How to Crop a Video Using FFmpeg

Use the FFmpeg crop filter when you need to remove black bars, crop a vertical video, make a square clip, or keep only a specific part of the frame.

For a form-based builder, use the FFmpeg crop video tool. For copyable commands, start below.

Basic Crop Command

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=640:480:100:50" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a copy output.mp4

The crop syntax is:

crop=width:height:x:y

In the example above, FFmpeg keeps a 640x480 rectangle that starts 100 pixels from the left and 50 pixels from the top.

What the Values Mean

Value	Meaning
width	Width of the output frame.
height	Height of the output frame.
x	Horizontal offset from the left edge.
y	Vertical offset from the top edge.

The top-left corner of the original video is x=0:y=0.

Center Crop

You can use expressions instead of manually calculating offsets. This command crops a centered 1280x720 area:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=1280:720:(in_w-1280)/2:(in_h-720)/2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a copy output.mp4

in_w is the input width and in_h is the input height.

Crop to 16:9

For a centered 16:9 crop from a larger video:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=1280:720:(in_w-1280)/2:(in_h-720)/2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a copy output.mp4

If your source is not large enough for 1280x720, choose smaller dimensions such as 960x540.

Crop to Square

This command crops the largest possible centered square:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=min(in_w\,in_h):min(in_w\,in_h):(in_w-min(in_w\,in_h))/2:(in_h-min(in_w\,in_h))/2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a copy square.mp4

The backslashes before commas are needed inside FFmpeg filter expressions.

Can Cropping Avoid Re-encoding?

No. Cropping is a video filter, so FFmpeg must re-encode the video stream. You can still copy the audio stream with -c:a copy.

Common Problems

The crop is in the wrong place.
Remember that x and y start from the top-left corner, not the center.

FFmpeg says the crop area is outside the input.
Make sure x + width is not larger than the input width, and y + height is not larger than the input height.

The output looks lower quality.
Use a lower CRF value such as 18 or 20, or use a slower preset.

I do not know the right crop values.
Start with a center crop or use FFmpeg's cropdetect filter as a separate workflow.

Related FFmpeg Pages

• Build a custom command with the Crop Video tool.
• See the short recipe: Crop Video to 16:9.
• Learn how to change video resolution with FFmpeg.