort details. It supports Windows 7/8/10 only for 64 bit.

Features:

• You can add provisional colors to make your animation more colorful.
• Smooth correction without frame losing.
• Compatible with black-and-white, colored, or without binarization scanning.

7 Stykz - Simple to Use Animation Program for Beginners

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is the best stick figure animation if you want to make this kind of video.

Con: The UI is not modern to use and needs time to adapt to using it.

Stykz is completely free to use and without a watermark. If you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator, then you will find Stykz is similar to it, but you can import the previous .stk files to animate it again. You can use it to make animation smooth frame by frame.

With its frame-based feature, Stykz is easy to customize each frame. You can change previous and current frames to get what you want. You can download it to have a try considering its easy-to-use features.

Features:

• There is some animes file on this website, so you can have a reference.
• Edit animation in the software without using another editing window.
• You can share the final work with others including information.

Part 3 FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

01 Are Macs good for animation?

To be frank, Mac is a better choice to make animation if you want to have a smooth animation experience. For example, screen resolution is a crucial factor to make excellent animation. The good is Mac’s screen will never let you disappointed.

02 What is the best animation software for Mac?

The best animation software on mac includes Synfig Studio, Pencil2D Animation, Tupi, Blender, and more. Mentioned are free-to-use. Maya is also worth considering animation software if you are a professional user. Maya offers a 1-month free trial. After it is ended, the paid plans are month, 1-year, and 3-year.

03 Can you animate in Photoshop?

Yes, you can make basic animation in Photoshop. However, it only supports frame-based animation making. In this case, you need to use other professional software to make animation. But, you still can use Photoshop to meet your needs if you are a beginner.

Conclusion

With any of these free animation maker programs on Mac and Windows, you will have an easy time creating your next 2D or 3D video. Ensure you choose the program that has the features and compatibility that you desire. Then it is up to your creative mind to come up with stunning animations! If you want to make animation easily, you can also find inspiration through classical animated cartoon types with examples .

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

In your search for quality animation software, you may have found that many of the programs cost a lot of money no matter it is 2D animation software or 3D animation editor. The good news is that you can choose free animation tools to make different animation types easily.

That is why we created a list of the best animation software on both Mac and Windows. Whether you are a professional editor or just a beginner to start making animation, you will find the tools listed below are easy to use without watermark and won’t cost money to improve your skills.

The best part is you will find these free animation programs are also very useful for content creation on Mac and Windows. Besides, we have listed the pros and cons of each software. Keep reading!

• Part 1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac
• Part 2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows
• Part 3: FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

Here we have made a table of 12 free animation software without watermark on Windows and macOS. Take a look.

6 Free Animation Software for macOS

5K-3DMiddleIt is a great tool for 3D artists6KritaDifficultPerfect software for 2D animation

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	Synfig Studio	Easy	Calculate vector shape to animation automatically
2	Pencil2D Animation	Easiest	Straightforward interface for beginners
3	Tupi	Middle	Its community is active to offer solutions
4	Blender	Difficult	It is a powerful animation tool to render and make modeling

6 Free Animation Software for Windows

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	DAZ Studio	Difficult	For professional users with the fast animation process
2	Terragen	Middle	It can make realistic CG environments
3	Anim8or	Difficult	3D animation is Anim8or’s main function
4	Seamless3d	Easy	It has many features for 3d modeling
5	OpenToonz	Middle	Make cartoon animation with plugins
6	Stykz	Easy	Quickly make animation if you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator

Best Animation Software on Windows and Mac - Filmora

Looking for a simple while powerful Mac video editing tool ? We recommend using Wondershare Filmora. You can use it to create 2D/3D animated texts, shapes, or anything you like for YouTube videos.

The keyframing features will help you make animation effects smooth and precise. When exporting, you can also make it transparent.

Besides, various title templates and transitions are also available for you. Download it now to have a try! Or learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Key features

• Create various shapes that you like
• Add keyframing to make it move
• Fine-tuning to make it smooth
• Add visual effects/text/color before export it

You can even create photo cut animation which has been very trendy on Tiktok and Instagram. Here is a video to present you how you can do it in Filmora.

Part 1 Best Free Animation Software for Mac

Listed below is free animation software on Mac. Take a look.

01 Synfig Studio - Mac Software to Animate Video

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.

Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.

An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions, or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut-out videos using bitmap images!

The thoughtful part is there are two download versions on the homepage: the stable version and the development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package gives you access to the use of the latest features.

For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipedia and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch, and French for a video course.

You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.

Features:

• It offers support for many layers within the animation.
• The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
• It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.

02 Pencil2D Animation - Animation Program for 2D Pencil Lover

Difficulty Level: Easiest

Pro: Easy to start and make animation as the interface is user-friendly for many people.

Con: You need to set your preference every time to open it up, so it takes up some time

Pencil2D Animation is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn tools available. It will work flawlessly on Mac computers. It is ideal for beginners, as the commands and interface are very easy to understand.

Whether you want to create a simple one, or you want something with many layers for videos on YouTube, you can use Pencil2D animation to get it done. Its timeline is easy to use at first glance. You can add and duplicate different frames on a different track.

The frequency of releasing the new version is very fast as Pencil2D is committed to bringing the lasted features to each user. The newest version is v0.6.4 (as of August 2019). Its user guide is informative with video tutorials, FAQs, and manual material.

