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How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac

This wikiHow teaches you how to change the length of an audio clip in iMovie for macOS. The clip can be trimmed either before or after adding it to the movie timeline. Open iMovie on your Mac. It's a purple and white star icon labeled...
Method 1 of 2:

Trimming Music in the Media Window

  1. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 1How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 1
    Open iMovie on your Mac. It's a purple and white star icon labeled ″iMovie.″ You'll find it on the Launchpad or in the Applications folder.[1]
    1. Use this method to trim audio that you haven't yet added to the timeline.
  2. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 2How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 2
    Open the project with the audio you want to trim.
  3. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 3How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 3
    Click My Media. It's one of the tabs near the top-left corner of the window. All media attached to the project will appear in the main window.
  4. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 4How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 4
    Highlight the audio you want to trim. Clicking the audio file once selects it. You'll see that it's now surrounded by a yellow line with handles on the right and left edges.
  5. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 5How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 5
    Drag the left handle to the desired starting point.
  6. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 6How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 6
    Drag the right handle to the desired end point. Anything outside of the two handles will be trimmed from the audio clip.
  7. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 7How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 7
    Drag the selected part of the clip to the timeline. The timeline is at the bottom of the screen. This adds the trimmed audio clip to your project.
Method 2 of 2:

Trimming Music in the Timeline

  1. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 8How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 8
    Open iMovie on your Mac. It's a purple and white star icon labeled ″iMovie.″ You'll find it on the Launchpad and in the Applications folder.[2]
    1. Use this method to trim music you've already added to your project's timeline.
  2. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 9How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 9
    Open the project with the audio you want to trim.
  3. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 10How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 10
    Click My Media. It's one of the tabs near the top-left corner of the window. All media attached to the project will appear in the main window.
  4. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 11How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 11
    Click the audio clip in the timeline. The timeline is at the bottom of the screen. You'll see that it's now surrounded by a yellow line with handles on the right and left edges.
  5. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 12How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 12
    Drag the left handle to the desired starting point. Any audio that comes before the left handle will be trimmed from the clip.
    1. This doesn't permanently delete the audio you trim away. You can adjust the length of the audio again at any time.
    2. If you want the audio to begin at a specific frame in the video, drag the iMovie playhead (the vertical line with a triangle at the top) to the desired position, right-click the audio, then click Trim To Playhead.[3]
  6. How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 13How to Cut Music in iMovie on PC or Mac Picture 13
    Drag the right handle to the desired end point. Now only the audio between the two handles will play in the movie.
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