How to Trim a Screen Recording on Mac (Ends and Middle)

To trim a screen recording on a Mac, click the thumbnail that appears in the bottom-right corner right after you stop recording, click the trim button, drag the yellow handles to the new start and end, and click Done. If the thumbnail is already gone, open the file in QuickTime Player and choose Edit > Trim. Those trim only the ends: to cut something out of the middle, use QuickTime's Split Clip, iMovie, or a recording editor.

All of this works on macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate, with no extra download for the first three methods.

Which tool can cut what

Price as of October 2026. Pick by the job:

• Just the ends, right now: the thumbnail. It's the fastest.
• One mistake in the middle: QuickTime's Split Clip.
• Several cuts, music or titles: iMovie.
• A tutorial or demo with pauses and "um"s to remove: a recording editor that works from the transcript.

Trim with the floating thumbnail (right after recording)

When you stop a ⇧⌘5 recording, a thumbnail "floats in the bottom-right corner of the screen for a few seconds," Apple says. Click it before it slides away:

1. Stop the recording with the Stop button in the menu bar or ⌃⌘Esc.
2. Click the thumbnail in the bottom-right corner. A preview window opens.
3. Click the trim button at the top of the window. A yellow bar with handles appears under the video.
4. Drag the left handle to where the recording should start, and the right handle to where it should end. Press Space to play the selection.
5. Click Done. The trimmed recording is saved where your recordings go, the Desktop by default.

The same trim works later from Finder: select the file, press Space to open Quick Look, and click the trim button there.

Trim in QuickTime Player (Edit > Trim)

QuickTime opens every .mov and most .mp4 files, and it's the best free tool when you want control over the frame you cut on.

1. Open the recording in QuickTime Player. Recordings made with File > New Screen Recording open there automatically when you stop.
2. Choose Edit > Trim, or press ⌘T.
3. Drag the yellow handles on the trimming bar. Everything outside them is removed. Click and hold a handle to see individual frames for a precise cut.
4. Click Trim.
5. Save. File > Save (⌘S) replaces the original. To keep the original too, choose File > Export As and pick a resolution, which makes a new copy.

Steps from Apple's QuickTime guide.

Cut out the middle in QuickTime (Split Clip)

QuickTime has no "delete this range" button, but splitting does the same job:

1. Open the recording and choose View > Show Clips.
2. Move the playhead (the red line) to the start of the part you want to remove. The arrow keys move it in small steps.
3. Choose Edit > Split Clip, or press ⌘Y.
4. Move the playhead to the end of the unwanted part and split again. You now have three clips.
5. Click the middle clip and press Delete.
6. Click Done, then choose File > Save, or File > Export As to keep the original.

You can repeat this for as many cuts as you need, and you can double-click any clip to trim its edges. Apple's Split Clip steps say the same: split, delete the parts you don't want, then save. If Save is dimmed, close the window and QuickTime will ask where to save.

Trim in the Photos app

If your recordings end up in your Photos library, you can trim them there, and the cut is never permanent.

1. Open Photos and double-click the video.
2. Click Edit in the toolbar, then Adjust.
3. Drag the trim handles at either end to shorten the video.
4. Click Done.

"Trimming a video doesn't actually delete footage; you can recover any trimmed video later," Apple notes. Drag the handles back, or click Revert to Original, to undo it. Photos can't cut the middle out, though.

Cut and split in iMovie

iMovie is free from Apple and the most comfortable way to make several cuts, add a title or put music underneath.

1. Open iMovie, create a new movie and drag your recording into the timeline.
2. To trim the ends, hover over the start or end of the clip until the pointer becomes the trim tool, then drag inward.
3. To cut the middle, put the playhead (the white line) where the unwanted part starts and choose Modify > Split Clip, or press ⌘B. Split again where it ends.
4. Click the piece you don't want and press Delete. The clips on either side close the gap.
5. Zoom the timeline with ⌘+ for precise cuts.
6. When you're done, click the Share button and choose Export File.

Apple's iMovie trim and split guide has more, including transitions between clips. Exporting re-encodes the video, so choose the highest quality and original resolution if the text on screen must stay sharp.

Cut pauses, filler words and mistakes in Smooth Recorder Studio

Built-in tools cut by time, so you scrub around looking for the bit where you said "um." For tutorials and demos, cutting by what you said is faster. Smooth Recorder's Studio, the editor that opens by itself when you stop recording, does both.

Trim and split on the timeline:

1. Drag either edge of a clip to trim it.
2. Put the playhead where you want a cut and press S (Split at Playhead), or hover over a clip and press C to split where the pointer is.
3. Click the part you don't want and press ⌫. Or keep it and set its Speed to 2x, 4x or 8x in the inspector to fast-forward through a slow install or loading screen.
4. Split by mistake? Press J to join the clips back together.
5. After a split, Give This Clip Its Own Background gives one clip its own background, padding, corners and shadow, so a section can look different from the rest.
6. Changed your mind? ⌘Z undoes the last edit, and Undo All Cuts brings back the whole recording.

Cut by text: Studio transcribes your recording on your Mac in one click. In the captions panel, switch to Cut by Text:

• Click a word to jump to it. Shift-click to select a stretch, then cut it, and the video cuts there.
• A Cut Filler Words button (it shows how many it found) removes the "um"s and "uh"s in one click.
• A Cut Pauses button trims the silences between your sentences.

The captions follow your cuts, so they stay in sync. To share only a section, choose Select Part (or press I and O to mark its start and end) and export just that part. When you're done, export as MP4 or MOV (H.264 or HEVC, up to 60 fps, from 480p to the original size), reframe for 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 or 4:5, or export a GIF. The same editor adds automatic zooms, a smooth cursor and a background; see how to zoom in on a screen recording.

Smooth Recorder is $19 once during early access, $49 regular, with no subscription. It isn't free, and for a one-off trim the thumbnail or QuickTime is all you need.

Troubleshooting trims

The thumbnail disappeared before I could click it. Open the file from your Desktop (or your Save to folder) in QuickTime and use Edit > Trim, or select it in Finder, press Space and click the trim button.

Trim is grayed out in QuickTime. Pause the movie and click the video window to bring it to the front. If the recording is still saving, wait a moment.

I trimmed but the file didn't change. In QuickTime, the trim isn't saved until you choose File > Save or Export As. In Photos, the trim lives in your library, so drag the video out of Photos (or use File > Export) to get a trimmed file.

My trimmed file is huge, or the text looks blurry. QuickTime's Save keeps the original quality. Exports from iMovie or other editors re-encode the video: choose the original resolution and a high quality setting, or HEVC for a smaller file at the same quality.

I can't find my recording at all. That's a different problem: see screen recording not working on Mac for where recordings save and why some never appear.

Once your recording is trimmed, you may want to share it as a loop: here's how to record a GIF on Mac. Making something longer? See how to make a product demo video.