Features:

• Lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for beginners.
• Features raster and vector workflows, with easy switching between them. You can paint and sketch as you want!
• Will run on all platforms - Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Completely free and open source.

03 TupiTube - Free Animation Application for Mac Users

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.

Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.

A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.

It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shapes.

It also offers a solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support, and ads-free, so many schools choose to use this one to teach kids how to make an animation video.

Features:

• Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
• You can import raster images using this program.
• You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
• Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear, and rotations.

04 Blender - Need Some Time to Learn This Animation Tool

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Really powerful software that you can make for professional users.

Con: It is not easy to make image animation as it focuses on 3D.

Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation suite without a watermark. If you find that 2D is a little bit limiting, we think that you will be very happy with what this free program offers. You can take your projects to a whole new level when you can use this program on your Mac.

You can use Blender to make a video game, modeling, and high-quality animation. However, it involves a steep learning curve. Luckily, there are many tutorials to guide you through the journey. You can also ask for help in the Blender community that millions of talented people like you are there.

Features:

• Creating renders is no problem with this program.
• Modeling, such as sculpting, retopology, and creating curves is not an issue either.
• VFX and animation features are better than any option on the market.
• It offers powerful simulation tools.
• Integration with pipeline tools is easy.

05 K-3D - Best for Animation and Modeling in 3D

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: Ideal for designing simple 3D animations and models.

Con: It has an old-fashioned interface. Also, the built-render (RenderMan) feature is difficult to use by beginners.

K-3D is an animation and 3D modeling software. You can download this tool for free on your Mac. Besides, you can also install and run it on your Windows and Linux systems. If you look at the design, you will find that the software is quite old. But don’t judge a book by its cover. Why so? It is because K-3D is one of the strongest and most versatile tools for 3D artists with many options.

For example, K-3D offers extremely systematic and methodological workflows. You can easily adjust the properties of the features in real-time and get instant results. It has a node-oriented visualization pipeline to enjoy more freedom. That means you can create animation using a variety of combinations.

One of the best things about K-3D is that it has three subdivisions of animation. You can work on your model on one side while showing the other side in a mirrored form. Then, experience the final result combined together. And in case you need to make the changes to the end results, you can simply work on the first subdivision and savor automatic changes to the results.

K-3D has an advanced redo and undo mechanism to ensure you can go back or move forward to make corrections or amendments without limits. Additionally, the tool is developed keeping in mind all the industrial standards. For instance, it has complete support and integration of native RenderMan™ to its user interface. This is an excellent feature because most free animation software for Mac requires third-party render plugins.

Features:

• Parametric workflow.
• 2D and 3D animation tools.
• Allows Python and K3DScript scripting.

06 Krita - For Professional 2D Animators

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Advanced tools with numerous animation options and online training material.

Con: Not suitable for beginners.

If you love 2D animation, then you’ll surely love Krita. It is entirely free software available on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Also, it offers a full platform for drawing and frame-by-frame animation.

The number one reason for adoring Krita is its brush library. There are more than 100 professional brushes to give you a wide range of effects. Moreover, the strokes are pretty amazing and similar to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Another great thing about Krita is the brush stabilization feature designed for shaky hands. You can add a stabilizer to your chosen brush to smoothen its flow. Besides, there’s a special Dynamic Brush tool to make animation more fun. At the same time, you can also customize your brushes through different brush engines, including filter engines, color smudge engines, and many more.

Apart from the basic brush options, the preloaded vector tools are next to admire. These tools help you make great comic panels. All you need to do is choose and drag the word bubble template on your canvas. Then, make changes with the anchor point to make new shapes. At the same time, you can also add text to your animation by using the text tool.

Last but not least, there’s a wrap-around mode to create seamless patterns and textures. That means the image or drawing makes its own references along the x-axis and y-axis. This gives you the freedom to continue painting and enjoy updates to your animation instantly.

Features:

• HDR painting.
• PSD support.
• Python scripting.
• Selection and transformation tools.
• Proper group, filter, vector, and file layer management.
• Complete color management for extraordinary results.
• Drawing assistant to help you with straight lines and vanishing points.

Part 2 Best Free Animation Software for Windows

Below is free animation software on Windows. Keep reading.

01 Anireel - Easy to Use Animation Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Anireel is a simple yet powerful Video Creativity tool used to make 2D animated explainer videos. Developed by Wondershare, one of the most popular Windows software and tool developers, Anireel uses rich, ready-to-use, and diverse assets to help one effortlessly make animated videos.

Features:

• There are tons of drag and drop characters, actions, props, text, and audio assets.
• Easy Text-to-Speech conversion via deep studying technology.
• Animate integrated and imported assets.
• Tons of templates that match many script types.

02 DAZ Studio - Free Software for 3D Lovers

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.

Con: It has a high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.

Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.

3D effects are the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build a model, render, and pose animation within the skin texture level. It has a high requirement for the device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.

Features:

• Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
• GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
• Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
• Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!

03 Terragen - Use It to Make CG Animation

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: The recently updated version is the best one. Ray-traced preview is a great function to help us make animation.

Con: The interface looks complicated, but it gets easy to know after you are familiar with it.

A completely free program that you can download and install on all Windows computers and tablets, Terragen is the ideal program for you to create the 3D animations and environments that you want. If you want a photo-realistic CG environment, using Terragen is the best way to do it!

