Cropping a Video in Final Cut Pro [Step by Step]

“Storytelling at its most powerful”, - words we read on the first page of the official web-site of Final Cut Pro, non-linear video editing software program which runs on Mac computers. The software lets us to log and transfer videos onto a hard drive, where it can be edited, processed, and output to a wide variety of formats. Final Cut Pro is so advanced that it is used by hobbyist filmmakers and industry professionals in TV, Film, and media. Anyone can get a free trial of the software for their Macs, but, to purchase directly from the Mac App Store it costs $299.99. It’s evident that Final Cut Pro can’t be downloaded, installed, and thus used on Windows, which is unfortunate, but for Mac users, it’s a very powerful video editing software.

What are the features this advanced computer program offers to Mac users? – itreads on the web-site of Final Cut Pro:

• Object Tracker and Cinematic mode;
• Blazing pro performance;
• Editing, audio, motion graphics, color grading, and delivery;
• The best plug-ins, effects, and tools from leading developers.

One of the most impressive things about Final Cut Pro is that through it, you can create 2D and 3D titles right in the program, apply and modify filters, and use the built-in chroma key for high-quality green- and blue-screen effects. But, one should not be alarmed when it comes to experience and knowledge in editing – even though Final Cut Pro seems so advanced with its powerful tools and the possibilities it contains, it is designed for easy use and can be used by amateurs as well as professionals.

The interface, which, when it comes to editing, is one of the most important aspects (if not the main one!), seems quite standard - an ordinary window configuration, sidebar with libraries, events, projects, collections… If you want to know more about the basics of Final Cut Pro, it would be helpful to watch a beginner tutorial, with the length of only 20 minutes, an introduction of the whole program.

Anyway, the main topic of this article is about cropping – how to crop a video in Final Cut Pro? If you are a Mac user and have this program installed on your computer, and you as well have a footage where you want to remove some portions of the video and adjust the size of the cropped clip within a certain area, this article is for you. Even though cropping is especially used when it comes to the images, it is extremely helpful in certain situations about the video clips, as well. So, let’s dive into each step of cropping in Final Cut Pro!

Steps to crop a video in Final Cut Pro

After getting Final Cut Pro ready to work in and opening it, you need to start as always, as in any other software: Of course, choose Import Media.

The software will ask your permission to access files in your computer, so, in order to import some, guess you have to click on OK.

Then, it will let you choose your file – but not by opening the new window (as in most cases), rather, you can choose file within the software.

Once you have your file(s) chosen, you need to find Import Selected button on the down and right.

This will lead you towards the editor again, but if you try to drag and drop your file into the sequence, the program will not follow this simple order…

This is because what the window below reads and looks like – it offers you create a New Project first. So, you need to hit it.

This will create the sequence where you can add the video you have already selected and imported from your media.

Now, it’s time to find where the cropping option is. It’s quite simple – look at the icon below and a little left of the screen where your video clip shows, click on it and you will see three options: Transform, Crop, and Distort. Needless to say, you will choose crop in this case, even if other options sound quite interesting, too!

Choosing Crop also gives you three options: Trim, Crop, and Ken Burns. Stick with the Crop again!

You will notice the kind of rulers on the angles of the video clip – they are there so you can crop your footage manually, by holding and moving them with your cursor to your liking.

Of course, if you direct your cursor in the middle of the cropped video, you can move the whole cropping window around it, so you can find the area where you intend to crop better.

And when the selected area is ready, you need to click on Done button on the right top side of the screen. If you are not satisfied with the result, you can take the step back, by clicking on Reset button right next to Done and modify the area again.

On the right side of the screen, you notice a window where Crop is also written. Alongside it, if you hover over the option with your mouse, you will see the word: Show. Clicking on it will let you crop the video from each side from there, too.

There, you can “play around” with Left, Right, Top, and Bottom sides.

In the process, if you are unsure or you want to compare the original video to the cropped version of it, keep in mind that you can uncheck the Crop button.

Finally, when you feel the result is what you have imagined, you can proceed to saving your work. For it to be done, you need to now find an Export button top right of the whole editor, and then, choose Export File (or else, if that’s what you are willing to do).

The next step would be Export Settings. You will see a new window which has three sections: Info, Settings, and Roles. The most important one here would be considered Settings, where you choose your preferred Format, Video Codec, Resolution, Color Space, Audio Format, and Action.

When you click on Next, you then choose the Name of your project and the location where you want to save it exactly.

Then you click on Save, and in a short amount of time, you have your new cropped video where you chose to save it! So, that’s it with cropping in the Final Cut Pro!

An easier way to crop a video in Wondershare Filmora

When it comes down to Mac, we can also discussed another program which is available on Mac as well as Windows operating system. This software is Filmora Video Editor , which is a simple yet sophisticated video editor that empowers the stories with everything a video editor program can offer to its users. On its official web-site, Filmora is declared as the best video editor, which allows you to edit videos with minimal effort (and isn’t that exactly what one wants when trying to just crop a video?..), enhance videos with 800+ stunning effects, unleash creativity with Hollywood effects, and, import and export in almost any format. One can say that the interface looks quite like that of Final Cut Pro…

So, shall we imagine we use Wondershare Filmora X to crop our video, what would be the steps to do it?..

Needless to say, downloading and installing the software is the first step. To add files, you need to click on Import Media Files Here.

Choose your clip(s) you would like to crop and then drag and drop it in the sequence.

Above your video in the sequence, you will see little icons and find a Crop one.

Click on it and a new window will open – it’s for Crop and Zoom, where you can choose a needed ratio or do it manually (for it, you have to select Custom first).

After clicking OK, your video will be cropped as you like. Then, you can proceed with Exporting it – click on Export, choose your preferred settings, and save the video.

So, in this article, we got to know to software Final Cut Pro better and learned about how to crop our footage using this program; we also discussed how to do the same in Wondershare Filmora X, shall we need a different software.

And now, you can choose your preferred one and follow these step, or, why not try both?..