Video trimmer: How to trim videos online

Bianca is a Brooklyn-based writer synthesizing video and live streaming knowledge into digestible pieces. She's a fan of lofi jazz and pecan pie.
Bianca Galvez
Here's a step-by-step guide for trimming videos online in a browser or a mobile device like an iPhone or Android phone.

Both video creators and viewers agree that when it comes to engaging video content, editing is everything.

Whether you want to polish up an important executive update from a town hall or remove a blooper from a product launch video, being able to cut out your video's fluff can do wonders for your watch rate and behind-the-scenes flow.

With Vimeo, users can easily trim video content on both web and mobile. Our one-take video creation tool makes on-the-spot video editing easy. And with our AI-powered video editor, you don’t need any advanced skills, tools, or even time to edit speech-based videos. We’ll show you how in this guide.

How to trim a video online in a web browser

Ready to get your videos in tip-top shape — no advanced technical skill required? Follow the instructions below to learn how to trim video online with Vimeo.

1. Choose or upload your video

Example of a video uploaded to Vimeo

Head to the video player interface for the video you want to trim. If you haven’t uploaded a new video yet, don’t fret! Simply navigate to your upload page and drag and drop the file of your choice to get started. From there, click on the scissors icon to the left of your video upload to begin using our video trimming software.

2. Trim your content

Image of Vimeo's trimmer and editing tool option overlayed on Vimeo recording of a team update video

Once clicked, you’ll have two options: trim or edit your video.

The trimmer gives users access to the text-based editing experience where they can trim or split their video with the timeline and edit footage straight from the audio transcript, making video editing as easy as editing a document.

The video editor takes users to the Create editor, where they can customize their video using a library of templates, stitch clips together, and add a variety of effects.

Pro-tip: Use the timestamps on the bottom left corner to understand how many seconds of your video you are trimming.

3. Edit with text-based video editing

Vimeo text-based trimmer tool UI with a clip of a man with brown hair and glasses smiling

Editing your video can be as easy as editing a document with text-based video editing.

After users create a video, they can highlight words and phrases within the video transcript and choose to keep or delete the selected parts. When portions of the transcript are deleted, the editor also removes that portion of the video.

Vimeo’s video editing software can also help automatically remove word gaps and filler words.

4. Save your edits and share your video

Once you’ve edited your video clips to your heart’s content, hit “Save” to apply your changes. Then you can share your video with an unlisted link, website embed, or publish it directly to social media. (Or keep it all to yourself! We take your privacy seriously.)

How to trim a video on your mobile phone

Missing alt text!

Need to trim video on the go? We’ve got you. Learn how to trim a video on an iPhone and how to trim a video on an Android with the Vimeo mobile app.

1. Upload your video content

Just like on your desktop, you’ll need to upload some video content first. To do that, simply hit the (+) icon in the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen and select your video from your gallery.

2. Get to trimming

Once your media is uploaded, a trimming bar will appear in the editing timeline at the beginning and end of your video. Drag the handles of the trimming tool in the app to edit down your video — the same way you trim MP4 video content online — then hit “Next” when you’re happy with the edit.

3. Share it with the world

We’re constantly tinkering with the Vimeo app to give users a powerful experience in the palm of their hands. Once your video is edited the way you like it, go ahead and share as you would on a desktop: copy the link or embed code or publish to your social channels.

Video trimming FAQs

Answers to some of the most popular questions about video trimming.

Start trimming your videos with ease using Vimeo

Ready to edit video the same way you edit text? With Vimeo’s video trimmer — and text-based video editor — you really don’t need any advanced technical skill or experience if you want to trim videos for the web or social media. You can also use Vimeo's editing suite to perform tasks like merging videos, cropping videos, compressing videos, or adding music to your video. Getting started is as easy as creating an account with Vimeo.

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