Windows 7: Basic Video Editing Programs

I need a program that'll allow me to do some very basic editing of video files. Just trimming off beginnings and ends really, nothing fancy. Just something that'll do the job without losing the quality of the file itself. Even better if it'll trim audio files as well. Any suggestions?

Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

Maybe this little tutorial can help: Windows Live Movie Maker - Edit Video It does a pretty decent job.

For an absolutely lossless editing tool I recommend this one: http://www.machetesoft.com/ But that has certain restrictions and costs $40. But it is the only editing tool I know where your input is not being degraded.

you want avidemux

you need to google it, because the link wont work on this site.

it will allow you to trim the ends off a file and save it real quickly in the same format without having to re-transcode, so no loss of quality. (and lots more features ...)

and it's free!

google avidemux!

I'm afraid there is a little more to it. What fileformats would you want to edit ?
For MP3 Audio I'd recommend MP3DirectCut if you want to have more control about the trimming or even split a CD into single tracks. If that doesn't matter and you just want to remove "silence" at start and/or end of a MP3 or simply normalize a file/change the volume without re encoding use the free version of MPTrim and WavTrim.

As for Video I suggest you try out a few to see what fits your needs best. Like most freeware programs they all have their limitations (but maybe in an area you wouldn't need anyways
Windows Live Movie Maker (which should already on your computer)
AVIdemux v2.5.3 which handles almost all common formats but might need a little time to get used to.
VirtualDub (mainly for AVI and also a little "uncommon" in its use but can handle material that gets served by Avisynth.
VirtualDubMod (which also handles MKV and OGM... PLUS has the benefit of supporting 2 audio tracks

Well I'm not so good with general answers, so tell me what exactly you ant to do and we'll see what's best

-DG

I've got a load of AVIs that need trimming of stuff I don't really need. I've also got some MP3s with talking at their beginnings of the tracks I want to cut off. Some MP3s I also would like to slice together to make one big track.

i do feel that avidemux is the perfect tool for this trimming job.

here's a quick'n'dirty tutorial.

for example, here i have a neil young video from 1972 (?). let's say that i really don't like the first song, and i want to delete it.

i would load the video file into avidemux, then fast forward (by using the slider or arrow buttons) to the end of the unwanted portion - see first picture.

i would then press the B button - this sets the endpoint of a selection. i didn't need to press A (startpoint), as it assumes that A is the start of the file. if i wanted to make a selection in the middle of the clip, i would press A at the startpoint, then B at the endpoint.

ok, now that i have my selection selected, i simply press the delete button on my keyboard.

job nearly done. i just have to save the movie. it will not get re-transcoded, meaning you will not lose any quality. it will keep the same exact video format as the original.

one thing to note is that the program doesn't add the .avi file extension - so make sure you type this in when you save.

unfortunately, avidemux will only work with video files. to edit your mp3s you will need an audio editing program. audacity is a good freebie,a nd simple to use.

+1

the problem with wlmm is that it will only save files using wmv format.

you will lose quality by the fact that the software has to recompress an already compressed format.

avidemux will save the file in the same format as the original, saving both time and quality.

You can edit video files with this,it will do what you explained and no quality loss does not support audio files it is a free and powerful little tool.

Free Video Converter - Any Video Converter Free Version - convert video to any formats, avi to MPEG, avi to MP4, flv to MPG

Hope this will be of some help