Trimming Videos

Overview

Trim mode lets you remove unwanted sections from the beginning and end of your videos. Whether you need to cut out a shaky start, remove dead air at the end, or extract a specific portion from a longer clip, SnapTrim makes it quick and easy.

Best of all, trimming is lossless by default — SnapTrim uses stream copying to preserve the original video quality with zero re-encoding.

Entering Trim Mode

Click the Trim segment in the mode selector at the top of the window to enter trim mode.

• A - Trim mode button (click to enter trim mode)
• B - Start trim handle (drag to set where video begins)
• C - End trim handle (drag to set where video ends)

Setting Trim Points

There are three ways to set your trim start and end points:

Method 1: Drag the Timeline Handles

The quickest way to set trim points:

1. Drag the left handle on the timeline to set where the video begins
2. Drag the right handle to set where the video ends
3. The red overlay shows the portions that will be removed

Method 2: Use the Playhead

For more precise positioning:

1. Scrub to the desired position using the playhead
2. Click the Set to Playhead button (arrow icon) next to the In or Out timecode box
3. The corresponding trim handle will snap to the playhead position

This method is useful when you want to set the trim point at a specific moment you’ve found while watching the video.

Method 3: Enter Timecodes Manually

For frame-accurate trimming:

1. Click directly in the In timecode box to set the start point
2. Click in the Out timecode box to set the end point
3. Type the timecode in the format HH:MM:SS:FF (hours:minutes:seconds:frames)

Previewing Your Trim

Before committing to your trim, you can preview exactly what will be kept:

• Trim Preview Toggle: Enable this to constrain playback to only the trimmed region
• Press Play to watch the trimmed portion and verify your selection
• Use the Go to Trim Start and Go to Trim End buttons (bracket icons) to jump directly to your trim boundaries

Applying the Trim

Once you’re happy with your trim points:

1. Click Apply to lock in the trim region
2. The timeline collapses to show only the trimmed portion
3. The video preview updates to reflect the new duration

If you need to make changes after applying:

• Click Edit to return to editing mode and adjust your trim points
• Click Reset to clear all trim settings and return to the full video

Lossless Trimming

SnapTrim uses lossless mode by default for trimming operations:

• Stream copying preserves your original video and audio quality
• No re-encoding means the process is extremely fast
• Zero quality loss — what you get is exactly what was in the original file

Note: To ensure compatibility, lossless cuts are made at keyframes. This means the actual trim points may be adjusted slightly to the nearest keyframe boundary. For most videos, this difference is imperceptible (typically less than half a second).

Tips

• Non-destructive workflow: The Apply/Edit workflow means you can always adjust — nothing is permanent until you export
• Combine with cropping: Trimming works alongside cropping for complete video editing in one session

What’s Next?

• Cropping Videos — Learn to resize and reframe your videos
• Exporting Videos — Save your edited video