Releasing imagination instantly, Terragen Creative is the one tool you’d like to consider. You can use it to make beautiful scenery.

For advanced tools, you can choose FBX to make animation quickly. The featured image gallery on its homepage will give you a deep understanding of the final outcome you can achieve with Terragen.

Features:

• Ray-traced preview. Without watermark after exporting
• Photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulation
• Rendering is twice as fast as the previous version of the program.
• Adding terrain, objects, and shader to your final product is very easy with the intuitive interface.

04 Anim8or - Free Tool to Make 3D Modeling

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Anim8or supports 3D modeler and TrueType fonts to meet advanced needs.

Con: Beginners will find it difficult to learn.

Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program that will let you create the unique work that you want. It is a personal project from an animator, but the program does get regular updates and troubleshooting.

It is not going to give you the same features as something like Studio Max or Maya, but you will get the basics. Beginners who are getting into animations will love this program.

Anim8or is a great tool to step into 3D animation ff you think other software is too different to start. In some way, it means you need to give up some advanced features. But all in all, it’s still recommended for you.

Features:

• A full 3D modeler that allows you to create spheres, cylinders, platonic solids, and any other objects that you want.
• Features support for TrueType fonts.
• Easy to create 3D scenes and output them as video files or images.

05 Seamless3d - Open-source Free Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is an open-source 3D modeling package. The good thing is the handy infinite Undo/Redo operation.

Con: Some advanced features are missing like drawing.

Seamless3d, an open-source 3D modeling software that you can download, is among the best animation worktables if you want to create specialized images, animated videos, or 3D characters.

It supports FFmpeg video format, so you can use AVI, MP4, and more. Besides, the forum is not active compared with before, but you still can find answers from many tutorials .

Features:

• It comes with infinite undo and redo options for complete flexibility to correct mistakes.
• It allows for partitioned and seamless texture mapping for YouTube videos.
• Has a specialized tree view interface.

06 OpenToonz - Support Plug in to Make Animation Freely

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It is open-source software, so you can change the code freely.

Con: The plug-in effects are limited.

This animation program is made for beginners on Windows. It is among the best 2D animation software in the market. You can use plug-in effects to change image style, add lights, and distort details. It supports Windows 7/8/10 only for 64 bit.

Features:

• You can add provisional colors to make your animation more colorful.
• Smooth correction without frame losing.
• Compatible with black-and-white, colored, or without binarization scanning.

7 Stykz - Simple to Use Animation Program for Beginners

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is the best stick figure animation if you want to make this kind of video.

Con: The UI is not modern to use and needs time to adapt to using it.

Stykz is completely free to use and without a watermark. If you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator, then you will find Stykz is similar to it, but you can import the previous .stk files to animate it again. You can use it to make animation smooth frame by frame.

With its frame-based feature, Stykz is easy to customize each frame. You can change previous and current frames to get what you want. You can download it to have a try considering its easy-to-use features.

Features:

• There is some animes file on this website, so you can have a reference.
• Edit animation in the software without using another editing window.
• You can share the final work with others including information.

Part 3 FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

01 Are Macs good for animation?

To be frank, Mac is a better choice to make animation if you want to have a smooth animation experience. For example, screen resolution is a crucial factor to make excellent animation. The good is Mac’s screen will never let you disappointed.

02 What is the best animation software for Mac?

The best animation software on mac includes Synfig Studio, Pencil2D Animation, Tupi, Blender, and more. Mentioned are free-to-use. Maya is also worth considering animation software if you are a professional user. Maya offers a 1-month free trial. After it is ended, the paid plans are month, 1-year, and 3-year.

03 Can you animate in Photoshop?

Yes, you can make basic animation in Photoshop. However, it only supports frame-based animation making. In this case, you need to use other professional software to make animation. But, you still can use Photoshop to meet your needs if you are a beginner.

Conclusion

With any of these free animation maker programs on Mac and Windows, you will have an easy time creating your next 2D or 3D video. Ensure you choose the program that has the features and compatibility that you desire. Then it is up to your creative mind to come up with stunning animations! If you want to make animation easily, you can also find inspiration through classical animated cartoon types with examples .

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

In your search for quality animation software, you may have found that many of the programs cost a lot of money no matter it is 2D animation software or 3D animation editor. The good news is that you can choose free animation tools to make different animation types easily.

That is why we created a list of the best animation software on both Mac and Windows. Whether you are a professional editor or just a beginner to start making animation, you will find the tools listed below are easy to use without watermark and won’t cost money to improve your skills.

The best part is you will find these free animation programs are also very useful for content creation on Mac and Windows. Besides, we have listed the pros and cons of each software. Keep reading!

• Part 1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac
• Part 2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows
• Part 3: FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

Here we have made a table of 12 free animation software without watermark on Windows and macOS. Take a look.

6 Free Animation Software for macOS

5K-3DMiddleIt is a great tool for 3D artists6KritaDifficultPerfect software for 2D animation

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	Synfig Studio	Easy	Calculate vector shape to animation automatically
2	Pencil2D Animation	Easiest	Straightforward interface for beginners
3	Tupi	Middle	Its community is active to offer solutions
4	Blender	Difficult	It is a powerful animation tool to render and make modeling

6 Free Animation Software for Windows

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	DAZ Studio	Difficult	For professional users with the fast animation process
2	Terragen	Middle	It can make realistic CG environments
3	Anim8or	Difficult	3D animation is Anim8or’s main function
4	Seamless3d	Easy	It has many features for 3d modeling
5	OpenToonz	Middle	Make cartoon animation with plugins
6	Stykz	Easy	Quickly make animation if you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator

Best Animation Software on Windows and Mac - Filmora

Looking for a simple while powerful Mac video editing tool ? We recommend using Wondershare Filmora. You can use it to create 2D/3D animated texts, shapes, or anything you like for YouTube videos.

