ClipForge — Video Trim, Watermark, Subtitle & Vertical Convert API with an MCP Server

What is ClipForge?

ClipForge is a video processing API that trims, watermarks, extracts audio from, converts to 9:16 vertical, and burns in SRT subtitles on any video — a direct video file URL, or a link from YouTube and the thousands of other sites yt-dlp supports. Call it as a plain REST API from any language, or connect the built-in MCP server to hand these operations straight to Claude, Cursor, or any other MCP-compatible AI agent. No ffmpeg installation, no server to run — just an input URL and a few parameters.

What can ClipForge do?

• Trim — cut a video down to an exact start time and duration.
• Extract audio — pull the audio track out as an MP3, with adjustable bitrate (64k-320k).
• Watermark — overlay an image onto the bottom-right corner of a video.
• Convert to vertical — reformat a standard 16:9 video into 9:16, with a blurred, scaled copy of the video filling the background, ready for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok.
• Overlay subtitles — burn raw SRT subtitles directly onto a vertical 9:16 video conversion.
• Accepts direct media file URLs (.mp4, .mov, etc.) and YouTube/yt-dlp-supported links — no need to pre-resolve a stream URL yourself.
• Two calling styles: synchronous endpoints that stream the result straight back for short clips, and an async job endpoint (submit, poll, download) for longer sources.
• Ships as an MCP server, so any MCP client can call Trim, ExtractAudio, Watermark, ConvertToVertical, and subtitle-enabled tools directly.

Examples

Convert to vertical:

Watermark:

Remember the Apify platform!

ClipForge isn't just an ffmpeg wrapper — it comes with everything the Apify platform gives you on top: pay-per-event billing so you only pay for what you actually process, a persistent Standby API endpoint with no cold-start run management, built-in request monitoring, and one-line integration with Make, Zapier, and every other Apify-connected tool.

How do I use ClipForge?

Option 1 — REST API

Every call needs your Apify API token, either as a token query parameter or an Authorization: Bearer header.

Trim a video (synchronous, streams the MP4 back):

curl -X POST "[https://YOUR-ACTOR-URL.apify.actor/trim?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN](https://YOUR-ACTOR-URL.apify.actor/trim?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inputUrl": "[https://example.com/video.mp4](https://example.com/video.mp4)",
    "startTime": 30,
    "duration": 15
  }' \
  --output trimmed.mp4