YouTube Editing Made Easy: Shortening Video Lengths

How to Trim YouTube Videos?

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The world’s largest video sharing platform currently has nearly two billion active monthly users who upload over 400 hours of video content to their channels each minute. It is to see from these statistics why every video aspiring YouTubers post on their channels has to be perfect in every way in order to reach a wide audience. Fortunately, trimming a video even after you’ve uploaded it to YouTube is a quick and easy process, and in this article, we are going to show you a few different methods you can use to trim the videos you upload to YouTube. So, let’s get started.

In this article

• How to Trim a Video After You Upload it to Your YouTube Channel?
• Trimming a Video Before Posting On YouTube with Filmora Video Editor [4 Ways]
• Using Online Video Editing Platforms to Trim YouTube Videos

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How to Trim a Video After You Upload it to Your YouTube Channel?

The YouTube Studio is no longer in beta phase, which means that the feature is here to stay. This is good news for all video creators who frequently update their YouTube videos after they upload them, as they no longer have to go through the endless uploads just because they wanted to trim a video.

Make sure that you’re signed into your YouTube channel, then click on your profile picture and select the YouTube Studio (Beta) option. On the left side of the screen, you’ll be able to see a menu that contains different subcategories like Analytics, Dashboard or Videos, so just click on the Videos option and proceed to select a video you’d like to trim. After the Videos submenu appears on the screen you should click on the Editor option and the video you selected will open in the YouTube’s video editor.

Click on the Trim button to start trimming the video and drag the blue bars located at the start and the end of the file to designate the portion of the video you’d like to remove. Preview the changes and confirm what you’ve made by clicking on the Save button located in the upper right corner of the screen and the new shortened version of the video will become available within a couple of hours.

In this way, you don’t need to take down the original video, edit it and re-upload. One of the benefits of trimming YouTube videos with the Trim feature in YouTube Editor is that this will keep your video URL and views and ranks etc.

Trimming a Video Before Posting On YouTube with Filmora Video Editor [4 Ways]

Method 1: Trim on Timeline

YouTubers who don’t want to rely on YouTube’s video editing capabilities can trim their footage with Filmora (to be honest, the Editor in YouTube platform has limited features). Filmora video editing software for PC and Mac computers offers a few different tools for trimming videos. After you’ve created a new project in Filmora, you should import a video clip into the editor by clicking on the Import drop-down menu and select the Import Media Files option. Each file you add to a project will be displayed in the Media tab, and you can just drag and drop it to a video track on the timeline.

All you have to do in order to trim a video after you’ve placed it on the timeline is drag one of its ends to the left or to the right. As you drag one of the clip’s edges the editor will only display the remaining footage while rendering the rest invisible. If at any point you want to access a portion of the video you’ve trimmed you just have to extend the file by dragging it until you’re able to see the segment you’re searching for.

Method 2: Using Filmora Split Tool

Filmora’s Split tool can help you separate the portion of the clip you want to remove from the segment you’d like to keep. Simply place the playhead at the exact location in the video clip where you want to make a cut, and click on the Split icon that looks like a pair of scissors. After the video is split, you should click on the clip you no longer need in order to select it and then hit the Delete button on your keyboard to remove it from the timeline.

Method 3: Using Scene Detection

Wondershare’s video editor also offers an automatic way to split a video clip into a number of separate scenes. Right-click on the video file located in the Filmora’s Media tab, and select the Scene Detection option from the menu and proceed to click on the Detect button, after the Scene Detection window pops up on the screen. The software will then automatically analyze the footage and divide it into separate scenes. Simply click on the Add to Timeline button once the process is completed to continue editing the video clip you’ve just split.

Method 4: Using Instant Cutter Tool

The Instant Cutter Tool enables you to quickly trim or merge high-resolution files recorded on action cameras as soon as you import them into a project in Filmora. Select the Import with Instant Cutter Tool option from the Import drop-down menu and wait for the Filmora Instant Cutter window to appear on the screen. In the upper left corner of this window, you will be able to see Trim and Merge tabs. Make sure that the Trim tab is selected and then click on the Open File button to import a video clip you’d like to trim. You can then use the trimming sliders to designate the parts of the video you’d like to remove or the set the In and Out points by clicking on the Set In Point or Set Out Point icons. Click on the Export button to save the new version of the video clip and click OK to complete the process.

Using Online Video Editing Platforms to Trim YouTube Videos

In case you’re looking for a tool that lets you save extracts of scenes from YouTube to your computer free of charge YT Cutter may be one of your best options.

This online video editing platform is remarkably easy to use since you just have to copy the link to the YouTube video you’d like to trim into YT Cutter’s URL box and then select how long the new video should be. Click on the Start and End buttons to set the duration of the video and click on the Download button to choose if you want to create a video, GIF or an audio file. The trimmed YouTube video will be available for download as soon as the platform processes it, and you just need to specify a folder on your hard drive before clicking on the Save button.

There’re many online video trimmers available on the market, some of them are totally free to use, check our guide about How to Trim Videos for Free Online .

Read More to Get : How to Download YouTube Videos without Any Software Easily >>

Conclusion

Trimming a video online or with a video editing software like Filmora is an effortless task that can be completed in just a couple of minutes. However, it is better to complete the entire video editing process before you upload a video to your YouTube channel because YouTube Studio and other online video editing platforms still offer only a limited amount of video editing tools. Which method of trimming YouTube videos do you like using the most? Leave a comment and share your opinions with us.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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