YouTube launches online video editor

YouTube announced on Wednesday that users no longer have to have a standalone video editor if they want to remove embarrassing moments from clips. Instead, they can use a built-in online video editor.

It makes 100 percent sense, since parent company Google is all about cloud-based everything. The YouTube Video Editor is only available in TestTube for now (think of it as Gmail Labs for YouTube). It's also pretty basic, but for what much of what is uploaded to YouTube, it should be just fine.

Here's what it allows you to do:

• Combine multiple videos you’ve uploaded to create a new longer video
• Trim the beginning and/or ending of your videos
• Add soundtracks from our AudioSwap library of tens of thousands of songs
• Create new videos without worrying about file formats and publish them to YouTube with one click -- no upload necessary

It's pretty easy to use, though the fact that it's pretty basic helps there. It's obviously not going to take the place of a standalone video editor. Google describes it as follows:

The editor is ideal for merging single, short clips into a longer video. For example, you can transform clips from your vacation into a video travel diary set to music, or create a highlights reel from footage of your last basketball game.

It’s also great for trimming a long video down to the moments you really care about. Say you’ve uploaded a wedding ceremony -- beautiful event, but do you really need to see all the guests shuffle in? The video editor lets you easily remove unwanted footage so you can capture just the moment when they say “I do.”

You can watch a demo video here: