How to Trim Video in iMovie on iPhone/iPad/Mac

Rel updated on Mar 26, 2024 to EaseUS RecExperts

iMovie is a powerful video editor for Apple users. If you want to make the rhythm of the video more compact by trimming it, it is a good choice to use iMovie to cut your video. This post can guide you on how to trim videos in iMovie on iPhone/iPad and Mac. At the same time, for Windows users, we also provide you with an alternative to iMovie.

With the wide popularity of video content in learning, leisure, and social fields, more and more people are beginning to learn how to edit and upload their own videos. For novices unfamiliar with video trimming operations, it may be difficult to select excellent software from the broad App market. 

But if you are an Apple user, don't worry. Apple provides an outstanding video editing software - iMovie for all Apple users.

iMovie has many powerful but free video editing functions, supporting users to speed up, crop, trim, and add filters, text, or effects to videos. Similar to other Apple products, iMovie is extremely simple and suitable for ordinary users. 

This article will introduce how to trim video in iMovie. It is worth noting that iMovie can only be used on iPhone, iPad, or Mac. However, if you are a Windows user, we also introduced the best alternative to iMovie in the article. Let's begin!

How to Trim Video in iMovie on iPhone/iPad

For users of short video platforms, you may often want to upload your own video stories and share them with friends on various platforms. Although you can trim videos with Snapchat, Tiktok, or other apps, iMovie can provide richer, more intuitive, more stable editing functions without corresponding restrictions.

Let's follow the simple steps given below and learn how to cut a video in iMovie on iPhone or iPad.

Step 1. Open the iMovie app on your iPhone/iPad.

Step 2. Create a new project by hitting the Movie option.

Step 3. Choose the video you want to cut from your album and upload it to iMovie

Step 4. Touch the video thumbnail on the center of the screen to call out the timeline. 

Step 5. Drag the sliders on both sides of the timeline to confirm the range of video content you want to keep, and hit Done when you finish trimming.

Step 6. Now you can preview the contents of the new video and decide whether to continue editing or saving.

How to Cut Videos in iMovie on Mac

For video editing software that can be applied to computers, many people may prefer trim video in VLC. Although VLC is free and excellent software similar to iMovie, VLC may not be suitable for novices. Compared with the vast majority of video editing software on the market, iMovie has a very simple and smooth interface, a wide range of functions, and is extremely friendly to novices.

The following steps of using iMovie to trim videos on Mac can prove the above advantages of iMovie.

Step 1. Launch iMovie on your Mac. Hit File> import Media, or just drag and drop the video you want to trim to the editing panel to upload it.

Step 2. Then the timeline of the video will show up on the editing panel. You can move the white vertical line to the exact point you want to trim or split the video.

Step 3. After determining the cutting position, press the Command(⌘)+B keys to split the video into 2 parts.

Step 4. Select the part you do not want to keep and press the Delete key to remove it.

Step 5. Now you can press the Space key to preview the new video and save it on your Mac or share it to some platforms.

Also, if you want to check more detailed information, you can watch this video to learn how to cut, split, or trim video in iMovie on Mac better.

Bonus: The Best iMovie Alternative for Trimming Video

For Windows users, the best software that can replace iMovie for video trimming is EaseUS RecExperts. It is a screen recorder for Windows and Mac, which can stably record the activities on your screen without affecting frames and the performance of the computer. 

EaseUS RecExperts can record gameplay, zoom meeting, live stream, etc., and support all common video formats. You can use it to create automatic recording plans and extract audio from video.

But in addition to the screen recording function, EaseUS RecExperts can easily trim your video and audio.

The following are the functions it can provide as a trimmer:

  • Support trim videos frame by frame
  • Can trim voice recordings with no quality loss
  • Can trim videos in multiple formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, etc. 

Now let's see how EaseUS RecExperts trim a video with great ease.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS RecExperts and click "Recordings" to open the built-in video editor.

Step 2. Click "Import" on the bottom right corner, then add your target video file from your local folder.

Step 3. Click "Edit" > "Trim" to trim the video. Here you can even trim the video frame by frame. Finally, save the edited video.

Conclusion

If you are an Apple user and don't have much experience in video editing when you need to trim a video, don't hesitate. iMovie will be your best helper. This article introduces how to trim video in iMovie on iPhone/iPad and Mac in detail. You can start creating new videos by referring to the above methods. For Windows users, we also recommend the best iMovie replacement for you, EaseUS RecExperts also can play a great role in video trimming.

FAQs

1. How do you cut a long part of a video in iMovie?

Here are the steps to cut a long part of a video in iMovie on Mac.

Step 1. Open iMovie and upload the video you want to cut to the editing panel

Step 2. Move the white vertical line to the exact time you want to trim or split the video.

Step 3. After determining the cutting position, press the Command+B keys to split the video into two parts.

Step 4. Select the long part you want to remove and hit the Delete key.

2. How do you split a clip in iMovie keys?

If you would like to split a clip in iMovie, you can hit Modify> Split or just press the Command+B keys to achieve your goal.