Cutting an mp4 file on a laptop with Adobe Premiere Pro

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Cut MP4 files to make video editing easier.

Edit your film on a desktop with the precision video trimmer trusted by the pros, or cut video files from anywhere with your iPhone or Android.

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Cut MP4s for quality and time.

Good footage is important, but a decent video can become great with skilled editing. No matter what kind of video you’re making, you can cut out slow parts or extended silences, or cut from one image or clip to another to add drama or comedy.

If you make YouTube videos or videos to share on social media platforms, you may need to cut them to reduce file size and make watching and downloading easier. Here’s how to use video editing apps from Adobe to cut your MP4 files down to size.

How to cut MP4s with the top video editor.

Premiere Pro supports MP4 video files as well as WMV, AVI, MOV, and MPEG, so you can easily import most video formats or convert videos from one format to another.

To make your MP4 cuts, drag downloaded files from your computer straight onto your timeline. If you’ve already added clips to the Premiere Pro assets library, you can find them there and add them to your timeline. You can also download video clips you find on Adobe Stock.

The Adobe Premiere Pro timeline panel superimposed over an image of a person holding their child during the cutting of an mp4 file

Split a video clip into two or more clips.

Separate the footage you want from the footage you don’t. You can use a keyboard shortcut to split a clip right at the playhead, which is the blue vertical line in your timeline. Just press Command+K on a Mac or Control+K on a PC to make the cut. Once you have a clip that’s only footage you want to discard, select it with the Selection tool and press Delete.

You can also use the Razor tool to cut MP4s:

1. Select the Razor tool from the eight icons next to your timeline that represent editing tools. (You can also press the shortcut C to select the Razor tool.)

2. Drag the playhead along your timeline to find the clip you want to split.

3. Click the Razor at the point you want to cut.

4. Use the Selection tool to select the new clip you want to delete, and just tap the Delete key.

Shorten video clips.

It’s easy to trim video files. To shorten a video clip in your timeline, just hover the Selection tool over the beginning or end of the clip. A handle with an arrow will appear. Click the handle and drag to the point where you want the clip to begin or end.

The Adobe Premiere Pro timeline panel superimposed over an image of a family walking in the snow

Try the Ripple Edit tool.

With this quick video cutter, you can make a cut, and the footage that follows will automatically snap into place to fill the space left by the cut:

Select the Ripple Edit tool.
Go to the beginning or end of the clip you want to trim.
Click and hold the handle with the arrow and drag to your desired point.

Or use the keyboard shortcut:

In your timeline, move the playhead to the place you want to make the cut.
Press Q to cut everything in the clip to the left of the blade and move over everything that was on the right to that cut.
Or press W to cut everything to the right of the playhead up until the next cut. (Press Command/Control+Z to undo if you immediately regret the edit.)

Try the Rolling Edit tool.

Make rolling edits with handles or the Q and W keys just as you would for ripple edits. The difference is that with rolling edits the overall length of your sequence remains the same. If you lengthen one clip, you will shorten the adjacent clip, and vice versa.

The Adobe Premiere Pro timeline panel superimposed over an image of the Adobe Premiere Pro program monitor displaying two people standing in the snow

Make precision cuts in the Program Monitor.

The Program Monitor is the window above the timeline that plays your footage. The frame-by-frame timeline just below the video window gives you more room to make the exact cuts you want.

Select Sequence › Trim Edit from the top menu or double-click on the end point of the clip in your timeline to change to Trim mode. The Program Monitor will show two screens, with the out point of one clip and the in point of the next.
Just click and drag the handles to move the in or out points forward or back, or go frame by frame with the buttons below the video.
To make this edit a ripple edit, hold Command on a Mac or Control on Windows while you click. (A red pointer means regular trimming and a yellow cursor means ripple trimming.)
Exit Trim mode by clicking an empty area in the Timeline panel.

For more instruction on how to trim video clips in Premiere Pro, watch these step-by-step tutorials.

How to cut MP4 files across your devices.

It’s even easier to trim video clips with Premiere Rush. Don’t worry if you’re starting out with video in MOV file format. You can use Premiere Rush as a video converter to change MOV files to MP4.

Cut video on your desktop.

First, import your video files into Premiere Rush and click and drag them to your timeline.

You can also select videos from the Project Assets panel on the left side of your screen and click the Add button near the bottom. When you add a video file, it will appear wherever the playhead (the blue line) is in your timeline.

To make cuts to your video clip with Premiere Rush on desktop:

Use the Scissors icon on the bottom left to cut the clip, or type S to use the keyboard shortcut to split the clips at the playhead.
Click and drag to move the clips around in the order you want them.
Select the clips you don’t want, and press Delete to remove them from the timeline.

The Adobe Premiere Rush editing timeline superimposed over an image of a mobile phone displaying a photo of a family walking in the snow

Cut video on your mobile device.

To import video files from your gallery, tap the + button at the bottom of your screen and choose Add Media. Give the project a name and select your clips. Tap Create to open the clips on your timeline.

Use two fingers to expand clips so you can see better where you want to trim.
Go to the point in the video where you want to make a cut. Make sure the playhead is right where you want it.
Find the Scissors icon in the bottom menu and tap it. Now you’ve split your clip into two.
Select the new clip that you want to delete and tap the Trash icon.

Adjust beginning and end times on desktop or mobile.

On desktop, just click the handle at the beginning or end of a clip until you see the yellow handle with an arrow. Just click and hold while you move the mouse to the point at which you want the clip to begin or end. For mobile, just press the beginning or end of the clip. When the yellow frame becomes a thin line, you can move left or right to trim.

Transform video on your desktop.

If you want to crop, cut, or rotate video in the frame, click the Crop icon on the right side of your screen to open the Transform panel. Here you can choose to fill the frame or fit the video to the frame. Then you can use the sliders to adjust horizontal and vertical positions, rotation, opacity, and proportions. Under the Advanced menu, you can crop the video and feather the edges.

Explore more tutorials for tips on how to use the editing tools in Premiere Rush.

Whatever your project, whichever video editor you use, a well-edited video will keep your viewers engaged and make them more likely to check out your next video.