# Trim Video

> Cut video by absolute time, relative offset (seconds or frames), keep first/last N seconds, or smart-loop-cut to find the cleanest loop boundary.

## Overview

The Trim Video node extracts or shapes a section of video. Six modes:

- **Range — start/end (seconds)** — absolute start/end times
- **Trim edges (seconds)** — trim N seconds from start AND/OR end (seconds-mirror of frames mode)
- **Keep first N seconds** — output is the first N seconds of the source (clamped to source length)
- **Keep last N seconds** — output is the last N seconds of the source (worker probes duration; works regardless of source length)
- **Trim edges (frames)** — frame-precise trim from start and/or end (worker probes the source's fps)
- **Smart Loop Cut** — picks the trailing frame closest to frame 0 by PSNR pixel similarity and trims there (best for VEO 3.1 first+last-frame outputs whose tail dissolve isn't always exactly 8 frames in)

## Configuration

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| Trim Mode | Select | time | One of the six modes above |
| Start Time (s) | Number | 0 | Start position in seconds (`time` mode) |
| End Time (s) | Number | — | End position in seconds (`time` mode) |
| Trim from start (s) | Number | 0 | Seconds trimmed from the start (`seconds` mode) |
| Trim from end (s) | Number | 0 | Seconds trimmed from the end (`seconds` mode) |
| Keep first (s) | Number | — | Output is the first N seconds (`keep-first-seconds` mode) |
| Keep last (s) | Number | — | Output is the last N seconds (`keep-last-seconds` mode) |
| Trim Start Frames | Number | 0 | Frames trimmed from the start (`frames` mode) |
| Trim End Frames | Number | 0 | Frames trimmed from the end (`frames` mode) |
| Lookback Window (frames) | Number | 16 | Trailing-frame search window (2-64), `smart-loop-cut` mode |
| Output Silent Video | Checkbox | off | Strip audio from the trimmed clip — single output is silent |

## Inputs & Outputs

**Inputs:** Video (required)
**Outputs:** Single trimmed video clip — silent when "Output Silent Video" is enabled, otherwise audio is preserved.

## Credit Cost

Trim Video is **dynamically priced** based on output length:

- **Time mode:** 1 credit per 5 seconds of `(endTime - startTime)`, minimum 1
- **Seconds mode:** 1 credit per 5 seconds of `(upstream - trimStartSeconds - trimEndSeconds)`
- **Keep first/last seconds:** 1 credit per 5 seconds of `min(upstream, keepN)`
- **Frames mode:** 1 credit per 5 seconds of remaining duration (assumes 24fps for estimation)
- **Smart loop cut:** 1 credit per 5 seconds of upstream length + 1 credit per ~24 frames of lookback

Examples:

| Configuration | Output | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Time mode, 0–10s | 10s | 2 |
| Seconds mode on a 30s clip, trim 2+3 | 25s | 5 |
| Keep first 8s of a 20s clip | 8s | 2 |
| Keep last 10s of a 30s clip | 10s | 2 |
| Frames mode on a 10s clip, trim 24+24 frames | ~8s | 2 |
| Smart loop cut on a 10s clip, lookback 16 | ≤10s | 3 |

The Run button shows the live estimate. When the upstream isn't generated yet, an 8-second fallback is used.

## Best Practices

- Use **Seconds mode** when you want a relative trim like the frames mode but in seconds (works on any-length input).
- Use **Keep last N seconds** to grab the tail of a clip regardless of its length (e.g., the last 10s of any video).
- Use **Keep first N seconds** to cap a clip to a maximum duration.
- Use **Frames mode** when frame alignment matters (e.g., 24fps VEO outputs and you want to drop the last 8 frames precisely).
- Use **Smart Loop Cut** for stochastic tails — beats a fixed offset on outputs whose ideal cut isn't deterministic.
- Leave Start Time at 0 if you only need to shorten the end (Time mode).
- Use before Combine Videos to select the best segments from multiple clips.

## Common Use Cases

- Extract a specific scene from a longer video
- Remove unwanted intro/outro from generated video
- Cut AI-generated video to exact duration needed
- Drop the VEO tail dissolve precisely (frames or smart-cut)
- Grab the last N seconds of any clip for a quick outro (`keep-last-seconds`)
- Prepare clips for combination or composition

## Tips

- All modes that depend on source length (`seconds`, `keep-first-seconds`, `keep-last-seconds`, `frames`) probe duration server-side, so they work on any-length input without needing the user to know the source length up front.
- Time mode supports decimal precision (e.g., 2.5 for 2.5 seconds)
- Frame mode requires the worker to probe the source fps — it will hard-error rather than silently mis-convert if probing fails
- Smart loop cut returns metadata (chosen frame index, PSNR) in the job result, useful for debugging seam quality
- If you only need audio from the video, use Trim Audio instead