UNIVRSLL Clip Cutter
Paste a YouTube link, give it a start and an end, and get a clean MP4 of just that section — without downloading the whole video first.
The parts that matter.
It never downloads the whole video
yt-dlp works out the direct video and audio stream addresses, then FFmpeg seeks straight to your start time and pulls only the seconds you asked for. Taking thirty seconds out of a two-hour stream costs you thirty seconds of transfer, not two hours.
Times the way you would actually type them
00:01:25, 01:25 and plain 85 all mean the same thing. It tells you if the end is before the start, or if you have typed 90 seconds where you meant 1:30, before it starts work rather than after.
A real MP4, not a re-wrapped stream
H.264 video and AAC audio at CRF 23, encoded so the cut lands exactly on the frame you asked for. Dimensions are forced even and the file is written with +faststart, so it plays properly everywhere you are likely to put it.
The progress bar is telling the truth
It reads FFmpeg's own progress output and works the percentage out from the timestamp of the frame being written, so the bar tracks the actual encode rather than counting a timer.
Nothing gets overwritten
Clips land in your Downloads folder, under UNIVRSLL Clips unless you point it elsewhere. Names are cleaned of characters Windows will not accept, and if the name is already taken it makes a new one instead of quietly replacing your last clip.
It checks its tools before it starts
If FFmpeg or yt-dlp is missing it says which one and gives you the exact command to install it, rather than failing halfway through with a stack trace.
What it actually looks like.
From download to done.
Install FFmpeg and yt-dlp once — the two commands are below.
Unzip the program anywhere and open it.
Paste the YouTube URL.
Type a start time and an end time.
Give the clip a name, choose a folder if you want one, and click Create Clip.
pip install -U yt-dlpGetting it running
This one needs two things installed first, and unlike the rest of the tools here it will not fetch them for you. Both are one command:
winget install --id Gyan.FFmpeg
pip install -U yt-dlp
Then unzip the program and open it. If either tool is missing when you press Create Clip, it tells you which one and repeats the command — but it is less annoying to do it up front.
Windows will warn that the publisher is unknown, because the download is not code-signed. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
Why it exists
The usual way to get thirty seconds out of a long video is to download the whole thing, open an editor, find the part you wanted, cut it, and export. For a two-hour stream that is a large download and a lot of clicking for half a minute of footage.
Clip Cutter skips both halves. yt-dlp resolves where the video and audio actually live, FFmpeg seeks directly to your start time, and only the section you asked for is ever transferred. The whole interaction is a link, two times and a name.
Clip Cutter or Clipreel?
They sound similar and do opposite jobs. Clip Cutter takes one specific section out of one online video, when you already know which section you want. Clipreel takes your own footage and builds a montage out of moments it picks for you.
One is a scalpel, the other is an editor that has already made its mind up.
What it does not do
It is YouTube only. The URL is checked before anything runs, so other video sites are rejected rather than half-working.
It re-encodes rather than copying the stream across. That costs time compared with a straight copy, and it is the reason the cut lands exactly on the frame you asked for instead of the nearest keyframe, which can be seconds away.
One clip at a time — batch runs are on the list, not in this version.
And it depends on yt-dlp keeping up with YouTube. When a video fails with
private, blocked or unavailable, updating yt-dlp fixes it more often than
not: pip install -U yt-dlp.
Use it on videos you have the right to use — your own uploads, licensed footage, or material you are quoting fairly. The tool does not check, and that part is on you.
Want something like this?
Tell me what you have in mind, even if you are not sure how it would work. The first conversation is free.
Start a project7401 Williamson Street, Dearborn, Michigan 48126, US · contact@univrsll.com
Built and maintained by one person.