Apple provides directions for how to edit a video in Photos, including how to trim a clip on either end. However, there are no instructions for how to fine-adjust trim a clip, possibly on a frame-by-frame basis. I have a library with > 1 h videos. Trimming those precisely is impossible with what Apple has documented.
Are there alternatives?
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.1
I don't think that Photos was ever intended to handle one hour movies. Your best bet is to use another app, one intended for such work. It's best not to use a flathead screwdriver on a phillips screw by just pushing harder-- better to get the right tool.
So the answer to the question "How to best trim a video in a Photos library?" is, export the video from the Library and use a dedicated video editor. Export Original; don't drag and drop. I got wildly different results when I tried it.
Should you use Drag & Drop in Photos" - Apple Community
I don't think that Photos was ever intended to handle one hour movies. Your best bet is to use another app, one intended for such work. It's best not to use a flathead screwdriver on a phillips screw by just pushing harder-- better to get the right tool.
So the answer to the question "How to best trim a video in a Photos library?" is, export the video from the Library and use a dedicated video editor. Export Original; don't drag and drop. I got wildly different results when I tried it.
Should you use Drag & Drop in Photos" - Apple Community
Yer_Man wrote: The get your videos out of Photos. Remember the entire workflow of that app is to preserve the original file as a kind of digital negative. If that's not what you want then you need a different workflow.
Photos does give the option of making a new, shorter clip as an additional file, and I do that sometimes-- but I rarely have a video that's over 20 seconds. I agree with you that Photos just isn't the place to edit long movies.
Notice that movies like H.264/H.265 can losslessly trimmed only to the GOP which is usually about 1-2-8 seconds. The GOP (group of pictures) is limited by I frames, and other B and P frames are derived from it.
QuickTime Player tricks the user by just hiding the trimmed BP frames from the start or from the end of the movie, but other apps like Avidemux can reveal them.
Avidemux can neatly display IBP frames. If I want to be extra careful I occasionally use it to frame-accurately trim and edit movies exactly to the GOP instead using QuickTime Player.
But AFAIK Avidemux does not yet support M series Macs unless the user does a custom build.
The problem with using QuickTime is that it creates a new video file and does not edit the one in the Photos database already, in place.
The get your videos out of Photos. Remember the entire workflow of that app is to preserve the original file as a kind of digital negative. If that's not what you want then you need a different workflow.
Image Menu -> Edit With -> QuickTime Player.
Using the Trim command in QT Player you can move frame by frame using the left and right arrows on the keyboard.
Understood. The problem with using QuickTime is that it creates a new video file and does not edit the one in the Photos database already, in place.
How to best trim a video in a Photos library?
