A storage system and method for frame trimming to optimize network bandwidth are provided. In one embodiment, a controller of the storage system is configured to receive a request from a host for a video stream stored in the memory, wherein the request comprises an instruction to reduce a frame rate of the video stream due to bandwidth consumption on a network connecting the host and a playback system being more than a threshold; retrieve the video stream from the memory of the storage system; remove frames from the video stream to reduce the frame rate of the video stream per the instructions from the host; and send the reduced-frame-rate video stream to the host. Other embodiments are provided.