Pragadeesh is a developer turned marketer, currently working as a content marketer at Animaker - a drag-and-drop video making tool that lets anyone create engaging animated videos using pre-made templates and ready-to-go assets with zero technical skills.
In this article, we’ll show you how to crop a video using Adobe Premiere Pro with step-by-step instructions and pictures.
As a bonus, we’ll also show you how you can use Animaker’s video editor to crop a video online using Safari or Chrome on your computer.
Part 1: How to Crop a Video in Adobe Premiere Pro
Using Adobe Premiere Pro to crop a video is not for the faint of heart. It takes several steps just to find the tool in its hard-to-navigate interface. If you’d rather explore a simpler way to crop your video, jump to this section ↓ where we show you how to crop a video using a simple video cropping tool.
Here are the steps to crop a video using Adobe Premiere Pro:
Create a New Project First, start a new project. Go to File > New.
Import the Video Now import the video you want to crop. Go to File > Import, then select the video and click Open.
Add the Video to the Timeline
The imported video should now appear in the Project panel. To add the video to the timeline, simply drag and drop it onto the timeline.
Select the Video from the Timeline
You’ll need to select the video before you can add the crop effect to it. From the timeline, click on the video to select it.
Add the Crop Effect
Navigate to the Effects tab in the Project panel. Then go to Video Effects > Transform > Crop. Now double-click on the Crop option to add the crop effect to the video.
Adjust the Crop Settings
Once you add the crop effect to the video, controls to adjust this effect appear under the Effect Controls tab. There are three ways to crop a video: you can use percentages, sliders, or the cropping box to adjust how much you want to crop from each side of the video (left, right, top, and bottom).Use the Cropping Box to Crop Your Video Using the cropping box is the easiest way to crop your video. Simply click and drag the handles around the corners or sides of the box to crop your video. Use Percentages to Crop Your Video To use percentages to crop your video, simply click on the percentage value (0% initially) in blue text beside the side you want to crop and enter your own value. Use the Slider to Crop Your Video To use the slider, click on the dropdown arrow to reveal the slider and drag the slider to adjust the area you want to crop.
Zoom or Reposition the Video If you want to zoom or reposition your video, under the Effects Control tab, go to Video Effects > Motion > Position or Scale. Drag the values beside Position or Scale to adjust them.
Part 2: A Much Easier Way to Crop Your Video
If you’re a web content creator or you’re merely looking to crop your video, it would be counterproductive to use a professional video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro as it has a super steep learning curve.
Instead, you’d want to give Animaker’s Crop Video Tool a shot. It’s a simple tool that allows you to crop your videos in 3 easy steps directly from your browser.
Animaker is a simple online tool that allows anyone to create and edit videos. It offers all the video editing tools you’d need to edit and create videos for your social media channels and website. Absolutely no video-editing experience is required to use our tool.
Here are the steps to crop a video using Animaker’s video cropper:
Step 1:Login or signup for a free account. Now pick the dimensions or choose a platform you want to crop your video for. Pick the Horizontal (16:9), Square (1:1), or Vertical (9:16) preset from the Create a video section in your dashboard. Or you can use the Custom Size button to crop your video to custom dimensions of your choice.
Step 2: Then upload the video you want to crop. Go to the Upload tab in the main menu bar and click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window.
Once the video’s been uploaded, click on it to set it onto the canvas.
Now select the part you want to keep. Click on the Crop button in the top right corner of the canvas. Then click and drag one of the handles around the corners to scale or shrink the video.
Also, you can reposition the video so it fits the dimensions properly. Once you’re done selecting the part you want to use, click on the Apply button to save the changes.
Step 3: To download the cropped video, click on the Publish button, then select Download Video from the dropdown menu. Or you can directly share it to various social media platforms from inside the app.
Apart from letting you crop videos, Animaker’s video editor gives you the ability to:
And more! With Animaker’s online video editing tool, you get all the editing tools you need to edit your videos for your social media channels and marketing site. No video editing experience is required to use our simple tools.
Got any questions about cropping a video? Any tips or tools to crop a video that you find interesting? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
We’ll answer that question in this article. We’ll show you how to easily change the aspect ratio of a video online using Animaker’s free video resizer.
