Video Cutter (with FFmpeg) - Технический блог

A desktop GUI application for precise video cutting and optional re-encoding, built with Python, Tkinter, OpenCV, and FFmpeg.

The application allows you to visually navigate through a video frame-by-frame, mark multiple segments, reorder or remove them, and export the result either without re-encoding (stream copy) or with full re-encoding (e.g. to MP4 / H.264 / HEVC).

GitHub with code: github.com/a7in/a7-video-cutter

Key Idea

This tool is designed for situations where:

You need frame-accurate cutting
You want to extract multiple segments from a single video
You want to concatenate segments in a chosen order
You want control over whether the video is copied losslessly or fully re-encoded

FFmpeg is used for all actual media processing; the application provides a convenient visual interface on top of it.

Features

Cut video files into multiple segments
Supports most video formats supported by FFmpeg
Optional video re-encoding using NVIDIA NVENC (H.265 / HEVC)
Audio re-encoding to AAC
Automatic handling of long videos
Progress output via FFmpeg logs
Error handling with user-friendly messages
Simple and lightweight Tkinter-based GUI
Works on Windows

Requirements

Windows OS
Python 3.9+
FFmpeg (static build recommended)
NVIDIA GPU with NVENC support (optional, for hardware encoding)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/video-cutter.git
cd video-cutter

2. Install Python dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

If requirements.txt is not present, the application only relies on standard Python libraries:

tkinter
subprocess
threading
os

FFmpeg Setup

Download FFmpeg from https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/
Extract the archive
Add the FFmpeg bin directory to your system PATH, or place ffmpeg.exe next to the Python script

To verify installation:

ffmpeg -version

Usage

Run the application:
```
python main.py
```
Select a video file
Set segment duration or cutting parameters
Choose whether to re-encode or copy streams
Start the cutting process

The application will process the video and save the resulting segments to the output directory.

Hardware Encoding (NVENC)

If an NVIDIA GPU is available, the application uses hevc_nvenc for fast GPU-based encoding.

Example FFmpeg parameters used internally:

-c:v hevc_nvenc -preset p5 -rc vbr -cq 19

Known Limitations

Windows-only (tested)
Requires external FFmpeg installation
No built-in video preview

License

This project is provided as-is for personal or educational use.