Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 30, 2026

LosslessCut

LosslessCut is a free, platform independent video editing software, which supports numerous audio, video and container formats.

Last revised
Jun 30, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
601 w
Citations
28
Source
Wikipedia ↗
LosslessCut
DeveloperMikael Finstad
Release2016
Stable release
3.69.01 Edit this on Wikidata / 4 June 2026
Written inHTML5, JavaScript
Operating systemmacOS, Linux, Windows
Available inEnglish
License2021: GPL-2.0-onlya
2016: MITb
Websitelosslesscut.app
Repository

LosslessCut is a free, platform independent video editing software, which supports numerous audio, video and container formats.45

It is a graphical user interface, with macOS,6 Windows7 and Linux8 support, using the FFmpeg multimedia framework. The software focuses on the lossless editing of the video files.9 By copying the selected image sequences without transcoding or re-rendering, it achieves very fast creation of the target file10 in comparison to tools that re-encode frames.11

Completely lossless copying is achieved when the source file is cut at the reference frames of a group of pictures only. This is being visualised when operating the program.89

With a size short of 100 MB,6 the software is small and portable, thus it can be started from an external storage medium without prior installation. The FFmpeg framework needs to be present on the computer already.1213

Core functions

Essential functions of the software are:4

  • Cutting videos and reassembling scenes in selectable order.5
  • Separation of audio or subtitle tracks from video, or adding of a new track14
  • Concatenating multiple tracks with the same codec parameters15
  • Multiplexing into selectable container format9
  • Saving of single images (snapshots) in JPEG or PNG format
  • Adjustment of metadata for rotation or orientation of the video6
  • Zoomable timeline with annotation of the reference frames and jump functions
  • Display of thumbnails of the video and the waveform of the audio track
  • Display, name and reorder list of cut segments
  • Automatically saving the cut list in CSV format; import and export cut lists
  • Display the generated FFmpeg command line for individual adjustments

Limitations

Typically, the segment start will be "rounded to the nearest previous keyframe", thus the author emphasizes that the program is not meant for exact cutting.7 This limitation is by design to allow the cutting to be lossless, i.e. without re-encoding the frames adjacent to a cut for the codecs using interframe Motion compensation.16 Though "smart cut", a feature allowing lossless encoding up to the nearest previous keyframe, then encoding the latter part at a cost of small loss, is available experimentally.17

The file handling is not fully compliant with operating systems standards, in particular Softpedia reports awkwardness in the input selection window does not filter compatible files, or the output being saved in the same location without prompting.12

See also

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. GPL-2.0-only since 2021-08-25.2
  2. MIT from 2016-10-30 until 2021-08-25.3
References

References

  1. "Release 3.69.0". 4 June 2026. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  2. "Relicense to GPL". GitHub. 2021-08-25.
  3. "Initial commit". GitHub. 2016-10-30.
  4. "LosslessCut 3.30". Techspot. 2021-01-02. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  5. "LosslessCut" (in German). Computer-Bild. 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  6. "LosslessCut for Mac: Tool for lossless trimming/cutting of video and audio files". MacUpdate. 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  7. "LosslessCut". Microsoft. 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  8. Shekin (2019-02-01). "LosslessCut 3.30". Mint Guide. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  9. Logix (2019-01-29). "Free Video Cutter LosslessCut Adds Multiple Cut Points, Video Merging Feature". Linux Uprising. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  10. Carsten Cashy (2020). "LosslessCut: Open Source-Software schneidet flott Filmclips" (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  11. Ji M (2020-12-03). "LosslessCut – Super Fast Tool for Trimming / Cutting Video & Audio". Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  12. "LosslessCut". Softpedia. 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  13. "LosslessCut 3.30". Chip. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  14. "LosslessCut - The Swiss Army Knife of Lossless Video/Audio Editing". Mifi. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  15. "Software: Video Editors: LosslessCut 3.30.0". VideoHelp. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  16. "History of Video Compression". ITU-T. Joint Video Team (JVT) of ISO/IEC MPEG & ITU-T VCEG (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 and ITU-T SG16 Q.6). July 2002. pp. 11, 24–9, 33, 40–1, 53–6. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  17. Finstad, Mikael (2022-04-22), mifi/lossless-cut, retrieved 2022-04-22
External links