Animaker’s video resizer is a simple tool that lets you quickly resize or change the aspect ratio of your video, and it lets you download watermark-free videos.
But before we show you how, we’ll talk a little about what an aspect ratio is and its importance, and let you in on some popular aspect ratios used by various social media platforms.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
What is an Aspect Ratio?
An aspect ratio is simply the relationship between the width and height of a video. If the width of a video is almost twice as much as its height, then it takes the shape of a rectangle.
If the width and height of a video are the same, then it’s a square video. That’s why a square video has an aspect ratio of 1:1, to denote that the width and height are the same.
The most popular aspect ratio is 16:9. If your video is 1280 pixels wide and 720 pixels tall, then it follows an aspect ratio of 16:9.
Why is an Aspect Ratio Important?
Different social media platforms require your videos to be in different aspect ratios.
If you do not follow the recommended aspect ratio, then your video will be automatically resized or cropped to the dimensions that are deemed ideal.
This might cut off the important parts of your videos and make them look awkward.
And in turn, negatively impact your brand and the engagement of your video.
For instance, if you want to post a video on Instagram, then your video’s aspect ratio needs to be either 1:1 (square) or 4:5 (vertical) if it’s a regular feed video.
And if you want to post it on IGTV or as a Story, then the aspect ratio needs to be 9:16 (vertical).
Now that we know why an aspect ratio is so important, read on to learn the right aspect ratios for all the popular social media platforms.
6 Popular Video Aspect Ratios in 2021
Here are the aspect ratios recommended by various social media platforms for different types of videos:
1:1 (Square)
The ideal aspect ratio of Facebook and Instagram feed videos is 1:1
16:9 (Horizontal)
16:9 is the ideal aspect ratio of a youtube video.
9:16 (Vertical)
The ideal aspect ratio of Instagram Story Videos and Snaps is 9:16.
4:5 (Portrait)
Facebook and Twitter portrait videos have an aspect ratio of 4:5.
5:4 (Landscape)
Twitter and Facebook landscape videos have an aspect ratio of 5:4.
21:9
The ideal aspect ratio of a Facebook cover video is 21:9
How to Change the Aspect Ratio of a Video Online using Animaker’s Video Resizer
Using Animaker’s resize video tool, you can easily change the aspect ratio of a video and make it perfectly fit the chosen dimensions.
Here are the steps to change the aspect ratio of a video using Animaker’s video resizing tool:
Open Animaker’s video resizer. Once you’re on the page, pick the dimensions you’d want to resize your video to or a social platform you’d like to post your video on; you can pick the Square (1:1), Horizontal (16:9), Vertical (9:16), Portrait (4:5), Landscape (5:4), or the 21:9 aspect ratio. You can also set a custom aspect ratio for your video. To set an aspect ratio of your choice, simply click on the Custom Size button, enter the width and height of your video, and click on the Start Resizing button. If you want to check the aspect ratio while resizing your video, you can use this aspect ratio calculator.
Now upload the video you want to resize. You can upload the video by clicking on the Choose your file button or simply drag and drop the video onto the area shown below. Once the video’s been uploaded, it’ll be set to the canvas of your chosen dimensions. Optionally, you can scale and reposition the video to fit the chosen dimensions. Click on the Resize icon in the top right corner of the canvas. Then click and drag one of the handles around the corners to scale and reposition the video. Once you’re done, click on the green button that says Apply to save the changes.
You can now download the resized video to your computer by clicking on the Download button in the top right corner of the app screen.
Gee, that was simple, wasn’t it? Apart from letting you resize your videos, Animaker’s video editing software offers various other video editing tools.
And the list goes on… If you’re a marketer or content creator who doesn’t have any video editing experience, and you’re into creating and editing videos for your social media channels, you need to check out Animaker’s online video editor.
Our video editing suite offers simple tools that anyone can use to edit their videos online. You don’t need any video editing experience to use Animaker. In fact, our software has been specifically made for non-designers, marketers, and anyone who wants to edit videos for social media and the web.
Got any questions about resizing your video for a social media platform? Any interesting tips or tools to resize videos that we seem to have left out? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
Want to learn how to crop a video using iMovie on Mac?
