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 in your browser session, 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. Leave Video Codec and Audio Codec on "Unchanged" so the H.264/AVC video and AC-3 audio packets are stream-copied bit-for-bit — no recompression, no generation loss, and a multi-GB take finishes in seconds. Pick an explicit codec only when you need a frame-exact start that doesn't align to a GOP.
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 — both wrappers accept the same H.264/AC-3 streams without re-encoding.
4. Cut and Download: Click "Cut". The selected range is extracted in your browser session and the file downloads directly — no sign-up, no watermark, no queue, no upload to a remote server.

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 — without converting the underlying codec.

• 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 re-encoding a 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
Stream-copy cut at I-frame	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.

Lossless Stream-Copy vs Re-encode — The AVCHD Keyframe Tradeoff

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 the trade-off for bit-perfect quality.

Mode	Output Start	Quality	Speed	When To Use
Stream-copy (codecs "Unchanged")	Snaps to nearest preceding I-frame (typically within 2 s of your timestamp)	Identical to source — no recompression	Very fast (seconds, even for multi-GB takes)	Default — preserves H.264/AC-3 quality and avoids generation loss
Re-encode (explicit codec)	Frame-accurate to your chosen timestamp	One lossy compression cycle	Slower (CPU work proportional to clip length)	Frame-perfect start required (e.g. cutting on a specific subtitle cue or removing a 0.3 s blooper)

For most camcorder footage stream-copy lands within a second of your mark, which is well inside the noise floor of "where the scene actually begins". Re-encode only when the start frame must match an exact subtitle or music cue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does cutting reduce MTS quality?

In stream-copy mode (the default when both codecs are left "Unchanged"), no — the original H.264/AVC video and AC-3 audio packets are written into the new container unchanged. The output is mathematically identical to the source for the selected range. Re-encode mode applies one lossy compression pass, which is visually negligible at the 17–28 Mbps bitrates AVCHD uses but does introduce one generation-loss step.

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

AVCHD I-frames are placed every 0.5–2 seconds depending on the recording mode the camcorder used (FX, FH, HQ, PS, etc.). Stream-copy cuts can only begin on an I-frame, so if you ask for 00:01:13 and the nearest preceding I-frame is at 00:01:11.5, the output starts at 00:01:11.5 so the first visible frame is fully decodable. For a frame-exact start, set Video Codec explicitly to trigger a re-encode.

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 spec-clean stream-copied file; 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 use the same stream-copy engine when codecs are left unchanged.

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 client-side in your browser.

Is there a file size limit for online MTS cutting?

The cut runs in your browser session, so the practical ceiling is your device's RAM 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.