Looking to crop a video in QuickTime on your Mac computer?
While it isn’t possible to crop a video using the basic version (the one that comes pre-installed on your Mac OS), the pro version of QuickTime player allows you to crop videos.
In this article, we’ll show you how to crop a video using QuickTime Pro with step-by-step instructions and pictures.
As a bonus, we’ll also show you how you can use Animaker to crop a video online using Safari or Chrome on your Mac computer.
Note that this article covers how to crop a video, which is about selecting the area of the video you want to use or highlight.
If you want to trim a video to your desired length, you can take a look at our article that provides step-by-step instructions on how to cut a video.
Like we said before, the QuickTime player that comes pre-installed cannot be used to crop a video. You’re going to have to upgrade it to pro for $30 in order to be able to crop a video. If you have QuickTime 7 installed on your Mac, you can go ahead and upgrade it to QuickTime Pro.
Also, you’re going to need Photoshop to create a mask file. Depending on how familiar you’re with Photoshop, creating a mask file in it could take several minutes. Once you have Photoshop installed on your Mac computer, follow the below steps to crop a video using QuickTime Pro:
You’re going to need a mask file to instruct QuickTime on how it should crop your video. To create this mask file, you’ll first need a snapshot of a particular frame of the video. To copy the image of a frame using QuickTime Pro, open the video and go to Edit > Copy.
Open Photoshop and create a new project by going to File > New. Then, paste the image you’d previously copied. Now use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the area you want to use, and fill the selected area with black color. Now fill the space outside the black box with white color. Finally, save the file in GIF or TIFF format.
Open QuickTime pro, go to Windows > Show Movie Properties > Visual Settings. Then click on the Choose button to import the mask file.
Once the mask is applied to your video, only the selected area shows up. Go to File > Export to save the cropped video to your desired location.
Using QuickTime Pro to crop videos is a hassle. It involves several steps and creating a mask file.
A much easier way would be to use Animaker’s Video Cropping Tool to crop your video. It’s a lightweight online tool that lets you crop videos in 3 simple steps and doesn’t require you to create a mask to crop a video. Follow the instructions below to crop a video using Animaker.
Step 1: First, Login or create a free account. From the dashboard, pick the dimensions or choose a platform you want to crop your video for. You can choose the Horizontal (16:9), Square (1:1), or Vertical (9:16) preset from the Create a video section. Or, you can use the Custom Size button to crop your video to the custom dimensions.
Step 2: Upload the video you want to crop. Navigate to the Upload tab in the main navigation bar and click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window.
Once the video’s been uploaded, click on the video to set it onto the canvas.
Now crop or resize the video to select the area you want to use. Click on the Crop button in the top right corner of the canvas to start cropping your video. Now hold and drag one of the Crop handles around the corners to scale or shrink it; then reposition it to make it fit the dimensions properly. Once you’re done, click on the Apply button.
Step 3: You can download the cropped video to your local computer by clicking on the Publish button and then selecting Download Video from the resulting dropdown. Or, you can share it directly to various social media platforms from inside the app.
On top of letting you crop videos, Animaker’s online video editor gives you the ability to:
And more! With Animaker’s all-in-one video editing software, you get all the tools you need to edit your videos for your social media channels and the web. No video editing experience is required to use our video editing suite.
Got any questions on cropping a video on your Mac computer? Any tips or tools to crop a video on Mac that you find interesting? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
Your Facebook cover video is the most important piece of real estate on your Facebook business page.
It’s not only the first thing that grabs the attention of your visitors, it sets the tone for your entire page and largely determines what the visitors associate with your brand.
That’s why it’s important to keep it optimized. A video is sometimes much more engaging than a static image.
When done right, a cover video on your Facebook page can be an effective promotional tool in your marketing arsenal.
If you’ve been using a Facebook cover photo and are looking to create and set an engaging cover video, this guide is for you. Ready? Let’s jump right in!
Note that the cover video functionality is available only for your Facebook business page, not for your personal profile.
Below are the latest Facebook cover video specs to make your cover video look its best in 2023.
Facebook hasn’t specified an ideal size for the cover video. However, the maximum file size limit is 1.75 GB for any video you upload to Facebook. We’d recommend you to pick a size that isn’t too large to make sure that people with a slow internet connection can watch your video.
A Facebook cover video should be at least 820 x 312 pixels (820 pixels wide and 312 pixels tall). The recommended dimensions for best results are 820 x 462 pixels. On a mobile device or app, your cover video will be cropped to 640 x 360 px.