Or do you want to know how to crop a video on Mac OS Big Sur using a lesser-known tool that comes pre-installed on it?
In this article, we’ll show you all the best free ways to crop a video on your Mac computer. Here’s everything we’ll cover, please feel free to jump around and make it a choose-your-own-adventure article:
How to Crop a Video using iMovie on Mac [Built-in Video Cropper for Mac]
You can use iMovie, a free desktop video editing software exclusive to Mac OS, to crop your videos. The freeware comes pre-installed on your Mac OS, but if you don’t already have it installed, you can download it here.
Cropping a video using iMovie involves several steps so be sure to check out our article that gives you step-by-step instructions and pictures on how to crop a video on iMovie.
How to Crop a Video on Mac OS Big Sur using a Built-in Video Cropper
You can use Photos, an app that comes pre-installed on Mac OS Big Sur, to crop a video. Here are the steps to crop a video using Photos’ video cropping tool:
Step 1: First, select the video you want to crop and double-click it to reveal a toolbar in the top right corner of the app. Now click on the Edit button in the toolbar.
Step 2: Now click on the Crop tab at the top. An adjustable cropping box will be applied to the video.
Step 3: You can adjust the cropping box to crop your video to the aspect ratio of your choice. Click on the Aspect dropdown button to reveal various aspect ratios. Or you can adjust the cropping box in any dimensions using the Custom option.
Step 4: To adjust the cropping box and select the area you’d like to keep, simply click and drag one of the handles around the corners.
How to Crop a Video in VLC
You can use VLC for Mac OS X to crop your videos. It’s a little daunting to crop videos using VLC as you’d have to use pixels to select and crop the area you want to keep. Take a look at our article that shows you how to crop a video using VLC for Mac.
How to Crop a Video using QuickTime Pro [Built-in Video Cropper for Mac]
Yes, you can use QuickTime player to crop videos on your Mac computer. But not with the basic version, you’re going to have to upgrade it to the pro version to gain access to the video cropping functionality.
And you’d only be able to upgrade it to pro if you already have QuickTime 7 installed on your Mac computer. Here’s our article that shows you how to crop a video using QuickTime Pro.
How to Crop a Video on Mac in 3 Simple Steps: The Easiest Way
Animaker’s video cropper allows you to easily crop your videos directly from your browser on your Mac computer. It’s a lightweight app that lets you crop your videos in just 3 simple steps.
Here are the steps to crop a video on Mac using Animaker:
Step 1:Signup for a free account or log into your account. Now from the dashboard, pick the dimensions or a social media platform you want to crop your video for. You can pick the Horizontal (16:9), Square (1:1), or Vertical (9:16) preset from the Create a video section in your dashboard. Or you can use the Custom Size button to crop your video to custom dimensions.
Step 2: Upload the video you want to crop. Click on the Upload tab in the main navigation bar and then click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window.
Once the video’s been uploaded, click on the video to use it in your video project.
After the video’s been set to the canvas of your chosen dimensions, you can crop or adjust the video to select the part you want to keep. To crop your video, click on the Crop button in the top right corner of the canvas. Now click and drag one of the handles around the corners to resize or scale it and then reposition it so it fits the dimensions. Once you’re done cropping your video, click on the green button that says Apply in the bottom right corner to save the changes.
Step 3: You can now download your cropped video to your computer by clicking on the Publish button and then selecting Download Video from the resulting dropdown menu. Or you can share the video directly to various social media platforms from inside the app.
Love how simple it is to crop a video using Animaker? Apart from letting you crop your videos, Animaker’s video editing software offers various other video editing tools.
And the list goes on… Be sure to check out these tools and learn why it’s the go-to video editor for marketers and content creators.
If you do not have any video editing experience or haven’t used any professional video editing software before, and you want to make your videos look professional and do it all by yourself, then Animaker’s video editing suite is what you need.
Our online video editing suite offers simple video editing tools that anyone can use to edit their videos. It doesn’t require any video editing experience. In fact, it’s been made specifically for non-designers, marketers, and anyone who wants to quickly edit videos for their social media channels or website.
With Animaker’s video editing software, you don’t ever have to deal with hard-to-navigate interfaces or go through several steps to perform a simple action. Check out our online video editor today for an enjoyable, hassle-free video editing experience.
