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Trim video

Select start and end times to cut your video. Fast mode cuts near keyframes (instant), precise mode re-encodes for frame-accurate results.

How Trim video works

Cut a video to a specific start and end time directly in your browser using ffmpeg WebAssembly. Two modes are available: fast stream copy seeks to the nearest keyframe before your chosen start point and cuts at the nearest keyframe after the end point, completing in seconds regardless of clip length, but the actual cut boundaries may drift by up to a few frames from your target timestamps. Precise re-encode mode transcodes the selected segment with libx264, giving frame-perfect accuracy at the cost of extra CPU time.

Copy mode is ideal for rough cuts where a fraction-of-a-second drift is acceptable, and it causes no quality loss at all. Re-encode mode is the right choice for presentation clips, highlight reels, or any case where the cut must begin or end on an exact frame. Processing time in re-encode mode scales with the segment length and your device's CPU speed.

Written by Bastien Sulyan

How to use Trim video, step by step

  1. Drop or select the video you want to cut.
  2. Enter the start time and end time for the segment you want to keep.
  3. Choose Fast Copy mode for a near-instant lossless cut, or Precise mode for frame-accurate re-encoding.
  4. Click Trim to start processing on your device.
  5. Download the trimmed clip when ffmpeg finishes.

Common use cases

  • Cutting a 30-second highlight from a long sports recording to share on social media, where a keyframe-boundary cut is perfectly acceptable.
  • Extracting a precise 10-second product demo clip from a longer screencast, using re-encode mode to hit exact frame boundaries for a looping animation.
  • Removing a long intro and outro from a recorded webinar to send only the core content to colleagues.
  • Splitting a travel video into several segments by trimming each chapter out individually before merging them in a new order.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the trimmed clip start a moment before or after my chosen time in Copy mode?

Video streams are compressed with periodic keyframes; to avoid decoding all prior frames, Copy mode seeks to the nearest keyframe at or before the start time. The cut boundary is therefore snapped to that keyframe rather than your exact timestamp. For frame-precise trimming, switch to Precise re-encode mode, which decodes from the keyframe and discards the extra frames before your start point.

Does trimming my video require uploading it anywhere?

No. ffmpeg.wasm performs the cut inside your browser tab. In Copy mode, the tool uses -c copy with -ss and -to parameters; in Precise mode it re-encodes with libx264. Either way, your footage stays in your device's local memory and the trimmed file is saved directly to your downloads folder.

What formats does the trim tool support as input?

ffmpeg.wasm reads MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI, and most other common containers. The output in Copy mode preserves the source container (so a WebM trim outputs WebM). Precise mode outputs MP4 H.264, which plays on every modern browser and device.

Can I trim out the middle section of a video and join the two remaining parts?

This tool trims to a single contiguous range. To remove a middle section, trim the first part (start to the cut-point) and the second part (cut-point to end) as two separate operations, then use the video-merge tool to join them into one file.

How do I enter times for a clip that is several hours long?

Enter times in HH:MM:SS format or as a total number of seconds. For example, 1:23:45 means one hour, twenty-three minutes, and forty-five seconds from the start of the clip.

Does the audio get trimmed along with the video?

Yes. Both the video and audio streams are cut to the same start and end boundaries. In Copy mode both streams are copied without re-encoding; in Precise mode the video is re-encoded and the audio is either copied or re-encoded to stay in sync, depending on the codec.

Can I trim a video on my phone?

Yes, and Fast Copy mode in particular is light on memory since it does not decode the whole file, which makes it a good fit for a phone browser. Precise mode re-encodes and needs more RAM, so on an older phone prefer Copy mode or trim a shorter source clip first.