Split Video

Split an MP4, MOV, M4V or WEBM into equal parts or fixed-length segments in your browser. Stream copy, so no re-encode and no quality loss. No upload.

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Drop your file here (.mp4, .mov, .m4v, .webm)

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Two ways to divide a video, and they answer different questions

The mode selector is the only decision that really matters here, and the right choice depends on which constraint you are working against.

Equal parts is the mode for a fixed number of pieces. You know you want the recording in four chunks and you do not much care how long each one is. The tool places boundaries at even fractions of the duration, so every part is the same length and the last one ends exactly at the end of the file.

Fixed-length segments is the mode for a hard time limit. A platform accepts 60 second clips, or you want a two hour recording in 15 minute chapters. Here the length is fixed and the count falls out of it, which means the final part is whatever is left over.

Splitting a file

  1. Drop an MP4, MOV, M4V or WEBM onto the box. One file at a time.
  2. Pick a Split mode.
  3. Set Number of equal parts for the first mode, or Segment length in seconds, for fixed-length mode for the second. The field belonging to the other mode is ignored.
  4. Run the split. The file is probed for its duration first, then each part is written in turn with a progress bar that advances part by part.
  5. Download the zip, or the single video file if the split produced only one part.

Why every part is a stream copy

There are two ways to cut a video. You can decode it, throw away the frames outside the range and re-encode what is left, which gives frame exact cuts and costs you an encode pass plus a generation of quality. Or you can copy the compressed data through and only rewrite the container, which is nearly instant and lossless but can only begin a part at a keyframe.

This tool takes the second route without offering the first. For splitting, that is the right trade almost every time. A split is usually a packaging operation on footage you intend to keep as it is, and paying an encode for every part in order to move a cut by a fraction of a second is a bad bargain. If you do need a frame exact boundary, cut the single range you care about with Trim Video instead, which uses the same copy strategy but lets you place both ends yourself.

For MP4, M4V and MOV outputs the tool also relocates the index to the front of each part, so a part starts playing before it has fully downloaded. WEBM does not need that treatment and does not get it.

The last part gets special treatment

Every part except the final one is given an explicit length. The last one is not, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight.

If the last part were given a fixed length, and its start had snapped backwards to an earlier keyframe as stream copies do, the fixed length would run out before the true end of the file and the tail would be clipped off. Letting the final part simply copy through to the end of the source guarantees nothing is lost, at the cost of that part sometimes running a moment longer than planned. Losing the end of a recording is a much worse failure than a slightly long final part.

One download, not a folder

Multiple parts always come back as a single zip using stored entries rather than compression, because video data is already compressed and running deflate over it would burn time to save almost nothing. Handing back one file rather than a stack of individual downloads also avoids the browser prompting repeatedly, which is what happens when a page tries to save a dozen files at once.

To rejoin pieces rather than break them apart, Merge Videos is the counterpart. To make the whole file smaller instead of shorter, Compress Video re-encodes an MP4 to one of four size targets. If your goal is an animation rather than a clip, MP4 to GIF converts a whole MP4 at a frame rate and width you choose, so trim it down first. Extract Video Frames pulls out stills instead. Everything else is on the video hub.

Frequently asked questions

Do I get separate files or one zip?

One or the other, never both. Whenever the split produces more than one part they are bundled into a single zip named after your file with a parts suffix, and that zip is the only download. The individual parts are not offered separately. The one exception is a split that yields exactly one part, which happens when the segment length is longer than the whole video, and then you get that single video file with no zip around it.

Is the video re-encoded?

No. Every part is produced with a stream copy, meaning the compressed video and audio data is transferred across untouched and only the container is rewritten. Nothing is decoded and nothing is re-compressed, so the parts are visually identical to the source and the whole split runs at file copy speed rather than encoding speed. A ten minute video splits in seconds.

Why is the last part not exactly the same length as the others in fixed-length mode?

Because the video rarely divides evenly. Fixed-length mode places a boundary every N seconds and then one final boundary at the true end of the file, so the last part is the remainder and is shorter than the rest. A 185 second video cut at 30 seconds gives six 30 second parts and a final 5 second one. Only when the duration is an exact multiple of the segment length does the last part come out full size.

How exact are the cut points?

The planned boundaries are exact and telescoping, so the intended part lengths always sum to the full duration with no gap or overlap. The physical cuts are a different matter. A stream copy can only start a part at a keyframe, so each cut snaps backwards to the nearest keyframe at or before the planned time. On a typical video with a keyframe every couple of seconds the drift is small, but it is real, and it is the price of not re-encoding.

Why does the tool need to read my video before it can split it?

Because both modes are defined relative to the total duration and that figure is not known until the file has been inspected. The tool probes the file first, reads the duration out of the report, and only then plans the boundaries. If the duration cannot be read, which happens with a truncated or corrupt file, the split is refused before any part is produced rather than half completing.

How are the parts named?

Each part takes your original file name with a part number appended before the extension, zero padded so that they sort correctly in a file manager. A four way split of clip.mp4 produces clip-part-01.mp4 through clip-part-04.mp4, and the padding widens automatically for a hundred way split so those come out as three digits. The zip is named after the same base with a parts suffix.

Is there a limit on how many parts I can ask for?

Equal parts mode accepts 2 to 100 and clamps anything outside that, so asking for one part gives you two and asking for a thousand gives you a hundred. Fixed-length mode has no part count limit of its own, but each part is a separate pass over the file, so a very short segment length on a long video means a lot of passes and a proportionately long wait.

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