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Cut Videos with VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is best for not only playing videos from different sources but it can be used as a video editing software. You can cut or trim any videos to create video clips. That means you can select a certain part of your video and cut it out to a smaller clip. You can easily select a beginning point and then an ending point. Then, VLC will automatically cut and save from point A to point B to your PC.

VLC might not be the most advanced video editing software but it can easily cut videos. Advanced video software requires advanced skills to perform even basic tasks like trimming a video. But VLC is simple enough to allow you to trim parts of your videos. You will never have to keep a lengthy video file because of some clips in the video that you really don’t want to delete. Just save your favorite segments and leave out the rest. This will also allow you to easily share videos with friends and family via different mediums.

To cut parts of a video using VLC Media Player:

  1. From your normal VLC screen, using the menu bar go to View > Advanced Controls.
  2. Recording buttons will appear above your normal player control buttons.
  3. Open up your video that you are looking to cut.
  4. Play the video or scroll around to the starting point from where you want to trim.
  5. At the starting point click on the record button. It is the round red button.
  6. Play the video or move it frame by frame using the “Frame by Frame” button for more accuracy.
  7. After you reach the ending point, hit the record button again.

Simplify the cut with the help of hotkeys:

Another way to extract clips from videos is by using shortcut keys or hotkeys.

  1. To begin recording: Press Shift + R
  2. To stop recording: Press Shift + R again.

The player will display “Recording” when you start the process and “Recording done” when you cut it off.

Your trimmed video will be saved in your “My Videos” folder in Windows. In Win 7 it is found under C:\Users\Username\Videos folder if Windows is installed in C: drive. For other OS just visit your documents folder or your user folder and find the default videos folder. You will easily find your edited video there. File names can be something like vlc-record-2013-11-16-14h25m16s-vlc-streaming-audio.avi-.avi if you need to search for it.

View Comments (183)

  • So if I want to trim a video, I go to the spot where I want the trim to start, then hit record and wait the entire length of what I want for the final clip, then hit record again at just the right time to end the clip which obviously doesn't work well, so I have to do the FRAME-BY-FRAME to get a decent end point?

    When you save it, there's no indication you did, it goes to the Videos folder instead of the same folder as the original file, and the file name itself is ridiculous. In the words of the tutorial, "File names can be something like vlc-record-2013-11-16-14h25m16s-vlc-streaming-audio.avi-.avi if you need to search for it." How is that helpful if I want to search for it? Why not just add a (1) to the original filename like most programs do?

    I am now using Photos to view videos instead. PHOTOS. The free picture viewer that came with my computer seven years ago. Guess what it has? The ability to click on a start and end point in the video and drag them to my liking, showing what's on screen as I do so. It also isn't in light mode, which is a huge improvement.

    I'm tired of people releasing low quality products and then trying to gaslight their users into thinking there's nothing wrong with them. I also saw a lot of talking down to people who had legitimate issues here, which is disgusting, and the main reason that I'm writing all of this instead of just uninstalling and moving on.

    Beyond the bad design and the elitist representatives / fanboys, there are horrible security risks which include "a critical-severity bug that allows for RCE (remote code execution) which potentially allows attackers to install, modify, or run software without authorization." Do you think India banned VLC for no reason at all? A report by Symantec shows that hackers are using VLC media player to launch malware on people's computers on a huge scale (!)
    In conclusion, please uninstall this program. There are so many better free options that are only a google search away. Thank you for standing up to them. You all deserve better.

  • I cannot find the recorded video path. Where is it? Because in c:\Users\My-Name\Videos\ is not video, any folder with vlc. So how can I find where I record the video? In settings I cannot find the option of Path / download...

  • How about this: Instead of copying a clip of a recording remove the end of the video. For example, I have video that is 38 minutes long but I need to remove the last eight minutes.
    It's the inverse of copying the first 30 minutes, right? Can VLC find minute 38:00... and the end of the video? fwiw...Bob

  • Noting the issues listed, I have them depending on the file type/version. My easiest route is Record > Record and try and get it at least ten seconds in a single try. That file is then small enough to work with in other programs/upload to online editors to clean it up how you want it. Usually this will pump out a useable clip as opposed to audio only, messed up sync, so on. The more precise I try and get (remember it's not a precision program nor meant for pro editing) the more I encounter the issues listed here.

  • Just use Convert (ctrl+r), tick show more options, set start time and stop time, select format as you wish, for best results just choose keep original audio/video tracks and done.

    • This option is not working for me. Only captures audio for some reason. And I don't see an option for keeping original audio/video tracks.

    • Indeed, this should be the pinned answer, or even replace the whole original turtorial. It's simple and quick.
      I'll add that the UI widgets do not seem to let you set the start/stop times longer than 59 minutes and 59 seconds, but it is easily circumvented by specifying the amount of seconds in the command window below.

    • Thankyou... all these sites which give answers and information which are useless - yours was exactly what was needed.

    • BEST ANSWER. Who the hell is going to SIT AND PLAY A 3O MINUTE VIDEO JUST TO EXTRACT IT OUT OF A 3 HOUR ONE ? THE POST IS DUMB AF. THIS ANSWER SHOULD BE VOTED TO THE TOP. IN FACT, REMOVE THE POST AND PUT THIS ANSWER AS THE POST.

    • Such a timesaver for cutting off extraneous footage at the beginning and end of a recording - thanks :)

  • To make a clip, I pause the source-video where I want the clip to start, then click on Record and un-pause the video. When it gets to the end-point, I pause it again and click on Record again to stop the recording-process. There is no risk of accidentally overwriting the source file, since each clip initially has a unique name generated by VLC. For greater precision, I suppose that you could make the clip a little long and trim it with an editor.

    In Kubuntu 20.04, the clips were stored in the Home//Downloads directory until I changed the destination-directory, as follows (which might vary depending on VLC-version):

    Click on Tools, then Preferences, then find Show Settings in the bottom left-hand corner of the Preferences window and select Simple. In the resulting window, select Input/Codecs, and in the resulting window, go to the Files section, click on Browse, and select the destination for the recordings.

  • I'm recording part of an .mp4 file. But the recording is saved as a .ts file. Then when I try to use VLC to convert the .ts file to mp4, I get an error message saying VLC can't open the file it just produced. Ridiculous!

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