Video Trimmer: Trim Video Online Without Losing Quality
Drag the start and end handles, play the selection, and download just that part. When it can, the trimmer copies the video as it is instead of re-encoding, so a cut from a long recording takes seconds and looks exactly like the original. Nothing is uploaded.
How to trim a video
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Open your video
Choose the file or drop it on the box. A filmstrip of the whole video appears under the preview.
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Mark the part to keep
Drag the orange handles on the filmstrip, or play to the right moment and press Set start here and Set end here. You can also type times such as 1:15.5. The handles also move with the arrow keys.
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Check it
Press Play selection to watch just the part you are keeping.
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Choose the cut type and trim
Fast copies the video without re-encoding. Exact frame re-encodes so the clip starts on the precise frame you picked. Press Trim video and download the result.
Why a cut without re-encoding is better (and when it is not)
A video file is not a stack of separate pictures. To save space, most frames only store what changed since the frame before. Every so often there is a keyframe, a complete picture that the following frames build on. A player can only start cleanly from a keyframe.
The fast cut copies the compressed video straight into a new file, from the keyframe at or just before your start point to your end point. Nothing is decoded or compressed again, so the quality is identical to the original, it works even in browsers without a video encoder, and an hour-long file is cut in seconds. The catch is the start: if your start point falls between keyframes, the clip begins slightly earlier. The tool tells you exactly how much earlier before you trim.
Exact frame mode decodes the video and encodes it again from the precise frame you chose. It takes longer and the quality drops very slightly, which is rarely visible. Use it when the first frame matters, for example when a clip has to start on a word or a cut.
Some files cannot be copied at all, for example a MOV with an audio format that MP4 and WebM cannot hold. The trimmer then re-encodes automatically and says so on the result.
Fast cut and exact cut compared
| Fast (no re-encode) | Exact frame | |
|---|---|---|
| Start point | Nearest keyframe at or before your start | Exactly where you put it |
| End point | Where you put it | Where you put it |
| Quality | Identical to the original | Re-encoded once at high quality |
| Speed | Seconds, even for long files | Depends on clip length and your device |
| Needs a video encoder | No | Yes (WebCodecs) |
| Output | Same codecs as the source, in MP4 or WebM | MP4 (H.264), or WebM where H.264 is missing |
Tips for trimming clips for social
- Cut the warm-up. The first seconds decide whether people keep watching. Start on the first strong line, not on “so, um”. Our guide to video hooks has examples.
- Trim before you resize. Cutting first means the slower step, reframing to 9:16 with the video resizer, only works on the part you need.
- Check the length limit. YouTube Shorts top out at 3 minutes; TikTok and Reels limits are in our TikTok size guide and Reels size guide.
- Big files are fine. The video is read in pieces, so a multi-gigabyte recording opens without loading it all into memory. In Chrome and Edge, turn on Save straight to disk for long cuts.
Trimming a long video into Shorts one clip at a time?
Short.now finds the strongest moments in a long video, reframes each one to 9:16 with face tracking and adds captions, so you review clips instead of scrubbing for them.
Questions
Use the Fast cut. It copies the compressed video into a new file without re-encoding it, so the result is identical in quality to the original. The only trade-off is that it starts on the nearest keyframe at or before your start point.
A cut without re-encoding has to start on a keyframe. The tool shows how far before your start point that keyframe is. Switch to Exact frame if you need the clip to start on the precise frame.
No. The trimmer runs in your browser and the file stays on your device. There is no account and no watermark.
MP4 and MOV from phones and cameras, WebM and MKV. A fast cut keeps the original codecs: MP4 and MOV come out as MP4, WebM stays WebM.
Yes. Fast cuts work in any modern mobile browser. Exact-frame cuts need WebCodecs video encoding, which Safari has had since 16.4 and Chrome since 94 (per MDN browser compatibility data, checked November 2026).
This tool keeps one continuous part. To remove a middle section, trim the two parts you want to keep one at a time and join them in an editor.
