Video Cutter: How to Split Video with iMovie on Mac/PC

Many people have asked me how to split a video, for example, the video length is 10 minutes, I want to shorten it to 5 minutes, what should I do? It's actually very simple, we can get it in just a few steps, and it's completely free! What you need is only iMovie or its alternative for Windows (free trial).

iMovie is the free video editor that comes with your Mac. It allows you easily to split a video, delete the unwanted parts and merge the existing parts together automatically. For Windows users, iMovie is unavailable, I'll recommend you to use Movavi Video Editor instead.

> Part 1: Split Video with iMovie on Mac
> Part 2: Split Video with iMovie Alternative in Windows

Part 1: How to Split Video on Mac with iMovie

iMovie is the easiest video splitter for Mac. Below is how you can split a video into two parts with ease, even with one keystroke combination.

1. Splitting A Video into Two Parts

After adding your video into iMovie's timeline, move the playhead where you want to split the clip, and then go through Modify > Split. Alternatively, press Command-B (⌘B)

2. Delete Unwanted Parts

Highlight the unwanted part and press Delete key on your keyboard. The rest parts will join together automatically. Repeat Split-Delete process to make your video shorter and shorter.

3. Export Split Video

When your video editing is done, click Share in iMovie to output your split video to a new file on your Mac, or you can directly upload to YouTube for sharing with YouTube users all over the world.

How to Split Video in Windows using iMovie Alternative

iMovie is impossible for Windows so that Movavi Video Editor is the iMovie for Windows alternative to help you split video and export split video in all popular formats. I'll show you how to split a video in Windows using this video splitter and editor. Download it first.

1. Download and Install Video Splitter for Windows

Download the installation file to your computer and install it by following the on-screen instructions step by step. When it completes, run it from desktop or the Start menu.

2. Add Video Clips for Splitting

In the welcome window, choose Create project in full feature mode. To import a video, click Add Media Files and choose your desired file in the pop-up browser. When your video appears on the timeline, move the playhead to the desired position and click the Scissor button. This way, your video clip will turned into two clips. Select the unwanted part and click the Delete button in the toolbar or press Delete key to remove it.

Movavi Video Suite provides you a more advanced video splitter to split videos with more options like marks and outputting to separate files at the same time.

3. Add Transitions or Export as A New File

All the existing parts will be merged together. You're suggested to add transition effects between parts to make the transition smooth. See how to add transitions here.

Now preview the result and if you're satisfied with it, click the green Export button and choose your desired output format in the following screen. Whatever you want to upload split video online, or share it on your iPhone and iPad, Movavi Video Splitter does it all. If the file size is important, you may change the Advanced settings like resolutions, bit rate, frame rate to achieve the desired file size.

Splitting Video Conclusion

Splitting is one of the most basic video editing tools. It's helpful when you want to cut off the ad at the beginning of a video, or make big video smaller for online sharing or watching on mobile devices. This article introduced how to split a video clip and save it a new video file with smaller size using Mac video cutter iMovie and Windows video splitter Movavi Video Editor.