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Trimming your video is one of the most effective ways to get the viewer's attention. As such, you should always trim the end and beginning of your videos to a length that will not repel viewers. Premiere Pro can help you trim videos, leaving you with tight and compelling content that engages your audience. Developed by Adobe Inc., this timeline-based video editing software application is ideal for those who want to produce the best video. We'll explain how to trim videos in Premiere Pro.
What Is the Difference Between Cutting and Trimming a Video?
If you are new to video editing, you might find that cutting and trimming video files sound the same to you. At first sight, you'll see that these two operations are similar because they involve the cutting of videos. Let's look at the differences between these two operations.
Trimming
Trimming is the process of cutting off a portion of the end or beginning of your video to reduce its length, leaving the desired content only. Trimming is vital when you want to ensure your video starts swiftly and your viewers will not get bored while waiting for something captivating to occur.
The first seconds of a video are what draw viewers' attention and convince them to continue watching the entire video. When you apply it intelligently, video trimming allows you to remove unnecessary frames from the beginning and end of your video and leave content that your audience will like.
Cutting
Cutting is also a fundamental video editing skill, and it involves removing a portion of a video clip by cutting in two places. You'll then lift out the middle area and combine the leftover video back together.
This operation is helpful when you want to polish your video and cut off meaningless snippets. What's more? You can apply cutting if you intend to insert a section of your video clip into another one.
You might want to consider cutting when you want to share your video on social networks and need to cut it into pieces due to the video length limits.
People often confuse trimming with cutting because they are all about deleting sections of the video. However, trimming involves deleting the beginning and end of a video, while cutting refers to cutting a part of a video file from somewhere else. Understanding this crucial difference will allow you to edit your videos like a professional.
How to Trim videos in Premiere Pro in Different Ways
You can trim video Premiere Pro on the timeline or program. Let's look at these two methods.
Method 1:Trim Clips on Timeline
If you are wondering: What is a timeline? It's the area Premiere Pro where you arrange your videos and map out the edits you want to apply. You will see all your video clips, transitions, effects, and more laid out in chronological order while you are working on your project. You can Premiere Pro trim video clips on the timeline, and at any point, play your project to check how your edits will look.
Remember that edits on the Premiere Pro timeline don't alter your source files, and they are previews of how your edits will appear. That means you can untrim a video clip to extend it to its original length without consequence.
To learn how to trim video in Premiere Pro on the timeline, follow the steps below.
- Double click on the video file you want to trim in Premiere Pro.
- Adjust the timings of your edits. Drag the ends of your video clip as if you are resizing a window to shorten or extend by trimming. As your cursor gets closer at the edge of the video clip, you'll see a red arrow.
- The Ripple Edit tool lets you trim video clips without leaving a white gap. You can also use it to push adjacent video clips later in the sequence.
- The Rolling Edit tool allows you to adjust the timing of the edit you make between two video clips and extends a clip by the same size you shorten the other.
- Click the padlock icon located on the tracker header to lock the entire track and prevent unwanted changes.
- You can also use the Q and W keys on your keyboard to Premiere Pro trim video. The Q key removes unwanted content at the beginning of the clip, while the W key trims the end of the clip.
- Choose the Selection tool once you've finished using the trimming tools.
Method 2:Trim Clips in the Program
You can also trim videos in the Program Monitor. Follow the guide below to learn how to trim a video in Premiere Pro program monitor.
- Double-click the end of your video clip to enter the Trim Mode in the program.
- To trim, drag on the images of your video in the program monitor. You can also use the buttons on the panel.
- To exit Trim mode, click an empty section in the Timeline panel.
You can change how trimming works by Command-clicking (macOS) or Control-clicking (Windows) on the images of the video in the program while you are in the Timeline panel or Trim Mode. The yellow cursor means ripple trimming, while the red pointer means regular trimming.
The benefit of trimming videos in the Program Monitor is that the precision adjustment buttons under the footage allow you to trim 1 or 5 frames at a time.
Extra Tips About Trimming Videos in Premiere Pro
We have provided some tips that you should keep in mind when using Adobe Premiere trim video.
How to Trim a Video without Re-Rendering?
When adding a video to Premiere Pro, it will be rendered by this software application to ensure high-quality playback and speed. Rendering takes time afterward, leading to loss of quality; however, it makes sure you have gotten the best video quality as much as possible by removing skipped frames and lag from the video playback.
If you are wondering how to trim videos in Premiere Pro without re-render follow the steps below:
- Import your video to Premiere Pro by launching the application and choosing 'Import Media to Start'. Browse and select the video you want to trim.
- The video will appear in the media library area at the bottom of the screen.
- Drag and drop the video from the media library to the timeline. You'll see the complete video clip duration in the timeline.
- You can crop the video by dragging the blue time marker to the duration where you would like to start the video.
- Hold the 'Ctrl' key on your keyboard, then drag the starting end of the video clip to the time marker position. You'll remove unnecessary video content from the beginning of your video.
- You can trim the video from its other end by following the same steps but from the opposite direction. You can only use this method to trim from one of the ends of your video clip.
- Choose the 'Laser Tool' located at the side menu of the timeline to trim from the center of the video clip. Now, click on the clip at the position you want to trim, and the application will cut the video from this position.
- Follow steps 2 to 4 to trim from cuts you've just made.
- Go to 'File' and choose the 'Export' option. Tap 'Media' from the list, and you will be directed to the export setting. Here, you can adjust specific settings, such as quality, name, and format. Click 'Export' after entering the appropriate information.
Unlink Audio and Video for Trimming
When you upload a video file to Adobe Premiere Pro and take it into the timeline, the audio tracks and video will be synced and locked. Essentially, this ensures there is no misalignment when the program converts the video to another format. For example, importing it into another video editor can cause a mis-sync between audio and video if the two tracks are not locked or linked.
Video editing professionals avoid this by locking the two tracks together. As such, you might want to unlink or unlock the two before doing anything. To do this, you need to import the video into the application and take it to the timeline with the associated tracks. Then, select the video track alone.
Next, right-click the video track and select the Unlink option. The software will separate the audio from the video track. You can now trim either of these.
How to Trim and Re-Encode Videos without Re-Rendering
Follow the method below to trim video Premiere Pro and encode it without rendering it.
- Launch Premiere Pro and navigate to File, then choose import. Find the video that you want to trim and double click on it.
- Drag and drop the video into the timeline.
- Choose the 'Ripple Edit Tool' and then Press 'Sequence'. Head to 'Sequence Settings' and set or modify the codec, bitrate, name, format, and much more.
- Adjust the Ripple so that it defines the end time and start time that you want for your video.
- Now, finalize the trim by choosing 'File' and tap 'Export'. To 'Export Settings,' elect 'Media'.
Conclusion:
● Now that you know how to trim videos in Premiere Pro, you can remove unnecessary portions at the beginning or end of your videos. In turn, your videos will attract more viewers.