Originally published at: Final Cut Pro 12, Compressor 5, and Motion 6 - TidBITS
Apple has released upgrades to its professional video apps—Final Cut Pro 12, Compressor 5, and Motion 6—as part of the recently announced Apple Creator Studio (see “Apple Bundles Pro Apps into New Creator Studio Subscription,” 15 January 2026). Final Cut Pro 12 introduces Transcript Search (which allows you to find spoken words or phrases in footage) and Visual Search (which enables you to locate moments, objects, and actions) using natural language (both require a Mac with Apple silicon). The video editor also adds Beat Detection for analyzing a song to reveal its bars and beats (for editing to the music’s rhythm); updates the toolbar menu for quicker access to creating new projects, events, and libraries; resolves an issue that could cause an adjustment clip to disappear when using Overwrite to Primary Storyline; and fixes a bug that could cause role colors to change when upgrading a library from a previous version.
Compressor 5 adds support for creating files for an Apple Immersive Video package for playback and HTTP live streaming on Apple Vision Pro.
Motion 6 adds the AI-powered Magnetic Mask for isolating people, objects, and shapes in any footage without a green screen; dramatically enhances the speed of 3D text playback and rendering; improves performance with FxPlug plug-ins that store large amounts of data; resolves an issue in the Keyframe Editor that caused Bezier handles to become misaligned; fixes a bug where the text ruler background did not appear for vertical text using the Scroll layout method; and addresses a rendering issue with the Concentric Polka Dots generator that occurred on some Mac models.
All three apps are bundled with the Apple Creator Studio subscription, which costs $12.99 per month or $129 per year, and they are still sold as standalone one-time purchases. (Free updates. Final Cut Pro, $299.99 new, 7.39 GB, release notes, macOS 14.6+; Compressor, $49.99 new, 253.2 MB, release notes, macOS 14.6+; Motion, $49.99 new, 3.94 GB, release notes, macOS 15.6+)