Got any questions about cropping your videos on your Mac computer? Any interesting video cropper for Mac that we seem to have left out? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
Looking for quality video cropping software to crop or resize your videos?
In this article, we’ve compiled a list of all the top free video cropping software for cropping videos online and on desktop.
If you’re in search of a free video cropper for iPhone, check out this article that shows you how to crop a video on iPhone using a free video cropper.
23 Best Video Croppers for Cropping Videos On Desktop and Online in 2021
Easy Video Maker [Free Desktop Video Cropping Software]
Easy Video Maker is a free desktop video cropping software for Windows. It’s a freeware exclusive to Windows and is available on Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10.
Although it lets you crop your videos for free, it’s certainly not the easiest way to crop your videos. It can be a little hassle to use as you’ll have to input values in pixels to select the area you want to crop.
Animaker [Free Online Video Cropping Software]
Animaker’s crop video tool lets you easily crop a video for various social media platforms and the web. With Animaker’s drag-n-crop functionality and 1-click aspect ratio selection, you can quickly crop a video to perfection in seconds.
Jump to the section ↓ where we show you how to crop a video in 3 simple steps using Animaker.
Windows Movie Maker [Built-in Video Cropping Software for Windows]
If you’re using Windows 7, you can use Windows Movie Maker to crop your videos. Although it has a ton of features, it’s still quite simple-to-use. You can find some basic tools to edit your videos in Windows Movie Maker.
Using Windows Movie Maker, you can: crop a video, rotate a video by 90, 180, or 270 degrees, flip or mirror your videos vertically or horizontally, etc.
VLC [Free Video Cropping Software for Windows and Mac]
VLC is an open-source media player but comes equipped with a cropping functionality, available on both mac and windows. It’s a little daunting to crop a video using VLC as it takes several steps to crop a video using it.
If you’re on Mac, you can use iMovie, a freeware that comes pre-installed on Mac OS, to crop your videos. It’s a little complicated to crop videos using iMovie, especially if you’ve never used iMovie before, so be sure to check out our article on how to crop a video using iMovie on Mac.
Filmora
Filmora is an advanced desktop software you can use to crop a video on Windows and Mac. Simply choose from a list of popular aspect ratios and start cropping or resizing your video footage. If you’ve never used an advanced video editing tool, you’ll find Filmora’s interface a little hard to navigate.
Kapwing
Kapwing offers a suite of simple online video editing tools. You can use its crop functionality to crop your videos for various social platforms.
Animotica
Animotica is a desktop video cropping tool for Windows 10. Unlike most tools, it preserves the aspect ratio of the cropped video by setting a blurred background. For instance, if you chose to crop the video in the 16:9 aspect ratio, your video will remain in the same aspect ratio even after you crop a part of the video. And the remaining space will be filled with a blurred background.
It’s especially useful if you’re looking to share your videos on social media channels. You can simply use the sliders to crop each side of the video. It has a simple interface and the free version of the software applies a watermark on output files. Be sure if this is what you want your cropped videos to look like before using it.
Movavi
Movavi is a video editor much similar to Filmora in terms of learning curve and functionalities. It’s available on both Windows and Mac. With Movavi, you can crop your videos and perform other basic and advanced video editing tasks.
Moviemator
Moviemator is another full-featured video editor you can use to crop videos on Windows and Mac. It’s typically used for making photo slideshows and lets you easily merge videos, add text to videos, etc. One major downside to using Moviemator is that the length of your cropped video cannot be more than 5 minutes in length.
VideoProc
VideoProc is a desktop software that lets you record, edit, and convert videos on both Windows and Mac. The tool provides you with presets (16:9, 1:1, etc.) to crop your video. Also, it supports hardware acceleration so you shouldn’t experience any lags while editing a movie or long video. One disadvantage is that it doesn’t have a fast conversion speed.
Avidemux
If you’re a Windows, Mac, Linux, or BSD user, you can use Avidemux to crop your videos. Once you select the area you want to crop, it automatically enlarges the cropped part to fit the entire area. It’s a heavy tool and less beginner-friendly.
