How to Crop Video without Losing Quality

“I have an MP4 video of 3840x2160. I would like to crop the video to 1920x1080 without quality loss. Does anyone know how I can crop the video without losing the quality?”

Unfortunately, whenever you crop a video, some loss of quality is inevitable. Here’s why:

1. Pixels will be lost: Cropping removes a portion of the video, which causes some pixels to be lost, affecting the overall resolution.
2. The video will be re-encoded: Cropping requires re-encoding the video, which further reduces the quality.

Think of it like zooming in on a picture - the more you zoom in, the blurrier it gets. This is also true for cropping a video. While it's impossible to completely avoid quality loss, you can minimize it by using efficient codecs like H264 or HEVC and not upscaling the video to its original resolution. Let's see how to crop a video while keeping it as clear as possible below.

To get the best results when cropping videos, it's important to choose the right tool.

WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro is a professional video converter whose built-in video editing tools can help you easily crop videos to any size. At the same time, it offers HEVC and H264 encoding to ensure minimal impact on quality.

Using this software is simple. Now, you can download download the software and follow the steps below to crop videos while maintaining quality.

Step 1. Import a video into the software

Launch WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory and open “Converter”. Then, click "+ Add Files" to add a video or drag the video directly into the program.

Step 2. Crop the video as desired

Click the Crop icon to open the editing window. Select "Free Aspect Ratio" and then, in the "Original Preview" on the left, crop the video as needed. You can preview the real-time effect in the "Output Preview" on the right. Additionally, you can select one of the common sizes in "Fixed Aspect Ratio" to crop the video. When you're done cropping, click "OK" to return to the main workspace.

Step 3. Adjust the output settings

Expand the output format page on the right and select “MP4” under the "Video" tab. Next, open "Parameter settings” and change the video encoder to "H264" or "H265 (HEVC)". Click “OK” to save changes.

NOTE: H264 has higher compatibility, while H265 has smaller size.

Step 4. Export the final file

Finally, click the ▼ button to select the output folder and press “Run” to export the cropped file.

It’s worth reminding that video cropping will result in a loss of quality. But using software like WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro, you can crop videos without any noticeable quality loss. At the same time, this software can also help you convert video formats and compress videos.

That's all I want to share. I hope this article is useful to you. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

1. Why does the quality go down when I crop a video?

Cropping video means pixel loss and re-encoding, both will lead to quality loss inevitably.

2. Can I crop a video without losing any quality?

Unfortunately, no. you can’t crop a video without losing any quality. This is because there is information being lost.

3. Does cropping reduce the file size of a video?

Yes. Cropping a video will reduce the file size since you're removing part of the content.

4. How do I maintain high quality when cropping a 4K video?

You need to use a suitable video editor such as WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro. It can encode your video with an efficient codec like HEVC and avoid upscaling when cropping a 4K video, hence retaining as much quality as possible.