> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://aftereffectsclub.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to cut and split a clip in After Effects - URL: https://aftereffectsclub.com/cut-clip-after-effects/ - Published: 2026-11-01T14:24:48.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T20:00:25.000Z - Description: Split a selected layer at the current-time indicator, trim its ends, remove a middle section and set the output length, with Windows and Mac keys for each move. - Author: Ethan Brooks - Tags: Timeline, layers and audio To cut a clip in After Effects, select its layer, place the current-time indicator at the cut and choose Edit > Split Layer. Press Ctrl + Shift + D on Windows or Command + Shift + D on macOS for the same split. Use Alt + \[ or Alt + \] (Option + \[ or Option + \] on a Mac) to trim the start or end of that layer instead. A split keeps both pieces on separate rows; a trim keeps one layer and changes which frames it plays. To remove a middle section and close the gap, use the work area and Edit > Extract Work Area, explained below. A layer trim leaves the composition's duration unchanged, so check its end before rendering. The keys here follow [Adobe's default keyboard shortcuts for After Effects](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/get-started/keyboard-shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-reference.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com). ## What a cut changes: the layer's In and Out points Footage in a composition is a layer. Its In point is the first frame it shows; its Out point is the last. Trimming moves those two values without removing anything from the footage item in the Project panel or changing the file on disk. Two layers made from the same clip can therefore play different frames. Drag a trimmed end back out to recover the hidden frames, as far as the clip runs. A split is that same idea applied twice in one command. Adobe calls splitting a time-saving alternative to duplicating a layer and trimming the copies: the original keeps the frames before the cut, a new layer takes the frames from the cut onward, and each sits on its own row in the layer stack. That last part catches readers who come from an editor's single video track. Two rows after a split is the correct result, not a fault. Pick the move by what should happen to the piece after the cut: - **It stays and needs its own treatment** (another effect, a new position, a later start): split, so each piece is a layer you can change without touching the other. - **It goes, and it sits at the start or the end:** trim the In point or the Out point. - **It goes, and it sits in the middle:** set the work area over it and extract it. - **The layers are right but the composition runs on past them:** trim the composition to the work area. I'd trim rather than split whenever the piece after the cut is going away: a split leaves a second layer that still has to be cleared out, while a trim leaves one layer with one new Out point that a drag can reverse later. ## Set up the comp before the first cut A split or keyboard trim acts on the selected layers at the current time. Check both the selection and the current-time indicator before each edit. - **The composition open in the Timeline panel, with the clip in it as a layer.** If the clip is still only in the Project panel, select it there and press Ctrl + / (Command + / on a Mac, using the slash on the main keyboard) to add it to the composition you last had active. - **The layer you mean to cut selected, and nothing else.** F2 or Ctrl + Shift + A (Command + Shift + A) clears a stray selection before you click the right layer. - **The current-time indicator on the frame of the cut.** It is the vertical line through the time graph, which in [Adobe's layout of the Timeline panel](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/work-with-compositions/composition-settings/composition-basics.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) is the right-hand side holding the time ruler and the layer duration bars. I and O jump the indicator to the selected layer's In and Out points. To find a cut by ear, hold Ctrl (Command on a Mac) while you drag the indicator, and the audio scrubs along with it. - **The In, Out and Duration columns in view.** The In/Out/Duration/Stretch button in the lower-left corner of the Timeline panel opens them for every layer, in composition time. They are the check after each cut: a trim changes In or Out, and a split shortens the original's Out and Duration and adds a row. ## Split a layer at the current-time indicator 1. Select the layer in the Timeline panel. To cut several layers at the same frame, select all of them. 2. Move the current-time indicator to the first frame of the second piece. 3. Choose Edit > Split Layer, or press Ctrl + Shift + D on Windows or Command + Shift + D on macOS. The result should match [Adobe's description of a split layer](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/work-with-layers/select-and-arrange-layers/selecting-arranging-layers.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com): the original now ends at that frame, and a new layer begins on the same frame, on a row of its own. Both carry every keyframe the original had, at the same times, so a move that runs across the cut carries on in the second layer from the frame where the first one stopped. If the split landed on the wrong frame, Ctrl + Z (Command + Z) takes it back. ![Before and after Split Layer: a single layer becomes two rows whose bars meet at the current-time indicator, with the new layer above the original](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-split-provenance-8a25d407600e3a50.webp) A split keeps both pieces on separate rows. The new layer is above the original when Create Split Layers Above Original Layer is selected. [Open the split-layer view at full size](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-split-provenance-8a25d407600e3a50.