Installation

Add the package

npm

npm install react-native-video-trim

yarn

yarn add react-native-video-trim

pnpm

pnpm add react-native-video-trim

The library contains native code, so rebuild the app after installing it. Reloading Metro is not enough.

iOS

Install the pods:

npx pod-install ios

If you save to the photo library (saveToPhoto: true or saveToPhoto()), add a usage description to Info.plist:

<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Save trimmed videos to your photo library</string>

Choosing the FFmpegKit package

The podspec depends on the min FFmpegKit package (ffmpeg-mobile-min, ~> 6.0.6) by default. Pick another package or version with environment variables when installing pods:

cd ios && FFMPEGKIT_PACKAGE=https FFMPEGKIT_PACKAGE_VERSION='~> 6.0.6' pod install

You need the https package to open remote files.

Android

No manual linking is needed. If you use the New Architecture and the build complains about missing codegen artifacts, generate them once:

cd android && ./gradlew generateCodegenArtifactsFromSchema

Permissions

Saving to the gallery on Android 9 (API 28) and older needs the storage permission in AndroidManifest.xml. Newer versions write through MediaStore and need nothing:

<uses-permission
  android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
  android:maxSdkVersion="28" />

Share sheet

share() and openShareSheetOnFinish work without any setup. The library bundles its own FileProvider with the authority ${applicationId}.videotrimprovider and merges it into your manifest. It only serves the app's files/ and cache/ directories, which is where the library writes every output.

Upgrading from 8.2.1 or earlier?

Older docs asked you to declare a FileProvider with the authority ${applicationId}.provider and a res/xml/file_paths.xml. The library no longer uses them, so you can delete both unless your own code shares files through that authority. The two setups coexist safely.

One behavior changed: if your file_paths.xml had an external-path root, share() used to accept files on external storage. It no longer does, so pass it a file from the library's output directories instead.

SDK and FFmpeg versions

The library's Android module reads its SDK and Kotlin versions from the standard ext values in your root android/build.gradle, which the React Native app template already defines. It falls back to its own defaults only when a value is missing:

Root ext value	Fallback Gradle property	Default
compileSdkVersion	VideoTrim_compileSdkVersion	35
targetSdkVersion	VideoTrim_targetSdkVersion	34
minSdkVersion	VideoTrim_minSdkVersion	24
kotlinVersion	VideoTrim_kotlinVersion	2.0.21

Choose the FFmpegKit package and version with VideoTrim_ffmpeg_package and VideoTrim_ffmpeg_version, either in the root ext block or in android/gradle.properties:

// android/build.gradle
buildscript {
    ext {
        VideoTrim_ffmpeg_package = 'https' // default: 'min'
        VideoTrim_ffmpeg_version = '6.0.6' // default: '6.0.6'
    }
}

Expo

The library works in Expo apps that build their native projects. It does not work in Expo Go, which cannot load extra native modules.

npx expo install react-native-video-trim
npx expo prebuild
npx expo run:ios     # or: npx expo run:android

Use a development build for day-to-day work.

Check the setup

Open any local video:

import { showEditor } from 'react-native-video-trim';

showEditor(videoUri, {});

If you see "The package 'react-native-video-trim' doesn't seem to be linked", run pod install again, rebuild the app, and make sure you are not in Expo Go. More fixes are in Troubleshooting.