Cropping Videos

Overview

Crop mode lets you resize and reframe your videos by selecting a specific region to keep. Common use cases include:

• Removing black bars — Strip letterboxing or pillarboxing from videos
• Social media formats — Convert landscape videos to square (1:1) or portrait (9:16) for Instagram, TikTok, and Reels
• Reframing subjects — Focus on a specific area of the frame, such as centring a speaker or removing distracting elements

Entering Crop Mode

Click the Crop segment in the mode selector at the top of the window to enter crop mode.

• A - Crop mode button (click to enter crop mode)
• B - Crop region overlay (shows what will be kept)
• C - Crop controls panel (adjust dimensions and aspect ratio)

Setting Your Crop Region

There are three ways to define your crop area:

Method 1: Drag the Crop Handles

The quickest way to set your crop region:

1. Corner handles — Drag any of the four corners to resize diagonally
2. Edge handles — Drag the top, bottom, left, or right edges to resize in one direction
3. The darkened areas outside the crop box show what will be removed

Method 2: Use the Numeric Inputs

For precise control over your crop dimensions:

1. X — Horizontal position of the crop region’s left edge
2. Y — Vertical position of the crop region’s top edge
3. Width — Width of the crop region in pixels
4. Height — Height of the crop region in pixels

Use the arrow keys while focused on a numeric field for fine-tuning in single-pixel increments.

Method 3: Move the Entire Region

To reposition the crop box without changing its size:

1. Click and drag inside the crop region
2. The entire box moves with your cursor
3. Release to set the new position

This is useful when you’ve got the right dimensions but need to centre the subject.

Aspect Ratio Presets

Select a preset from the Aspect Ratio dropdown to constrain your crop to a specific shape:

When an aspect ratio is locked, dragging any handle will maintain the selected proportions.

Previewing Your Crop

The crop overlay provides instant visual feedback:

• Darkened areas — Portions outside the crop region are dimmed to show what will be removed
• Dashed border — The active crop region is outlined with a dashed line
• Video preview — Play the video at any time to see how your crop looks in motion

Applying the Crop

SnapTrim uses a two-state workflow for cropping, just like trimming:

1. Apply — Click to lock in your crop settings; the preview updates to show only the cropped region (changes into the Edit button after applying)
2. Edit — Returns to adjustment mode so you can modify the crop
3. Reset — Clears all crop settings and returns to the full frame

Note: You can freely switch between Apply and Edit modes — nothing is permanent until you export.

Tips

• Combine with trimming — Set your crop first, then switch to Trim mode to cut the length; both adjustments will be applied when you export
• Re-encoding required — Unlike trimming, cropping requires the video to be re-encoded. SnapTrim uses high-quality CRF settings to minimise quality loss, but the export will take longer than a lossless trim
• Fine-tune with arrow keys — Click a numeric input field and use the up/down arrow keys for single-pixel adjustments
• Check motion — Play through the video after setting your crop to ensure moving subjects stay within the frame

What’s Next?

• Exporting Videos — Save your cropped video
• Trimming Videos — Remove unwanted sections from your video