What's the least painful way to edit MP4s on Windows 11 now?

Avidemux is a great choice for editing MP4 videos on Windows 11, especially when you need a fast, free, and reliable tool. Its main strength is performing simple edits like cutting or trimming without re-encoding the video, which preserves the original quality and saves a lot of time.

Getting Started

• Download and Install: For the best experience on Windows 11, it is highly recommended to use a recent 2.8.2 "nightly" build rather than the older official 2.8.1 release . These nightly builds include important fixes for modern systems.
• Load Your Video: Open Avidemux and drag and drop your MP4 file directly into the window, or use File -> Open .

This is the most common way to edit a MP4 video on Windows 11 using Avidemux.

1. Set Output to "Copy": In the main window on the left, set both Video Output and Audio Output to "Copy" . This tells Avidemux not to re-encode your video, ensuring zero quality loss and very fast processing.
2. Select Output Format: For the Output Format, choose "MP4 Muxer" . This will save your edited video as an MP4 file.
3. Navigate and Set Markers: This is the most crucial step for lossless editing.

• Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to navigate through your video .
• Press the down arrow or up arrow keys on your keyboard to jump between keyframes (also called I-frames) .
• When you cut in "Copy" mode, your start point (Marker A) must be on a keyframe to avoid video corruption . The end point (Marker B) does not have to be a keyframe .
• Set Marker A by clicking the [ button or using Edit -> Set Marker A.
• Navigate to your desired end point and set Marker B by clicking the ] button or using Edit -> Set Marker B.

    4. Save or Delete:

• To keep the selected segment (A to B) and remove everything else, go to File -> Save (or press Ctrl+S) .
• To remove the selected segment (A to B) and keep the rest, click the "Delete" button .

Avidemux also supports scripting, which can be very powerful if you need to perform the same edit, like applying an audio delay or a fade effect, to many MP4 files at once . This is one of its more advanced capabilities when you edit a MP4 video on Windows 11 on a large scale.