How to Trim a Video Online: Cut the Start, the End or Keep a Clip

Why Trim a Video?

Almost every video recorded on a phone starts with a few seconds of adjusting and ends with a fumble for the stop button. Trimming is the most common edit, and often the only one needed:

• remove the dead time at the start and end,
• keep only the moment that matters (a goal, a speech, a reaction),
• respect a duration limit (stories, reels, a WhatsApp status, an application video),
• make the file lighter before sending it — a shorter video is a smaller video.

Trim a Video in 3 Steps

The video trimmer runs FFmpeg in WebAssembly, directly in your browser. Your video is never uploaded — useful for family videos or confidential recordings.

1. Import your video — MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV or WebM, up to 100 MB.
2. Set the start and end of the passage to keep.
3. Choose the output format (MP4 by default, WebM or MOV — an iPhone MOV stays a MOV) and download.

Precise Mode or Fast Mode?

The tool offers two ways of cutting, and the difference matters.

	Precise mode (default)	Fast mode
Accuracy	To a tenth of a second	Follows keyframes: the start can shift by a few seconds
Speed	Re-encodes: can take a few minutes	A few seconds
Quality	High (re-encoded at high quality)	Identical to the original (no re-encoding)
Best for	Cutting a precise moment, a sentence, a gesture	Removing a long start or end where a second doesn't matter

Practical Examples

Keep a 15-Second Clip for a Story

Find the moment, set start and end 15 seconds apart, choose Precise mode. If the clip is still too heavy, run it through the video compressor.

Cut the First 2 Minutes of a Recorded Meeting

Set the start to 2:00 and leave the end at the end of the video, Fast mode: the result is ready in a few seconds, at the original quality.

Prepare a GIF

Trim the exact passage, then convert it with the video to GIF converter. Short clips give much lighter GIFs.

Tips

• Mark your times while watching: note the minute and second of the start and end before setting them.
• Leave half a second of margin at each end: an abrupt cut feels unnatural.
• Want to remove a passage in the middle? Make two trims (before and after the passage), then assemble them in an editing app.
• Video too long to watch in full? Speed it up with the video speed tool for a quick preview.

Conclusion

Trimming a video is the simplest way to make it shorter, lighter and more interesting. Use Precise mode when every tenth of a second counts, Fast mode to remove large chunks instantly at the original quality — all without installing software or uploading your video.