Free tool
Video trimmer
Drop a video into this video trimmer, drag the two handles over its strip of frames to where the part you want begins and ends, and save. It plays in the page as you trim, and the clip is copied, not re-encoded, so a long recording is cut in seconds.
- Free
- No re-encoding, or exact to the frame
- Nothing is uploaded
Drop your video here, or Choose your video
MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 2 GB and 3 hours. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How it works
How do you trim a video?
Add the video and wait a moment for its frames to appear under the player. Drag the left handle to where the part you want begins and the right one to where it ends, or type the times. Play the selection, then press Trim video and download the clip.
- 1
Add the video
A screen recording, a meeting recording, a phone video, an OBS clip. It works as an MP4 trimmer and for MOV, WebM and MKV.
- 2
Set the start and end
Drag the handles, nudge them a tenth of a second at a time, or set them to the playhead while it plays.
- 3
Trim and save
The clip keeps the video’s format and its name with “-trimmed” added.
Can you trim a video without re-encoding it?
Yes, and that’s what the trimmer does unless you choose otherwise: the frames between the handles are copied into a new file untouched, so nothing is lost and an hour-long recording is cut in seconds. The only catch is where a copy can begin.
Videos are stored as key frames, full pictures every second or few, with only the changes in between. A copy has to begin on a key frame. In an MP4 or MOV, the trimmer keeps the frames back to that key frame and tells players to start at your time, so the clip starts on time. A WebM or MKV has no way to say that, so its copy starts at the key frame, which the trimmer shows you before you cut.
- MP4, MOV
- No re-encodingAt your start time; the frames before it are kept but skipped by players
- Exact frameAt your start time, re-encoded
- WebM, MKV
- No re-encodingAt the key frame before your start
- Exact frameAt your start time, re-encoded
| Format | No re-encoding | Exact frame |
|---|---|---|
| MP4, MOV | At your start time; the frames before it are kept but skipped by players | At your start time, re-encoded |
| WebM, MKV | At the key frame before your start | At your start time, re-encoded |
When should you choose Exact frame?
When a WebM or MKV clip must begin on an exact frame, or when the app you’ll send an MP4 to ignores the skip instruction and shows the extra second or two. Exact frame re-encodes the picture, which takes a while, and copies the sound.
What usually gets trimmed off a recording?
The two ends. Recordings start before people are ready and stop after they’ve finished, so the first and last minutes are often waiting, setup and goodbyes. Cutting those also makes the file smaller, without touching the quality of what’s left.
The waiting room
Minutes of a blank screen, or one face, before everyone joined the call.
Screen-share setup
“Can you see my screen?”, the wrong window, a notification you didn’t mean to show.
After the goodbyes
The recording still running while someone looks for the stop button.
How do you find the part of a recording you need?
By its words, not by scrubbing. NoteOwl transcribes recordings on your Mac with a time on every line and each speaker named; click a line to play it from there, and Search finds it again across every meeting you’ve recorded.
FAQ
Questions about trimming video
Is my video uploaded when I trim it?
No. The trimmer plays the video and builds the clip in the page itself. In our tests the browser made no network requests at all between choosing the file and downloading the trimmed copy.
Does trimming lower the video’s quality?
Not with No re-encoding, the default: the frames are copied as they are. Exact frame re-encodes the picture at a bitrate chosen to look the same, and keeps the sound untouched.
Can I cut a part out of the middle of a video?
Not in one step: as a video cutter, it keeps one stretch between its handles. To remove a middle part, trim the first half and the second half as two clips and join them in a video editor.
Why does my WebM clip start a little early?
Because a copy can only begin on a key frame, and WebM can’t tell players to skip the frames before your start. The trimmer shows the time it will start at; choose Exact frame to start right at your time.
What if the video won’t play in the page?
Some browsers can’t play every format in the page, such as an MKV in Safari; the trimmer then shows the frame at the start handle instead. Where a browser can’t decode the video at all, as with HEVC in a browser without an HEVC decoder, set the times by number: the copy still works.
How long a video can I trim?
Up to 2 GB and 3 hours. Copying a clip takes seconds whatever its length, because no frame is decoded; Exact frame takes longer in proportion to the clip’s length.
Keep exploring
More video tools
- Remove audio from videoTake the sound out of an MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV in your browser; the picture is copied as it is, so it keeps its quality
- Video converterConvert a video to MP4, WebM or MOV in your browser; streams that already fit are copied in seconds, the rest re-encoded with the browser’s own encoders
- MOV to MP4 converterTurn a MOV (iPhone video, QuickTime or Mac screen recording) into an MP4 in your browser, copying H.264 and HEVC video as it is
- WebM to MP4 converterConvert a WebM (VP8 or VP9 with Opus) to an H.264 and AAC MP4 in your browser, so it opens in QuickTime Player, iMovie and on iPhones
Related
- Audio trimmerTrim the start and end off a recording in your browser by dragging on its waveform; MP3, M4A, WAV and FLAC are cut without re-encoding
- Online screen recorderRecord a screen, a window or a browser tab with your microphone and the tab’s sound, then download the video; computers only; nothing is uploaded
- Search all your meetingsOne search across every meeting, dictation, transcript and person on your Mac, plus Recall by voice from any app
Find the moment by what was said, on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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