Clippingnet · Free · On-device · No watermark

Free Online Video Clipping Tool

Clip videos online without uploading them. Paste a YouTube link or drop an MP4, MOV or WebM file, set the start and end on the timeline, and download the clip for TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels. Free, no account, no watermark; trimming, cutting, moment finding, vertical reframing and captions all run on your device.

…or drop a video file here / click to browse
MP4 · MOV · WebM · MKV · AVI · OGV and anything your browser can decode
Price
$0 one plan, every feature
Upload
None your footage never leaves your device
Guides
70+ clipping, earning, tools
00:00.000/ 00:00.000
length 0.000s
YouTube clip links
Share link
Embed (stops at end)
Embed code
Share
How to use the clipping tool

How to use the free online video clipping tool

Six steps, two minutes for your first clip. Every control is on this page; nothing to install.

  1. 1

    Load a video

    Paste a YouTube link or a direct video URL into the bar at the top and press Clip video, or drag a file onto the drop zone (click it to browse). Local files are read from disk; a long recording opens in a second or two.

  2. 2

    Set the start and end

    Drag the two handles on the timeline, or play the video and press I at the start of the moment and O at the end. The Set start and Set end buttons do the same at the playhead. Click anywhere on the timeline to jump.

  3. 3

    Fine-tune to the frame

    Type exact times into the Clip start and Clip end fields (01:23.456), or use ← and → to step one frame and Shift + arrows to jump a second. The length readout updates as you go; aim for the first word of the idea in, the payoff out.

  4. 4

    Preview the clip

    Press Preview clip: playback starts at your in point and stops at the out point, so you hear exactly what the export will contain. Adjust and preview again until the cut lands on the beat.

  5. 5

    Download the clip

    Download clip records the selection in your browser (a 30-second clip takes about 30 seconds) and saves a WebM with the timestamps in the filename. Save original keeps the untouched source alongside it. For a YouTube source the button becomes Get clip link: a timestamped share URL and an embed that stops at your end point.

  6. 6

    Share, then clip the next one

    The share row under the timeline posts to WhatsApp, X, Facebook, Reddit or email, or copies the link and embed code. Open another clears the editor; the source stays loaded if you just move the handles to the next moment and download again.

KeyDoesKeyDoes
SpacePlay / pauseISet clip start at the playhead
OSet clip end at the playhead← →Step one frame
Shift + ← / →Jump one secondTab to a handle, then arrowsNudge that handle 0.1 s

The export is WebM because that's what browsers can encode without a server; convert with ffmpeg -i clip.webm clip.mp4 or use the MP4 cutter for lossless MP4 segments. Some remote URLs block recording (CORS); download the file and load it locally.

Capabilities

What can you do with the video clipper?

Everything below runs in this tab, on your device, with the same in/out controls. Load a video above and it's ready.

Trim the start and end

Cut the dead air off a recording, frame by frame, and download. Video trimmer

Cut a segment from the middle

Pull one moment out of a long video, or several ranges in one pass. MP4 cutter

Clip from a YouTube link

Your own uploads clip from the URL; other people's get a timestamped share link and an auto-stopping embed. YouTube clipper

Clip from any video URL

A direct MP4 or WebM link streams in without downloading the whole file first. URL clipper

Find the best moments

Candidates marked from the transcript, audio peaks and scene changes, so you scrub to them instead of through everything. Find moments

Turn horizontal into vertical

Tracked, fixed or split layouts for 9:16 Shorts, TikTok and Reels. Reframe

Add and fix captions

Auto-captions generated on your device, edited word by word, burned in or saved as SRT. Captions

Preview before you export

"Preview clip" plays only the selection and stops at your out point; shortcuts I, O and the arrow keys set points on the fly.

Download, and keep the original

The clip goes to your downloads folder with timestamps in the filename; one button also saves the untouched original.

Share in one tap

WhatsApp, X, Facebook, Reddit, email, or copy the link and embed code from the share row under the timeline.