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com). ### Nothing selected means every layer splits If no layer is selected when you press Ctrl + Shift + D (Command + Shift + D), After Effects splits all layers at the current time. On purpose, that is a quick way to cut footage, music and a title at one frame in a single press. By accident it cuts through the whole stack, so glance at the selection before pressing the keys, and undo at once if new rows appear all the way down the Timeline panel. ### Decide which half lands on top One preference, Create Split Layers Above Original Layer, places the new layer: selected puts it above the original, deselected puts it below. Choose the order you want in [the Composition preferences](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/get-started/preferences-and-settings/preferences.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) at Edit > Preferences > Composition on Windows or After Effects > Settings > Composition on macOS. In a stack of twenty layers, knowing the answer saves hunting for the second half. ### When the split keys do something else The same keys have a second job. With the Render Queue in front, Ctrl + Shift + D (Command + Shift + D) copies a render item, output filename and all, instead of splitting anything, so click in the Timeline panel before you press them. A single letter for the cut is tempting if your editor gave you one, and C looks free. It is not: in After Effects, C activates and cycles through the Camera tools, and giving it to Split Layer takes it from them. To remap Split Layer, open [Keyboard Shortcuts](https://aftereffectsclub.com/after-effects-shortcuts/) with Ctrl + Alt + ' on Windows or Option + Command + ' on macOS. Find Split Layer in the Command list, click its field in the shortcut column and enter the keys you want. Read the conflict warning at the bottom before accepting an assignment already used by another command. Choose Save As and give the custom shortcut set a new name to keep it. ## Trim the In and Out points A trim keeps one layer and moves one of its ends. The frames outside the new In and Out stay in the clip, out of view, ready to be pulled back. ### Trim to the indicator from the keyboard 1. Select the layer and put the current-time indicator on the frame where the layer should start. 2. Press Alt + \[ (Option + \[ on a Mac), and keep the modifier down. A bare \[ does not trim: it slides the whole layer so its In point lands on the indicator, with the duration unchanged, and a bare \] does the same with the Out point. If the bar jumped sideways instead of getting shorter, undo and press the key again with Alt or Option. 3. Move the indicator to where the layer should end and press Alt + \] (Option + \] on a Mac) to trim the Out point. Check: the bar now begins and ends at the two indicator positions you used, the In and Out columns show the new times, and the time ruler is exactly as long as before. With several layers selected, Alt + \[ or Alt + \] puts every In or Out point on the same frame. When the layers start at staggered times and should keep their offsets from one another, add Shift: Alt + Shift + \[ or Alt + Shift + \] (Option + Shift + \[ or Option + Shift + \] on a Mac). ### Trim by dragging a bar end Drag either end of the layer duration bar inward to trim, or back out to recover frames. Moving only an end leaves the layer's keyframes where they are in time; dragging the bar itself moves the whole layer and every keyframe with it, which shifts the layer in time rather than trimming it. Shift-dragging a bar snaps it to markers and to the start or end of the composition. How far an end can travel depends on the layer type. Adobe lists time-remapped, shape, still-image, camera, light and text layers as the ones that extend past their original In and Out times. ### Keep the length, change the frames: slip the layer After a trim on moving footage, a pale slip-edit bar shows the frames the layer is hiding beyond its In and Out points. Drag that pale bar left or right, and the layer keeps its place and length in the composition while a different stretch of the clip plays inside it. Dragging the layer with the Pan Behind (Anchor Point) tool, Y, does the same. Keyframes ride along with a slip only when they are selected. If the animation has to stay on its frames, press Shift + F2 first: it deselects the keyframes and leaves the layer selected. ## Take a section out of the middle The editor's habit is two cuts, a removed piece and a drag to close the gap. After Effects does that in one command once the work area marks the section. 1. Put the current-time indicator on the first frame to remove and press B, then move it to where the section ends and press N. The work area, the stretch of the Timeline panel drawn in a lighter grey, now covers only that section. 2. Choose which layers the cut goes through. Select them, or lock the layers that must stay whole with Ctrl + L (Command + L). Read this before step 3: with no layer selected, the command cuts every unlocked layer, music and titles included. F2 clears the selection when that is what you want. 3. Choose Edit > Lift Work Area to take the section out and leave a gap of the same length, or Edit > Extract Work Area to take it out and close the gap by ripple deletion, so the later frames of the affected layers move up to where the section began. Neither command has a default key in Adobe's shortcut list, so both stay in the Edit menu. Check the composition afterwards: after Extract, the frame that followed the section now sits where the section began; after Lift, that stretch is empty. Lift suits a hole you are about to fill with another shot or a title; Extract suits a section that should simply disappear. ## Make the composition end where the edit ends A trim shortens a layer, not the composition. Once the last layer stops early, the composition keeps running past it, and the work area, which [Adobe defines as the part of the composition rendered for previews and final output](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/view-and-preview/preview-video-and-audio/previewing.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com), stays wherever it was last set. 1. Fit the work area to the edit. Select the layers that make up the edit and press Ctrl + Alt + B (Command + Option + B on a Mac), and the work area takes their span. With nothing selected, the same keys stretch it over the whole composition, so check the selection first. B and N, or dragging the work area's start and end markers in the time ruler, set it by hand. Shift + Home and Shift + End jump to its two ends, a quick look at whether it starts and stops on the right frames. 