Video editing guide

Cut a Video Online: Remove the Start, End or a Middle Part

Cutting a video means deciding what to keep. Shortening a clip from its start or end works differently from taking a section out of the middle, and each one changes the rest of the timeline in its own way.

Find the right first and last moment

Play the video and stop where the part you want begins. Choose a point where the action and the sound both start cleanly, such as the start of a sentence rather than the middle of a word.

Your original file is never changed. The project only records which parts to use, so you can undo a cut and try a slightly different point before exporting.

Trim the start or end of a clip

Select the clip and drag its edge, or set its source in and out points. Remember that source time and project time are different once several clips are joined: the tenth second of a clip may sit much later in the finished video.

You can also ask the assistant using project time. Afterwards, play from the new start and check the length. If a breath or the first syllable is gone, undo and keep a little more.

Cut the first 3 seconds of the video and keep the rest at normal speed.

Take a section out of the middle

A middle cut joins the footage before the section to the footage after it. Give the assistant the start and end on the current timeline, or split around the section and delete it yourself.

Removing a range shortens the whole project and everything after it moves earlier. Look at the timeline again before planning the next cut.

Remove 00:52 to 00:58 from the timeline and join the footage on both sides.

Listen to every join

Play a few seconds before and after each cut. A small jump in the picture is normal; a missing word, a repeated syllable or a sudden change in background noise is what makes a cut feel unfinished.

A fade can soften a deliberate cut, with picture and sound fades set separately. It does not blend two clips together and it does not fix a cut in the wrong place, so get the cut point right first.

Re-check cuts after changing speed

Speed changes how long a piece of source takes on the timeline: ten seconds at double speed fills five. Read the new length before choosing the next range to remove.

Speed also changes voice pitch in this beta. If the goal is just to lose dead time, cutting is usually better than speeding up the person talking.

Export the cut video

Pick MP4 or WebM and keep the tab open until encoding finishes. The maximum height never upscales your source. Watch the downloaded file through every cut and to the end.

Projects can be up to 15 minutes and files up to 1 GB; the in-memory export used by some browsers is limited to five minutes. A project backup stores the edit but not the footage, so keep your original file too.

Frequently asked questions

Will cutting change my original file?

No. The project records which parts to keep and exports a new file. Keep the original, because a project backup does not include it.

Can I remove a part from the middle only?

Yes. Remove just that range, or split around it and delete it. The rest is joined in order.

Why did my later times shift after a cut?

Removing footage makes the project shorter, so everything after it moves earlier. Plan the next edit from the current timeline.