How does one save an edited clip to a file?

[BGDavis]

I have just downloaded the most recent version of VLC.
I opened an .mts clip, made edits (color, contrast, etc.). I saved it (I thought) with a different name, in its original folder on my computer. I saved it as mp4.
HOWEVER:
The edits only show up when I play it on VLC viewer. The edits do not show up if I play it on any other player. The only change is that there is now an mp4 file which was created by VLC. The original mts file was converted, but none of the edits were saved to the new mp4 file.
It appears that all I've saved are the settings for VLC viewing. Obviously I haven't saved any editing changes to the clip itself. How can I actually save the editing changes to the clip, so that they appear no matter what player I use?