how can I trim movie source files losslessly?

Question

Level 1

5 points

how can I trim movie source files losslessly?

Hi, I'm looking for a simple, quick way to losslessly trim movie source files before importing them into imovie's Events. I don't mind using another program to do so, as long as the trimming is lossless and I can use the trimmed clips in imovie.

My footage was shot on an GoPro 2 at 1080p HD, so the quality is decent. The movies are in MP4 format.

I'm editing my clips with imovie 11, but it's silly to import multiple 55 min clips into Events for the 3 minutes I need from each of them, and also silly to keep 55 minute source clips on my hard drive when 3 minute source clips would suffice.

I'm a new imovie user, but have some basic Mac knowledge.

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), imovie '11

Posted on Oct 24, 2012 12:52 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 24, 2012 1:38 PM in response to ochraceus

There is a great tool called MPEG Streamclip. I don't know if it will specifically handle GoPro, but it handles MP4 quite well, so is worth trying.

Just drag your MP4 file into MPEG Streamclip. Then move the playhead to where you want your final clip to start and press I (for in point). Move playhead to where you want the clip to end, and press o (for Out Point). Then FILE/EXPORT TO MPEG4. Give your new clip a name. You will have a new clip, but your original clip will be intact.

If you needed multiple clips from the 55 minute clip, then repeat this process. You may want to consider using FILE/EXPORT TO QUICKTIME and choose Apple Intermediate Codec as your video codec rather than MP4, for reasons detailed here. https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3941

Here is a link to the MPEG Streamclip website, where you can download it for free and try it.

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

Reply