The length of your Facebook cover video should be between 20 and 90 seconds.
Facebook recommends you to upload your cover video in MP4 or MOV format. And the maximum resolution of your cover video should be 1080p.
Whether you’re looking to create a cover video with live footage or an animated banner video from scratch, Animaker’s Facebook cover video maker lets you easily create one by yourself.
You don’t need any video making experience to create videos using Animaker. Follow the steps below to create an engaging cover video using Animaker:
If you want to start from scratch, click on the “Custom Size” button, then enter the ideal width and height (800*462) of a Facebook cover video, and hit “Create Video”.
You can also pick the Horizontal (16:9) aspect ratio from the Create a video section as it’ll fit the ideal dimensions of a Facebook cover video.
If you’ve never created a video before, we’d encourage you to use a template as a starting place to create your Facebook cover video.
Where to find the Facebook cover video templates? Simply search for “Facebook cover” using the search bar on your dashboard.
Now hover on top of one of the templates to reveal the Preview or Use buttons. Click the Preview button to preview the video template or the Use button to start editing the template.
Now you can start adding media to your cover video. You can either use your own pre-recorded footage and pictures or use premium-quality stock videos and photos from Animaker’s built-in library.
To upload a video or image, head to the Upload tab in the main navigation bar, click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window, then select the videos and images you want to upload by using your file browser.
To find and use stock videos or images, click on the Images or Videos tab.
You can also add shapes, stickers, GIFs, and more from Animaker’s library.
To combine multiple video clips together, perhaps to create a collage or slideshow, you can add a scene for each clip. To add a scene, click on the plus button at the bottom of a scene.
To ensure that the video flows smoothly, you can add transitions in between these scenes. Animaker provides you with 60+ beautiful, readymade transitions. To add a transition between any two scenes, click on the small square button between those scenes in the scenes section.
You can now fine-tune the footage that you’ve added. You can:
Use our video trimming tool to select the part you want to use in your video. Click on the Trim icon to start trimming your video.
Use the video cropping tool to crop and reposition the video. Click on the Resize icon to start resizing the video.
Add filters to the video to enhance its appearance. Click on the Filters icon to start adding filters.
Adjust the video’s brightness, contrast, etc. Click on the Filters icon and then click on the Adjust button at the bottom of the Filters side panel to start adjusting your video.
To add text to your video, head to the Text tab and click on one of the text sizes at the top or the premade text animations below.
You can animate text yourself using 60+ readymade animation effects that Animaker provides you with.
Simply add text, then click on the text box, this will bring up the font Settings side panel, now click on the Enter Effect button and Exit Effect button to add animation effects that would make the text enter and exit a scene in style.
If your video is shorter than 20 seconds, you can repeat it until it’s at least 20 seconds long. Let’s say you have a video that’s only 10 seconds long, you can duplicate the scene that has the video in it to repeat that scene in your video and increase its length.
To duplicate a scene, go to that scene in the Scenes side panel, and click on the Duplicate scene icon at the bottom center.
With Animaker, you can: upload your own audio files, record a voiceover using a microphone, and convert text into human-like natural sounding voices.
Also, Animaker’s music library offers thousands of high-quality background music tracks and sound effects. To add background music to your video, navigate to the Music tab in the main navigation bar.
To record a voiceover or convert text to speech, click on the Video Timeline icon, then click on the Voiceover icon in the bottom left corner of the app screen, now pick an option from the dropdown menu.
You can now preview the video using the Preview button in the top right corner beside the publish button. Animaker exports your videos in MP4 format, the format recommended by Facebook for a business page’s cover video.
To download the video, hit the Publish button in the top right corner, select Download Video from the resulting dropdown, then pick the video’s resolution and hit Download.
You can also create an animation from scratch using Animaker. Create animated scenes in a snap by dragging and dropping background illustrations, characters, and text, and animate them with the touch of a button.
Navigate to the Backgrounds or Characters tab in the main navigation bar to find and use background illustrations and characters.
Follow the steps below to add a cover video to your Facebook page:
Your cover video should be about your ideal audience.
What do they care about the most? What are their pain points?
What’s the benefit they’d derive from your product?
What could you say or show to your ideal audience that would make them understand your brand better?
Say stuff that appeals to your ideal customer segment.
Life is not about pleasing everyone; talk to the ones that “get” your brand (personal or professional) or find it the most useful.
These are the people that are likely to become your customers or advocates of your brand.
Moreover, by keeping the message and video targeted toward a particular audience, you’d repel the ones that aren’t ideal for your brand
The Facebook cover video can be 90 seconds long.
