How to trim a video on Windows

Trim with the Photos app

The Photos app is the quickest way to cut unwanted seconds off the start or end of a clip.

1. Search for Photos on the taskbar, open it and select your video. You can also right-click the file in File Explorer and choose Open with > Photos.
2. Select Trim at the top of the screen, or press Ctrl+E.
3. Drag the sliders at the bottom to the new start and end points. Play the clip to check them.
4. Select Save as Copy to create a new file and keep the original. To replace the original, use the drop-down next to it and choose Save.

The Photos app has changed several times. If you do not see Trim, update Photos from the Microsoft Store. On some Windows 10 PCs, video editing lives in the Photos Legacy app instead.

Cut out the middle with Clipchamp

Photos keeps one continuous part of the video. To remove a section from the middle, or to join several clips, use Clipchamp.

1. Open Clipchamp, create a new video and import your file from the Your media tab.
2. Drag the video onto the timeline.
3. To shorten the start or end, drag the clip’s edges on the timeline inward.
4. To remove a middle section, move the playhead to where it starts and use the split tool (the scissors icon), then do the same where it ends. Select the piece in between and press Delete.
5. Select Export in the top-right corner and choose a resolution, such as 1080p. The MP4 is saved to your Downloads folder.

Clipchamp exports a new MP4, so the video is encoded again. Choose the resolution that matches your original to keep it sharp.

Trim without re-encoding using FFmpeg

If you are comfortable with a command prompt, FFmpeg can cut a clip by copying the video and audio as they are. It is fast, keeps the original quality and works on very large files. Replace the times with your own start and end.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:10 -to 00:00:45 -c copy output.mp4

Because nothing is re-encoded, the cut snaps to the nearest keyframe, so the clip may start a fraction of a second earlier than you asked. Remove -c copy if you need a frame-exact cut; FFmpeg will then encode the video again.

• Photos: best for cutting the start or end off one clip in a few clicks.
• Clipchamp: best for removing a middle section, joining clips or adding music and titles.
• FFmpeg: best for very large files or when you want the original quality untouched.

Trim and choose what happens to the sound

Photos and Clipchamp keep the sound by default. If you also want the trimmed clip silent, or quieter, MuteVideo’s Trim and mute page does both in the browser: drag the yellow edges to the part you need, set Sound to As is to keep it or Remove to drop it, and save. It offers a fast trim with no quality loss (the start can move slightly to a keyframe) and an exact trim that encodes the video again. It works with MP4, MOV and WebM, up to 500 MB in total on a desktop.