Video Cropper
Cut a video down to the part of the picture you want — vertical, square or any size.
Crop area
Drag the box to move it, drag a corner or edge to resize it, or drag outside it to draw a new area. Keyboard: arrow keys move the box (Shift = 10 px), Alt/Option + arrows resize it.
What will happen
About the Video Cropper
Crop a video to the part of the picture that matters: turn a landscape clip into a vertical 9:16 video for Reels, Shorts, TikTok or Stories, make a square or 4:5 post, cut away black bars, or zoom in on one person. Drag the box over a live preview, pick a shape, or type exact pixel values.
Only the picture is re-encoded, at the quality you choose; the audio is copied unchanged and the file keeps its format (MP4, MOV, MKV or WebM). Width and height are rounded to even numbers, which H.264 and most other encoders require. Everything runs in your browser, so the video is never uploaded.
How to use it
- Drop a video on the box or click Choose a video. The first frame appears with a crop box around the whole picture.
- Choose a Shape (9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 21:9) or keep Free, then drag the box to move it and its corners or edges to resize it — or drag outside the box to draw a new one. Press play to check the subject stays inside.
- For exact values, type X, Y, Width and Height in pixels. Optionally choose a smaller Output size and the Quality.
- Check What will happen, press Crop video, preview the result and Download it.
Examples
1920 × 1080 MP4 · Shape 9:16 · box moved over the speaker
608 × 1080 H.264 MP4 (9:16), audio copied — the full height, cut to a vertical strip
1080 × 1920 portrait MOV · Shape 1:1
1080 × 1080 MOV centred on the middle of the frame (drag the box up or down to choose)
1920 × 1080 with black bars · Free · X 240, Y 0, Width 1440, Height 1080
1440 × 1080 (4:3) with the bars cut off
Shapes and where they are used
- 9:16 — vertical full-screen video: Instagram Reels and Stories, YouTube Shorts, TikTok
- 1:1 — square posts
- 4:5 — portrait posts that take more of a feed than a square
- 16:9 — widescreen: YouTube, TVs, laptops and most cameras
- 21:9 — cinematic ultrawide
A preset crops the largest box of that shape that fits in your video; it never stretches the picture. Cropping keeps the original resolution of the area you keep, so a 9:16 crop of a 1080p video is 608 × 1080; it is not enlarged.
What is re-encoded
Cutting pixels out of a frame means decoding and encoding the picture again, so the video is re-encoded with the same codec where this browser can encode it (H.264, HEVC, VP9 or AV1), at the quality you pick. The sound does not change when the picture is cropped, so the audio track is copied exactly as it is, as are the title and date metadata.
Limitations
- The crop is the same for the whole video; it cannot follow a moving subject.
- Needs WebCodecs (current Chrome, Edge, Safari or desktop Firefox) and a decoder for the video’s codec; HEVC needs a hardware decoder in the browser.
- HDR videos are converted to standard dynamic range when re-encoded.
- Subtitle tracks and chapters are not carried over.
- Large files are held in memory until you download the result, unless you use “Save straight to a file” (Chrome or Edge on a computer).
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
Does cropping lower the quality?
The pixels you keep are re-encoded, which loses a little detail, like any export. Choose Very high quality to keep the loss smallest. The resolution of the kept area is never reduced unless you pick a smaller Output size.
Why is my width rounded to an even number?
H.264 and most video encoders store colour at half the resolution of brightness (4:2:0), so the width and height must be divisible by 2. The tool rounds to the nearest even value and shows the exact size it will use.
Can I make a landscape video vertical without cutting anything off?
Not by cropping: a crop always removes part of the picture. Keeping the whole landscape frame in a 9:16 video means adding bars above and below it (letterboxing) instead, which this tool does not do.
Can I crop a video on my phone?
Yes, in current mobile browsers. Drag the box with your finger; the corner handles are larger on touch screens.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The video is cropped inside your browser and the result is saved to your device.