How to make a slideshow with music and pictures for free
Start by creating a new project with our slideshow maker
Selecting the plus button in the web or iOS app will open a slide-based editor. We suggest storyboarding your slideshow story within the app by selecting one of the pre-loaded story structures or creating your own.
Add media to the slides
Choose between images, video clips, icons, or text. You can search for free images within Spark or use your own. Add up to 30 seconds of video at a time to each slide. We recommend using short video clips or images to visually represent your message.
Select pre-designed layouts
Present your media in a variety of layouts by selecting one of the pre-loaded placements from the “Layouts” tab.
Use text to communicate key information or calls to action
Adding on-screen text to your slideshow enhances your messaging. You can also add voiceover to your slideshow by hitting the red button and speaking into your phone or computer.
Spice it up with a theme and soundtrack
Adobe Spark comes pre-loaded with themes that control the overall look and feel of your slideshow. Themes power transitions between slides and the motion of elements. Select the “Themes” category to choose from unique themes. You can also add music by uploading your own track or selecting one of the free audio tracks in Spark
Publish and share
Sharing your completed slideshow is a great way to boost visibility and viewership. Save your slideshow directly to your device or copy the link to share it online. Post the slideshow on your social media platforms, YouTube channels, blog, or send it by text or email. Adobe Spark makes it easy to showcase your creations through whatever channels you desire.
- IMovie is an excellent free slideshow maker for Mac. It has been around for a long time & has always aimed at one goal: ease of use in a simple & intuitive interface. The slideshow creator is available for both iOS & macOS, & you can browse your clips to create stunning 4K-resolution videos or movies.
- PhotoStage Professional Slideshow Maker for Mac. Creating a dynamic slideshow is quick and easy with the intuitive interface of PhotoStage Slideshow Maker guiding you through the process.
Slideshow Creator Software. Easy-to-use - Drag and drop images to arrange the slides. Or turn a folder of images into a slideshow with Quick Create. Full of effects - Includes zoom, crop, fade, pan, Ken Burns effect and more to bring your photos to life; Enhance your photos - Touch up or enhance your photos and videos with optimization tools. The software I chose to use is Slideshow DVD Creator. According to its name, you can know that it is a dvd photo slideshow software. But it can not only burn slideshow to DVD, but also can encode slideshow to MOV/ MP4. Of course, it is convenient if you also want to burn your slideshow to DVD, for it has the built-in DVD burner. Use Spark Video as a slideshow creator to communicate your message concisely and in a way that engages your audiences. You don’t need extensive knowledge of a video editor or advanced programming skills to create eye-catching video presentations.
Slideshows are an important tool for many people, whether you’re putting together a business presentation, a photo collection for family, a simple slideshow with music or something else. Whatever your need, a slideshow software that delivers professional and high-quality results will be something you will want to use.
In 2020 we rechecked our older version of the slideshow software list and added one more new cool online service. Thanks to the versatility of the apps we offer below you can easily create slideshows on any PC – be that Windows, or Mac – or your favorite smartphone. From completely free slideshow makers to premium programs and everything in between, we have you covered.
Free slideshow software for PC
1. Icecream Slideshow Maker – best free slideshow maker
When creating a slideshow, the most important thing is strong features to make your final presentation more dynamic. However, other factors are also important, such as ease of use, design, and accessibility. In terms of those criteria, Icecream Slideshow Maker is an absolute winner.
This slideshow software is completely beautiful and so easy-to-use; a modern experience that makes building a slideshow an interesting thing to do. Users can add images one by one or by while folders from PC and get user-friendly tools for customizing the slideshow. Such parameters as slide and transition duration along with the transition effects can be customized in this free slideshow maker.
Icecream Slideshow Maker is free to use, with an optional premium version that gives more pro features. The program supports the addition of multiple audio files per slideshow; uploading of the created videos to Google Drive, Dropbox, and YouTube directly from the program; and offers the feature to burn DVDs with the slideshows, and even more.
One of the best slideshow maker software is the easy-to-use ability for previewing photo slideshows before saving, while time and transition effects are also welcome additions.
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Freemium, PRO version $19.95
File Size: 20 MB
Our Rating:10 / 10
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2. PhotoStage Slideshow Software – slideshow maker with a photo editor
Of all the slideshow editing and creation apps we tried, Photostage Slideshow Software was the easiest to use with the simplest tools and instructions. This slideshow maker can deliver professional-level slideshows that are fully customizable to personal demands. Core features are on board, such as transitions, images, videos, music, and other media integrations.
We also like the in-built photo editor of this slideshow maker, which is powerful enough to be a worthy dedicated editor for your images. Photostage Slideshow Software also stands out from the competition because its output options are more diverse than many rival apps. The only thing that hampers the overall experience is the slightly archaic and dated design and the fact the free version is time-capped to one month.