Clip sensitive footage

Client work, lectures, legal and unreleased video stay on your disk; close the tab and nothing remains. Private clipper

Trim audio too

MP3, AAC, M4A and OGG files load the same way; the export is a WebM with your audio segment.

Definition

What is video clipping?

Clipping is taking a short, self-contained moment out of a long video (a podcast, a stream, a lecture, a vlog) and publishing it as its own short, usually vertical, captioned, 15–60 seconds, on TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels. The long video stays where it was; the clip goes out to find people who have never seen the channel and sends them back to it.

  • Creators clip their own videos to reach new viewers and keep each upload working for weeks.
  • Clippers clip for others, as freelancers, on retainers, or through campaigns that pay per 1,000 views. See get paid to clip videos.
  • The craft is choosing the moment, starting on the first word of the idea, ending on the payoff, and keeping the context a stranger needs on screen.
  • The tools do the cutting, reframing and captions; this page does it on your device for free, and AI clippers add scoring and posting in the cloud.

Full guide: What is clipping? Complete guide, covering formats, rules, rights and where the money comes from.

How it works

How to turn a long video into short clips

  1. 1

    Open the source

    Paste a YouTube link or drop a file. It's read on your device; multi-hour recordings are fine.

  2. 2

    Find the moment

    Scrub, or let the moment finder mark candidates. Apply the three-second test: does the first line pull, does it stand alone, does it end on a payoff? Guide: choose the best moments.

  3. 3

    Set in and out

    Drag the handles, press I and O, or type timecodes. 25–45 seconds is the sweet spot for most moments.

  4. 4

    Reframe and caption

    Tracked, fixed or split layout for 9:16; word captions with names fixed; a 3–6 word title card. Guides: reframing, captions, hooks.

  5. 5

    Export and post

    1080 × 1920 presets for TikTok, Shorts and Reels, uploaded natively in each app. Then read the ratios and make the next batch better: clip analytics.

By content

Video clipping guides by content type

Podcasts

Answer-first cuts, host + guest layouts, chapter mapping. Podcast clips

Webinars

Stat slides, Q&A answers, LinkedIn-first, measured in leads. Webinar clips

Travel vlogs

Assembled from shots: reveals, cost breakdowns, itineraries. Travel vlog clips

Earn

Make money clipping videos

Clipping pays in three ways, and most working clippers do two of them: campaigns that pay per 1,000 views on clips you post to your own accounts, freelance work per clip or per episode for creators and podcasts, and monthly retainers where you run a channel's shorts. The free tool on this page is enough to start; the guides below cover the rates, the rules and the paperwork.

Where the campaigns are

Clipping platforms: where to find paid campaigns

A clipping platform is a marketplace where brands, streamers and creators fund campaigns and clippers get paid per 1,000 verified views on the clips they post to their own TikTok, Reels, Shorts and X accounts. You make the clips here; you get paid there. The largest of them is Clipping.net.

  • Clipping.net describes itself as the original and largest clipping network: 90,000+ clippers, 200+ brand campaigns and $70M+ paid out, with campaigns from brands and creators such as DoorDash, Kick, Stake and Crocs. Free sign-up, no follower minimum and no application; connect your accounts once and views are pulled from the platforms automatically.
  • How it pays: each campaign lists a rate and a qualifying minimum (recent examples on the site range from $40 per 100K views with a 100K-view minimum to bounty-style pots of $300 per 100K and $4,000 at 500K views). Earnings accumulate during a campaign cycle and pay out automatically when it closes, by PayPal, USDC or USDT.
  • Others worth knowing: StreamClipping (streamer campaigns plus its own clipper), Whop boards ($0.20–$6 per 1K, with holds), Klippify (weekly), FindClout (selective). Compared on best clipping platforms to make money.
  • Before you join one: read the brief (platforms, length, hashtags, banned content), post natively, disclose, keep screenshots of your analytics for the confirmation window, and run the rate through the CPM calculator.

Rates and minimums above are as shown on Clipping.net in October 2026 and change per campaign; check the live listing before you post.

