You want to cut videos. That means you don't want to fight with codecs, licenses, diabolical interfaces, or strange formats. The plan is to mark a video from point A to point B and pass the scissors without surprises. Professional tools can do this easily, but today we're going to look at two free and portable applications with a very friendly learning curve.
Cutting Videos, Back to Basics
The professional world of video editing has all its needs covered, so our interest points in the direction of casual use. Microsoft never managed to restore the magic of Movie Maker (although we also recognize that the 'nostalgia factor' is powerful), and its alternatives are often limited, or on the contrary, too intimidating with dozens of built-in features.
That said, let's get back to basics. Suppose you want to cut a video. No effects, no fade-out or weird tricks. Clip, clip, export. The task is simple, but from a technical point of view it carries more demands than we think, due to the presence of keyframes (more details later). Fortunately, the two programs we mention here today are very compatible, and should not cause difficulties when passing the scissors.
Simple Video Cutter
Simple Video Cutter is not only an excellent program for cutting videos, but its developer also took the trouble to explain the concept of keyframes. Long story short, if we cut between keyframes we can use lossless mode, much faster and more dynamic. On the other hand, a cut between two specific points enables greater control, but forces us to re-encode. Simple Video Cutter supports both modes: a couple of markers on the timeline, a click on "Perform the Cut" and a visit to the tasks section are all we need to make the cut perfect. Its only dependency? The automatic download of FFmpeg (about 80 MB).
SharpCut
SharpCut is simpler than Simple Video Cutter, although we don't see it as a weakness. On one hand, its interface does not support Spanish, and on the other it only seems to perform cuts between keyframes, but it compensates with re-encoding functions to MP4 or Matroska, individual frame capture, and a tool to join videos. At the same time, you don't need to download anything for it to work, and it already comes with all its dependencies out of the box. The Media Player plugin works as a preview, and personally I'd like to see a bit more documentation, but SharpCut cuts videos, and it cuts them well.
In Summary
Cutting videos doesn't have to be a headache, nor demand an excessive amount of money. With these tools, all you have to invest is time, and I guarantee it won't be more than a few minutes. Good luck!