Olive
Olive video editor is an open-source video editor that’s a free alternative to other professional, timeline-based desktop video editing software. To crop a video, enter the number of pixels you’d want to crop from each side. It’s a little complicated to use and has a hard-to-navigate interface.
Lightworks
Lightworks is a desktop video editing software typically used by the pros for editing movies and long videos. You can use it to crop your videos on Windows and Mac. Lightworks has everything you need to edit movies and videos.
Kdenlive
Kdenlive is an open-source, desktop video editing software that can be used to crop videos on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. It’s a professional video editor and like most pro tools, has a steep learning curve involved.
VSDC
VSDC is a free desktop suite for editing videos on windows. Cropping a video using VSDC is quite simple—a cropping box will be applied and you’ll have to resize it to select the area you want to keep.
Also, it maintains the same resolution or aspect ratio after you’ve cropped the area and enlarges the cropped area to fit the dimensions properly. Besides that, you can also select the area you want to remove by entering the values in pixels.
Cyberlink Powerdirector
You can use Cyberlink Powerdirector, a video editing software mostly used by the pros, to crop your videos on your Windows or Mac desktop. Simply adjust the handles of the cropping box to select the area you want to use.
While it lets you crop videos and adds some cool panning effects, it’s not beginner-friendly and could be quite complex to use especially if you’re someone new to video editing.
Online Video Cutter
Online Video Cutter is mainly used for cutting or trimming videos online, but it could also be used for cropping videos as well. It doesn’t slap any watermark and has some useful presets to crop your videos.
Clideo
Clideo offers a simple tool to crop your videos online. It gives you the ability to upload videos from various sources and supports various video formats. Upgrade to a paid plan to remove the watermark from your cropped video.
Veed
Mostly used for creating social videos, Veed lets you crop videos online. You’d need to upgrade to a paid plan to download watermark-free videos. It’s got some simple but useful video editing tools like the pen tool, a tool to add progress bars, etc.
Ezgif
Ezgif is an online video editing tool that lets you crop videos for free. It doesn’t apply any watermark on your cropped videos but the downside is it’s a little hard to crop the unnecessary parts as you’d have to enter values in pixels. Another downside to using Ezgif is that the video quality is decreased even if your video is of higher quality.
WeVideo
WeVideo is a professional, timeline-based video editing software that lets you crop videos online. Simply double-click on the video from the timeline and find the crop icon to start cropping your video using WeVideo.
Clipchamp
Clipchamp is another online video editing tool that lets you crop your videos. It provides you with two options to crop a video: Auto-Fill and Crop to Fill. The interface looks the same as that of a professional video editing tool in that it has the same old timeline that most professional video editing software does, but ain’t as complex as Filmora or other full-blown video editing tools.
InVideo
InVideo is an online video editing tool that can be used to crop a video. It’s mostly used for social media video content creation and has all the basic video editing tools you’d need to edit and fine-tune your video footage. If you’re on the free plan, your videos will be slapped with a watermark.
How to Crop a Video Online Using Animaker’s Video Cropping Software
Animaker’s Crop Video Tool allows you to crop your videos in 3 easy steps directly from your browser. Here are the steps:
Step 1:Login or create a free account. Once you’re in the dashboard, pick the dimensions or choose a platform you want to crop your video for. Pick 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 custom dimensions of your choice.
Step 2: Now upload the video you want to crop. Go to the Upload tab in the main menu bar and click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window.
Once the video’s uploaded, click on it to set it onto the canvas.
Then, adjust or resize the video to select the part you want to keep. Click on the crop button to start cropping your video. Now hold and drag one of the handles from the corners to scale or shrink it; then reposition it so it fits the dimensions perfectly. Once you’re done, click on the Apply button to save the changes.
Step 3: To download the cropped video to your local computer, click on the Publish button, then select Download Video from the resulting dropdown. Or you can share it directly to various social media platforms from inside the app.
Animaker’s all-in-one online video editing suite lets you do so much more than just crop a video. It gives you the ability to:
With Animaker’s online video editor, you get all the tools you need to edit your videos for your social media channels and the web.
Got any questions on cropping your videos online or on your desktop? Any interesting video cropping software that we seem to have left out? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.
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.
