Cutting Video into Clips with FFmpeg
What this tool does
A video splitter takes one file and produces one or more shorter clips from it, without re-recording or opening a desktop editor. There are three cutting modes. Trim keeps a single stretch between a start and an end time and discards the rest. Split divides the whole file into a fixed number of equal-length segments. Timestamps lets you drop your own cut points, so each resulting clip can be a different length. It accepts MP4, WebM, and MOV files up to 500MB, and the output clips are written as MP4 for playback on a wide range of devices.
When to use it
Reach for Trim when you only want one moment: a highlight from a long stream, a single answer from a recorded interview, or the intro cut off a screen recording. Split is the quick way to break a lecture or webinar into even chunks, whether to fit an upload limit or to watch by chapter. Timestamps fits anything with an uneven structure — a match with several plays, a set with multiple songs, or a tutorial where each step deserves its own file. Because the cutting happens on your own device, large personal recordings never have to be uploaded first.
Example: three ways to cut a recording
Say you have a 40-minute MOV of a game session and want the three best plays. Load the file and switch to Timestamp mode. Scrub the preview to the start of each play, add a split point, and repeat. The tool reports how many segments those points will create, then FFmpeg encodes each one. If instead you only needed the file broken into four equal pieces to fit an upload cap, Split mode with four segments would do it in a single pass, and each part's exact duration is shown before you confirm.
Notes and edge cases
The engine is ffmpeg.wasm, a WebAssembly build of FFmpeg that decodes, cuts, and re-encodes footage using your computer's own memory. Very long or high-resolution files are the main limit: a clip that pushes past available memory can fail, so a shorter source or lower resolution helps. Preview the timing before processing, since a cut point sits exactly where you place it, down to the second. Output is MP4 regardless of the input container, which keeps the clips playable on phones, editors, and upload platforms without an extra conversion step.