You are probably familiar with clicking on this traffic cone icon to play videos in your discovery, but did you know you can use it for more than that? The traffic cone icon is VLC media player[1], a free, open, and cross-source platform media player that clip and zoom in on videos in addition to playing many different types of media files.
This guide will walk you through how to clip videos and how to zoom in on videos step-by-step.
Clipping
- Enable advanced controls by going to the view menu and selecting “Advanced Controls”. This will show the recording, snapshot and frame-by-frame tools\buttons.
- To clip a video, pause the video and move the slider to the desired location of the video. Use the Frame-by-Frame button if necessary to get to the exact location. Hit the Record button. Let the video play to the desired location, click on the Record button again and then the Stop button. This will create a video clipping of the video and place it under the This PC\Videos folder.
Note: If it’s a very long video, or if you need to trim several pieces of the video into one, you may want to use another tool like ClipChamp. You can find a blog on ClipChamp here: https://nlsblog.org/2024/05/07/microsoft-clipchamp/
Interactive Zoom
- In VLC, go to the Tools Menu and select Effects and Filters. Click on the Video Effects tab and then the Geometry tab. Click on the Interactive Zoom and make sure it is selected. Click on Save and then Close.
- You will now see a Zoom area in the upper left corner of the video. Move the Zoom Box to the area of the video you want to Zoom and increase the Zoom scale if desired.
- Once you’ve found the area you’d like to take a snapshot of, click on the VLC Zoom Hide text to hide the Zoom Box and then use the camera icon in the advanced toolbar, Shift+S, or Video Menu and select “Take Snapshot”. The Snapshot will be saved under This PC\Pictures folder.
Note: When you are done using the Zoom tool, you will have to deselect “Interactive Zoom” feature in the Geometry tab shown in Step 1.