How to Cut/Trim Music in iMovie on Mac/iPhone

There are many times when you need to cut or trim music. For example, you would like to cut your favorite piece of music and use a clip as a ringtone. Or you just want to cut some unpleasant sections off a song. If you are a Mac user or an iOS user, you could make use of an easy-to-use audio editing program – iMovie to do it in any case. For convenience, this article presents detailed operation procedures to trim music in iMovie on Mac and iPhone. Just read it for reference.

  • Part 1: Trim Music File in iMovie on Mac
  • Part 2: Split a Song in iMovie on iPhone
  • Tips to Trim Music with iMovie Alternative

Part 1: How to Trim or Cut Music in iMovie on Mac

Splitting or trimming music means you can rearrange or shorten the length of the audio or clip. Now just follow the detailed guide below to see how easy it is to trim music in iMovie on the macOS computer with three different ways.

Method 1: Trim Target Music in Media Window

imovie drag audio
To begin, please open the iMovie program on Mac. Click the “Import Media” option to add a song file. Next, select your music file and drag the left and right edges to locate the section you want to trim. In this way, you can finish trimming task now directly in Media Window.

Method 2: Trim Music in the Timeline

imovie trim music
Or you can simply drag and drop the imported music from Media window to the timeline in iMovie. Then, highlight the file and position both start and end trimming points as you like. Alternatively, it’s available to set specific frame with playhead. Right-click on the music section and conduct “Trim to Playhead” to trim the music file to the proper length.

Method 3: Cut Music in the Timeline

imovie cut video
Just get your music ready on the timeline and let the playhead stay where you want to trim/cut. Right-click to select the “Split Clip” to cut the audio file into two parts, and you can keep the one you want and delete the one you don’t like.
After finishing the trimming or splitting, now you can export the song file by pressing the “Share” icon in the top right corner. Then rename the file and choose a location for storage, and click the “Save” button to export it to your Mac. You’re also allowed to publish it to a number of popular sharing websites.

Part 2: How to Trim a Song in iMovie on iPhone

Alternatively, you can also trim or cut a song file on your iPhone with iMovie app in a few clicks only. The following guide will tell you how to do it in detail.

Step 1: Open iMovie and import a music file

Download the iMovie app from Apple store, and then install it on your iPhone. Open it and then add an audio file to the program. Remember to drag it to the Timeline for trimming or splitting.

Step 2: Trim or split the song as you like

Tab the audio clip you want to trim and the trim handles appear in yellow. Drag the trim handles to determine the start point and end point, and then tap outside to make the handles disappear.
imovie trim a song on iPhone
If you want to split an audio clip, you can move the playhead to desired position and then tap the Scissors icon in the bottom-left corner and then press the “Split” button to cut the music file as you wish.

Step 3: Share the file

When you’re happy with the file, tap the “Done” button. Now you can listen to the trimmed or splitted song and then press the “Share” button to send it to your friends or families.

More: How to Trim Music with iMovie Alternative on Mac

Joyoshare Mac Media Cutter is an optimal iMovie alternative for Mac users to cut audio and video files at a super-fast speed without causing any quality loss. With the program, you can easily split any large audio files into small segments, create customized ringtones for smartphones, remove background noise of the music file, and even extract any audio tracks from video clips, etc. Besides, Joyoshare Music Trimmer also offers you an opportunity to enhance your songs, such as apply special sound effects, add new background music for the file, etc.

Additionally, Joyoshare Media Cutter supports tons of input and output media formats such as MP3, WAV, AAC, AC3, MKA, OGG, AIFF, MP4, MPG, etc., as well as a variety of common portable devices like Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Samsung TV, Xbox 360, PSP, Blackberry Bold and many others.

Remarkable Features of Joyoshare Media Cutter:

Cut or split music file fast and losslessly

Trim and convert music at 60X faster speed

Export audio file in any format or device

Advanced audio editing tools provided

Step 1: Launch Joyoshare and import a music file

First, go to the download page of Joyoshare and choose Media Cutter Mac version to download and install it on your Mac. After that, launch the program and add the required file by clicking the “Open” button or simply drag and drop a song file to Joyoshare.
joyoshare media cutter mac main screen

Step 2: Set cutting or trimming segments

Next, move the yellow handles to decide the start time and end time for the audio clip or enter the exact time values manually. Alternatively, you can click the Edit icon next to the clip and then tap the “Trim” tab in the new window. You can drag the sliders to set the desired portion. Keep in mind that you need to press the Scissors icon before hitting the “OK” button to close the window.
timeline
Note: The same audio file can be cut into several clips at a time. If you want to join them to form a new, you can go to click the “+” button and tick the “Merge segments” option.

Step 3: Choose an output mode and start to trim music

Then click the “Format” button and you’ll see available output modes for option. The “High-Speed mode” will help trim and convert the audio file quickly in lossless quality while the “Encoding mode” will give you the rights to customize the video in your preference, such as video quality, codec, bit rate, formats, devices, etc. Here we recommend you to choose the first output mode.
format interface
Now click the “Start” button to let the music cutting software work losslessly. Wait a few seconds, you can find your trimmed audio file on the destination folder of your computer.
For more info, please visit the source page: