Automatically Trim Long Videos in Premiere Pro Using AI: No More Manual Cuts

Manual trimming is one of the most soul-sucking parts of editing. You start with a 30-minute video and spend more than an hour just trying to make it watchable. Every unnecessary pause, ramble, or repeated take adds up, and by the time you're done, you’ve used more energy to trim video content than create it.

Thankfully, that’s where AI comes in. Now you can use a video shortening tool to take care of the grunt work for you.

Cutback’s Shorten Video tool, part of its Auto Rough Cut feature, lets you instantly detect and remove unnecessary parts of your video without scrubbing through footage. Whether you’re cutting a YouTube vlog, podcast episode, or marketing explainer, you can now skip the tedious trimming process and get straight to the fun part with the help of this video trimmer.

What Is AI-Powered Video Trimming?

You may ask how to cut a video using AI… Instead of analyzing visuals or relying on manual markers, Cutback uses speech recognition to transcribe your video, understand the content, and spot sections that can be trimmed, like filler, repetition, or tangents. You get a suggested rough cut with everything that matters, and nothing that doesn’t.

And the best part? It all happens inside Premiere Pro. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal to the average video editor who uses the Adobe editing suite.

Here’s What You Can Do With A Video Shortener Tool

• Instantly remove rambling segments from long interviews

• Cut down podcasts or webinars into short-form clips for social media content like TikTok videos, Instagram Stories/Reels, or Facebook Stories

• Speed up first drafts for clients without rewatching raw footage, but while still ensuring the video quality

• Keep only the best takes (and let AI identify them from your video clips)

• Combine the trim tool with silence or filler word removal for ultra-tight edits without touching your video timeline

If you’ve ever said, “This could be shorter,” this feature was made for you to use on your next video project.

Why It Works So Well To Trim Video In Premiere Pro

Because Cutback integrates directly into your timeline, you’re not jumping between tools or exporting cuts to test them. You ask the AI assistant to shorten your video, preview the gray-highlighted cuts, and choose whether to keep or remove each one. The best part? The tools work effectively regardless of the video length. It’s like working with a smart co-editor who knows your time is valuable.

You still keep full creative control, but without all the grunt work.

How To Trim a Video In Premiere Pro Using AI Video Editing Software

Step 1: Launch Cutback and Open Your Project

Once your video and audio files are in the Premiere Pro timeline, open the Cutback extension from Window > Extensions > Cutback.

Step 2: Select the Auto Rough Cut tool to splice video

Click into Auto Rough Cut, select your language and speaker settings, and hit Recognize to transcribe the video.

Step 3: Use “Shorten Video” to Condense Your Video’s Length

Then, click the Assistant button in the top-right corner and either select or type the preset: Shorten Video. The AI will analyze your subtitles and highlight less important moments in gray. You can preview each suggested cut, undo anything with the scissor icon, and hit Confirm to finalize the edit.

Step 4: Apply the Result to Your Sequence

From there, just click Apply to Sequence, and your AI-trimmed draft will appear right in your Premiere Pro timeline.

Done.

But Wait, Does A Clip Trimmer Actually Work?

Yes, with one caveat: it works best on videos with dialogue. If there’s no speech, there’s nothing to analyze because it uses audio transcription, so this feature isn’t designed for music videos or B-roll montages. But if you’re editing anything that involves spoken content (interviews, tutorials, talking-head clips), the AI shines with its array of video editing features.

Regardless of the video duration, the video cutter will split video clips according to your specifications, even more so with the new chat UI integrated into Cutback that will cut video using context.

FAQs About How To Shorten A Video With Cutback

Q: Can I undo the changes if I don’t like the cut?

Yes. Unlike some other video editing tools, Cutback comes with a Time Machine feature and undo support, so you can test, review, and reverse any cut without losing progress.

Q: Will it mess up my subtitles?

Nope. Subtitles are managed separately and can be exported or replaced later. If you're working with captions, they’ll remain aligned.

Q: Can I use this with other AI presets?

Absolutely. You can combine Shorten Video with Remove Silences or Remove Filler Words to get even tighter edits.

Stop Cutting. Start Creating.

You’re a storyteller, not a timeline janitor. With Cutback’s AI trimming tools, you can skip the repetitive cleanup and get straight to shaping a better story. That means more creativity, more videos finished, and less time lost to drudge work.

Try the Shorten Video preset on your next Premiere Pro project.

Let AI do the trimming, so you can get back to editing.

For more in-depth knowledge about the ins and outs of video editing and video platforms, check out our latest posts on the Cutback blog or our YouTube channel. You can also join Cutback’s Discord community of like-minded video editors.