In general, there are a plethora of free tools to trim those unneeded parts of the video with just a few clicks. However, if you are using Windows 10 with the Fall Creators update, then you don’t have to use a third-party app. You can trim videos using the built-in Photos app and Movies & TV app. The good thing about this approach is that unlike most third-party tools, you won’t have to manually set video quality, resolution, and other options. It automatically defaults to the actual quality and resolution of the video you are trying to edit. This article will show how to use both apps to trim videos. Use the one you are comfortable with.
Trim Videos Using the Photos App
If the video is indexed by the Photos app, then simply open the Photos app by searching for it in the Start menu. Find the video and click on it. If the video is not indexed by the Photos app, then open File Explorer, navigate to the folder where you’ve stored the video, right-click on it and select the option “Open with > Photos.”
As the video is playing, you will see additional options on the top bar. If you cannot see them, just click on the video and you will see the options. Since we need to trim the video, click on the option “Edit and Create” and then select “Trim.”
There are no options for you to configure. Just move the starting and ending sliders to select the video you want to keep. By clicking on the “Play” icon, you can preview how the video will look after trimming.
When you are satisfied with the result, click on the “Save a Copy” button. Depending on the file size, quality, and resolution, it can take some time to create a copy of the trimmed video.
Once done, navigate to the same folder where you’ve stored the video file, and you will see your new trimmed video. Conveniently, Windows will add the word “Trim” at the end of the file name so that you can easily recognize the trimmed version.
Trim Video Using the Movies & TV App
You can do pretty much the same thing using the Movies & TV app. For whatever reason, depending on where you live, the same app is also called “Films & TV.” So don’t worry if you find Films & TV rather than Movies & TV app on your system. Just like with the Photos app, if the video is indexed by the app, click on it to play the video. Otherwise, find the video in the File Explorer, right-click on it and select the option “Open with > Movies & TV.”
As the video is playing, click on the “Edit” icon and select the option “Trim.”
The video will be opened in the Photos app’s trim window. Just like before, use the sliders to trim the video. Once done, click on the “Save a Copy” button to save the trimmed video.
Wrapping Up
Though there are no options to play with, the Photos app makes it quite easy to trim videos without any loss of quality. In fact, I tried to compare the original and trimmed versions. The properties window shows that Windows did reduce the audio and video bitrates ever so slightly, but there is no noticeable change of quality in the trimmed version.
So if you are looking for a simple way to trim videos and don’t mind the lack of options or customizations whatsoever, then give the new Photos app a try. I personally used it on a couple of videos, and it does the job well.
