VLC Player is an awesome open source media player for Windows and Linux. Not only that it can play almost any file with super ease, it can also work as a basic video editing tool. Basic. Okay?

I didn’t know this till I wanted to crop a part of the video and didn’t seem to have a software to do it. So I turned to VLC knowing that it won’t disappoint me. And it didn’t. With VLC Advanced Controls, that do not show by default by the way, you can do a host of different things. Here is all you need to know:

VLC Player Advanced Controls Not Showing

Because these are advanced controls, these do not show up by default. You have to enable it –  which is easy:

In VLC Player, click “View” menu item, then click “Advanced Controls”.

You will see 4 new controls just above the Play/Pause, Stop buttons. These are the controls that can serve a variety of purposes.

VLC Players Advanced Controls Overview

Record: This will record a part of the video being played in VLC player at the time. Press it once to start recording – press again to stop.

Take a snapshot: Self-explanatory, eh? Take a screenshot from the video you’re playing.

Loop from point A to point B continuously: Watching a movie and like a song? Just define starting and ending point and this feature will loop that song for you.

Frame by Frame: Cannot pause your video at a specific point? Pause it at a nearby spot, then use keep pressing this button till you reach the frame you want.

How to: Use VLC to Cut Video Clips

Step 1: Pause the video from the point that you want to be starting point of your cropped video clip.

Hint: Use Frame by frame button to reach the exact location.

Step 2: Press the Play and Record buttons simultaneously to start video playback and recording.

Step 3: Once you reach the point where you want to stop recording, press the Record button again.

That’s it. The recording will now be saved in your Videos folder.

Super easy. You can use other tools available in VLC for a variety of different functions as well.