But this doesn’t mean you should keep it that long.
Avoid cramming in too much information.
Try to get the key points across with as few words as possible.
Or deliver your message with as few scenes as you possibly can.
By keeping it short, you make your video much easier to understand for your audience.
Update it once in a while to announce new products or features.
or perhaps update it from time to time to help support your seasonal marketing campaigns.
At the end of your cover video, ask your viewers to take any action that benefits your viewer and your brand.
You can ask them to sign up for your product or try out your service or visit your website.
Just make sure that it’s relevant to your cover video or your brand.
You’ll have to reposition your cover video a little-bit to make it fit properly.
Also, Facebook will automatically crop the cover video in different dimensions for different devices
For these reasons, place the text, icons, and images at the center of your video.
Introduce your brand in a creative way, but don’t go off-brand.
Have fun and make it unique, but keep it professional.
Let your cover video reflect your brand’s values and personality.
Your Facebook cover video will be set to autoplay by default.
This means, it’ll loop or play over and over again.
So to ensure a smooth transition from the ending to the beginning of your video, blend both the beginning and ending together.
Or at the very least, make sure there aren’t any disturbances or differences that make it seem hard to watch when looped.
Your Facebook cover video will be muted by default.
The viewer will have to unmute it to watch it with sound.
Add subtitles if you’ve added voiceover or if it has someone talking.
Got any questions about creating a Facebook cover video?
To create your own Facebook Cover video, you can use Animaker on PC or Animaker on iOS.
Any tips or tools we didn’t mention that you think are interesting? Let us know about them in the comment section below.
Looking to crop a video in VLC on your Windows 10 or Mac computer?
Whether you are using VLC on your Windows or Mac computer, we got you covered.
In this article, we show you how to crop a video using VLC on both Windows and Mac computers with easy step-by-step instructions and pictures.
As a bonus, we’ll also show you how you can use Animaker’s Crop Video Tool to crop a video online on your Windows PC or Mac computer. If you aren’t aware of Animaker, it’s a free online DIY video making tool that you can use for simple editing tasks like trimming and cropping videos to creating full-blown animated and live-action videos directly from your browser.
If you have VLC installed on your Windows PC or Mac computer, you can use it to crop your video. Here are the steps:
As you can see above, it’s a hassle to crop a video using VLC. You can choose to avoid these unnecessary steps and use a simple tool to crop your video instead.
Animaker’s Crop Video Tool is a lightweight app that works in your browser and lets you crop videos in 4 simple steps. Here are the steps to crop a video using Animaker:
Apart from letting you crop videos, it lets you trim, rotate, flip, mute, adjust videos, and more. Animaker’s online video editor has all the tools you need to edit your videos for your social media channels and the web. So be sure to check out these tools.
Got any questions on cropping your videos using Animaker? Any interesting tips or tools to crop a video? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
Looking to crop a video on iMovie?
Whether you are using iMovie on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer, we got you covered.
In this article, we show you how to crop a video using iMovie on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac with easy step-by-step instructions and pictures.
As a bonus, we’ll also show you how you can use Animaker to crop a video online using Safari or Chrome on your Mac computer. For those who aren’t aware of Animaker, it is a free online DIY video maker that can be used for anything ranging from simple tasks like trimming and cropping videos to creating full-blown animated videos directly from a web browser.
Please note that this article is about how to crop a video, which is about selecting the area of the clip you want to use or highlight while cutting out the unnecessary parts.
If you’re looking to trim or cut a video to your desired length, you can take a look at our article that covers how to cut a video, or you can use our super-simple trim video tool that doesn’t require you to read or watch a tutorial.
Even though the screenshots below demonstrate how to crop a video on an iPhone, the steps are pretty much the same if you were to crop a video using iMovie on your iPad.
Here are the steps to crop a video in iMovie on your iPhone or iPad:
If you’re on a Mac computer and want to use iMovie to crop a video, follow the below steps:
If you’re looking to crop your video using a simple tool that works in your browser, then it would be worth giving Animaker’s Crop Video Tool a shot.
Not only does it let you quickly crop your video online, but it also helps you crop your video in dimensions that are recommended by most social media platforms out there. To crop a video using Animaker, follow these steps:
If you’re also looking for other ways to edit your video like trim, rotate, flip, mute, or adjust the video, you can do all that and more using Animaker; just explore the app further. Pretty sure you’d fall in love with its intuitive interface 🙂
Got any questions on cropping your video? Any tips or tools to crop a video that you find interesting and would like to share with us? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.