Video Editing

[Dragon Drop]

I need to "crop" an MP4 video file, i.e. pick out one part just a few minutes long from the middle of it and remove the parts before and after.
Does anyone know of any good software for that purpose -- either free or inexpensive?

 

[Dragon Drop]

An update ...... I find that Windows Live Movie Maker can do the cropping, but it can only save the result as a "*.wmv" file,
which is no good for my purpose since I want to burn it to a DVD so that any DVD player can read it.
I'm trying to find ways to convert a file from "wmv" to "mp4", but no success there.
So I have to find some software that will edit an mp4 video and then save it with the changes, but still as an mp4.
If anyone knows of any such software, please let me know.

 

[Bree]

From the command line the free open source FFmpeg can do that. To crop from 1 minute 30 seconds in to 2 minutes in, use...

FFmpeg -i Input.mp4 -ss 1:30 -to 2:00 output.mp4


Download the Windows executables here:

Download FFmpeg

ffmpeg.org

 

[Bree]

An update ...... I find that Windows Live Movie Maker can do the cropping, but it can only save the result as a "*.wmv" file...

FFmpeg can convert that for you with the command line:

FFmpeg -i input.wmv output.mp4

There are also online converters available, or ones to download such as FreeMake.

FREE! Convert WMV to MP4 [Best WMV Converter & HOW TO]

Convert WMV to MP4 or vice versa the easiest way! HD & 4K large movies files support. Voted as fastest WMV Converter of 2017-2019. Easy 3 step video how-to.

www.freemake.com

 

[Dragon Drop]

Thanks, I'll try it.
But what I really need is a program that can edit and save as mp4 so I don't have to convert. There must be one somewhere out there, and I'll find it sooner or later!

 

[Bree]

...what I really need is a program that can edit and save as mp4...

I'm told by others that Shotcut is a good alternative to Movie Maker.

Shotcut - Home

Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor for Windows, Mac and Linux

www.shotcut.org

 

[Teeotsa]

Does anyone know of any good software for that purpose -- either free or inexpensive?

VSDC Video Editor is good one. Free 🎉

 

[frogbase]

Just use movavi. It supports 8 and it can do the crop of course. I wouldn't recommend it if it didn't. And it has a ton of simple guides, here's a good example www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-blur-video.html . The software is fast and you can do some good tricks with it.

 

[terrypd]

I recommend FFmpeg or Movavi for doing this. There are like tons of online converters but if you have the time and resources I would suggest to try this on your own using any of these tools.