YouTube Clip Downloader with Preview and In/Out Points

What does B-ROLL’s clip downloader do?#

B-ROLL’s clip downloader saves only the stretch of a YouTube video between an in point and an out point, as a separate file on your PC. You mark the range in a preview player or type it, and B-ROLL passes it to the --download-sections option of yt-dlp, which needs ffmpeg to cut the stream.

A two-hour talk often holds just the one reaction shot you need, and downloading the whole talk to trim it later costs disk space and time. B-ROLL, a free Windows app for editors, marks several parts of one video in one pass. Each part lands as its own file, named after the title and its time range.

Ema Zamboni cuts YouTube videos in DaVinci Resolve Studio and built B-ROLL to collect b-roll for those edits. One early problem: clip downloads from deep inside long videos could stall. B-ROLL now prefers YouTube’s HLS streams for clips, which fixed it.

Chapters, description timestamps and livestream highlights all end up as ranges in B-ROLL; how to download part of a YouTube video covers finding those times. Every other feature is listed in B-ROLL Features for Video Editors.

How does B-ROLL name clip files?#

B-ROLL names every clip after the source title and its time range, for example “Interview [02-10 to 02-38].mov”. The range is written as minutes and seconds, with a hyphen in place of the colon, so the file name tells you where the part came from.

The table shows the file names B-ROLL produces for parts of a video titled “Interview”, including the case where the hour is dropped.

Each clip also gets its own credits file with the same name, such as Interview [02-10 to 02-38].credits.txt, while Save credits is on, which is the default. The Source line in that file is the full video URL without a timestamp, so keep the range from the file name when you credit the clip.

Zero-padded minutes keep the parts of one video in source order in any folder sorted by name, as long as they sit in the same hour. How to organize downloaded YouTube clips picks up from there, with folder and bin layouts for a project.

How do you open the B-ROLL preview and trim player?#

The B-ROLL preview and trim player opens when you paste one plain video link while the part mode in Advanced options is set to Only a part, ask me which each time. A click on a thumbnail in the search results or in the channel video list opens the player too; normal downloads have no preview button.

Advanced options is the ⋯ button next to Subtitles. Its part setting has three modes: Whole video (the default), Only a part, ask me which each time, and Only a part, use the default below, which applies the Start and End you save in the same panel. B-ROLL settings and Advanced options explained walks through the rest of that panel.

The table compares the three routes B-ROLL offers for turning a range into a clip.

The Download which part? prompt reads a plain number as minutes, so 2 means 2:00, as the app’s own hint says. Type m:ss or h:mm:ss for an exact time, and leave Start or End empty to mean the start or the end of the video. The prompt’s buttons are Download section, Whole video and Cancel.

Which keys does the B-ROLL preview player use?#

The B-ROLL preview player uses I and O to set the in and out points and J, K and L to shuttle, the same letters an editor reaches for in an editing app. The keys are not case-sensitive, so Caps Lock does not get in the way.

The table lists every key the player responds to and what each one does.

The play button shows the shuttle state, for example “▶ 2×” or “◀ 4×”. Mouse users get the same marks as buttons: Set in (I), Set out (O) and Add part. Click or drag anywhere on the timeline to seek; the in to out range shows in green, with a handle at each end.

The player has no frame stepping, no arrow-key nudging, no jump to the in or out point, no timeline zoom and no audio waveform. For a tighter cut than a whole second, type the times in the prompt instead.

How do you download several parts of one video at once?#

B-ROLL downloads several parts of one video in one pass from the preview player: mark a range, press Enter or Add part, repeat, then click Download (n). Each part becomes its own download, its own card in the list and its own file.

Added parts show as green bands on the player timeline and as chips with their start and end times, each with a ✕ that removes that part. The download button counts the parts, so Download clip turns into Download (3) after three additions. With nothing marked, Download clip downloads the whole video, so check the green range before you click.

