How to Trim a Video Clip on Mac without Losing Quality

The secret behind a good video clip is editing. Of course, the light, the directing, the photography, and other elements are all important when capturing a video. However, you usually have little control over those for home movies. Both ordinary people and professional photographers often shoot videos longer than necessary. So, trimming a video is the most basic of video edits. This tutorial shows you how to trim a video on a Mac.

Way 1: The Fastest Way — Trim Video in Finder via Quick Actions

We will start this guide by showing you the fastest way to trim videos, using the Quick Actions tab in the Apple Finder app. This option essentially removes the need to open a video editor, since it automatically opens a trimming tool you can use for your video with a simple right-click. This is the fastest option if you want to apply basic video trimming adjustments.

1. Open Apple Finder and locate the video file you want to trim.

2. Once you have found the video you want to edit, right-click on it and hover your cursor over Quick Actions. Then, select Trim.

3. In the Trimming window that will open, trimming handles will appear at the start and end portions of your video. Click and drag them to apply the video trimming adjustments.

4. With the trimming applied, click on Done to save the edited video.

Way 2: How to Trim a Video with QuickTime on Mac

QuickTime is the built-in media player on Mac. In addition to playing video and audio files, it also allows you to trim a video file. That makes it the easiest choice for beginners, but it offers no other video-editing features. Bear in mind that the media player only supports a limited set of video formats, such as MOV, M4V, MP4, etc.

1. Run the media player app from your Applications folder, and open the target video.

2. Go to the Edit menu and choose the Trim option. Then you will see the timeline. Alternatively, you can use the Command+T shortcut to open video trim mode.

3. Drag the yellow handles to choose the clip that you want to keep. The content will be highlighted in yellow. Click the Trim button until you are satisfied.

4. At last, save the edited clip as a new video file.

Actually, QuickTime is a great player instead of a professional video editing tool. And it only provides the video trimming feature in the built-in version. If you want to compress or crop videos in QuickTime, upgrade to the Pro version for $30 to access more editing features.

Way 3: How to Trim a Video with iMovie on Mac

iMovie is the built-in video editor on Mac, so it is another way to trim a video on Mac without extra apps. Although it is not as simple as QuickTime Player, you can follow the steps below to get it easily.

1. Open iMovie from your Applications folder, go to the Projects panel, click Create New, and select Movie to create a new project.

2. Drag and drop the video that you want to trim into the video editor, and put it on the timeline.

3. Drag the playhead bar to the new start point, right-click, and choose Split Clip on the context menu. Select the clip in front of the playhead, right-click, and choose Delete. You may use the Command + B shortcut for a faster split clipping option.

4. Next, drag the playhead to the new end position, right-click, and choose Split Clip too. Select the clip behind the playhead, right-click, and choose Delete.

5. Preview the clip in the composition panel, and click the Share icon at the top right side if you are satisfied. Now choose the appropriate channel to export the trimmed clip. To save it to your Mac, select File and follow the instructions to finish.

iMovie is easy to use for trimming a video, but it requires a lot of HDD space. It makes the platform slow and takes up plenty of storage. Sometimes, you must compress the video to reduce its size before exporting.

Way 4: Trim Video on Mac for Lossless Quality (AnyMP4)

Many video editing software programs for Mac offer the ability to trim a video; however, only a few are easy to use. AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate, for example, is a flexible video editor software for both Mac and PC. The concise interface enables ordinary people to get what they want quickly. For advanced users, there are a variety of custom options.

When using this program as your video trimmer, you can ensure that the file is trimmed losslessly, keeping its original quality intact once a portion is removed. This was made possible because the video process in AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate does not undergo re-encoding to avoid loss of quality.

How to Trim a Video on Mac without Quality Loss

1. Import a video

Once you install it on your Mac computer, select the Add Files option. Then choose from either the Add Files or Add Folder selection to open the video you intend to trim on Mac. If you need to edit multiple videos, import them all at once.

2. Trim the video

Next, click the Cut icon under the video title to open it in the video-trimmer window. Now, you can trim the video on the timeline. Move the left slider to the new beginning, and click Set Start. Then adjust the right slider to the new endpoint, and click Set End. Click the Add Segment button to add the clip to the list. Then trim another part of the video. When you are done trimming the video, click the Save button.

3. Export video clips

Now, set the output folder in the Save to box by hitting the Folder button. Finally, click on the Convert All button to export the clips to your computer. The Convert All to menu in the top-right corner is used to convert the video clip format.

In addition to trimming your video in seconds, the video editor provides a Toolbox with over 20 tools. So you can further edit the video as you like, using Media Metadata Editor, Video Watermark, Video Speed Controller, etc.

Conclusion

This guide has told you three easy ways to trim a video on a Mac. The QuickTime Player is the easiest way to shorten a video and remove unwanted clips on a Mac. It does not require any extra software. Moreover, iMovie can help you trim a video with the split and delete features. AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate is the best option if you care about the output quality. More questions? Please leave a message below.