Cut WMV

How to Cut a WMV File Online

1. Upload Your WMV File: Drag and drop your .wmv (or .asf) into the upload box, or click "+ Add Files" to browse. WMV1, WMV2, WMV3/WMV9, and VC-1 streams inside an ASF container are all accepted. Batch upload is supported.
2. Set the Time Range: Enter the start time and duration of the segment you want to keep. The preview lets you scrub the timeline before committing — useful for trimming intros, outros, or pulling a single highlight out of a long screen recording.
3. Pick Output Codec and Quality (Optional): By default the cut output stays as WMV (WMV2/WMV3 video, WMA audio) for a familiar handoff back to Windows tooling. To bypass WMV's playback limits, open Advanced Options and switch the Quality Preset (Highest → Lowest), set a Target file size (%) or Specific file size in MB, or choose Constant Quality (CRF) for codecs that support it. Resolution can stay original or be locked to a 1080p/720p preset or custom width/height.
4. Cut and Download: Click "Cut". The file processes in your browser session — no installer, no sign-up, no watermark — and downloads as a single trimmed clip.

Why Cut a WMV File?

WMV (Windows Media Video) is a Microsoft codec family introduced with WMV 7 in 1999 and matured with WMV 9 in 2003, which Microsoft submitted to SMPTE and was standardized as VC-1 in April 2006. The bytes still live inside an ASF (.wmv/.asf) container, and decades of Windows screen recorders, Camtasia exports, security-camera DVRs, and PowerPoint "Save as Video" outputs still emit WMV. Cutting is usually the first edit you make before sharing or re-encoding.

• Trim Camtasia / Bandicam screen recordings — older Windows screen capture tools default to WMV. Cut the 30-second "I'm setting up my mic" intro and the awkward goodbye before posting a tutorial.
• Pull a single moment from a CCTV / DVR export — many consumer NVRs (Hikvision, Lorex, Swann) export incident clips as .wmv or .asf. Cut the 4-minute event out of a 24-hour dump before sending to insurance or police.
• Clip a PowerPoint or webinar recording — PowerPoint's "Export → Create a Video" produces .wmv by default on older Office versions. Cut a single slide-segment to share on Slack without re-exporting the whole deck.
• Salvage a corrupted tail — WMV files with a damaged index can play fine for the first N minutes then stall. Cutting up to the breakpoint and discarding the rest is often faster than rebuilding the index.
• Prep for re-encoding to MP4 — cut first, then convert to MP4 for iPhone, Android, Premiere, Final Cut, or YouTube. Smaller input means a faster encode and less waste.
• Split a long lecture into chapters — run several cuts back-to-back to produce per-topic clips for an LMS that expects short videos rather than one 90-minute file.

WMV vs MP4 — Format Comparison

Property	WMV (ASF)	MP4 (ISO BMFF)
Video codec(s)	WMV1/2/3 (WMV 7/8/9), VC-1	H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1, MPEG-4 ASP
Audio codec(s)	WMA (Windows Media Audio)	AAC, MP3, AC-3, Opus, FLAC
Container	ASF (Advanced Systems Format)	ISO Base Media File Format
Standardized	WMV 9 → SMPTE 421M (VC-1), 2006	ISO/IEC 14496-14, 2003
Native playback	Windows Media Player, Films & TV	Every modern browser, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, smart TVs
macOS / iOS support	None natively since Flip4Mac discontinued in 2020	Native
Active development	Ceased	Active (HEVC, AV1 in fMP4)
Best for today	Legacy Windows archives, old DVRs	Universal delivery, web, mobile

WMV Output Quality Presets

Preset	Approx. bitrate (1080p)	When to use
Highest	8-10 Mbps	Archival masters, before further editing
High (default)	5-6 Mbps	General-purpose sharing back to Windows tooling
Medium	2.5-3.5 Mbps	Webinar replays, slide-heavy screen recordings
Low	1-1.5 Mbps	Email, OneDrive sharing, low-motion talking-head
Lowest	0.5-0.8 Mbps	Quick previews, mobile review copies

Ranges are typical encoder output for WMV 9 / VC-1 Main Profile at 1080p30 and will vary with scene complexity. For widest device compatibility, convert the cut to MP4/H.264 via WMV to MP4 afterwards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does cutting a WMV re-encode the video and lose quality?

WMV cutting on this tool defaults to re-encoding the segment so the cut lands exactly on the timestamp you entered. Frame-accurate cuts on WMV without re-encoding require the cut points to land on keyframes (I-frames) in the WMV3/VC-1 stream — if you ask for a cut at 1:23.500 but the nearest keyframe is at 1:21, a no-re-encode cut will either start at 1:21 (extra footage) or insert a freeze. We choose accuracy over bit-perfect copy; if you need truly lossless keyframe cuts, Cut MP4 on stream-copy-capable formats is a better fit.

Will the output stay as WMV or get converted?

The default output container is WMV (.wmv) with WMA audio, so it drops straight back into Windows Media Player, PowerPoint, or Movie Maker workflows. You can switch the output to MP4, MOV, MKV, or another container under Advanced Options if you'd rather not stay in WMV — VC-1 has been deprecated alongside Microsoft Silverlight and HD DVD, and MP4/H.264 is the safer modern delivery format.

Can I keep multiple non-contiguous segments in one pass?

Use a single time range per cut. To assemble two highlights from the same source into one file, run two cuts and then stitch the outputs — but bear in mind WMV doesn't have a widely supported lossless concatenation path (asfbin and a few legacy tools can do it, but most modern players assume MP4). Cutting to MP4 first and joining there is the more reliable route.

Why does my .asf file work here when I expected .wmv?

WMV and ASF share the same container — Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format. The .asf extension typically means "any ASF stream" (could include WMA audio only or odd codec mixes), while .wmv signals "video inside ASF". This tool accepts both because the demuxer is the same.

My WMV is from a Hikvision/Lorex DVR and won't seek properly. Can I still cut it?

Yes, but the seek bar may snap to the nearest valid frame. Many DVR exports use long GOPs (group-of-pictures up to 250 frames) to save bandwidth, so the player can only resync at sparse keyframes. Set your start time slightly before the moment you want — the cut will re-encode the segment and produce a clean output that seeks normally.

Does cutting fix a WMV that stops playing partway through?

Often yes. WMV/ASF files with a corrupted index or truncated tail still decode up to the broken byte. Cut from 00:00 to the last playable timestamp and the new file will have a fresh index and play end-to-end. Cuts past the corruption boundary will fail or stall — find the breakpoint by scrubbing first.

Will Windows Media Player still play the cut file?

Yes — Windows Media Player (and Films & TV on Windows 10/11) plays the WMV output natively because Microsoft ships the WMV/VC-1 decoder in Windows. Outside Windows, you'll want VLC, MPV, or to re-encode the cut to MP4 via WMV to MP4; macOS dropped native WMV playback when Flip4Mac was discontinued in 2020.

Is there a file-size limit?

Browser-tab cuts comfortably handle multi-gigabyte WMV files — the bottleneck is your machine's RAM and upload bandwidth rather than a hard cap. For 4K WMV exports from screen recorders that approach 10 GB, expect a longer upload and a few minutes of processing.

Should I cut first or compress first?

Cut first. A trimmed 30-second clip out of a 60-minute screen recording will compress faster and to a smaller final size than compressing the full hour and then cutting. If file size is still too large after cutting, run the output through Compress WMV or convert to MP4/H.265 for a substantial size drop.