Source: Love Mac | Software download link: Movavi Video Converter 2021 for Mac

Movavi Video Converter 2021 for Mac is a full-featured, intuitive video format conversion and basic editing software. It supports a vast range of multimedia formats and offers practical features such as compression, simple trimming, watermarking, and subtitles, designed to meet users’ daily video processing needs on their Apple computers.

I. Detailed Overview of the Core Interface and Workspace

After launching the software, the main interface is divided into the following clearly defined functional areas:

Top Menu Bar and Toolbar: Includes standard menus such as File, Edit, and View, as well as shortcut buttons for common functions like “Add Media” and “Convert.”
Central Media Panel: This is the core workspace. After adding files, all media files to be processed are displayed in this area as a thumbnail list. You can preview files and adjust the processing order here.
Right-Side Settings Panel: When one or more media files are selected, this panel becomes active. It contains three main tabs:
- “Convert” Tab: Used to select the output format (e.g., MP4, MOV, MKV, etc.) and presets (e.g., “Suitable for iPhone 12”).
- “Compress” Tab: Intuitively adjust file size, quality, or bitrate using sliders.
- “Edit” Tab: Provides tools for trimming, rotating, adding text/image watermarks, adjusting colors, adding subtitles, and more.
Bottom Output Settings & Operation Area: Here you can set the output folder path, and there is a prominent large “Convert” button. The conversion progress will also be displayed in this area.

II. Complete Workflow: From Import to Export

The following are the complete steps to finish a video conversion task from scratch.

1. Create/Open a Project and Add Media Files

Action: After launching the software, you are already in a new project. There are four main ways to add media files:

Click the “Add Media” button in the center of the interface, then select “Add File…” or “Add Folder…”.
Drag files or folders directly from Finder to the central media panel of the software.
Use the menu bar: File > Add File… (shortcut Cmd + O).
Import from a connected camera or iOS device (if supported).

2. Select Output Format and Adjust Parameters

Action: Select one or more files in the central panel, then operate in the “Convert” tab of the right panel.

In the “Presets” list, select the target category (such as “Video,” “Device,” “Network”).
In the expanded list, click a specific preset (such as “Video > MP4” or “Apple > iPhone 13”). The software will automatically configure the optimal encoding parameters.
If fine-tuning is needed, click the “gear” icon below the preset name to open the advanced settings window, where you can adjust the encoder, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, and more.

3. (Optional) Use editing features

Action: After selecting a file, switch to the “Edit” tab in the right panel.

Crop: Click the “Crop” button, then drag the border in the preview window or directly enter the size ratio.
Watermark: Click the “Watermark” button to add a text or image watermark and set its position and opacity.
Adjust: Click the “Adjust” button to use sliders to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and more.
Subtitles: Click the “Subtitles” button to load subtitle files such as SRT and set the encoding and position.
All editing operations can be previewed in real time using the playback controls above the preview window.

4. Set the output directory and start conversion

Action: Make the final settings in the bottom area of the interface.

Click the “Save To” drop-down menu or the “Folder” icon next to it to select the storage location for the converted files.
Confirm that the output format and parameter settings for all files are correct.
Click the large “Convert” button at the bottom (or press the shortcut Cmd + R) to start processing.
During conversion, the progress bar will show the overall progress, and you can click the “Hide” button to minimize the software to run in the background.

5. Completion and Viewing Results

Action: A notification will pop up once the conversion is complete.

Within the software, a “Task Complete” prompt will be displayed.
You can click the “Open Folder” button in the prompt to quickly locate the output files in Finder.
You can also directly click the “Open” link in the media file list (located below the file name) to quickly play the output file.

III. Advanced Tips for Common Features

Batch convert to different formats: You can select multiple files at once, specify different output formats and parameters for each file individually, and then batch convert them all at once.
Ultra-fast compression: On the “Compress” tab, simply drag the slider to set the target file size, and the software will automatically calculate the optimal compression parameters — this is the fastest way to balance size and quality.
Preserve metadata: In the advanced settings (click the “gear” icon), check the “Preserve metadata” option to retain information such as the original video’s recording date and camera model in the converted file.
Screenshot feature: When previewing a video, use the “camera” icon button below the playback controls to capture the current frame and save it as an image, making it easy to create video thumbnails.
Preset favorites: For frequently used custom format settings, you can adjust them in the advanced settings, then click the “Save Preset” button and give it a name. It will then appear in the “My Presets” category for quick access next time.

IV. Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: When adding a file, a “file format not supported” message appears.
Solution: Movavi Video Converter supports a very wide range of formats, but if you encounter an extremely rare or specially encoded file, try using another tool to convert it to a common intermediate format first (such as MP4 with H.264), then process it with this software.
Issue: The converted video has no sound.
Solution: Check the advanced settings of the output format and make sure the audio codec is not set to “None.” Typically, choose a highly compatible format such as “AAC” or “MP3.”
Problem: Conversion speed is relatively slow.
Solution: Make sure that in the menu bar under “Movavi Video Converter > Preferences > Performance”, “Hardware Acceleration” is enabled (such as Intel Quick Sync or hardware encoding on Apple Silicon chips). Also, close other applications on your computer that are using a large amount of CPU.
Problem: How do I extract only the audio from a video?
Solution: In the preset list on the “Convert” tab, select the “Audio” category, then choose a pure audio format such as MP3, AAC, or FLAC. After conversion, you will get an audio file.
Problem: The watermark position added during editing is inaccurate.
Solution: In the watermark settings, in addition to using the nine-grid preset positions, you can also enter specific horizontal and vertical offset percentages (X%, Y%) for pixel-level precise positioning.

V. Keyboard Shortcuts Summary (Mac Version)

Function	Shortcut	Description
New Project	`Cmd + N`	Clear the current media list and start a new project
Open File	`Cmd + O`	Open the file selection dialog
Remove Item from List	`Delete`	Remove the selected media file (does not delete it from disk)
Select All	`Cmd + A`	Select all files in the media list
Start Conversion	`Cmd + R`	Start the conversion process
Pause/Resume Conversion	`Cmd + P`	Pause or resume during the conversion process
Preferences	`Cmd + ,`	Open the software preferences window
Hide Software Window	`Cmd + H`	Hide the Movavi Video Converter window
Quit Software	`Cmd + Q`	Completely quit the application
Open Help	`Cmd + ?`	Open the help documentation