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Cutting in DaVinci Resolve is a fundamental skill that every video editor needs to master. In my opinion, it's not just about splitting a clip; it's about crafting the story and controlling the pace of your video. By the way, if you're new to DaVinci Resolve, you might as well start with understanding the basics of cutting. Let's dive into the different methods and tools that can make your editing process smoother and more efficient.
Cutting is simply the process of selecting a specific part of your video and removing or isolating it. In DaVinci Resolve, you can cut videos using various tools and techniques. How about we explore some of the most common methods?
For instance, cutting a video in DaVinci Resolve 17 can be done using the Blade tool. This tool allows you to split footage at specific points, making it easier to rearrange or remove parts of the clip.
On the other hand, DaVinci Resolve offers intelligent editing and automatic trim tools that can speed up your workflow. These tools analyze your clips and suggest cuts based on the content and rhythm of the video.
The timeline is where you'll spend most of your time cutting and arranging clips. In other words, it's the heart of your editing process. Here's how you can make the most of it:
Splitting footage is as simple as selecting the point where you want to cut and hitting the appropriate shortcut. I'd suggest using the Razor Button or the keyboard shortcut 'B' to make quick cuts.
Just like in any other software, you can copy and paste clips in DaVinci Resolve. This is particularly useful when you want to duplicate a specific effect or transition.
All things considered, changing the aspect ratio can affect how your cuts appear on different screens. Here's how to change the aspect ratio in DaVinci Resolve.
In addition to basic cutting, DaVinci Resolve offers professional trimming options. These include:
The Dual Timeline feature allows you to view your entire project and a zoomed-in section simultaneously. This makes it easier to make precise cuts without losing sight of the bigger picture.
Multicam editing enables you to cut between different camera angles in real-time. It's a powerful tool for live events and interviews.
The Source Tape tool combines all your clips into a single timeline, allowing you to quickly scroll through and make cuts. It's a time-saver, to be honest.
Everything covered so far assumes you're working on the Edit page, but DaVinci Resolve's dedicated Cut page offers a genuinely faster workflow specifically built around quick, rough cutting rather than precise, detailed editing. The Cut page's dual timeline, a zoomed-out full timeline view alongside a zoomed-in section, lets you scrub through long footage and drop cuts in considerably faster than switching tools on the standard Edit page. The Source Tape feature, unique to the Cut page, stitches every clip in your media pool into one continuous scrollable reel, letting you find and cut a specific moment across your entire footage library without opening individual clips one at a time.
For a first rough pass on a long interview or a large batch of footage specifically, working on the Cut page first, then switching to the Edit page for precise trims and L-cuts once your rough structure is in place, is genuinely faster than trying to do both stages on the Edit page alone.
After splitting a clip with the Blade tool or the keyboard shortcut, select the segment you want to remove by clicking it with the Selection tool. Press Delete to remove it leaving a gap on the timeline, or press Backspace to ripple delete it, which closes the gap by pulling all subsequent clips forward to fill the space automatically.
Ripple delete is the more useful option for rough cutting because it keeps your timeline clean without requiring you to manually close gaps after every deletion. Use standard Delete when you intentionally want to leave a gap, for example when building a music video where the silence or empty space between clips is part of the structure.
For long, unedited footage specifically, security camera style recordings, long interviews, or event coverage, DaVinci Resolve's Scene Cut Detection tool analyzes a clip and automatically identifies natural cut points based on actual content changes, then splits the clip into separate segments at those points. Right-click a clip in the Media Pool and select Scene Cut Detection to run this automatically, rather than manually scrubbing through lengthy footage searching for cut points yourself.
This is genuinely most useful as a starting point for a rough assembly rather than a finished result, the tool's automatic detection doesn't understand your actual creative intent, so reviewing and adjusting its suggested cuts afterward remains necessary, but it considerably speeds up the initial breakdown of long, unstructured footage compared to manually placing every first cut by hand.
L-cuts and J-cuts are the two most important advanced cut types for any editor working with dialogue, interview, or documentary content. An L-cut is where the audio from clip A continues playing after the video has already cut to clip B. A J-cut is the reverse: the audio from clip B begins before the video cuts from clip A. Both make edits feel more natural and connected rather than abrupt.
To create an L-cut or J-cut, switch to Trim Edit mode by pressing T on your keyboard. In Trim mode you can drag the cut point between video and audio independently by holding Alt while dragging, splitting the cut point between the video and audio tracks at different positions. This gives you the L-cut or J-cut overlap without affecting the surrounding clips on either side.
Beyond dragging a cut point with your mouse, DaVinci Resolve supports dynamic trimming using the J, K, and L keys, letting you adjust an edit point while your footage plays back in real time rather than dragging and previewing repeatedly. Press V to select an edit point, then U to choose which side of the cut you're actually trimming, the outgoing clip or the incoming one. With that side selected, tapping L plays forward and R trims that direction, J plays backward and trims that direction, and K pauses. This lets you nudge a cut point precisely while watching the actual footage move, rather than blindly dragging a marker and checking the result afterward.
This technique genuinely speeds up fine-tuning dialogue cuts and L-cuts or J-cuts specifically, since you can hear exactly where a word or sound naturally lands while adjusting, rather than relying purely on the visual waveform.
By default the Blade tool cuts all clips on all tracks simultaneously at the same position. If you only want to cut a specific clip on a specific track without affecting clips on other tracks, hold Alt while clicking with the Blade tool. The Alt modifier restricts the cut to just the clip your cursor is directly on, leaving everything else on other tracks uncut.
This selective cut is particularly useful in interview and documentary editing where your video tracks and audio tracks need to cut at different points. Cut the video track at one point and separately cut the audio track at a different point to create the L-cut or J-cut overlap described above.
Once your clips are cut and arranged on the timeline, adding transitions, music, sound effects, and colour grades completes the look. For free DaVinci Resolve transitions and title templates, our free DaVinci Resolve templates collection covers a wide range of styles compatible with DaVinci Resolve 17, 18, and 19. For free LUTs to colour grade your cut footage, our free LUT collection includes the Moody Film Shadows LUT, the 22 Free Mega Cinematic LUT Pack, and the Free Teal and Orange LUT, all free for commercial use.
For premium DaVinci Resolve templates with a wider range of styles, Motion Array (2 months free via FreeVisuals) and Envato Elements both have dedicated DaVinci Resolve sections. For royalty-free music to cut your edit against, Artlist (2 months free via FreeVisuals) and Epidemic Sound are the two strongest options for commercially cleared music. Our own free music collection and free sound effects are also available at no cost. For motion graphics elements that install directly into DaVinci Resolve, AEJuice (10% off via FreeVisuals) has 26 free packs with no credit card required. For stock footage to fill gaps in your own material, Shutterstock and iStock are the strongest licensed options, and our free stock video collection covers cinematic footage at no cost.
Press Ctrl+backslash on Windows or Cmd+backslash on Mac to split the clip at the current playhead position without switching tools. Press B to activate the Blade tool for click-to-cut at any position on the timeline.
Press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Cmd+Z on Mac to undo. Alternatively, right-click the cut point between two segments that were originally one clip and select Join Clips to merge them back into a single clip without needing to undo.
Delete removes the selected clip and leaves a gap in the timeline where it was. Backspace performs a ripple delete which removes the clip and closes the gap by pulling all subsequent clips forward. For rough cutting where you want to keep the timeline tight, Backspace is usually the more useful option.
Press T to enter Trim Edit mode. Hold Alt and drag the cut point between the video and audio tracks independently to offset the video and audio split points. This creates the audio overlap that defines an L-cut or J-cut without affecting the surrounding clips.
This is the default behaviour. Hold Alt while clicking with the Blade tool to restrict the cut to only the clip your cursor is directly on, leaving clips on other tracks uncut at that position.
The Cut page is built for fast, rough cutting using its dual timeline and Source Tape feature, the Edit page offers more precise, detailed control, many editors use the Cut page for an initial rough pass, then refine on the Edit page.
Yes, right-click a clip in the Media Pool and select Scene Cut Detection to automatically split it at points where the content changes, useful as a starting point for long, unstructured footage.
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