How to download part of a YouTube video on Mac
Updated 12 November 2026.
Paste the link into Cutaway, turn on Trim to a section, mark where the clip starts and ends, and click Download clip. You get that section as an H.264 MP4, not the whole video.
Download for MacNo account. macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon.
Steps
- Paste the link. Copy the video's address, open the Download tab in Cutaway and paste it.
- Turn on Trim to a section. The trim studio opens with a video player, a filmstrip and a waveform.
- Mark the start and end. Drag the two handles, or play the video and press I at the start and O at the end. The arrow keys step one second.
- Choose the output. Editor-ready MP4 is H.264 at up to 1080p. You can also pick Maximum quality, 720p, or Audio only.
- Click Download clip. The clip lands in your Downloads folder, or a folder you pick. Drag it from there into your timeline.
Three ways to find the moment
You don't have to scrub for it. If the video has chapters, they appear as buttons that select the whole chapter. If YouTube publishes a Most replayed graph for the video, Cutaway offers that stretch as a starting point.
If the video has captions, open Trim by transcript, search for a word and click the lines you want. The clip is set to those lines.
Whichever way you choose, you hear the audio while you set the points, and you can loop the selection before you download.
What actually gets downloaded
When a site serves video in fragments, as YouTube usually does, Cutaway fetches only the fragments that cover your section. A 20 second clip from a three hour stream does not mean downloading three hours.
When a site doesn't allow that, Cutaway downloads the file and cuts it for you. The result is the same clip either way.
Output choices
- Editor-ready MP4: H.264 video with AAC audio, up to 1080p. Opens in every editor.
- Maximum quality: up to 4K. The file may be VP9 or AV1 in an MKV, which some editors won't import without converting.
- 720p, small: H.264 at 720p, for a lighter file.
- Audio only: the best audio stream, as M4A when the site has one.
Questions
Can I download only the audio of a section?
Yes. Choose Audio only, turn on Trim to a section, and set the start and end the same way.
Does this work on sites other than YouTube?
Yes. Cutaway accepts links from Instagram, TikTok, X, Vimeo, SoundCloud and 1,500+ more sites, and trimming works the same way on each.
What if the video needs me to be signed in?
You can choose a browser in Cutaway. It reads that browser's cookies on your Mac for the link you are opening. They are not stored by Cutaway or sent anywhere else.
Does Cutaway upload the link or the video anywhere?
No. Cutaway contacts the site your link points to, the way a browser would, and saves the result on your Mac. There is no account and no analytics.
Am I allowed to download this video?
Download only what you own or have permission to use. Cutaway is not affiliated with any website it can download from.
Related guides
Get Cutaway
Cutaway is a Mac app that downloads, trims and converts the media around your edit. It runs on your Mac, with no account and no analytics.
Download for MacNo account. macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon.