Cut VOB

How to Cut VOB Files Online

1. Upload Your VOB File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to load VOB files from a ripped DVD's VIDEO_TS folder, a camcorder DVD-RAM disc, a DVD-R home recording, or a backup archive. Batch is supported — drop in VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, VTS_01_3.VOB and the cutter treats each as its own source. To stitch multiple 1 GiB VOB chunks into a single continuous timeline first, use VOB to MP4 on the whole VTS set to get one unified output container.
2. Set Start and End Time: Type the in-point and out-point as HH:MM:SS (00:04:30) or as seconds (270). VOB carries MPEG-2 video at one I-frame every 0.4-0.6 seconds per the DVD-Video spec, so cuts snap to the nearest preceding I-frame for a clean stream-copy. Keep tight clips short (under 1 GiB) so the output fits inside a single VOB if you plan to author back to disc.
3. (Optional) Add Multiple Cut Ranges: Add additional start/end pairs to extract several scenes from one source in a single pass. Each range produces its own output VOB — useful for pulling chapter highlights, ad-free segments, or specific PGCs out of a long disc rip without re-importing the file.
4. Cut and Download: Click Cut. Files process in your browser session and download individually or as a ZIP. No sign-up, no watermark, no upload of your DVD rip to a third-party server. Output keeps the same MPEG-2 video + AC-3 / MPEG audio streams as the source disc.

Why Cut VOB Files?

VOB (Video Object) is the container DVD-Video uses inside the VIDEO_TS folder, defined as a strict subset of the MPEG program stream and limited to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video with MPEG-1/2 Layer II, LPCM, AC-3, or DTS audio. Commercial and home-recorded DVDs split each title into 1 GiB VOB chunks (VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, ...) for legacy OS compatibility, so a 90-minute movie usually arrives as four or five files. Cutting VOB is useful for:

• Pulling a single scene out of a DVD rip — Extract the 90 seconds of a wedding toast from a 4.7 GB DVD-R recording or a single song performance from a concert disc without ripping and re-encoding the whole title to MP4 first. Stream-copy keeps the original MPEG-2 + AC-3 streams bit-identical.
• Trimming home camcorder DVDs — Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Canon DVD camcorders from the 2003-2012 era wrote directly to mini-DVD-R / DVD-RAM as VOB. Cut the 30-second leader of black or color bars off each clip before archiving to a NAS or converting to a modern container.
• Removing commercials from DVR-recorded DVDs — Standalone DVD recorders (Philips DVDR, Panasonic DMR, Pioneer DVR-RT) wrote broadcast captures as VOB. Cut the 4-minute ad break out without going back through an NLE — stream-copy preserves the original broadcast bitrate exactly.
• Extracting chapter highlights for fair-use clips — For classroom analysis, film commentary, or accessibility transcripts, cut the 2-minute scene you need from a personal-archive DVD rip rather than redistributing the full disc.
• Shrinking VOB chunks under hosting caps — A full 1 GiB VOB will not fit on Gmail (25 MB attachment cap), Discord free tier (10 MB as of Sept 2024), or most messaging apps. A 90-second cut at typical DVD bitrate (~6-8 Mbps) lands around 70-90 MB — still big, but workable for Drive, WeTransfer, or a follow-up VOB to MP4 shrink.
• Preparing source for re-authoring — Cut down to the segment you want before importing into DVD Studio Pro, DVDStyler, or Adobe Encore. Smaller VOB inputs scrub faster in older authoring tools that decode MPEG-2 in software.

Stream-Copy vs Re-Encode — When to Use Which

Property	Stream copy (default)	Re-encode
Speed	Seconds for any file size	Proportional to clip length
Quality	Bit-identical to source	Slight loss unless near-source CRF
Cut precision	Snaps to nearest I-frame (typically 0.4-0.6 s)	Frame-accurate
Output streams	Same MPEG-2 + AC-3 / LPCM / DTS as source	Re-encoded video and audio
Container fidelity	Stays inside DVD-Video VOB spec	May break strict DVD compliance
File size	Proportional to duration kept	Variable by bitrate / CRF
Best for	DVD-spec output, lossless, fast	Frame-accurate cuts, container change

DVD-Video requires an I-frame at least every 0.6 seconds (every 18 frames at 29.97 fps, every 15 frames at 25 fps), which is much tighter than the 10-12 second keyframe gap typical of old DivX/Xvid AVI. Stream-copy on VOB therefore lands within half a second of your requested cut point — almost always good enough for scene extraction. If you need the cut to land on a specific frame (a doorbell ring, a goal, a punchline), use VOB to MP4 afterward with frame-accurate trimming applied to H.264 output.

VOB Codec and Bitrate Quick Guide

Stream	Codec on DVD-Video	Typical bitrate	Notes
Video (default)	MPEG-2 Part 2 (H.262)	4-9 Mbps (max 9.8 Mbps)	Standard for commercial and home-recorded DVDs
Video (rare)	MPEG-1 Part 2	1-2 Mbps	Used for VCD-style content authored to DVD
Audio	AC-3 (Dolby Digital)	192-448 kbps	Default for US/region 1 commercial DVDs
Audio	MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 Layer II	192-384 kbps	Common on PAL / region 2 DVDs
Audio	LPCM	1536 kbps	Uncompressed; used for concert / music DVDs
Audio	DTS	754-1509 kbps	Optional surround track on many DVDs
Subpictures	Run-length encoded bitmaps	n/a	Subtitles are preserved by stream-copy

The DVD-Video specification caps combined video + audio + subpicture bitrate at 10.08 Mbps. Cutting does not change bitrate — stream-copy writes the original bytes into a new VOB. To shrink a long cut for sharing, run Compress VOB on the result or convert with VOB to MP4 at H.264 CRF 23 for roughly 4-5× smaller files at visually equivalent quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is one DVD title split into multiple VOB files like VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB?

