Free browser tool

Free Crop Video Online

Crop any video in your browser. Drag a box over the frame, lock an aspect ratio such as 9:16 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok, and export a clean MP4. No upload, no sign-up, no watermark.

No upload
No sign-up
No watermark
9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 16:9

Drop your video here

or click to browse — MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM

Your video never leaves your device — 100% private

How to crop a video online

Drop your video

Select or drag in an MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI or WebM file. It is decoded locally and shown with a crop box on top.

Frame the crop

Pick an aspect ratio or stay in Free mode. Drag the box, pull the corners, or type exact pixel values. Choose 1080p or 720p if you want the result scaled down.

Export MP4

Click Crop & Export. Preview the result, check the before and after dimensions, and download. Use Adjust crop to try a different frame on the same file.

Cropping video for social and the web

Common aspect ratios and where they are used

9:16 — TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Stories (1080 × 1920)
1:1 — square posts on Instagram, LinkedIn and X feeds
4:5 — Instagram feed video, takes the most screen space in the feed
16:9 — YouTube, presentations, most screen recordings (1920 × 1080)
4:3 — older displays and some iPad recordings

Cropping vs resizing

Cropping cuts away part of the picture and keeps the rest at its original pixel size. Resizing keeps the whole picture and changes its pixel size. To change a 16:9 video into 9:16 you have to crop, because the shapes differ. Scale afterwards only if the platform needs a specific size.

Tips for turning screen recordings into vertical clips

Record at a high resolution so the 9:16 column still has enough pixels.
Keep the action in one region of the screen while recording, then crop to that region.
Zoom the app or browser to 150–200% before recording so UI text stays large.
For talking-head plus screen, a split vertical layout beats a single crop. Screen Charm exports this directly, with the screen following the cursor.

Keep text readable after cropping

Phones show vertical video at roughly 1080 pixels wide. If your crop is narrower than that, text is upscaled and gets soft. Check the Output readout: a width of 600–700 pixels from a 1080p recording is fine for UI at 200% zoom but too small for a dense code editor. Record at 4K or zoom in when you can.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I crop a video online for free?

Drop an MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI or WebM file into the tool. Drag the crop box over the part you want to keep, or pick an aspect ratio and press Fit. Click Crop & Export and download the MP4. Nothing is uploaded and there is no watermark or sign-up.

How do I make a horizontal video vertical for TikTok, Shorts or Reels?

Select the 9:16 aspect ratio. The tool places a full-height vertical column on the frame. Use Left third, Center or Right third to jump to the part of the picture you want, then drag to fine-tune. Choose 1080p to export 1080 × 1920 when the source is tall enough, or keep Original.

Does cropping reduce video quality?

Cropping removes pixels; it does not scale the ones you keep. The output is re-encoded with H.264 at CRF 20, which is visually close to the source. The one thing to watch is size: a 9:16 crop from a 1920 × 1080 recording is only 608 pixels wide, so small text may look soft when a phone stretches it to full screen.

Is my video uploaded to a server?

No. The crop runs locally with FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Your file stays on your device, and the only limit is your browser's memory. Long clips take longer because the video is re-encoded on your machine.

How do I crop a screen recording to one window or one app?

Pause the video on a frame where the window is fully visible, choose Free, and drag the corners of the crop box around the window. Type exact X, Y, Width and Height values if you know them. For recordings made for vertical video, the Screen Charm Mac app can export a split vertical clip instead: camera on one side, screen on the other, with the screen following your cursor. That keeps the important part in frame without cropping a wide recording blind.

Why are the exported dimensions slightly different from what I typed?

H.264 video with the standard yuv420p pixel format needs even width and height. The tool rounds odd values down to the nearest even number, so a 1081-pixel-wide crop exports at 1080. The readout under the settings shows the exact output size before you export.