A video cutter is for people who have more than one keep region, or a stretch they want gone from the middle. A recorded show with ads. A talk with two good takes and a flub between them. A long capture you want as three files. Picture edges sit on Video cropper. A single start and end, one keep segment, sits on Trim video. This page is segments, split, invert, and how Export writes those pieces.

This is LosslessCut. Mikael Finstad (mifi) publishes it under GPL-2.0. We did not make it. Official files live on GitHub Releases. The repo is mifi/lossless-cut. This site does not host the file. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial wrappers. There is no winget command. The author does not maintain one. WinGet and Homebrew copies you find elsewhere are unofficial.

The button on this page goes to Install on the home page. Home is Open Source Video Trimmer. Releases on home is the live file list. Fetch notes sit on Video Trimmer Download Safe.

Get the Windows file so a video cutter can run

Copy the filename from the box:

LosslessCut-win-x64.7z
Copy

Open the latest GitHub release. Pick that 7z. Skip APPX. The author says APPX does not work. Extract with 7-Zip. Run LosslessCut.exe. There is no installer. Arm64 Windows has a matching 7z on the same release page if that is your machine. The live tag observed here is V3.69.0. Take the newest unless you pin an older build on purpose. Extra release copy sits on Open Source Video Trimmer Releases. Repo first sits on Open Source Video Trimmer GitHub.

How to use a video cutter on the desktop

  1. Open GitHub Releases, take LosslessCut-win-x64.7z, extract with 7-Zip, and run LosslessCut.exe.
  2. Open the file. Drag it into the player, or press Ctrl+O.
  3. Seek with the timeline, arrow keys, or the wheel. Press I to set in. Press O to set out. That pair is one segment. Press B to split the current segment at the cursor. Press BACKSPACE to remove a cutpoint or a segment you do not want.
  4. To cut a middle commercial, mark the ad as a segment (I then O on that range), unlock advanced view with the baby icon if you need extra controls, and click Yin Yang. Invert skips the selected bits and keeps the parts around them.
  5. Pick Separate files if you want one output per segment. Pick Merge cuts if you want those kept pieces concatenated into one file after the cut.
  6. Press Export (or E). Confirm the overview. The original file is not modified. A new file (or files) land next to the source, or in the working directory you set.

Space plays and pauses. Shift while dragging a segment moves or resizes it. Plus adds another marker that you can turn into a segment with O. Shift+/ opens the shortcut list if you forget a key.

I, O, B, and BACKSPACE

I is in. O is out. Together they draw a keep range on the timeline when invert is off. Move the cursor to the first frame you want, press I. Move to the last frame you want, press O. If you only set in and leave out empty, you have a marker, not a finished segment. Markers do not export as clips. Set O when you mean a real piece.

B splits. Put the cursor on the moment a scene changes, press B, and one segment becomes two. That is how you turn a long take into chapter-sized pieces without typing times. BACKSPACE deletes. Select the cut or the segment that is wrong, press BACKSPACE, and try again. Undo exists if you delete too far. The segments panel on the right lists order, labels, and tags. Drag to reorder if merge order matters.

You can type times if clicking the timeline is too coarse. Zoom the timeline when you need a tighter in point. Jump by keyframe when you are hunting a clean start. The video cutter job is this keyboard loop: seek, I, seek, O, maybe B, maybe BACKSPACE, then E.

Yin Yang: skip the selected bits

Default export preserves every segment you made. Invert flips that. Yin Yang (advanced view) tells the cutter to skip those selected ranges and write the gaps between them. That is the commercial case: mark the ad, invert, Export, and the show comes out without that middle stretch. You can mark several ads as several segments, invert once, and skip all of them.

If invert is on and you expected the marked parts to be the files you keep, turn it off. The symbol is easy to miss until advanced view is on. Baby icon first, then Yin Yang. Play the segments in the panel before you export so the keep list matches your head. Labels help when you have five ranges and you cannot remember which is the ad.

Merge cuts after invert concatenates the kept pieces into one file. Separate files writes each kept gap as its own file. For a TV capture that should become one episode file, merge. For a lecture you want as one file per question, stay on separate files and skip invert unless you are deleting a cough in the middle of one answer.

Separate files versus Merge cuts

Separate files is the default mental model: each segment becomes a new file. Names often include from/to times. Merge cuts still does the lossless cut first, then concatenates the selected pieces, as long as codecs match. Pieces from the same camera file usually merge. Pieces from two different phones may refuse if the codec parameters differ. If merge fails, export separate files and stop, or remux first on Mp4 trimmer notes about containers.

Tracks still apply. Disable an audio track before export if you do not want it in every piece. Subtitles follow if the format can hold them. The cutter cuts all tracks together. You are not editing one stream on a different clock from the other.

The original file stays

The project will not overwrite the source. Export writes a new file. You can send the original to trash later with the trash control if you meant to. Until then both files sit on disk. That is the safety for a video cutter pass: you can reopen the source, change segments, and export again. .llc project files can remember segments if you leave that on in settings.

Working dir unset means outputs land next to the source. Set a folder if the camera card should stay clean. Do not export onto the same name as the input. The app forbids that on purpose.

Keyframe caveat still applies when you cut. Start times may land on the nearest keyframe in a lossless copy. If a cut feels a few frames early, that is the copy path, not a broken invert. Smart cut is experimental in the project if you later need a tighter join. Most commercial skips are close enough on the default copy.

How do I cut a middle commercial with a video cutter?

Open the file. Seek to the start of the ad, press I. Seek to the end of the ad, press O. Unlock advanced view. Click Yin Yang so export skips that range. Press E. The original file is not modified.

What do I, O, B, and BACKSPACE do in a video cutter?

I sets in. O sets out. B splits the segment at the cursor. BACKSPACE removes a cutpoint or segment. Export is E.

Should a video cutter use Separate files or Merge cuts?

Separate files writes one output per kept segment. Merge cuts concatenates kept pieces into one file when codecs match. Pick merge for one episode file. Pick separate for one file per take.

Did you make this video cutter?

No. Mikael Finstad publishes LosslessCut under GPL-2.0. Official files live on GitHub Releases. This site only points at that page.

Related jobs: Video cropper, Trim video, Mp4 trimmer, Video Trimmer Download Safe. File host: GitHub Releases. Install button on the home page.