2. Press Ctrl + Shift + X (Command + Shift + X on a Mac), the key Adobe's shortcut list gives for Trim Composition to work area. 3. Check the length: open Composition > Composition Settings with Ctrl + K (Command + K) and read Duration, which should now match the work area you set. ![A shorter layer under a longer composition, compared with a composition trimmed to a work area that ends with the layer](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-trim-provenance-7698b90a9adc91ab.webp) Trimming a layer leaves the composition duration unchanged. Trim Composition to work area shortens the composition; this example starts the work area at the composition start. [Open the two trim views at full size](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-trim-provenance-7698b90a9adc91ab.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com). The other route leaves the composition long and [limits the render](https://aftereffectsclub.com/export-after-effects-video/) instead. In Render Settings, [the Time Span setting](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/render-and-export/basics-of-rendering-and-exporting/basics-rendering-exporting.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) offers Length Of Comp for the entire composition, Work Area Only for the part between the work area markers, and Custom; look at which one your render item shows before you start it. Once the edit is settled, trimming the composition leaves one value that holds its length, the Duration, while Work Area Only keeps the spare frames inside and leaves the decision to the Time Span of each render. ## Cuts After Effects can place for you **Scene Edit Detection.** When one video file already holds several shots, such as a rough export with its cuts baked in, After Effects can find the shot changes and split there. Select the footage layer and choose Layer > Scene Edit Detection, or right-click the layer, and turn on Split Layer at Scene Edit to put each detected scene on its own layer; Create Pre-comps is an extra option on top of that. According to Adobe's page on [Scene Edit Detection](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/work-with-footage-items/scene-edit-detection/scene-edit-detection.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com), it runs on video footage only, not on pre-comps, other layer types or time-remapped footage. Check the result as you would a manual split: one row per detected shot, and I on each selected layer shows the frame it starts on. ![Scene Edit Detection dialog with Create Layer Markers selected, Split Layer at Scene Edit unselected, and Create Pre-comps disabled](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-scene-edit-dialog-owner130-8208bccec527.webp) The dialog is set to add markers; select Split Layer at Scene Edit for separate layers at detected scene changes. [Open Scene Edit Detection at full size](https://storage.ghost.io/c/93/1e/931ecadb-86fa-4092-9a2d-733ed6274523/content/images/2026/11/cut-clip-after-effects-scene-edit-dialog-owner130-8208bccec527.webp?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) to read the options. **Trim before the layer exists.** The Footage panel sets the cut before anything reaches the timeline. With the clip open there, Set In Point and Set Out Point choose the frames, and two edit commands decide where they land, as [Adobe's page on creating layers](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/work-with-layers/create-layers/creating-layers.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) explains. Overlay Edit adds the trimmed clip as a new layer at the top of the stack with its In point at the current time in the Timeline panel. Ripple Insert Edit does the same but also splits every other layer at that time and pushes their later parts back, so keep it for the moment when the whole stack should make room. ## When the cutting belongs in Premiere Pro A handful of cuts inside an animation belong in After Effects, next to the keyframes they affect. Choosing takes and ordering dozens of shots is editing. Trimming them against music belongs there too, and [Premiere Pro is built for that](https://aftereffectsclub.com/after-effects-vs-premiere-pro/). Its Razor tool cuts a clip where you click it, and Alt-click (Option-click on macOS) cuts only the audio or only the video part of a linked clip, as [Adobe's page on cutting clips in Premiere](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/edit-projects/trim-clips/cut-clips.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) describes. From the keyboard, [Premiere's default shortcuts](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/get-started/keyboard-shortcuts/default-keyboard-shortcuts.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) list Add Edit as Ctrl + K (Cmd + K), Add Edit to All Tracks as Ctrl + Shift + K (Shift + Cmd + K) and Ripple Delete as Shift + Delete (Shift + Forward Delete). The two apps meet through Dynamic Link. In Premiere Pro, File > Adobe Dynamic Link > New After Effects Composition starts a linked composition, or you select clips and choose Replace With After Effects Composition, which builds a composition that inherits the sequence settings. [Adobe's Dynamic Link page](https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/desktop/work-with-other-applications/work-with-dynamic-link/dynamic-link-effects.html?ref=aftereffectsclub.com) requires the After Effects and Premiere Pro versions to match. I'd cut in Premiere Pro whenever the order of shots is still changing and send across only the shots that need animation or compositing, so the edit decisions live in one sequence instead of in split layers spread over several compositions. Preview the work area and check that it plays only the frames you kept. If you trimmed the composition, confirm Duration in Composition Settings; if you kept a longer composition, select the intended Time Span in Render Settings before rendering.