Editing AVI files (help please...)

[lukekarts]

OK so I'll set the scenario.

We have a camera we attach to our race-car to record races; it automatically records to an AVI format to an SD card.

I can transfer this to my 2011 MacBook Air no problem, it plays in QuickTime, MPlayerX and VLC.

But - I have no idea how to go about editing it.

I've tried iMovie; but it apparently doesn't recognise the AVI; SmartVideo Convertor also doesn't transform the format into something iMovie can read.

So, what piece of software will let me edit the video? Preferably something cheap/free! All I want to do is cut bits out at the beginning and end, so I can split into single laps or a video easily uploadable to YouTube. Right now the files are about 1.5GB...

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

I think I used handbrake for this in the past.

 

[Jolly Jimmy]

You can do this easily with Quicktime X. Select Edit > Trim or press cmd-T.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

To edit .avi file(s) in iMovie:

Open .avi file in MPEG Streamclip and do this:

If you want to transcode several .avi files to iMovie compatible files:

To trim or cut out pieces out of a video file, you can do this in MPEG Streamclip: