VLC remains the favorite tool for many users to play video from various sources. However, you can also use this player as a video editing software if you simply want to crop a piece, for example. VLC does this in a rather headstrong way.
Step 1: Advanced Controls
If you don't already have the free and open source multimedia player, you can download it from www.videolan.org. The tool works on almost all operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android) and can play most media files, including DVDs, audio CDs and various streaming protocols. VLC may not be the most advanced video editing software, but you can cut out pieces of movies very easily. That way you don't have to keep long video files, but only the fragments that really interest you. First you have to go through the menu Display the Advanced Controls imaging. This gives you four extra buttons at the bottom of the normal control buttons. Those are the record buttons.
Step 2: Record
Then open the video file in question. Play the video or drag the play button to the point where you want to make the cut. To work very accurately, use the last button. That's the button Frame by frame to move frame by frame to the exact point where you want to cut. Once you have determined the position in detail, click on the button with the red dot. That's the button Recording. Then let the video continue. When you get to the end point, click the record button again. That way, you're essentially recording the clip you need.
Step 3: Find it back
You can also use a hotkey instead of the record button. To start recording, press Shift+R (from Record). To stop recording, press the same hotkey again. The trimmed video will be saved in the folder Videos. The file name tells you how long this shortened video is. The file name is something like: vlc-record-2020-04-17-14h25m16s-nameofthemovie.mp4-.mp4. If you don't need the long file anymore, you might as well delete it. By the way, you can also use this trick to trim audio.