Tool

Clipping earnings calculator

A quick estimate for campaign clipping: clips you post, the views they average, and the campaign's rate per 1,000 views. For caps, minimums, pool shares and saved scenarios use the full calculator.

Your numbers

Per month

—
—
Clips posted—
Qualifying views—
Per clip, average—
Per hour at 20 min per clip—
—

—

Open the full calculator

Monthly = clips × 4.33 weeks × qualifying share × average views ÷ 1,000 × rate. Campaign views are confirmed after a hold period and usually land below platform analytics; see get paid to clip videos and the CPM calculator.

Automation

AI clipping agents and automation

An AI clipping tool cuts the clip you ask for. An AI clipping agent decides the steps: it watches a channel or a stream, picks candidates, cuts, reframes, captions, checks the result against your brief, and schedules the post, asking you only when it isn't sure. The same clipping tools are exposed to assistants through MCP servers and to scripts through REST APIs, which is how the loop gets built.

Developers · Early access

Video clipping API for developers

The same pipeline as the tool on this page, from code: submit a source and a clip spec, get a job ID, receive a signed webhook when the clips are ready, fetch MP4s with scores, timestamps and SRTs. Built to fix what we found reviewing the other clipping APIs: per-minute pricing with clips free, limits you can read in headers, a clip spec you version in your repo, re-renders without re-processing, and export URLs that say when they expire.

  • Job model: POST /v1/jobs → 202 + job → job.completed webhook → GET /v1/jobs/{id}/clips. Idempotency keys on submit; failed jobs aren't billed.
  • Clip spec as data: candidates, length range, ratio, layout (auto, speaker, split, game-cam), captions, brand kit and a plain-language brief.
  • Local mode planned: a runner that serves the same /v1 contract on localhost, so footage never leaves your machine.
  • Draft spec, stable enough to code against; pricing per source minute set at launch, early-access partners get it locked for 12 months. Everything on the tool stays free.

Building today? The API comparison scores Katto, OpusClip, Vizard, Klap and SupoClip; the API and MCP guide has the shared job model, so switching later is an adapter, not a rewrite.

POST /v1/jobs · bash
curl -X POST https://api.clippingnet.com/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLIPPINGNET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: ep-142-run-1" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "source":  { "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" },
    "webhook": { "url": "https://example.com/hooks/clippingnet" },
    "spec": {
      "candidates": 15,
      "length":   { "min_s": 20, "max_s": 60 },
      "ratio":    "9:16",
      "layout":   "auto",
      "captions": { "style": "word-pop", "language": "auto" },
      "brief":    "claims, numbers and stories; skip housekeeping"
    }
  }'

# 202 Accepted
{ "id": "job_7f3a9c", "status": "queued", "source_minutes": 58.3,
  "links": { "clips": "/v1/jobs/job_7f3a9c/clips" } }
Competitors and alternatives

Clippingnet vs OpusClip, Klap, Vizard and other alternatives

Honest version: cloud clippers automate more and cost money; Clippingnet keeps your footage on your device and costs nothing. Many clippers use both. Entry paid tiers as reviewed on this site, October 2026.