The keyframing features will help you make animation effects smooth and precise. When exporting, you can also make it transparent.

Besides, various title templates and transitions are also available for you. Download it now to have a try! Or learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Key features

• Create various shapes that you like
• Add keyframing to make it move
• Fine-tuning to make it smooth
• Add visual effects/text/color before export it

You can even create photo cut animation which has been very trendy on Tiktok and Instagram. Here is a video to present you how you can do it in Filmora.

Part 1 Best Free Animation Software for Mac

Listed below is free animation software on Mac. Take a look.

01 Synfig Studio - Mac Software to Animate Video

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.

Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.

An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions, or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut-out videos using bitmap images!

The thoughtful part is there are two download versions on the homepage: the stable version and the development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package gives you access to the use of the latest features.

For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipedia and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch, and French for a video course.

You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.

Features:

• It offers support for many layers within the animation.
• The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
• It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.

02 Pencil2D Animation - Animation Program for 2D Pencil Lover

Difficulty Level: Easiest

Pro: Easy to start and make animation as the interface is user-friendly for many people.

Con: You need to set your preference every time to open it up, so it takes up some time

Pencil2D Animation is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn tools available. It will work flawlessly on Mac computers. It is ideal for beginners, as the commands and interface are very easy to understand.

Whether you want to create a simple one, or you want something with many layers for videos on YouTube, you can use Pencil2D animation to get it done. Its timeline is easy to use at first glance. You can add and duplicate different frames on a different track.

The frequency of releasing the new version is very fast as Pencil2D is committed to bringing the lasted features to each user. The newest version is v0.6.4 (as of August 2019). Its user guide is informative with video tutorials, FAQs, and manual material.

Features:

• Lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for beginners.
• Features raster and vector workflows, with easy switching between them. You can paint and sketch as you want!
• Will run on all platforms - Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Completely free and open source.

03 TupiTube - Free Animation Application for Mac Users

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.

Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.

A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.

It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shapes.

It also offers a solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support, and ads-free, so many schools choose to use this one to teach kids how to make an animation video.

Features:

• Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
• You can import raster images using this program.
• You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
• Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear, and rotations.

04 Blender - Need Some Time to Learn This Animation Tool

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Really powerful software that you can make for professional users.

Con: It is not easy to make image animation as it focuses on 3D.

Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation suite without a watermark. If you find that 2D is a little bit limiting, we think that you will be very happy with what this free program offers. You can take your projects to a whole new level when you can use this program on your Mac.

You can use Blender to make a video game, modeling, and high-quality animation. However, it involves a steep learning curve. Luckily, there are many tutorials to guide you through the journey. You can also ask for help in the Blender community that millions of talented people like you are there.

Features:

• Creating renders is no problem with this program.
• Modeling, such as sculpting, retopology, and creating curves is not an issue either.
• VFX and animation features are better than any option on the market.
• It offers powerful simulation tools.
• Integration with pipeline tools is easy.

05 K-3D - Best for Animation and Modeling in 3D

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: Ideal for designing simple 3D animations and models.

Con: It has an old-fashioned interface. Also, the built-render (RenderMan) feature is difficult to use by beginners.

K-3D is an animation and 3D modeling software. You can download this tool for free on your Mac. Besides, you can also install and run it on your Windows and Linux systems. If you look at the design, you will find that the software is quite old. But don’t judge a book by its cover. Why so? It is because K-3D is one of the strongest and most versatile tools for 3D artists with many options.

For example, K-3D offers extremely systematic and methodological workflows. You can easily adjust the properties of the features in real-time and get instant results. It has a node-oriented visualization pipeline to enjoy more freedom. That means you can create animation using a variety of combinations.

One of the best things about K-3D is that it has three subdivisions of animation. You can work on your model on one side while showing the other side in a mirrored form. Then, experience the final result combined together. And in case you need to make the changes to the end results, you can simply work on the first subdivision and savor automatic changes to the results.

K-3D has an advanced redo and undo mechanism to ensure you can go back or move forward to make corrections or amendments without limits. Additionally, the tool is developed keeping in mind all the industrial standards. For instance, it has complete support and integration of native RenderMan™ to its user interface. This is an excellent feature because most free animation software for Mac requires third-party render plugins.

Features:

• Parametric workflow.
• 2D and 3D animation tools.
• Allows Python and K3DScript scripting.

06 Krita - For Professional 2D Animators

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Advanced tools with numerous animation options and online training material.

Con: Not suitable for beginners.

If you love 2D animation, then you’ll surely love Krita. It is entirely free software available on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Also, it offers a full platform for drawing and frame-by-frame animation.

The number one reason for adoring Krita is its brush library. There are more than 100 professional brushes to give you a wide range of effects. Moreover, the strokes are pretty amazing and similar to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Another great thing about Krita is the brush stabilization feature designed for shaky hands. You can add a stabilizer to your chosen brush to smoothen its flow. Besides, there’s a special Dynamic Brush tool to make animation more fun. At the same time, you can also customize your brushes through different brush engines, including filter engines, color smudge engines, and many more.

