You probably have VLC media player sitting on your desktop right now. It’s the Swiss Army knife of media players. It plays everything from that obscure .mkv file you downloaded in 2012 to high-bitrate 4K footage from your Sony A7S III. But here’s the thing: most people don't realize it's also a low-key video editor. When you need to trim a clip to send on Discord or crop out a boring intro for a presentation, you don't actually need to fire up Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. You can just use the VLC player cut video functions that are already baked into the software.
It isn't perfect. Honestly, calling it a "cutter" is a bit of a stretch because of how the software actually handles the process. It doesn't "cut" in the traditional sense where you highlight a section and hit delete. It records.
Why VLC isn't a "true" editor (and why that's okay)
If you're looking for frame-accurate, sub-millisecond precision, VLC might frustrate you. Most video editing software uses a timeline. You see the waveforms. You see the frames. You slice. VLC operates on a "What You See Is What You Get" recording principle. When you use the VLC player cut video method, you’re essentially telling the software to start a new recording of the stream currently playing and stop it when you say so.
This means the quality usually stays pretty close to the original, but you have to sit through the clip in real-time or close to it. It’s a bit old school. It reminds me of taping songs off the radio back in the 90s. You had to time the "Record" and "Pause" buttons just right to avoid the DJ talking.
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Setting up the "Advanced Controls"
By default, the buttons you need are hidden. I have no idea why VideoLAN decided to hide them, but they did. To get started, you have to go to the View menu at the top of the interface. Look for Advanced Controls. Click it.
Suddenly, four new buttons appear above the standard Play/Pause/Stop icons.
- A red circle (Record)
- A camera (Snapshot)
- A loop icon
- A frame-by-frame button
The red circle is your best friend here. That is the engine behind every VLC player cut video operation you'll ever do.
The actual process: Step-by-step but keep it casual
First, open your video. Scrub the playhead—that little slider at the bottom—to about five seconds before the part you actually want to keep. This gives the encoder a moment to find a "Keyframe." If you start recording exactly on the frame you want, sometimes the output file starts with a weird gray smear or blocky artifacts because video compression relies on I-frames (index frames).
- Hit the Record button (the red circle). It will look slightly "pressed in" or highlighted.
- Press Play.
- Let the video run. You're now "cutting" by recording.
- When the scene ends, hit the Record button again.
That’s it. There’s no "Save As" window that pops up. It just happens. It’s almost too quiet, which leads to the most common question: "Where the heck did my video go?"
On Windows, VLC defaults to your Videos folder. On macOS, it usually dumps them in Movies. The filename will look like something out of a spreadsheet—usually vlc-record- followed by the date and time. It’s messy, but it works.
Dealing with the frame-by-frame headache
If you're trying to capture a very specific moment, like a sports highlight or a funny face, the "Frame by Frame" button (the last one in the advanced row) is essential. You can pause the video and click that button to advance exactly one frame at a time. This is the only way to get anything resembling precision.
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However, there’s a catch. VLC records what it plays. If you are paused and you hit record, and then you click frame-by-frame 100 times, you aren't going to get a smooth video. You’re going to get a mess. You really have to let the video play at normal speed for the recording to capture the motion correctly.
The "Hidden" Method: Using Start and Stop Times
If you hate the recording method, there is a "pro" way to do this using the command line or the internal settings, but it’s honestly a bit of a nightmare for casual users. You can go into Media > Open Multiple Files, add your video, and check the "Show more options" box. There are fields for Start Time and Stop Time.
This is technically a way to do a VLC player cut video task without manually watching it, but it’s finicky. If you mess up the timestamp by even a second, you have to restart the whole process. Most people I know who try this end up going back to the red Record button because it’s just more intuitive.
Why does the quality sometimes look different?
Compression is a beast. When VLC "records" your clip, it's essentially re-wrapping the stream. Sometimes, if the original video uses a very specific or "heavy" codec (like some H.265/HEVC variants), the recorded clip might have a slightly different file size than you’d expect.
Experts like Fabio Sonnati, who literally wrote the book on video compression, often point out that "transmuxing" (changing the container without changing the data) is the gold standard for cutting. VLC doesn't always do a pure transmux; it’s more of a stream capture. If you notice the colors look slightly washed out or the file won't play on your TV, it’s probably because the recording process defaulted to a standard MP4 wrapper that your specific hardware doesn't like.
Troubleshooting the common "VLC didn't save" issue
It happens. You hit record, you watch the whole 10-minute clip, you hit stop, and... nothing. The Videos folder is empty.
Usually, this is a permissions issue or a path error. Go to Tools > Preferences (or Cmd + Comma on Mac). Click the Input / Codecs tab. Look for the "Record directory or filename" section. If it's blank, VLC tries to be smart and find your default folder. Sometimes it fails. Browse and manually select your Desktop. This fixes the "disappearing video" problem 90% of the time.
When should you stop using VLC and move to a real editor?
Look, I love VLC. But it’s a player first. If you need to:
- Add a transition between two clips.
- Overlay text or "Lower Thirds."
- Adjust the audio levels because the background music is too loud.
- Color correct a dark shot.
Then stop. Just stop using VLC for this. You’re trying to use a hammer to turn a screw. For basic VLC player cut video needs, it’s great. For anything else, grab a free tool like LosslessCut. LosslessCut is actually built on Chromium and FFmpeg, and it allows you to see the timeline while still cutting without re-encoding. It’s basically what people wish the VLC cutting tool was.
Taking action: Your next steps for a clean cut
If you have a video right now that needs a quick trim, don't go downloading new software yet.
Open VLC. Enable those Advanced Controls under the View menu. Before you do the real "take," do a 5-second test run. Record five seconds, go to your Videos folder, and make sure it actually saved and the audio is in sync.
Once you’ve confirmed the path is working, go back and do the full recording. Remember to start a few seconds early to catch that keyframe. Once you're done, rename that ugly vlc-record-2026... file immediately so you don't forget what it is.
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If you find yourself doing this more than once a week, it’s probably time to look into FFmpeg commands or a dedicated lightweight trimmer. But for a quick "one and done" fix, VLC remains the most accessible tool on your hard drive.
Check your Input / Codecs settings one last time to ensure "Hardware-accelerated decoding" is set to "Automatic." This ensures that while you're recording your cut, your computer doesn't chug and cause dropped frames in the output. Happy trimming.
Next Steps for Clean Video Cuts
- Verify your save path: Open Preferences > Input / Codecs and set a specific "Record directory" like your Desktop to avoid losing files.
- Enable Advanced Controls: Go to View > Advanced Controls to reveal the red Record button.
- Test a 5-second clip: Always do a "burn-in" test to ensure the audio and video sync correctly before recording a long segment.
- Use the Frame-by-Frame button: For precise end-points, pause the video and use the "Frame-by-Frame" button to find the exact spot before stopping the recording.
- Rename immediately: VLC's default naming convention is purely chronological; rename your file right after it appears in your folder to keep your workspace organized.