The parts join B-ROLL’s queue, which runs one download at a time. A clip card shows a percentage computed from ffmpeg’s position in the clip, but no download speed. With ProRes or DNx chosen, conversions run in a queue of their own, so the next part downloads while the previous one converts.

Downloading several parts at once works only in the player. The Download which part? prompt takes one range per video, so without VLC you run the prompt once for each moment you need.

Why does the B-ROLL preview player need VLC installed?#

The B-ROLL preview player is built on VLC: B-ROLL drives the playback engine of the VLC media player installed on your PC instead of shipping its own. Without VLC, B-ROLL shows “Preview needs VLC installed.” and falls back to typed Start and End times.

VLC media player is a free player from VideoLAN, and its Windows download page offers an installer for the 64-bit version. Install that build: B-ROLL is a 64-bit app, so it can only load a 64-bit VLC. That last point is a technical inference; a 32-bit VLC install has not been tested with B-ROLL.

The preview streams at up to 720p, because its job is placing marks, not judging picture quality; the download follows your Quality setting. The player plays YouTube’s separate video and audio streams and reloads from YouTube’s HLS stream when the picture stalls.

If the player shows “Couldn’t load this video.” or never starts, B-ROLL preview not loading: VLC and stream fixes goes through the causes in order.

Which formats can B-ROLL save a clip in?#

B-ROLL can save a clip in every format the app offers: MP4, MKV, WEBM, ProRes or DNx for video, and MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or OPUS for audio. The Format and Quality you pick in the main window apply to every part of the batch.

MP4, MKV and WEBM are containers for the streams yt-dlp selects, often AV1 or VP9 video with Opus audio, which some editing apps play slowly or reject. On Ema Zamboni’s own timeline, 4K60 AV1 footage from YouTube was heavy to play back in DaVinci Resolve, and AV1 or VP9 downloads crashed Resolve at times.

For the timeline, choose ProRes or DNx. B-ROLL downloads the part as an MKV master, then converts it with ffmpeg into a .mov with 16-bit PCM audio, keeps the source resolution and frame rate, and picks the lightest tier that still preserves the source. Download YouTube videos in ProRes or DNxHR explains the tiers and what they cost in disk space.

Clip downloads prefer YouTube’s HLS streams, so the stream picked for a part can differ from the one a full download of the same video gets. Audio parts work the same way as video parts, which suits pulling a quote from an interview as a WAV for the edit.

What are the limits of clip downloads in B-ROLL?#

Clip downloads in B-ROLL have eight limits, from keyframe cuts to link types, and most have a simple workaround. Each limit is listed with what to do about it.

• Keyframe cuts by default. The fast cut snaps to keyframes, so a clip can start a little before the time you set. Tick Exact frame cut (slower, re-encodes) in Advanced options, which adds yt-dlp’s --force-keyframes-at-cuts; the player uses the same setting. Keyframe cut vs frame-exact cut compares the two, and YouTube clip starts at the wrong time fixes an early start.
• Whole-second marks. In and out points set in the player land on whole seconds. Typed times in the prompt may use decimals.
• Hour dropped from names. A part starting at 1:05:30 is named “[05-30 to …]”, and a same-minute part from another hour gets the same name. Shift one in point by a second or rename the first file.
• Subtitles are not cut. Subtitles downloaded with a clip cover the whole video and are named after the video, and Embedded does not put them into clip files (read from the app’s code, not tested). Choose SRT, ASS or VTT instead and line the file up against the clip in your editor.
• No chapter split. B-ROLL does not split a video by its YouTube chapters. Enter the chapter times as parts in the player.
• Regular links only. youtube.com/clip, /live/ and /embed/ links, m.youtube.com and music.youtube.com are not recognized. As of September 2026, a YouTube Clip is a 5 to 60 second section that stays tied to its original video, per YouTube Help, so paste that original watch link and set the times.
• VLC and a 720p preview. The visual player needs VLC installed and previews at up to 720p. Without VLC, type the times.
• One download at a time. Parts queue one after another, with no time remaining shown. Leave the queue running and keep editing.