Clippingnet
FOR DEVELOPERS

The video clipping API behind your product

One API for cutting, editing, transcribing, and repurposing video at scale - upload a video or point us to a URL, and get back clips, highlights, captions, and short-form cuts through a handful of endpoints.

Get your API key → Browse the 9 APIs ↓
cURL
# Clip the best 45 seconds out of a podcast episode
curl -X POST https://api.clippingnet.com/v1/clips \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "source_url": "https://cdn.example.com/ep-114.mp4",
    "mode": "ai_highlight",
    "target_duration": 45,
    "captions": true
  }'
9 API surfaces REST + webhooks MP4 output Free tier to start

Nine ways to work with video, programmatically

Each one is a focused API surface, not a single do-everything endpoint - call only what your workflow actually needs.

CORE

01AI Video Clipping API

Send a long video in, get short clips out. The AI scans for strong moments - a punchline, a clear answer, an emotional beat - and returns candidate clips ranked by a confidence score, so you can auto-publish the top result or review the rest.

  • Configurable target clip length, from 10s to 3min
  • Returns multiple ranked candidates per request
  • Works from an uploaded file or a source URL
POST /v1/clips mode=ai_highlight
Response · 200 OK
{
  "clip_id": "clp_8f2a",
  "status": "ready",
  "candidates": [
    { "start": 341.2, "end": 386.4,
      "score": 0.94 },
    { "start": 812.0, "end": 851.6,
      "score": 0.88 }
  ]
}
EDITING

02Video Editing API

Beyond just trimming - apply captions, crop to a target aspect ratio, add a watermark or logo overlay, and stitch multiple clips together, all through composable edit operations in a single request.

  • Aspect ratio conversion (16:9, 9:16, 1:1)
  • Text, logo, and caption overlays
  • Multi-clip concatenation with transitions
POST /v1/edits
Request body
{
  "clip_id": "clp_8f2a",
  "operations": [
    { "type": "crop", "ratio": "9:16" },
    { "type": "captions", "style": "bold" },
    { "type": "watermark", "url": "logo.png" }
  ]
}
CORE

03Video Processing API

The infrastructure layer underneath everything else - transcode between codecs and containers, normalize audio levels, extract thumbnails, and read technical metadata (duration, resolution, bitrate, frame rate) from any supported video.

  • MP4, WebM, MOV, and MKV in and out
  • Automatic audio loudness normalization
  • Thumbnail extraction at any timestamp
POST /v1/process/transcode
Response · 200 OK
{
  "duration_s": 1834.2,
  "resolution": "1920x1080",
  "codec": "h264",
  "bitrate_kbps": 6200,
  "fps": 29.97
}
AI

04Video Highlights API

Returns a ranked list of interesting moments in a video - not full clips, just timestamps and a reason each moment scored highly (a laugh, a key statement, a visual peak) - so your own application can decide what to do with them.

  • Timestamp-only response, lighter than a full clip job
  • Score and reason tag per moment
  • Adjustable sensitivity for how many moments come back
POST /v1/highlights
Response · 200 OK
{
  "moments": [
    { "t": 128.4, "score": 0.91,
      "reason": "laughter" },
    { "t": 604.7, "score": 0.85,
      "reason": "key_statement" }
  ]
}
AUTOMATION

05Automatic Video Editing API

Hand off a raw recording and a style preset, and get a fully edited output back - silences and filler words removed, jump cuts applied, captions burned in - with zero manual editing steps in between. Built for pipelines that need edited video without a human in the loop.

  • Silence and filler-word removal
  • Style presets (talking-head, tutorial, vlog)
  • Fully hands-off - one call, finished output
POST /v1/auto-edit
Request body
{
  "source_url": "raw-recording.mp4",
  "preset": "tutorial",
  "remove_silence": true,
  "remove_filler_words": true
}
SOCIAL

06Short-Video Generator API

Purpose-built for social output: takes a long video and returns a batch of vertical, captioned, platform-ready shorts in one call - reframed to 9:16, with animated captions burned in and each clip pre-scored for likely engagement.

  • Batch output - multiple shorts per request
  • Automatic 9:16 reframing with subject tracking
  • Animated captions included by default
POST /v1/shorts/generate
Response · 200 OK
{
  "shorts": [
    { "id": "sh_01", "duration_s": 34,
      "engagement_score": 0.89 },
    { "id": "sh_02", "duration_s": 41,
      "engagement_score": 0.82 }
  ]
}
SPEECH

07Video Transcription & Clipping API

Transcribes the video first, then lets you clip by searching the text - "find the part where they discuss pricing" returns a timestamp range directly, without you scrubbing through the timeline yourself. Also returns the full transcript with word-level timestamps for captioning.

  • Search-to-clip by transcript content
  • Word-level timestamps for precise captions
  • Multi-language transcription support
POST /v1/transcribe/clip-by-text
Request body
{
  "video_id": "vid_5c1e",
  "query": "when they discuss pricing",
  "pad_seconds": 3
}
AUDIO+VIDEO

08Podcast Clipping API

Tuned specifically for long-form conversation formats: separates speakers, identifies who's talking in each clip, and favors clean, complete exchanges over mid-sentence cuts - the kind of judgment that matters for interview and panel-style content.

  • Speaker diarization and per-speaker labeling
  • Cuts favor complete exchanges, not mid-sentence
  • Works from video or audio-only source files
POST /v1/podcast/clips
Response · 200 OK
{
  "clip_id": "pcl_22ab",
  "speakers": [
    { "label": "host", "share": 0.42 },
    { "label": "guest", "share": 0.58 }
  ]
}
WORKFLOW

09Video Repurposing API

The highest-level endpoint - send one long video in, and get a whole content package back: several social shorts, a blog-post draft summarizing the content, a full transcript, and suggested titles, all generated from a single source in one asynchronous job.

  • One source video → multiple output formats
  • Includes written content (summary, blog draft)
  • Delivered via webhook when the job completes
POST /v1/repurpose async job
Response · 202 Accepted
{
  "job_id": "job_991f",
  "status": "processing",
  "webhook_url": "your-endpoint.com/hook"
}

Live in three steps

Step 1

Get an API key

Sign up and generate a key from your dashboard. The free tier includes enough credits to test every endpoint above without a card on file.

Step 2

Send a video in

POST a source URL or upload a file directly. Most endpoints respond synchronously for short videos; longer jobs return a job ID and notify you via webhook.

Step 3

Get your output

Pull the result via the response or webhook payload - a clip URL, a highlight list, a transcript, or a full repurposing package, depending on the endpoint you called.

This is a separate product from the free browser tool. Clippingnet.com's core clipper still runs entirely client-side with no uploads - this API is an opt-in, server-side product for teams that specifically need automation, batch processing, or AI features a browser can't do alone.

Usage-based pricing

Pay for what you process. No seat licenses, no annual lock-in required to get started.

Free
$0/ month
  • 60 minutes of video processed / month
  • All 9 API endpoints available
  • Community support
Start free →
Most popular
Pro
$79/ month
  • 25 hours of video processed / month
  • Priority processing queue
  • Webhook + async job support
  • Email support, 1 business day
Start Pro trial →
Scale
Custom
  • Volume pricing for high throughput
  • Dedicated processing capacity
  • SLA and a named support contact
Talk to sales →

API FAQ

What's the difference between this and the free browser tool?

The browser tool at clippingnet.com runs entirely client-side - no server, no upload, no AI. This API is a separate, server-side product for developers who need automation, AI-driven highlight detection, transcription, or batch processing that a browser alone can't do.

Which video formats are supported as input?

MP4, MOV, WebM, and MKV, either as an uploaded file or a publicly accessible source URL. Audio-only files are accepted for the Podcast Clipping API.

Are responses synchronous or asynchronous?

Shorter operations (clipping, highlights, processing) typically respond synchronously within seconds. Longer or batch operations, like Video Repurposing, return a job ID immediately and notify you via webhook when the result is ready.

Can I use this API for real-time or live video?

Not currently - every endpoint operates on a completed video file or URL, not a live stream. It's built for post-production and automation pipelines, not live processing.

How is usage measured for billing?

By minutes of source video processed, not by number of API calls. A 10-minute podcast episode sent through the Podcast Clipping API counts as 10 minutes, regardless of how many clips come back.

What languages does transcription support?

The Transcription & Clipping API supports a broad set of major languages; check the docs for the current list, since language support expands over time.

Do you offer an SDK, or is this REST-only?

The API is REST-based with JSON request/response bodies, usable from any language. Official client libraries for common languages are listed in the developer docs.

What happens if the AI highlight detection picks a bad moment?

Both the AI Clipping and Highlights APIs return multiple ranked candidates rather than a single answer, specifically so your application (or a human reviewer) can choose instead of trusting one automatic pick.

Is there a rate limit?

Yes, tied to your plan tier - the Free and Pro tiers have published per-minute request limits in the docs, and Scale customers get limits negotiated to their throughput needs.

Who owns the rights to clips generated through the API?

You do - we don't claim rights to your output. As with the browser tool, you're responsible for having the rights to whatever source video you send us to process.

Start clipping video programmatically

The free tier gives you enough to test every endpoint above - no credit card required to get your first API key.

Get your API key →