Cutting is different from trimming
Trimming keeps one piece and removes the start and end. When you cut a video, you can take out any number of pieces from anywhere in it, and the remaining parts are joined into a single file. Typical cases:
- a lecture or online lesson with a long break in the middle;
- a screen recording where you opened the wrong window;
- a recorded TV show or stream with advert breaks;
- a family video with a moment someone does not want to keep;
- a talk with false starts and "let me try that again".
If you only need to remove the beginning and end, the trim video tool is quicker. You can also do both here: removing the first and last part works just like removing a part in the middle.
Two ways to mark a part
Split and delete. Play the video, and at the start of an unwanted part press S to split the film strip at the playhead. Press S again where it ends. Now click the piece between the two split points and press Delete. The piece is marked as removed and added to the list of removed parts.
Range. Set a start with I (Start here) and an end with O (End here), or type exact times. Press Play range to check it, then choose Cut out this range to remove it. If you would rather keep only that range and throw away everything else, choose Keep only this range.
Every removed part appears in a list with its times. Press Restore next to a part to put it back. While you play, the preview jumps over removed parts, so you see and hear the final result before you save it. A summary shows the new length and how many parts are kept.
Fast lossless cutting
Turn on Fast cut (no re-encoding) to save in seconds without any quality loss. The parts are copied from the original file instead of being compressed again. The catch is that each cut moves to the nearest key frame, the point where the video stores a full picture. So a little more of the video may be kept than you selected. The tool tells you the real kept ranges and how many extra seconds this adds.
Some videos, especially from screen recorders and certain cameras, have few key frames. Then the tool warns you, and it is better to switch fast cut off for exact cuts. Fast cut also needs the same format as the source, quality "Same as source" and the original resolution.
After cutting
The default output keeps the format and quality of your file. You can change it to MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV, GIF or an older format, or lower the resolution to make the file smaller. An estimate of the size is shown before you export.
To cut the video, the tool works inside your browser, and the recording is not sent anywhere. That is important for meeting recordings and lessons that contain names and faces. When the file is ready, you can send it to another tool. For example, cut the pauses first, then add captions with add subtitles, or make it smaller with the MP4 compressor.