DaVinci Resolve how-to
How to crop a video in DaVinci Resolve (Inspector or on-screen)
Short answer
Select the clip, open the Inspector and use the Cropping controls: Crop Left, Right, Top and Bottom remove pixels from each side, and Softness feathers the edge. Or click the Transform/Crop button at the bottom left of the Timeline Viewer, choose Crop, and drag the edges. Cropping creates transparency, so whatever is on the track below shows through.
Checked against: DaVinci Resolve 21, free version and Studio (Studio-only features are marked), Edit page unless stated, per the Resolve 21 Reference Manual (July 2026).
Method 1: Inspector
Select the clip
Select the clip on the Edit page timeline and open the Inspector (top right).
Use Cropping
Set Crop Left, Right, Top and Bottom in pixels. Softness blurs the crop edge (negative inside, positive outside).
InspectorVideoCropping
Method 2: On-screen controls
Turn on the overlay
Click the Transform/Crop/Dynamic Zoom button at the bottom left of the Timeline Viewer (white means on), and choose Crop from its menu.
Drag the edges
Drag the crop edges in the viewer. Lower the viewer zoom if the handles are off screen. Turn the button off when finished.
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If it doesn't work
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| Black where I cropped | Cropping makes that area transparent; scale the clip up (Inspector > Transform > Zoom) or add a background below. |
| Need a vertical video, not cropped edges | Change the timeline resolution to vertical instead; see the vertical guide. |
| Crop handles not visible | Set the viewer overlay to Crop, or reduce the viewer scale. |
Questions people ask
Where is the crop tool in DaVinci Resolve?
In the Inspector's Cropping section, or the Transform/Crop button under the Timeline Viewer.
Does cropping change the export size?
No. Resolve is resolution-independent; the timeline resolution sets the export frame.
How do I crop to 9:16?
Set a vertical timeline (1080 × 1920) and reposition the clip; that changes the frame shape.
More DaVinci Resolve guides
Sources and how we checked
- DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual: Transform and Cropping in the Video Inspector (p. 1246-1247) (checked 2026-10-05)
- DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual: Dynamic Zoom and onscreen Transform controls (p. 1247, 1250-1252) (checked 2026-10-05)
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Each step is compared with DaVinci Resolve'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.