Opening a video and reading its Details tab in Cut

Every job in Cut by Zaweba starts the same way, by opening a video. That sounds too simple to need explaining, but the moment you open a file Cut also tells you a great deal about it, and knowing how to read that information saves guesswork later when you cut, join or convert.

Getting a video in

There are three ways to open a file: the Open command, dragging a file from File Explorer onto the window, or picking it from recent files. Dragging is usually quickest when the video is sitting in a folder you already have open. Recent files help when you come back to the same recording over several sessions.

Cut opens a wide range of video files: MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WebM, WMV, MTS, M2TS and TS, FLV, GIF, M4V, MPG and 3GP. That covers phones, most cameras and camcorders, screen recorders, downloads and the odd old clip from years ago.

If you drop something that isn't a video, such as a text file or a single picture, Cut refuses it with a clear message rather than failing in a confusing way. That's useful when you drag a whole selection by mistake.

What the Details tab shows

Once a video is open, the Details tab lists what is inside it. The container comes first, which is the file type itself, such as MP4 or MKV. Then the duration, the file size and the overall bitrate.

For the picture you get the video codec with its profile and level, the resolution, the frame rate, the pixel format, any rotation, and the frame count. For sound you get every audio track, each with its codec, sample rate, channels, bitrate and language. Subtitles are listed too, and so is the keyframe spacing.

Why those details matter

Some of these are curiosities, but several shape what you can do next.

Keyframe spacing decides how precise a lossless cut can be. A lossless cut copies the original untouched and can only cut at keyframes, so if keyframes are far apart, a lossless cut may keep a little extra at each end. Knowing the spacing up front tells you whether a smart cut, which lands on the exact frame, might be the better choice.

Codec, resolution, frame rate and sound settings decide whether clips can be joined losslessly. When you join clips, Cut joins them without re-encoding only if they all match the first. If the Details tab shows one clip at a different frame rate or size, you know before you start that the join will convert it to match.

Rotation explains a lot of sideways videos. Phones often record with a rotation flag rather than turning the picture itself, and seeing it here helps make sense of what you are looking at.

Audio tracks matter when there is more than one. Recordings from some sources carry several tracks in different languages, and the Details tab tells you which is which.

Bitrate and file size together tell you whether a video is likely to be too big to send. If it is, a convert preset such as For email (under 25 MB) or For WhatsApp is the next step.

Habits worth forming

Glance at Details whenever you open something unfamiliar. Ten seconds of reading can save a failed join or a cut that keeps more than you expected.

Check every clip before a join, not just the first. The first clip sets the standard, so put the one with the settings you want at the start.

Note the frame count when you plan precise cuts. Cut's Go to box accepts frame numbers as well as times, so the count tells you the range you're working in.

Where it leads

Opening and inspecting is the doorway to everything else. From here you step through the video frame by frame, mark the parts to keep or cut, add filters, extract sound or frames, or convert with a preset chosen by purpose. If the job grows into something that needs a multi-track timeline, File > Open in Video by Zaweba passes the file across, when Video is installed.