The DVD-Video specification limits each VOB file to under 1 GiB (1,073,741,824 bytes) so the disc remains readable on operating systems that historically capped single-file size — early ISO 9660 implementations, some embedded set-top players, and legacy FAT variants. A 90-minute commercial DVD at ~6 Mbps typically produces four or five VOB files in the same VTS (Video Title Set). DVD players treat them as a continuous stream via the IFO navigation file. When you cut, each VOB chunk is treated as its own source — for material that spans a chunk boundary, run VOB to MP4 on the full VTS set first to produce a continuous file, then cut.

Will cutting break DVD playback if I burn the output back to a disc?

Stream-copy keeps the MPEG-2 + AC-3 / LPCM / DTS streams compliant with the DVD-Video spec, but the cut VOB will not play on its own in a hardware DVD player — DVD players require the full VIDEO_TS structure including IFO (information) and BUP (backup) navigation files. To re-author, drop the cut VOB into DVDStyler, DVD Flick, or Adobe Encore to rebuild the IFO/BUP and produce a playable disc image. Software players (VLC, MPC-HC, mpv) play the raw cut VOB directly without IFO files.

Can I cut a VOB without losing audio sync?

Yes, stream-copy preserves the original PTS (presentation timestamps) and the NAV packs that DVD-Video writes every 0.4-1.0 seconds, so audio stays locked to video. The one edge case is DVDs with multiple audio tracks (English + commentary + alternate language) — stream-copy preserves all tracks, but some players default to the first track in the new file rather than the language flagged as default in the original IFO. If sync drifts after re-encoding, drop CRF (more bits) or check that the source isn't a telecined 23.976→29.97 NTSC DVD with soft pulldown flags that some encoders mishandle.

Does this work on encrypted commercial DVDs?

No. Retail DVDs are protected by CSS (Content Scramble System) and the VOB files on the disc are encrypted. This tool cuts VOB files that are already decrypted — typically VOBs ripped from a DVD you own using a tool that handles CSS (HandBrake with libdvdcss, MakeMKV, DVDFab), or VOBs from home-recorded DVDs (camcorder DVD-R, DVR recordings, DVD-RAM) which are never CSS-encrypted. Encrypted VOBs from a retail disc will load but cut to garbage video. Decrypt first, then cut.

What's the difference between cutting a VOB and cutting an MP4 version of the same DVD?

Cutting VOB stream-copies the original MPEG-2 + AC-3 bytes — bit-identical to the disc, but the output stays MPEG-2 (large file, limited mobile / browser support without conversion). Cutting MP4 after VOB to MP4 starts from already-transcoded H.264 + AAC — smaller, plays everywhere, but adds one generation of lossy re-encode at the conversion step. Recommended workflow for sharing: cut first in VOB (fast, lossless), then run VOB to MP4 on just the cut clip — that's 5-10× faster than transcoding the full disc rip then trimming.

Can I extract just the audio from a cut VOB?

Yes. Cut the VOB to the segment you want, then run VOB to MP3, VOB to WAV, or VOB to AC3 on the result. Cutting first is faster because audio extraction only has to demux the clip. AC-3 to MP3 / AAC re-encodes; AC-3 to WAV decodes losslessly to PCM. For lossless extraction with no quality change, AC3 is the closest match to what's on the disc.

My VOB came from a camcorder DVD. Why is the cut output smaller than expected?

Consumer DVD camcorders (Sony Handycam DCR-DVD, Panasonic VDR series, Hitachi DZ-MV, Canon DC) wrote VOBs that often contain padding bytes inside each VOBU to maintain constant disc write speed on -RW/-RAM media. Stream-copy on cut output drops the unused padding from the trimmed sections, so a 60-second cut from a 30-minute disc clip can come out 10-15% smaller than the raw 60-second slice. Video and audio quality are identical — only the structural padding is gone.

What's the maximum VOB length I can cut in one pass?

There's no fixed cap on the cutter — processing happens in your browser session, so practical limits come down to device RAM and how long you're willing to wait for the file to load. Multi-GB DVD rips work fine. Note that each output VOB file from the cut is capped at the spec's 1 GiB single-file limit; if your cut spans more than ~20-25 minutes at DVD-spec bitrate (6-9 Mbps), the output will exceed 1 GiB and break strict DVD compliance. For long-form output, either keep cuts under 20 minutes per file or convert to MP4 (VOB to MP4) which has no such cap.

Should I cut VOB or convert to MP4 first?

Cut VOB first whenever you can. Stream-copy on VOB is roughly 10-20× faster than transcoding the source to MP4, and produces a lossless result. Convert only the cut clip afterward if you need MP4 for sharing, web upload, or mobile playback. The reverse workflow (convert full DVD to MP4, then trim) wastes encoding time on material you discard and introduces a generation of lossy compression on bytes you intended to throw away.