How do I edit an AVI for youtube?

Factual Questions
1

My Nikon L18 has a movie mode. I made some videos of me at karaoke and now I want to put them up for the world to see but I need to trim the ends down. How can I do this?

2

If your needs are simple and you use Windows, Windows Movie Maker might do the job. It’s free and included with XP (after SP2, IIRC) and Vista.

I’m no expert or professional, which is why I liked WMM. Easy to use, free, and not particularly sophisticated. There are probably loads of things it can’t do, but they don’t matter to me.

3

I looked at it and can’t figure out how to set the cut points.

4

Hmm. From the main screen, where it says Tasks, import your AVI file. It should appear in the screen. Drag it to the Video line at the bottom.

At the start and end of your file in the “Video” line, there is a tiny black arrow. You can drag this to cut portions from either end of the file. That shouldn’t affect your original AVI file, only the file you create when you choose “Publish Movie…” from the File menu.

ETA: Don’t quote me on it not affecting your original AVI - work on a copy.

5

I’m a big fan of Womble MPEG Video Wizard. It’s the only tool I’ve found that allows you to load a video in and cut it without having to re-encode the video. As long as it’s just cuts, you can trim video clips and cut commercials out, extract a portion, etc. Very cool.

6

I couldn’t make head nor tail of Windows Movie Maker, either.

I found SolveigMM AVI Trimmer much easier to figure out. Mod APK Download - Best Modded Google Play.

7

In Windows Movie Maker 6.0:

Method 1:

  1. Start playing the video by
    a) using the pull-down menu OR
    b) clicking the blue triangle above the timeline OR
    c) clicking the blue triangle under the preview screen OR
    d) typing the letter "K’

  2. Pause the video where you want to trim it by
    a) using the pull-down menu OR
    b) clicking the pause symbol above the timeline OR
    c) clicking the pause symbol under the preview screen OR
    d) typing the letter “M”.

Method 2:

  1. Click anywhere on the timeline over the video clip.

Method 3:

  1. Click on the slider directly under the preview screen and slide it back it and forth.
8

I use Virtualdub. Can be set to not re-encode, but then you are limited to where you can cut (special frames within the video, but they typically occur at scene changes). Lots of fun settings.