Apart from the basic brush options, the preloaded vector tools are next to admire. These tools help you make great comic panels. All you need to do is choose and drag the word bubble template on your canvas. Then, make changes with the anchor point to make new shapes. At the same time, you can also add text to your animation by using the text tool.

Last but not least, there’s a wrap-around mode to create seamless patterns and textures. That means the image or drawing makes its own references along the x-axis and y-axis. This gives you the freedom to continue painting and enjoy updates to your animation instantly.

Features:

• HDR painting.
• PSD support.
• Python scripting.
• Selection and transformation tools.
• Proper group, filter, vector, and file layer management.
• Complete color management for extraordinary results.
• Drawing assistant to help you with straight lines and vanishing points.

Part 2 Best Free Animation Software for Windows

Below is free animation software on Windows. Keep reading.

01 Anireel - Easy to Use Animation Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Anireel is a simple yet powerful Video Creativity tool used to make 2D animated explainer videos. Developed by Wondershare, one of the most popular Windows software and tool developers, Anireel uses rich, ready-to-use, and diverse assets to help one effortlessly make animated videos.

Features:

• There are tons of drag and drop characters, actions, props, text, and audio assets.
• Easy Text-to-Speech conversion via deep studying technology.
• Animate integrated and imported assets.
• Tons of templates that match many script types.

02 DAZ Studio - Free Software for 3D Lovers

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.

Con: It has a high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.

Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.

3D effects are the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build a model, render, and pose animation within the skin texture level. It has a high requirement for the device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.

Features:

• Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
• GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
• Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
• Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!

03 Terragen - Use It to Make CG Animation

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: The recently updated version is the best one. Ray-traced preview is a great function to help us make animation.

Con: The interface looks complicated, but it gets easy to know after you are familiar with it.

A completely free program that you can download and install on all Windows computers and tablets, Terragen is the ideal program for you to create the 3D animations and environments that you want. If you want a photo-realistic CG environment, using Terragen is the best way to do it!

Releasing imagination instantly, Terragen Creative is the one tool you’d like to consider. You can use it to make beautiful scenery.

For advanced tools, you can choose FBX to make animation quickly. The featured image gallery on its homepage will give you a deep understanding of the final outcome you can achieve with Terragen.

Features:

• Ray-traced preview. Without watermark after exporting
• Photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulation
• Rendering is twice as fast as the previous version of the program.
• Adding terrain, objects, and shader to your final product is very easy with the intuitive interface.

04 Anim8or - Free Tool to Make 3D Modeling

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Anim8or supports 3D modeler and TrueType fonts to meet advanced needs.

Con: Beginners will find it difficult to learn.

Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program that will let you create the unique work that you want. It is a personal project from an animator, but the program does get regular updates and troubleshooting.

It is not going to give you the same features as something like Studio Max or Maya, but you will get the basics. Beginners who are getting into animations will love this program.

Anim8or is a great tool to step into 3D animation ff you think other software is too different to start. In some way, it means you need to give up some advanced features. But all in all, it’s still recommended for you.

Features:

• A full 3D modeler that allows you to create spheres, cylinders, platonic solids, and any other objects that you want.
• Features support for TrueType fonts.
• Easy to create 3D scenes and output them as video files or images.

05 Seamless3d - Open-source Free Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is an open-source 3D modeling package. The good thing is the handy infinite Undo/Redo operation.

Con: Some advanced features are missing like drawing.

Seamless3d, an open-source 3D modeling software that you can download, is among the best animation worktables if you want to create specialized images, animated videos, or 3D characters.

It supports FFmpeg video format, so you can use AVI, MP4, and more. Besides, the forum is not active compared with before, but you still can find answers from many tutorials .

Features:

• It comes with infinite undo and redo options for complete flexibility to correct mistakes.
• It allows for partitioned and seamless texture mapping for YouTube videos.
• Has a specialized tree view interface.

06 OpenToonz - Support Plug in to Make Animation Freely

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It is open-source software, so you can change the code freely.

Con: The plug-in effects are limited.

This animation program is made for beginners on Windows. It is among the best 2D animation software in the market. You can use plug-in effects to change image style, add lights, and distort details. It supports Windows 7/8/10 only for 64 bit.

Features:

• You can add provisional colors to make your animation more colorful.
• Smooth correction without frame losing.
• Compatible with black-and-white, colored, or without binarization scanning.

7 Stykz - Simple to Use Animation Program for Beginners

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is the best stick figure animation if you want to make this kind of video.

Con: The UI is not modern to use and needs time to adapt to using it.

Stykz is completely free to use and without a watermark. If you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator, then you will find Stykz is similar to it, but you can import the previous .stk files to animate it again. You can use it to make animation smooth frame by frame.

With its frame-based feature, Stykz is easy to customize each frame. You can change previous and current frames to get what you want. You can download it to have a try considering its easy-to-use features.

Features:

• There is some animes file on this website, so you can have a reference.
• Edit animation in the software without using another editing window.
• You can share the final work with others including information.

Part 3 FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

01 Are Macs good for animation?

To be frank, Mac is a better choice to make animation if you want to have a smooth animation experience. For example, screen resolution is a crucial factor to make excellent animation. The good is Mac’s screen will never let you disappointed.

