ABOUT US

A clipping tool built on one stubborn idea

Your video shouldn't have to leave your computer just to get cut. That's the whole premise Clippingnet is built on - everything else follows from it.

01Why we built this

Clippingnet started from a small annoyance that turned out to be a real problem: every "free" video clipping tool we tried wanted something first - an account, an upload, a watermark, or a credit card for the feature you actually needed. For a task as simple as "cut ten seconds out of this video," that felt like a lot to ask.

So we asked a different question: what if the cut just happened in the browser, using the video you already have open, and nothing left your machine? Modern browsers can already decode video, draw a timeline, and record a selection - the pieces existed, nobody had just put them together into something this direct.

The best version of this tool is the one that gets out of your way fastest.

That constraint - no server, no upload, no account - ended up shaping almost every other decision. It's why YouTube links become timestamped share links and auto-stopping embeds instead of downloaded files: a browser genuinely can't do more than that without violating YouTube's terms, and pretending otherwise would mean lying to you about what the tool can do.

02What we actually believe

Not a mission statement written for a pitch deck - the specific things we keep checking our own decisions against.

Privacy by architecture, not by policy

A promise not to look at your data means less than a design where there's no server for your data to reach in the first place. We built the second kind.

Honest about limits

We'd rather tell you a browser can't download a YouTube video than quietly fake it with a broken export button. Every page says what the tool can't do, not just what it can.

Free means free

No tiered "export" button hidden behind a subscription. If a feature exists, you can use it today, for nothing, without a trial clock running.

Small, sharp scope

We're not trying to be a full video editor. Clippingnet cuts clips well and stops there - we'd rather nail one job than half-do ten.

No dark patterns

No countdown timers, no fake scarcity, no "are you sure you want to leave" modals. If you're done, you're done.

Built for the one-off, not just the pro

Most people cutting a clip do it a few times a year, not every day. The tool needs to make sense the first time, with zero learning curve.

03By the numbers

cost to use, always

bytes uploaded for local files

source types supported

job this tool tries to do

04How it actually works

No magic, no AI moment-detection - just the browser doing what browsers can already do, arranged clearly.

Local files

Read directly from disk

The File API lets a browser open and play a video without ever sending it anywhere. Your cut happens entirely on your own machine.

Direct URLs

Fetched, streamed, or previewed

We try to fetch the file for a full export; if the server blocks that, we fall back to streaming, and worst case, preview-only - always telling you which mode you're in.

YouTube links

Links and embeds, not files

Browsers can't legally extract a downloadable file from YouTube. So instead we generate a timestamped link and an auto-stopping embed - the honest ceiling of what's possible.

The short version: if you drop in a local file, nothing about that video ever leaves your browser tab. We couldn't see it even if we wanted to - there's no server in the loop to send it to.

05Who's building it

A small team, on purpose - small enough that every decision above gets argued about by name, not voted on by committee.

Engineering

Browser APIs & performance

Spends an unreasonable amount of time making sure the timeline handles feel right down to the frame.

Design

Interface & interaction

Vetoes anything that needs an explainer tooltip. If it's not obvious, it's not done.

Product

Scope & honesty

The person who insisted the FAQ say "we can't do that" instead of quietly hiding the button.

See it for yourself

No account, no upload, no watermark - the fastest way to know if this is the right tool for you is to try cutting something in the next thirty seconds.

Open Clippingnet →

06Questions people ask us

Is Clippingnet actually free, or is there a catch?

It's free, with no catch we're aware of ourselves - no paid tier, no feature gate, no watermark to remove for a fee. The tool is small in scope on purpose, which keeps it cheap enough for us to run without needing to charge you.

How do you make money if it's free?

Right now, we don't charge for the tool itself. We're focused on making something genuinely useful first - monetization, if it ever happens, would need to not compromise the no-upload, no-watermark, no-dark-pattern principles above.

Do you store or see the videos I clip?

For local files, no - there's no server involved, so there's nothing for us to see. For direct URLs and YouTube links, we don't log or retain the links you paste; they're used only to load the video into your browser session.

Why can't I download a clipped YouTube video?

That's a deliberate limit, not a missing feature. YouTube's terms don't allow extracting downloadable files from their platform, and a browser tool has no way around that without breaking the rules. We give you a timestamped link and an auto-stopping embed instead, since those are legitimate.

Will you add more editing features - music, text, filters?

Probably not to this tool. Clippingnet is intentionally narrow - cutting a precise in/out selection - and we'd rather keep that one job simple than gradually turn it into a full editor that does everything adequately.

Is there a mobile app?

Not currently - the browser version works on mobile browsers already, since it's built on standard web APIs rather than anything desktop-specific.

Who is Clippingnet for?

Mostly people who need a quick, precise cut a few times a month, not full-time video editors. If you're cutting dozens of clips a day with heavy styling needs, a dedicated editor will serve you better than we're trying to.

Can I use Clippingnet for commercial or client work?

Yes - there's no license restriction on how you use clips you make with the tool. You're responsible for having the rights to the source video itself, same as with any editing tool.

How can I give feedback or report a bug?

We read what comes in through our contact channels directly - there's no ticket queue or support tier system, since the team is small enough to just look at things ourselves.