There are technical limitations as to how precisely you can cut a video without having to re-encode at least some part of it, and it basically depends on the i-frame frequency. Personally, I generally think a single re-encode isn't a huge problem, but understand you did specifically ask for a lossless solution, so. Premiere or Final Cut) because I think they all generally re-encode on output, though are usually very easy to use for precise trimming. I suspect this part of the answer can apply equally to other 'project driven' video editing software (e.g. It will still, however, re-encode on export so cannot be technically lossless-another new feature, however, is the ability to customise the export quality, which can be closer-to-lossless. IMovie v10 (released some time after the question was originally asked) now better handles more media types, so avoids the import re-encode for most H.264 (mp4, m4v, mov, AVHDC, mts, mt2s) content. IMovie (not lossless, but better than before) (Most of the sites and most of the software appear very similar as well.) There's clearly a lot of crap out there

* I specified 'good' because Google is useless for topic as the results are littered with sites offering “reviews” of software that by some mere coïncidence they also happen to sell.

Cons: appears to be 'abandonware' as it hasn't even seen a minor update in well over a year, MacUpdate reviews are nearly entirely negative, going back to 2009, including slow- or no- responses from the developer.Īre there other good options out there*? If so, what are they, and what are their pros/cons?.

Pros: claims to be able to do this (although I tried the demo and found the UI so terrible I can't even verify if it works, and if it does, if it does anything that QuickTime X cannot).

Pros: Can make very precise (to the frame) edits.

Cons: can't handle mp4/m4v directly, has to be re-encoded.

IMovie ( Free if you have bought a recent Mac)

Cons: selector to choose 'start' and 'end' times is not very easy to use to get precise in/out.

I have some DRM-free m4v video that I would like to edit by trimming here and there.

Lossless cut mp4