A Secret VLC Feature: Using It as a Video Editor

As one of the most popular media players, VLC supports all operating systems, including mobile platforms as well as audio and video formats. But did you know it also has a hidden feature which allows it to be used as a video editor? Whether you have raw camera recordings or a YouTube clip, it’s now possible to directly edit your video files in VLC.

Follow the steps below to start using VLC as a regular video editing tool. There is not much of a learning curve, and you can immediately start working on this after you download the latest VLC version.

1. Trimming Videos in VLC

VLC allows you to trim video clips to save a select timeline. First, go to “View -> Advanced Controls.” It will activate a few extra buttons at the bottom. Once you’re at the section that has to be trimmed, click the red “Record” button.

Simply play the file from this point onward, and click the “Record” button once again to stop. If you want more accuracy, use an option called “frame by frame” control instead of “Play.”

The trimmed video file will be automatically saved in the “My Videos” folder in Windows. For other operating systems, it will be available in the documents folder or your default videos folder.

2. Merging Trimmed Files in VLC

So you got rid of the video’s bad portions using “Trim.” To make the video whole again, you have to merge the clean portions. For this, go to “Media -> Open Multiple Files.”

Select all the recorded files and click “Open.”

Click “Convert” as shown below to merge all the trimmed files.

In the next step you can select the format of the combined video such as OGG or H265. Your new edited video minus the bloopers will be saved in a destination folder.

3. Removing Echo and Background Noise in VLC

So far, we’ve seen how to edit the video timelines in VLC to get rid of the unwanted portions. You may also want to remove echoes and background noises which can ruin a perfectly nice frame. For this, go to “Tools -> Effects and Filers.”

To remove white noise, you need to select “Equalizer” under “Audio Effects.” Here you will see the individual bands. Start playing your audio track and pay attention to the areas which have white noise. Adjust the individual bands together one by one till you have the white noise muted or greatly reduced. It requires a keen ear to be able to distinguish the noise from clean audio, so pay close attention.

After you mute the problem bands, remember to turn all the other bands back to where they were. Otherwise, your video’s average volume will be lower than what you’d recorded previously.

You can also use VLC player to remove a “hissing” noise in videos. For this, select “Spatializer.” The same principle applies. Adjust each band manually until the hissing noise disappears, and turn all the other bands back to where they were. Click “Save” to save this new configuration.

Remember to uncheck “Enable” to enable the VLC file once you’re done. For more advanced noise adjustment in videos, we recommend using either Ocenaudio or Audacity.

4. Smart Video Effects in VLC

No matter your video source, you can use VLC to adjust them in a variety of ways. To work on this, go to “Tools -> Adjustments and effects.”

Go to “Video Effects -> Colors.” Here you can negate a select portion to show something in flashback.

You can also change the background colors using “Color extraction,” for example, to show a reddish dawn sky.

To focus on a select portion, for example, the trees behind the car, use “interactive zoom.” This can help you achieve more depth in the video despite not capturing the shot.

You can also experiment with rotating a video portion for a special effect.

Using the crop feature, you can remove portions of the video on the left, right, top or bottom.

5. Adding Text and Subtitles to Video Clips Using VLC

To add your own text to a video clip, go to “Overlay” in “Adjustments and Effects.” Type your desired text and provide a position to it within the video.

You can also add subtitles from “Synchronization” in “Adjustments and Effects.” For this, you have to select a subtitle duration factor which can be between two and three seconds.

You can also download subtitles into the video from any location on your PC for which we have a tutorial.

Conclusion

One reason VLC is able to support video-editing is because it’s based on a modular design which allows cool new features to be added in the latest software versions. Are you going to use VLC’s hidden video-editing capabilities? Do let us know in the comments how you feel about this new feature edition.