ToolWhere it processesFromFree tierDoes more than ClippingnetClippingnet does betterReview
ClippingnetYour device$0, one planEverything, no watermark—Privacy, speed on cuts, no caps, no accountFeatures
OpusClipCloud$15/mo · Pro $2960 credits, watermarkClipAnything scoring on non-dialogue footage, auto-posting to 6 platforms, brand kits, MCP + APIPrivate footage, unlimited minutes, instant trimsOpusClip · alternatives
KlapCloud$29/mo · $14 annualTrialReframe 2 gameplay + cam layouts, virality score, usage-priced APICost at any volume, lossless cutsKlap
VizardCloud$29/mo · $14.50 annual60 creditsPodcast scoring, 128-language translation, 100 clips per job via APINo credit meter, no upload waitVizard
KattoCloud€8.90/mo · €4.90 annual2 videos, API + MCPPrompt-first picks, agents, hosted + local MCP, CLIUnlimited videos, no 90-min capKatto
SubmagicCloud$19/moTrialCaption styling, emoji and b-roll cues, Magic ClipsCaptions without a plan, on-deviceSubmagic
CapCutDevice + cloud featuresFree · Pro ~$9.99Most of itFull editor, templates, effects, auto-reframeNothing moving to Pro, no watermark surprises, link clippingCapCut
DescriptCloud$12–24/moLimitedText-based editing, overdub, full podcast productionQuick cuts without a project, privacyDescript · vs OpusClip
StreamClipping AICloud€19/mo15 minLive stream capture, AutoPilot posting, campaign marketplaceVOD cuts without a subscriptionStreamClipping
SupoClipYour server (open source)$0 self-hostAll of itAI picks with your own LLM, MCP, batchNo setup, no GPU, works on a phoneSupoClip

Full rankings: best AI clipping tools, best free AI video clippers, free video clipping tools. When a paid tool is worth it: AI clipping vs manual editing.

Why Clippingnet

Why Clippingnet: private, on-device and free

Every feature runs in your browser on your machine. There's no upload step, no processing queue and no copy of your video on a server, which is also why there's nothing to charge for.

  • No watermark, no caps, no account to start; see pricing.
  • Works offline for local files once the page has loaded.
  • Developers: the same pipeline from code is in early access on the Clipping API.
Pricing

Clippingnet pricing: one free plan

Every feature on this page, no watermark, no caps, no account to start. Processing happens on your device, so there's no server bill to pass on and nothing to meter.

The plan
$0 forever
  • Trim, cut, clip from links
  • Find best moments
  • Horizontal to vertical, all layouts
  • Captions, burned in or SRT
  • TikTok, Shorts and Reels presets
  • No watermark, no minute caps
  • No account; optional sign-in for synced presets
  • Footage never leaves your device
Start clipping
What there isn't
  • No Pro tier to upgrade to
  • No credits that run out
  • No 720p cap on free
  • No trial clock
  • No data trade; see the privacy policy
What costs money
  • The developer Clipping API, hosted processing priced per source minute, set at launch
  • Your device's time on very long files
Full pricing page
FAQ

Video clipping FAQ

Is Clippingnet really free?

Yes. One plan, every feature, no watermark, no credit limits, no account required. Processing happens on your device, so there are no server costs to pass on. See pricing.

Does my video get uploaded?

No. Files are read directly from disk by your browser and the clip is saved to your downloads folder. YouTube links are only used to embed the player. See the private video clipper.

What formats can I clip?

Anything your browser can play: MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI, OGV, M4V, 3GP. Browser exports are WebM; the MP4 cutter covers lossless MP4 cuts.

Can I clip a YouTube video?

Your own uploads, yes, from the link. For other people's videos the result is a timestamped share link and an auto-stopping embed, since YouTube doesn't permit browser-side downloads. See YouTube video clipper.

Does it make vertical clips with captions?

Yes: tracked, fixed and split layouts for 9:16, on-device auto-captions you can edit, and export presets for TikTok, Shorts and Reels. Guides: reframing, captions.

How is this different from OpusClip or Klap?

They process in the cloud and automate more (scoring on non-dialogue footage, auto-posting, brand kits); Clippingnet keeps footage local, is faster for cuts and conversions, and is free. Many clippers use both; see best AI clipping tools.

Can I get paid to clip videos?

Yes, through clipping campaigns that pay per 1,000 views, freelance work and retainers. Start with get paid to clip videos and the earnings calculator.

Is it legal to clip someone else's video?

Your own, always. Others' need permission, a campaign brief or a clear legal exception before you publish; see what is clipping.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes; the timeline and controls are touch-friendly. Long exports are more comfortable on a desktop since the device must stay awake while the clip records.

Is there an API?

In early access: jobs, signed webhooks and clip specs, with a local runner planned. See the Clipping API.