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Is it possible to trim a clip without quality loss?

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 11:35 pm
by Blargmode
I have a whole bunch of video files at a couple of minutes each. They contain short moments (seconds) that I want to save. I don't want to store several minutes of video per file that I don't need. Is it possible to trim the videos down to just these moments and keep the original quality?

And In that case how? Do I just try to match the settings of the input files?

Re: Is it possible to trim a clip without quality loss?

Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 7:33 am
by kpflugshaupt
Blargmode wrote:I have a whole bunch of video files at a couple of minutes each. They contain short moments (seconds) that I want to save. I don't want to store several minutes of video per file that I don't need. Is it possible to trim the videos down to just these moments and keep the original quality?

And In that case how? Do I just try to match the settings of the input files?
Not with HandBrake, I'm afraid. It's a video transcoder, thus always converts video, even when using "equivalent" settings to the input file.
You'll need to look somewhere else.

On the Mac, there used to be a tool called MPEGStreamclip for that purpose. It's been years since I used it, though.
On Windows, I know very little about available tools. I'd probably check out AVIDemux and MKVToolnix first, as these have many features.

Re: Is it possible to trim a clip without quality loss?

Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 10:16 am
by Haravikk
kpflugshaupt wrote:On the Mac, there used to be a tool called MPEGStreamclip for that purpose. It's been years since I used it, though.
This is what I use; it still works on Yosemite, but its performance with HD video leaves a lot to be desired. Its ability to jump to the nearest keyframe is crucial though, as you always want to start a cut clip from a keyframe otherwise you'll get garbled video on many video players (Quicktime Player seems to skip it, but it's still there on things like VLC which always attempts to play everything).

Re: Is it possible to trim a clip without quality loss?

Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 8:39 pm
by Blargmode
Alright, thank you! AVIDemux looks promising.