Cut MTS

How to Cut MTS Files Online

1. Upload Your MTS File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select an AVCHD .mts (or .m2ts) clip straight off a Sony, Panasonic, Canon, JVC, or Lumix camcorder SD card. Batch uploads work — process several takes in one session. Files stay on our servers, never on a third-party cloud.
2. Set Start Time and Duration: Enter the start point in seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss (00:01:30.250) and either the end time or a duration. The cut is frame-accurate: XConvert decodes the take and re-encodes the kept range at the visually-lossless default preset, so the clip starts exactly at your mark instead of snapping to a GOP boundary.
3. Pick Output Container (Optional): Keep .mts to feed the clip straight back to a camcorder, Blu-ray authoring tool, or AVCHD-aware NLE. Switch to MKV or MP4 via the format dropdown if you're sending the clip to a web player, social platform, or a non-AVCHD editor.
4. Cut and Download: Click "Cut". The selected range is extracted on our servers and the file downloads directly — no sign-up, no watermark, runs on xconvert’s servers with no per-file cap, no sign-up.

Why Cut MTS?

MTS is the on-camera file extension for AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition), a tape-replacement camcorder format Sony and Panasonic introduced in 2006. Inside the .mts file is an MPEG-2 Transport Stream carrying H.264/AVC video and Dolby AC-3 (or Linear PCM) audio. Bitrates run up to 24 Mbps on the original spec and 28 Mbps on AVCHD 2.0 Progressive (1080/60p). Cutting an MTS means extracting a sub-range of the timeline — usually to trim camcorder dead air, isolate a take, or split a multi-clip recording — while keeping the same codec family in the output.

• Trim camcorder dead air — Sony Handycam (HDR-CX series), Panasonic HC-V series, Canon Vixia HF, and JVC Everio camcorders write one continuous .mts per record button press. Cut the lead-in setup and tail-end stop before importing into DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, or Final Cut.
• Reassemble takes that auto-split at the FAT32 4 GB cap — AVCHD camcorders write to FAT32 SD cards, which can't store a single file larger than 4 GB. A long take is silently broken into multiple 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS files at the seam; concatenate the pair first, then cut the joined result.
• Isolate a single event from event footage — wedding ceremonies, school plays, sports games, and recitals get recorded as one long take. Pull just the toast, the goal, or the solo into a shareable clip without processing the whole 13 GB source.
• Pull a sample for editor proxy testing — extract a 30-second slice of a 24 Mbps 1080/60i AVCHD source to test transcode settings in Resolve or Premiere before committing to a full multi-hour conversion.
• Prep clips for legacy hardware playback — keep the output as .mts and the file plays directly on the camcorder, on PS3/PS4 via the original AVCHD spec, and on any Blu-ray authoring tool that consumes BDAV streams.
• Reduce upload size for cloud sharing — Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox accept multi-GB uploads but transfers are slow on consumer broadband. Cut just the highlight before uploading instead of waiting on the full original.

MTS vs M2TS vs MP4 — Container Comparison

Property	MTS (AVCHD)	M2TS (Blu-ray / AVCHD import)	MP4
Underlying container	MPEG-2 Transport Stream (BDAV)	MPEG-2 Transport Stream (BDAV)	ISO Base Media (MPEG-4 Part 14)
Typical origin	AVCHD camcorder SD card	Blu-ray STREAM/ folder; AVCHD after PC import	Phones, screen recorders, web encoders
Filename convention	8.3 short name (e.g. 00000.MTS)	Long filename allowed	Long filename allowed
Video codec	H.264/AVC only	H.264, H.262/MPEG-2, or VC-1	H.264, H.265, AV1, MPEG-4 ASP
Audio codecs	AC-3 or LPCM	AC-3, DTS, LPCM, TrueHD, DTS-HD MA	AAC, AC-3 (ALAC/FLAC in newer specs)
Max video bitrate	24 Mbps (1080i/24p), 28 Mbps (1080/60p, AVCHD 2.0)	40+ Mbps (Blu-ray)	Codec-limited; commonly 50+ Mbps for 4K
Frame-accurate cutting here	Yes	Yes	Yes
Native browser playback	No	No	Yes (H.264/AAC)

MTS and M2TS are the same container with different filename extensions — renaming .MTS to .m2ts (or the reverse) does not change a single byte of the file. The extension only signals where the file came from. If your camcorder import tool renamed everything to .m2ts, use the Cut M2TS tool instead; the cut behavior is identical.

Frame-Accurate Cutting on AVCHD — The Keyframe Problem

AVCHD encoders place an I-frame (keyframe) roughly every 0.5–2 seconds in standard recording modes — longer (3–5 s) in some long-GOP power-saving modes. A stream-copy cut can only begin output on an I-frame, which is why cutters that work that way snap away from your mark. XConvert instead decodes the take and re-encodes the kept range at the visually-lossless default preset, so every cut is frame-accurate.

Mode	Output Start	Quality	Speed	When To Use
Stream-copy (other tools)	Snaps to nearest preceding I-frame (typically within 2 s of your timestamp)	No recompression, but the start point is off your mark	Very fast	Not how this page cuts — some desktop cutters work this way
Re-encode (how XConvert cuts)	Frame-accurate to your chosen timestamp	One visually-lossless-preset pass — visually indistinguishable at the defaults	CPU work proportional to clip length	Every cut on this page, including subtitle cues and 0.3 s blooper trims

Because XConvert re-encodes the kept range, the cut begins on the exact frame you request — whether that's a scene start or a specific subtitle or music cue — with no keyframe snapping to think about.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does cutting reduce MTS quality?

The cut is re-encoded: XConvert decodes the selected range and re-encodes it at the visually-lossless default preset (CRF 18 for H.264). That is one lossy generation on paper, but at the 17–28 Mbps bitrates AVCHD uses it is visually indistinguishable from the source — and it is what makes the cut frame-accurate.

Why does my cut start a second or two before the time I entered?

With XConvert it shouldn't — the cut is re-encoded, so the output starts at exactly the time you entered. The early start you're describing is stream-copy behavior: AVCHD I-frames are placed every 0.5–2 seconds depending on the recording mode the camcorder used (FX, FH, HQ, PS, etc.), and a stream-copy cut can only begin on an I-frame, so tools that work that way rewind — a requested 00:01:13 cut ends up starting at 00:01:11.5.

My camcorder split one long take into multiple 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS files. Can I cut across the seam?

Not directly — each .mts is an independent file. The split happens because AVCHD camcorders record to FAT32 SD cards, and FAT32 cannot store a single file larger than 4 GB (at 24 Mbps that's roughly 22 minutes). The AVCHD spec guarantees consecutive split files share the same codec, resolution, and frame rate and align cleanly at a GOP boundary, so concatenate them first (with ffmpeg -f concat or any AVCHD-aware editor), then cut the joined result on this page.

Should I keep the output as MTS or switch to MP4 after cutting?

Keep MTS if the clip is going back to a camcorder, a Blu-ray authoring tool, a PS3/PS4, or an NLE that already understands AVCHD. Switch to MP4 via MTS to MP4 when targeting the web, social platforms, iOS/Android, or any modern device — the H.264 video can be stream-copied into the MP4 container with no quality loss, though the AC-3 audio is often re-muxed to AAC for broader compatibility. Switch to MKV via MTS to MKV when you want a flexible container that keeps the original AC-3 audio without re-encoding.

Can I cut multiple non-contiguous segments from one MTS in a single pass?

This page produces one output segment per upload. To pull two or three highlights from a single camcorder file, re-run the cut once per segment — each run downloads as an independent .mts you can later concatenate. For multi-segment edits with a single export, a desktop editor (DaVinci Resolve Free is the usual recommendation for AVCHD) is the right tool.

Will the cut MTS play on my Sony / Panasonic camcorder when copied back to the SD card?

In most cases yes, provided the output stays as .mts with the original codec, resolution, and frame rate, and the filename follows the camera's 8.3 short-name pattern (e.g. 00099.MTS) inside the PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM/ directory. Some cameras additionally require the BDMV index files (INDEX.BDM, MOVIEOBJ.BDM) to be rebuilt with a tool like multiAVCHD or Sony PlayMemories Home. The cut tool here produces a clean BDAV-structured stream; what varies is how strictly each camcorder firmware validates the surrounding BDAV folder structure.

What's the difference between this page and the Trim MTS tool?

The trim tool is built around "remove the head, the tail, or both" — you mark in/out points and the middle is kept. This cut tool is built around "extract a segment of length N starting at time T". Functionally they overlap for the simple single-middle-segment case; pick whichever input model matches how you think about the edit. Both run on the same engine and produce a frame-accurate, re-encoded cut.

Can I extract just the audio from an MTS file?

This page outputs an MTS with both streams preserved. To pull the AC-3 audio out into a separate file, use MTS to AC3 for the original Dolby Digital track without re-encoding, or MTS to MP3 / MTS to WAV when you need a lossy or PCM target. All run on our servers.

Is there a file size limit for online MTS cutting?

The cut runs on our servers, so the practical ceiling is upload size and connection speed and patience — not a server-imposed cap. A 4 GB AVCHD file (a single FAT32-split clip) works on any modern desktop with 8 GB+ free memory; a 20 GB concatenated multi-clip take is more comfortable on a 16 GB machine. For low-memory devices, compress the MTS first to a lower bitrate before cutting, or run the cut against the source clip segments individually.