OS: Windows 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Free One-Month Trial, PRO version $24.99+
File Size: 5 MB
Our Rating:9 / 10
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3. Proshow Gold – slideshow maker with in-built themes and music
Like Photostage, Proshow Gold is a limited-trial free slideshow software that you will need to pay for to use the features in the long term. Still, it does everything you want a consistent slideshow maker to do, including efficient use of media. Including movies, images, and audio is easy, while importing from social media like Facebook and Instagram is efficient.
The app features very good integrated themes that you can choose to lead the design of your presentation. Additionally, Proshow Gold features a long list of royalty-free music that can accompany a slideshow. There are plenty of automated features that will appeal to beginners and pro-users alike; although you will only get these features for free for a limited time.
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Free One-Month Trial, PRO version $69.95+
File Size: 45 MB
Our Rating:8 / 10
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Best online slideshow maker tools
1. Slidely – an advanced online slideshow maker
Slidely is entirely web based and is completely free to use. The former of those has good and bad implications which we will discuss, but at its core Slidely is an excellent slideshow maker that anyone can use.
Being a modern web app, the slideshow maker is slick and contemporary, offering a stylish UI to carry out presentations with slick tools and a strong feature set. Connections to social media are at the heart of the experience, allowing easy integration of slideshows on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others.
The one clear limitation is that this is a web experience only. In other words, you must be connected to the internet to even use Slidely as there is no offline functionality or dedicated download.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating:8 / 10
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2. Kizoa – easy-to-use online slideshow maker
Kizoa is a free slideshow maker that is extremely easy to use thanks to its large amount of pop-ups with tips and information on how exactly to use this slideshow software. Kizoa supports using preset templates (grouped by categories) for the slideshows or creating them manually from scratch.
The images can be uploaded to the slideshow software from your computer or from Facebook. There are 48 various transition effects and 58 effects that you can add to the pictures themselves. Text can be added to each slide, and there is a selection of various text styles that can be applied to the text with this free slideshow maker. GIFs and music (both preset) are also offered to add to the slideshows. The added images can be used as is and can be automatically centered and fitted to avoid blank sides in the videos.
Slideshow Program For Macbook
All in all it’s a great free slideshow maker to use. The only downside comes once you actually create a slideshow, preview it, and then opt to share the videos online, by email, save it as a file, upload it to YouTube or Facebook, or burn it to a DVD, as you will be asked to create an account for that.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating:8 / 10
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Slideshow Creator Software For Mac
3. Kapwing – online slideshow maker with impressive number of tools
Kapwing is an online slideshow software that not only supports images, but also video files of MP4, WebM and 3GPP formats. Uploading of YouTube videos is available in this free slideshow maker. This is definitely a great feature however since this service is a web based one it might be time consuming to upload and process large files and long videos. You can add blank scenes and select a custom color for it and select the aspect ratio of your slideshow: 1:1, 9:16, 16:9, 4:5, 5:4 and Custom Size. For each scene you can edit duration. The scenes can be duplicated and deleted.
If you open the “Studio” view of Kapwing you can find advanced editing options such as addition of text, images (the collection is offered by the service), shapes, audio and subtitles. You can save the draft throughout the process whenever required in this free slideshow maker. The created slideshow is available online by URL and you can save it in MP4 format. Moreover you can resume working on your slideshow after it is published.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free, PRO 20 USD per month
Our Rating:9 / 10
Professional Slideshow Maker Mac
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4. Google Slides – free slideshow maker by Google
Google Slides is another great online, free slideshow maker with a highly intuitive interface and a selection of 26 templates. If you don’t select any preset template, you will have a selection of blank slides to which you can not only add text and images, but videos, shapes, tables, charts, diagrams, lines, special characters, and animations too.
The text added to slides of this free slideshow maker can be fully formatted (spacing, font size and type, alignment, etc.). New slides can be added with a single mouse click. The images can be uploaded from your computer, from Google Drive, or uploaded by URL. Another great feature of the slideshow software is the auto-save feature. All the changes made are automatically saved in your Google Drive account. Transitions between the slides can also be customized. The created slideshow can be shared by a direct link or you can invite people to view the slideshow by email. As for downloading it, Google Slides supports the following output formats: PPTX, ODP, PDF, and TXT.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating:8 / 10
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We think that any decent slideshow maker should come with some core features. The ability to integrate media like images, video, and audio are necessary to putting professional touches to your work. All the services on our list have this ability and a range of other features, such as social media integration, templates, and photo editing tools. Turn to a free video editor in case you need to work on your slideshow video further.
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