This Tool Allows You to Trim Videos Without Converting Them
Most video editing programs work by transcoding—essentially downloading a file so it can be taken apart and put back together. This is necessary for advanced editing techniques, but has some disadvantages. First, it’s slow and the encoding process isn’t lossless, meaning the video can look worse over time. This is a particularly annoying problem when all you want to do is cut off the beginning or end of the file a little.
Lossless Cut is an open source application for Linux, Windows and Mac that allows you to trim videos without the need for encoding. Changes to the source file occur almost instantly and without loss. This is a great tool if all you’ve ever done in video editing is remove unwanted bits at the beginning or end. It’s also potentially a great companion tool to traditional editing software, as it makes it easy to trim clips to the desired size before importing.
To get started, open the application and drag the video file into the window – it will open immediately. Use the finger buttons located to the left and right of the play button to mark which parts of the video you want to remove from the beginning and end. When you’re ready, click “Export” and you’ll instantly get a shorter version of your video.
There is also a button for rotating the video and another one for taking a screenshot. You can click the “Toggle Advanced View” button to see a few more options. My favorite part is the ability to add both thumbnails and sound waves to the timeline, allowing you to be a little more precise in your editing. The advanced view also allows you to enter time manually without clicking the mouse.
There’s more to play with here, but not too much, and that’s the point: it’s a very simple instrument in design. In my testing, most videos I tinkered with worked without a hitch, although officially supported formats include MP4, MOV, WebM, Matroska, OGG, and WAV files. Supported audio codecs include FLAC, MP3, Opus, PCM, Vorbis and AAC. Supported video codecs: H264, AV1, Theora, VP8, VP9 and H265.
LosslessCut is free if you download it from Github . Alternatively, you can buy it for $18.99 on the Mac App Store or $19.99 on the Microsoft Store . Purchasing an app from the store supports the developer, although you can also donate directly if you don’t want to give Apple or Microsoft a cut. Try it next time you trim your videos to just the good parts or trim your downloaded YouTube videos to a more manageable size.