Breaking up videos into seperate video files (Mac)

Owned by David Sprunger
Last updated: Aug 18, 2020
  1. Open the QuickTime Player app in your computer (found inside of your Applications folder)
  2. In the window that appears on your screen, navigate to the place where your original video file is and open it. (double click it or single click and click the “open” button).
  3. Find the point at which you would like to split your video into two pieces (if you’re planning on breaking up the video into three or more pieces, just find the point where the first piece will end, and your second piece will start, then repeat these instructions for subsequent pieces.)  Do this by either clicking the play button OR dragging the slider below the play button. 
    Tip:  You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move frame by frame in your video.

  4. Click the Edit menu > Split Clip
  5. A special play bar will now appear, showing your clip, in tiny form, broken into two pieces.  It may be hard to see this break:

    But if you click on part of the clip, you’ll see it outlined in yellow:
  6. Click on the second piece, and push the delete key on your keyboard -- don’t worry, your original video will not be affected by this.

  7. Go to the File menu > Export as > 1080p.  This will allow you to save the first part of your video as “part 1” of your overall video.
  8. In the resulting window, give the part 1 video an appropriate name, e.g. “Week 1 lecture, part 1 of 2” (and keep the .mov file extension that is there) and click “Save”
  9. When the process finishes, open up your original video file and repeat the steps above, this time deleting the first piece of video so you can export “part 2” of your video.

Check your work:

  1. Find the place in your computer where you have saved “part 1,” part 2,” etc. 
  2. Hold down the control key on your keyboard and click on the first file.  Choose “Get info” from the menu that appears, and in the subsequent window, look at “File size” under the “General” section. 

If you’re under 500 MB, congratulations!  You can check subsequent files the same way.

Now double click on your files to see what they look/sound like.  If you’re satisfied with them, you’re done!


Back to "Sharing videos with your students through Canvas"