How to Shorten a Video on iPhone & Online

Summary: After reading this post, you will get the ways to shorten a video on iPhone & online. Once you make your video shorter, it's easier to share your video with friends or on social media.

How to fix when YouTube says "error video too long"？

How to solve "send failed: video too long(large)"?

- Just shorten your video right now!

You may want to trim off a few seconds from the beginning or end of your video to keep the funniest part of it, or you need to shorten a video but keep it in the same material as the original ones.

Here in this blog, we'll introduce you various ways to shorten a video on iPhone & online. According to your demands and preference, select one hoping they can solve your problem.

Also Read: Four Ways to Make a Video Longer for Instagram & Other Social Media Platforms >

Part 1. How to Short Videos on iPhone

Here we'll show you two ways to shorten a video on your iPhone with the built-in photos app and iMovie.

Shorten Videos on iPhone with the Built-in Photos App

If you just need to cut the dead time at the beginning or end of the video to keep it shorter and in funniest parts, the built-in Photos app of your iPhone can help you to change the length and pace of the video directly.

If you need to shorten videos on your iPhone this way, just follow the simple steps below:

Step 1 Go to the Photos app on your iPhone, find the video you want to shorten, and tap the Edit button on the top right corner of the interface.

Image Board: Shorten Videos on iPhone with the Built-in Photos App Step 1

Step 2 Drag the sliders on the yellow box to adjust the starting and ending time of your video to trim out unwanted parts. Once your video is trimmed down to the highlighted section you want, just click the Done button at the bottom of the screen.

Image Board: Shorten Videos on iPhone with the Built-in Photos App Step 2

Step 3 Save the shortened video by selecting the option Save Video as New Clip or Save Video to replace the existing video.

Image Board: Shorten Videos on iPhone with the Built-in Photos App Step 3

Shorten Videos on iPhone with iMovie

iMovie must be the best option for iPhone users who want to do a bit more with their video than the basic Photos app allows them to.

You can use iMovie to shorten a video not only by trimming off the beginning or ending part of the video but also trimming the middle of a video on the iPhone. Besides, you can also make your video shorter while keeping it in the same materials as the original ones with iMovie.

Just follow our steps below to shorten your video with iMovie.

Step 1 Import Your Video You Want to Shorten

Open iMovie on your iPhone. Click the "Projects" tab on top, and then "Create Project" to upload the video clip you want to split by selecting the "Movie" from the pop-up.

Image Board: Import Your Video You Want to Shorten

Step 2 Shorten Your Video Using iMovie

You can shorten your video in 2 ways with iMovie:

Split & Delete

If you want to cut out an unwanted section from the middle of the video, you can turn to the split feature of iMovie.

Image Board: Split & Delete

# 1: Slide the playhead in the timeline and position it at the beginning of when to cut.

# 2: Tap the clip in the timeline, and then the editing tools will appear in the bottom. Click the "Split" in the bottom right corner.

# 3: Then position the playhead at the end of when to cut and split it as you did before.

# 4: Tap the video clip you want to delete and press the Delete button.

Change the Speed of Your Video

If you want to shorten your video but keep the same video content with just a different duration, you can change the speed of your video.

Just click the Speed button, which looks like a speedometer. Drag the speed slider to the right side to speed up your video.

Image Board: Change the Speed of Your Video

Part 2. How to Shorten Videos Online

Looking for an easy way to shorten a video online? Here we'll show you our best solutions for you to make a video shorter below.

Shorten Video Online with Online Video Trimmer

If you just need to trim off a few seconds from the beginning or end of your video, here are also many online video trimmers can help you trim your video without installing any additional software.

FlexClip provides you with an online video trimming tool enabling you to choose the trimming area in seconds so that you can shorten your video quickly and efficiently.

Just click the "Browse Video" button to open your local file to upload your video or drag your video to the FlexClip video trimmer, and select the trimming area to trim the video to the perfect length. Last, export the shortened video.

Image Board: Shorten Video Online with Online Video Trimmer - FlexClip

Shorten Video Online with Powerful Video Editor

Here also a simple yet powerful online video editing tool, FlexClip video editor, is introduced to you for shortening a video.

FlexClip gives you an easy way to shorten your videos and also lets you level up your footage with its powerful editing functions.

Step 1 Launch FlexClip and Get Started

Visit FlexClip Video Editor and click Make A Free Video to start. You can sign in your account here so that we could save all your files well. Then you will see a new page with various video templates. Click + Start From Scratch to upload your video from your computer.

Step 2 Upload Your Video

Uploading your video as a storyboard, it will ask you to trim it here, and you can drag the slides to cut the video to the perfect length.

Image Board: Upload Your Video and Trim It

Step 3 Shorten a Video

FlexClip video editor allows you to shorten your video in 3 different ways:

#1 Trim

First, you can easily trim off a few seconds from the beginning or end of your video with the Trim Video icon located in the lower right corner of the screen.

Image Board: Trim

#2 Split & Delete

Second, you can also shorten your video with the split feature of FlexClip. This way can help you trim off the unwanted part from the middle of the video easily. Just do as the short video shown as follow.

Depict video: Split & Delete

#3 Speed up

Besides, you can also speed up the video to shorten it and keep the same content as the original one.

Image Board: Speed up

Step 4 Level up Your Video with More Edits (Optional)

What's more, FlexClip provides you with more video editing functions for you to level up your video, like add text, set background music, record voice-over, etc.

Image Board: Level up Your Video with More Edits

Final Words

That's all for how to shorten a video on iPhone and online. Hopefully, with the ways we shared, everyone can shorten a video with great ease.

Sandy /

Has 4-year of professional photographing experience. Very much into recording every detail of life. She is passionate about all things related to video production, and loves to exploring tips and tricks about it.