CapCut how-to
How to crop a video in CapCut (free or fixed ratio)
Short answer
On desktop, select the clip, click Crop in the toolbar above the timeline, choose Free or a fixed ratio such as 9:16, 3:4 or 1:1, drag the box and confirm. On mobile, tap the clip, then Edit > Crop. Cropping trims the picture inside the frame; to change the shape of the whole video (for example to vertical), change the project's Ratio instead.
Checked against: CapCut mobile (iOS, Android), desktop (Windows, Mac) and web, October 2026. Button names match CapCut's guides and the top independent guides; layouts move between builds.
Method 1: Desktop
Select the clip
Import the video, drag it to the timeline, and select it.
Click Crop
Click the Crop button in the toolbar above the timeline.
Choose the crop
Choose Free to crop by hand, or a fixed ratio (9:16, 3:4, 1:1). You can also rotate inside the crop window.
Confirm and export
Confirm, then Export from the top-right corner.
Method 2: Mobile app
Open Crop
Tap the clip, then Edit (or Transform) > Crop. Swipe the toolbar if you don't see it.
Set and confirm
Pick Free or a ratio, adjust the box, and tap the check mark.
No CapCut at hand?
Do the same job in your browser with a free Koldflux tool.
Which tool for which result
| You want | Use | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Remove an edge or distraction | Crop | Same frame, smaller picture inside |
| Vertical video for TikTok | Ratio 9:16 | Frame becomes 1080 × 1920 |
| Fill the vertical frame | Ratio 9:16, then scale the clip | No bars |
If it doesn't work
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| Black bars after cropping | Scale the clip up in the preview, or change the project Ratio to match. |
| Crop button greyed out | Select a video clip on the timeline first. |
| Cropped video looks soft | A small crop enlarged to fill the frame loses detail; crop less or start from higher resolution. |
Questions people ask
How do I crop a video to 9:16 in CapCut?
Change the project Ratio to 9:16, then scale or crop the clip to fill the vertical frame.
Can I crop part of a video only?
Split the clip at the start and end of that part, then crop just that piece.
Does cropping lower quality?
Only if you scale the remaining area up beyond its original pixels.
More CapCut guides
Sources and how we checked
- CapCut: How to crop video in CapCut PC (checked 2026-10-05)
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Each step is compared with CapCut's own documentation (linked above) and with the top search results for this task; where they disagree, the maker's documentation wins. Steps without a source link follow the menu names that several current guides agree on.