# Job with input clipping

In some cases, you might want to apply a transform to only a specific portion of the source asset. MK.IO enables this by allowing you to set time for the input in the job configuration.

Setting a time range to a job input is not exposed in the UI and must be configured using the job endpoint in [MK.IO API](/api-reference/media-api).

MK.IO jobs support two types of input: `#Microsoft.Media.JobInputAsset` and `#Microsoft.Media.JobInputHttp`. Both input types can be clipped prior to applying the transform.

The start and end parameters can be either relative to the content using `#Microsoft.Media.AbsoluteClipTime` or based on UTC time using `#Microsoft.Media.UtcClipTime`. For VOD content, UTC time is not applicable, in this case absolute clip time should be used instead.

## Use absolute time to transcode a portion of an asset

The following job generates a new asset containing only the first 3 minutes of an input asset.

```bash
curl --request PUT \
     --url https://app.mk.io/api/v1/projects/project_name/media/transforms/transform_name/jobs/job_name \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer bearer-token' \
     --data '
{
    "properties": {
        "input": {
            "files": [
                "my_asset.mp4"
            ],
            "assetName": "myasset",
            "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Media.JobInputAsset",
            "start":
            {
                "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Media.AbsoluteClipTime",
                "time":"PT0S"
            },
            "end":
            {
                "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Media.AbsoluteClipTime",
                "time":"PT3M"
            }            
        },
        "outputs": [
            {
                "assetName": "clipped-asset",
                "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Media.JobOutputAsset"
            }
        ]
    }
}
'
```

## Use UTC time to clip a live event

The following job extracts a time range between two Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) values from a live-event asset:

```bash
curl --request PUT \
     --url https://app.mk.io/api/v1/projects/project_name/media/transforms/transform_name/jobs/job_name \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer bearer-token' \
     --data '
{
    "properties": {
        "input": {
            "files": [
                ""
            ],
            "assetName": "live-event-output",
            "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Media.JobInputAsset",
            "start":
            {
                "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Media.UtcClipTime",
                "time":"2024-07-26T08:30:00.000Z"
            },
            "end":
            {
                "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Media.UtcClipTime",
                "time":"2024-07-26T08:40:00.000Z"
            }            
        },
        "outputs": [
            {
                "assetName": "clipped-asset",
                "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Media.JobOutputAsset"

            }
        ]
    }
}
'
```