How to trim a video
Trimming is the most common edit there is: cut the fumble at the start, the reach for the stop button at the end, or pull one good minute out of a long recording. This tool does it in your browser in seconds, often without re-encoding at all, so the quality stays exactly the same. Your video is never uploaded.
- 1
Add your video
Drop in an MP4, MOV or WebM file, or tap “Try a sample video” to see how it works. Trim opens videos up to 3 hours long, so you can cut a long recording down before using the other tools.
- 2
Set the start and end
Drag the Start and End sliders, or play the video and press “Use the video’s current time” to set either one exactly where you paused. The bar above shows the part you are keeping.
- 3
Choose Fast or Frame-accurate
Fast copies the video without re-encoding: it is instant and keeps the original quality. Frame-accurate re-encodes the video so the cut lands on the exact frame.
- 4
Download
Your trimmed video downloads with the same format and resolution as the original. From the result, you can open it straight in another tool, such as Auto Captions.
Fast or Frame-accurate: which to choose
Videos are stored as a series of keyframes (complete pictures) with the frames in between recorded as small changes. A cut can only start cleanly on a keyframe, and keyframes are often a second or more apart.
- Fast copies the video data as it is, which takes a fraction of a second even for long files and loses no quality. To start exactly at your cut, it keeps the frames back to the previous keyframe and tells players to skip them. Browsers, QuickTime, VLC and most apps honor this, but a few apps and upload sites may show up to a couple of seconds before your cut.
- Frame-accurate re-encodes the kept part at high quality, so the file starts exactly where you chose everywhere. It takes longer (roughly 5 to 7 times faster than the clip’s length on a recent laptop) and works on up to 10 minutes at a time.
Rule of thumb: use Fast for quick cuts and archiving, and Frame-accurate when the first frame matters, for example before uploading to a social app.
Trim first, then do the rest
Shorter videos are faster to process and smaller to share, so trimming is a good first step. The other tools on ClipCocoon handle videos up to 10 minutes; Trim opens videos up to 3 hours, so you can cut the part you need from a long stream or lecture first.
After trimming, the result card offers the next step: add captions, remove the pauses or compress the clip, without choosing the file again.
Which videos work
MP4, MOV and WebM files work, including videos recorded on iPhone (HEVC) in Chrome, Edge and Safari. Firefox can’t read HEVC video; the tool tells you if your browser can’t open a file and what to use instead. Fast mode keeps the original format: a WebM stays WebM, and everything else becomes MP4.
Very long trims are limited by memory: the kept part is assembled in your browser before it downloads, so parts larger than about 1.5 GB aren’t possible yet.
Private by design
Online trimmers usually upload your whole video to a server just to cut a few seconds off. Here the cut happens in your browser, so a family video or an unreleased clip never leaves your device. Read what happens to your uploads on other sites, or see how ClipCocoon keeps your videos on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Does trimming reduce video quality?
Not in Fast mode: the video data is copied unchanged. Frame-accurate mode re-encodes the kept part at high quality, which is visually very close to the original.
Why does my fast-trimmed video show a moment before my cut in some apps?
Fast mode keeps the frames back to the nearest keyframe and marks them to be skipped. Most players do skip them, but a few apps ignore that instruction. Use Frame-accurate mode if the first frame must be exact everywhere.
How long can the video be?
Trim opens videos up to 3 hours long. Frame-accurate mode works on up to 10 minutes at a time, and the part you keep can be up to about 1.5 GB.
Can I trim videos from my iPhone?
Yes, in Chrome, Edge and Safari, which can read the HEVC format iPhones record in. Firefox can’t read it; the tool will tell you if that happens.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The video is cut in your browser and saved straight to your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Can I cut out a section from the middle?
Trim keeps one part, from your start to your end. To remove pauses from the middle of a talking video automatically, use the Silence Remover.