02 What is the best animation software for Mac?

The best animation software on mac includes Synfig Studio, Pencil2D Animation, Tupi, Blender, and more. Mentioned are free-to-use. Maya is also worth considering animation software if you are a professional user. Maya offers a 1-month free trial. After it is ended, the paid plans are month, 1-year, and 3-year.

03 Can you animate in Photoshop?

Yes, you can make basic animation in Photoshop. However, it only supports frame-based animation making. In this case, you need to use other professional software to make animation. But, you still can use Photoshop to meet your needs if you are a beginner.

Conclusion

With any of these free animation maker programs on Mac and Windows, you will have an easy time creating your next 2D or 3D video. Ensure you choose the program that has the features and compatibility that you desire. Then it is up to your creative mind to come up with stunning animations! If you want to make animation easily, you can also find inspiration through classical animated cartoon types with examples .

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

In your search for quality animation software, you may have found that many of the programs cost a lot of money no matter it is 2D animation software or 3D animation editor. The good news is that you can choose free animation tools to make different animation types easily.

That is why we created a list of the best animation software on both Mac and Windows. Whether you are a professional editor or just a beginner to start making animation, you will find the tools listed below are easy to use without watermark and won’t cost money to improve your skills.

The best part is you will find these free animation programs are also very useful for content creation on Mac and Windows. Besides, we have listed the pros and cons of each software. Keep reading!

• Part 1: Best Free Animation Software for Mac
• Part 2: Best Free Animation Software for Windows
• Part 3: FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

Here we have made a table of 12 free animation software without watermark on Windows and macOS. Take a look.

6 Free Animation Software for macOS

5K-3DMiddleIt is a great tool for 3D artists6KritaDifficultPerfect software for 2D animation

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	Synfig Studio	Easy	Calculate vector shape to animation automatically
2	Pencil2D Animation	Easiest	Straightforward interface for beginners
3	Tupi	Middle	Its community is active to offer solutions
4	Blender	Difficult	It is a powerful animation tool to render and make modeling

6 Free Animation Software for Windows

Number	Software	Difficulty Level	Highlight
1	DAZ Studio	Difficult	For professional users with the fast animation process
2	Terragen	Middle	It can make realistic CG environments
3	Anim8or	Difficult	3D animation is Anim8or’s main function
4	Seamless3d	Easy	It has many features for 3d modeling
5	OpenToonz	Middle	Make cartoon animation with plugins
6	Stykz	Easy	Quickly make animation if you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator

Best Animation Software on Windows and Mac - Filmora

Looking for a simple while powerful Mac video editing tool ? We recommend using Wondershare Filmora. You can use it to create 2D/3D animated texts, shapes, or anything you like for YouTube videos.

The keyframing features will help you make animation effects smooth and precise. When exporting, you can also make it transparent.

Besides, various title templates and transitions are also available for you. Download it now to have a try! Or learn more from Wondershare Video Community .

Key features

• Create various shapes that you like
• Add keyframing to make it move
• Fine-tuning to make it smooth
• Add visual effects/text/color before export it

You can even create photo cut animation which has been very trendy on Tiktok and Instagram. Here is a video to present you how you can do it in Filmora.

Part 1 Best Free Animation Software for Mac

Listed below is free animation software on Mac. Take a look.

01 Synfig Studio - Mac Software to Animate Video

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: You can create many layers once a time and sync audio for your animation.

Con: This one needs much time to learn, especially for beginners.

An open-source 2D animation software that works on Macs, Synfig Studio delivers multiple players while you are creating content. Whether you want to add geometric, filters, distortions, or transformations, it is all possible! And thanks to the high-end bone system, you can create cut-out videos using bitmap images!

The thoughtful part is there are two download versions on the homepage: the stable version and the development version. If you want to enjoy a stable and smooth animation editing experience, choose the stable one. However, the development package gives you access to the use of the latest features.

For a novice, you can learn Synfig from step by step guide in Wikipedia and video tutorials. Four languages are available including English, Russian, Dutch, and French for a video course.

You can free download its latest version 1.3.11. The upcoming version is 1.4.

Features:

• It offers support for many layers within the animation.
• The program’s bone system means that you can easily create animations with bitmap images or vector artwork.
• It allows you to sync your creative work with any sound that you want. Has a full-featured audio editor.

02 Pencil2D Animation - Animation Program for 2D Pencil Lover

Difficulty Level: Easiest

Pro: Easy to start and make animation as the interface is user-friendly for many people.

Con: You need to set your preference every time to open it up, so it takes up some time

Pencil2D Animation is one of the simplest 2D hand-drawn tools available. It will work flawlessly on Mac computers. It is ideal for beginners, as the commands and interface are very easy to understand.

Whether you want to create a simple one, or you want something with many layers for videos on YouTube, you can use Pencil2D animation to get it done. Its timeline is easy to use at first glance. You can add and duplicate different frames on a different track.

The frequency of releasing the new version is very fast as Pencil2D is committed to bringing the lasted features to each user. The newest version is v0.6.4 (as of August 2019). Its user guide is informative with video tutorials, FAQs, and manual material.

Features:

• Lightweight and minimalistic design that makes it very easy for beginners.
• Features raster and vector workflows, with easy switching between them. You can paint and sketch as you want!
• Will run on all platforms - Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Completely free and open source.

