remove-sections

A command-line tool to remove sections from video files without re-encoding. Perfect for clipping ads out of recorded TV shows or removing unwanted segments from any video.

Features

• No re-encoding: Uses ffmpeg's stream copy to maintain original quality
• Flexible timestamp formats: Support for seconds (90.5), minutes:seconds (5:18.5), or hours:minutes:seconds (1:05:30)
• Multiple sections: Remove multiple segments in a single command
• File input: Read sections from a file with -f flag
• Smart merging: Automatically coalesces overlapping sections
• Partial ranges: Omit start (-0:10) or end (15:22-) timestamps
• Strict mode: Optional validation for out-of-bounds sections
• Any format: Works with any video format supported by ffmpeg (MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, etc.)

Installation

pip install remove-sections

Or install from source:

git clone https://github.com/lorenzowood/remove-sections.git
cd remove-sections
pip install -e .

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• ffmpeg (must be installed and available in PATH)

Usage

remove-sections <input_file> <section1> [section2 ...] [output_file] [options]

Basic Examples

Remove a single section (5:18.5 to 7:00.7):

remove-sections programme.mkv 5:18.5-7:00.7
# Creates: programme-sections-removed.mkv

Remove multiple sections:

remove-sections programme.mkv 5:18.5-7:00.7 12:11.2-13:15

Specify output filename:

remove-sections input.mp4 1:30-2:45 output.mp4

Remove from start:

remove-sections programme.mkv -0:10
# or
remove-sections programme.mkv 0:00-0:10

Remove to end:

remove-sections programme.mkv 15:22-

Using a Sections File

Create a text file with one section per line:

sections.txt:

# Remove ads
5:18.5-7:00.7
12:11.2-13:15

# Remove outro
45:30-

Then use it with the -f flag:

remove-sections programme.mkv -f sections.txt
# Creates: programme-sections-removed.mkv

Specify output filename:

remove-sections input.mp4 -f sections.txt output.mp4

Combine file sections with command-line sections:

remove-sections input.mp4 -f sections.txt 10:00-11:00 output.mp4

File format:

• One section per line (START-END format)
• Lines starting with # are comments
• Blank lines are ignored
• Invalid lines will cause an error

Timestamp Formats

All of these formats are supported:

• Seconds only: 90.5, 120
• Minutes:seconds: 5:18.5, 1:30
• Hours:minutes:seconds: 1:05:30, 0:05:18.5

Options

• -f, --file <filename>: Read sections from a file (one section per line)
• --strict: Error if any section falls outside the video duration (default: clips to video length)
• --preserve-intermediate-files: Keep intermediate part files after processing

Examples with Options

Strict mode (fails if timestamps are invalid):

remove-sections video.mkv 5:00-6:00 --strict

Keep intermediate files for inspection:

remove-sections video.mkv 1:00-2:00 3:00-4:00 --preserve-intermediate-files

Important Notes

• All timestamps are relative to the original file: The order of sections doesn't matter
• Overlapping sections merge automatically: 4:00-5:00 4:57-6:00 becomes 4:00-6:00
• Default behavior clips to video length: Removing 4:54-8:20 from a 5-minute video removes 4:54-5:00
• No changes = copy: If all sections fall outside the video, output equals input

How It Works

The tool:

1. Parses the sections to remove and merges any overlaps
2. Calculates the segments to keep (inverse of removed sections)
3. Extracts each segment using ffmpeg with stream copy (-c copy)
4. Concatenates the segments using ffmpeg's concat demuxer
5. Cleans up intermediate files (unless --preserve-intermediate-files is set)

Development

Run tests:

pytest test_remove_sections.py -v

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.

Author

Lorenzo Wood