03 TupiTube - Free Animation Application for Mac Users

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It supports vector illustrations. Besides, various formats are available.

Con: If you want to make 3D animation, it will fail. You can only make 2D effects.

A free software application for YouTube, Tupi will allow you to create 2D animations to your heart’s content. The tool was started by animators who wanted to create something that others could use.

It is an open-source tool, which means that users can make tweaks to the program if they have some interesting ideas. The program works on both Windows and Mac. You need to use Tupi and Papagayo to make lip-sync animation with different mouth shapes.

It also offers a solution for schools with related features including academic license, technical support, and ads-free, so many schools choose to use this one to teach kids how to make an animation video.

Features:

• Support for vector illustrations. You can add rectangles, lines, polygons, and other shapes as you please. To fill areas, just use the paint bucket.
• You can import raster images using this program.
• You can export all your finished images into different file formats.
• Support for tweeting positions, scale, shear, and rotations.

04 Blender - Need Some Time to Learn This Animation Tool

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Really powerful software that you can make for professional users.

Con: It is not easy to make image animation as it focuses on 3D.

Blender is an open-source 3D animation creation suite without a watermark. If you find that 2D is a little bit limiting, we think that you will be very happy with what this free program offers. You can take your projects to a whole new level when you can use this program on your Mac.

You can use Blender to make a video game, modeling, and high-quality animation. However, it involves a steep learning curve. Luckily, there are many tutorials to guide you through the journey. You can also ask for help in the Blender community that millions of talented people like you are there.

Features:

• Creating renders is no problem with this program.
• Modeling, such as sculpting, retopology, and creating curves is not an issue either.
• VFX and animation features are better than any option on the market.
• It offers powerful simulation tools.
• Integration with pipeline tools is easy.

05 K-3D - Best for Animation and Modeling in 3D

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: Ideal for designing simple 3D animations and models.

Con: It has an old-fashioned interface. Also, the built-render (RenderMan) feature is difficult to use by beginners.

K-3D is an animation and 3D modeling software. You can download this tool for free on your Mac. Besides, you can also install and run it on your Windows and Linux systems. If you look at the design, you will find that the software is quite old. But don’t judge a book by its cover. Why so? It is because K-3D is one of the strongest and most versatile tools for 3D artists with many options.

For example, K-3D offers extremely systematic and methodological workflows. You can easily adjust the properties of the features in real-time and get instant results. It has a node-oriented visualization pipeline to enjoy more freedom. That means you can create animation using a variety of combinations.

One of the best things about K-3D is that it has three subdivisions of animation. You can work on your model on one side while showing the other side in a mirrored form. Then, experience the final result combined together. And in case you need to make the changes to the end results, you can simply work on the first subdivision and savor automatic changes to the results.

K-3D has an advanced redo and undo mechanism to ensure you can go back or move forward to make corrections or amendments without limits. Additionally, the tool is developed keeping in mind all the industrial standards. For instance, it has complete support and integration of native RenderMan™ to its user interface. This is an excellent feature because most free animation software for Mac requires third-party render plugins.

Features:

• Parametric workflow.
• 2D and 3D animation tools.
• Allows Python and K3DScript scripting.

06 Krita - For Professional 2D Animators

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Advanced tools with numerous animation options and online training material.

Con: Not suitable for beginners.

If you love 2D animation, then you’ll surely love Krita. It is entirely free software available on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Also, it offers a full platform for drawing and frame-by-frame animation.

The number one reason for adoring Krita is its brush library. There are more than 100 professional brushes to give you a wide range of effects. Moreover, the strokes are pretty amazing and similar to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Another great thing about Krita is the brush stabilization feature designed for shaky hands. You can add a stabilizer to your chosen brush to smoothen its flow. Besides, there’s a special Dynamic Brush tool to make animation more fun. At the same time, you can also customize your brushes through different brush engines, including filter engines, color smudge engines, and many more.

Apart from the basic brush options, the preloaded vector tools are next to admire. These tools help you make great comic panels. All you need to do is choose and drag the word bubble template on your canvas. Then, make changes with the anchor point to make new shapes. At the same time, you can also add text to your animation by using the text tool.

Last but not least, there’s a wrap-around mode to create seamless patterns and textures. That means the image or drawing makes its own references along the x-axis and y-axis. This gives you the freedom to continue painting and enjoy updates to your animation instantly.

Features:

• HDR painting.
• PSD support.
• Python scripting.
• Selection and transformation tools.
• Proper group, filter, vector, and file layer management.
• Complete color management for extraordinary results.
• Drawing assistant to help you with straight lines and vanishing points.

Part 2 Best Free Animation Software for Windows

Below is free animation software on Windows. Keep reading.

01 Anireel - Easy to Use Animation Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Anireel is a simple yet powerful Video Creativity tool used to make 2D animated explainer videos. Developed by Wondershare, one of the most popular Windows software and tool developers, Anireel uses rich, ready-to-use, and diverse assets to help one effortlessly make animated videos.

Features:

• There are tons of drag and drop characters, actions, props, text, and audio assets.
• Easy Text-to-Speech conversion via deep studying technology.
• Animate integrated and imported assets.
• Tons of templates that match many script types.

02 DAZ Studio - Free Software for 3D Lovers

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: You can make game animation for fun. It also supports GPU accelerated real-time rendering.

Con: It has a high demand for the device, but owns a steep learning curve.

Daz 3d is a powerful and completely free 3D creation tool that will let you create the short videos that you want. Whether you are using this for business or pleasure, you will find the program is very easy to understand. Within a day, you will be completely used to its interface.

3D effects are the core focus of DAZ Studio. You can build a model, render, and pose animation within the skin texture level. It has a high requirement for the device. For Windows 64 bits, its recommended RAM is 3G.

Features:

• Options for 3D morphing, animation, and rendering.
• GPU accelerated real-time rendering, which delivers the best results.
• Interactive tutorials to help you become a better 3D artist.
• Everything you make is yours, royalty-free!

03 Terragen - Use It to Make CG Animation

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: The recently updated version is the best one. Ray-traced preview is a great function to help us make animation.

Con: The interface looks complicated, but it gets easy to know after you are familiar with it.

A completely free program that you can download and install on all Windows computers and tablets, Terragen is the ideal program for you to create the 3D animations and environments that you want. If you want a photo-realistic CG environment, using Terragen is the best way to do it!

Releasing imagination instantly, Terragen Creative is the one tool you’d like to consider. You can use it to make beautiful scenery.

For advanced tools, you can choose FBX to make animation quickly. The featured image gallery on its homepage will give you a deep understanding of the final outcome you can achieve with Terragen.

Features:

• Ray-traced preview. Without watermark after exporting
• Photo-realistic clouds and ozone simulation
• Rendering is twice as fast as the previous version of the program.
• Adding terrain, objects, and shader to your final product is very easy with the intuitive interface.

04 Anim8or - Free Tool to Make 3D Modeling

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Pro: Anim8or supports 3D modeler and TrueType fonts to meet advanced needs.

Con: Beginners will find it difficult to learn.

Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program that will let you create the unique work that you want. It is a personal project from an animator, but the program does get regular updates and troubleshooting.

It is not going to give you the same features as something like Studio Max or Maya, but you will get the basics. Beginners who are getting into animations will love this program.

Anim8or is a great tool to step into 3D animation ff you think other software is too different to start. In some way, it means you need to give up some advanced features. But all in all, it’s still recommended for you.

Features:

• A full 3D modeler that allows you to create spheres, cylinders, platonic solids, and any other objects that you want.
• Features support for TrueType fonts.
• Easy to create 3D scenes and output them as video files or images.

05 Seamless3d - Open-source Free Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is an open-source 3D modeling package. The good thing is the handy infinite Undo/Redo operation.

Con: Some advanced features are missing like drawing.

Seamless3d, an open-source 3D modeling software that you can download, is among the best animation worktables if you want to create specialized images, animated videos, or 3D characters.

It supports FFmpeg video format, so you can use AVI, MP4, and more. Besides, the forum is not active compared with before, but you still can find answers from many tutorials .

Features:

• It comes with infinite undo and redo options for complete flexibility to correct mistakes.
• It allows for partitioned and seamless texture mapping for YouTube videos.
• Has a specialized tree view interface.

06 OpenToonz - Support Plug in to Make Animation Freely

Difficulty Level: Middle

Pro: It is open-source software, so you can change the code freely.

Con: The plug-in effects are limited.

This animation program is made for beginners on Windows. It is among the best 2D animation software in the market. You can use plug-in effects to change image style, add lights, and distort details. It supports Windows 7/8/10 only for 64 bit.

Features:

• You can add provisional colors to make your animation more colorful.
• Smooth correction without frame losing.
• Compatible with black-and-white, colored, or without binarization scanning.

7 Stykz - Simple to Use Animation Program for Beginners

Difficulty Level: Easy

Pro: It is the best stick figure animation if you want to make this kind of video.

Con: The UI is not modern to use and needs time to adapt to using it.

Stykz is completely free to use and without a watermark. If you have used Pivot StickFigure Animator, then you will find Stykz is similar to it, but you can import the previous .stk files to animate it again. You can use it to make animation smooth frame by frame.

With its frame-based feature, Stykz is easy to customize each frame. You can change previous and current frames to get what you want. You can download it to have a try considering its easy-to-use features.

Features:

• There is some animes file on this website, so you can have a reference.
• Edit animation in the software without using another editing window.
• You can share the final work with others including information.

Part 3 FAQ about Animation Software for Windows and Mac

01 Are Macs good for animation?

To be frank, Mac is a better choice to make animation if you want to have a smooth animation experience. For example, screen resolution is a crucial factor to make excellent animation. The good is Mac’s screen will never let you disappointed.

02 What is the best animation software for Mac?

The best animation software on mac includes Synfig Studio, Pencil2D Animation, Tupi, Blender, and more. Mentioned are free-to-use. Maya is also worth considering animation software if you are a professional user. Maya offers a 1-month free trial. After it is ended, the paid plans are month, 1-year, and 3-year.

03 Can you animate in Photoshop?

Yes, you can make basic animation in Photoshop. However, it only supports frame-based animation making. In this case, you need to use other professional software to make animation. But, you still can use Photoshop to meet your needs if you are a beginner.

Conclusion

With any of these free animation maker programs on Mac and Windows, you will have an easy time creating your next 2D or 3D video. Ensure you choose the program that has the features and compatibility that you desire. Then it is up to your creative mind to come up with stunning animations! If you want to make animation easily, you can also find inspiration through classical animated cartoon types with examples .

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

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