How to Crop a Video with QuickTime Pro
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:
Step 1: Capture a Frame of Your Video Clip
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.
Step 2: Create a Mask using Photoshop
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.
Step 3: Apply the Mask
Open QuickTime pro, go to Windows > Show Movie Properties > Visual Settings. Then click on the Choose button to import the mask file.
Step 4: Save the Cropped Video
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.
How to Crop a Video The Easy Way On Your Mac Computer
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.
Facebook Cover Video Specs
Below are the latest Facebook cover video specs to make your cover video look its best in 2021.
Size
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.
Dimensions
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.
Length
The length of your Facebook cover video should be between 20 and 90 seconds.
Format (file type) and Resolution
Facebook recommends you to upload your cover video in MP4 or MOV format. And the maximum resolution of your cover video should be 1080p.
How to Make a Facebook Cover Video using Animaker
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:
1. Sign Up for a Free Animaker Account or Log In If You Already Have an Account
2. Start From Scratch or Use a Readymade Template
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.
3. Add media
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.
4. Combine Multiple Clips
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.
5. Fine-Tune Your Footage
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.
6. Add Text
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.
7. Increase the Duration
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.
8. Add Music
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.
9. Preview and Download
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.
How to Upload a Facebook Cover Video
Follow the steps below to add a cover video to your Facebook page:
On your Facebook page, click on the “Add a Cover” or “Change Cover” button in the top right corner of your cover image.
Then select “Upload Photo/Video” from the resulting drop-down menu.
Once it’s been uploaded, click and drag the video to reposition it, then click “Next”.
Now pick a thumbnail for your video. Click on one of the thumbnails that Facebook has auto-generated for you to set it as your thumbnail image.
Finally, click “Publish” to publish your cover video.
8 Facebook Cover Video Tips and Tricks
1. Focus on Your Ideal Audience
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
2. Keep it Short, Clear, and Simple
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.
3. Keep it Updated
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.
4. Add a Call-to-action
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.
5. Make it Cropping-ready
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.
6. Keep it Unique But Stay True to Your Brand
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.
7. Make it Form a Natural Loop
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.
8. Add Subtitles
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?
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.
How to Crop a Video using VLC on Windows 10 and Mac
If you have VLC installed on your Windows PC or Mac computer, you can use it to crop your video. Here are the steps:
Open VLC and open the video file you want to crop. To open a video using VLC on Windows 10, go to Media > Open File. If you’re on Mac, go to File > Open File.
Once you’ve opened the video, decide on the areas you’d like to cut out so you get the part you can use. Let’s say we want to highlight the part where there’s a picture of the woman. For that, we’ll have to crop the video from the bottom and left side.
Once you’ve decided on that, go to Tools > Effects and Filters > Video Effects > Crop if you’re on Windows 10. On Mac, go to Window > Video Effects > Crop
Now let’s select the part we want to use. Like we said before, we’re going to have to cut out the parts on the left and bottom to get the area we want to highlight. Enter the values in the appropriate fields to crop out the unnecessary parts. Once you’ve entered a value (in pixels), hit Enter to make the changes reflect. Adjust the values until you get your desired area. Just a few steps later, we’ll need the values you just entered, so write them down somewhere.
Well, we’re not done yet. You can’t go ahead and save the video yet. There are a couple more steps before you can do that.
Once you’re done entering the values and successfully cropping just the area you want to use, close the popup window and go to Tools > Preferences if you’re on Windows.
On Mac, go to VLC > Preferences.
Next, on Windows 10, under the Show settings section, click on the All radio button.
If you’re on Mac, click on the Show All button in the bottom left corner.
Now go to Video > Filters > Croppadd. This step is the same on both Mac and Windows 10.
Under the Crop section, enter the values you’d entered earlier. This step too is similar on both Mac and Windows 10.
Once you’ve entered the values, click on the Filters submenu, then tick the Video scaling filter (Video cropping filter on Mac) checkbox, and then click on the Save button in the bottom right corner to apply the changes. Finally, choose a file name for the video and save it in your desired location. Now let’s see how you can crop your video in a much easier way online on your Windows or Mac computer.
How to Crop Video Clips Online using Animaker
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:
Sign up or log into the app. Now pick the dimensions you’d like to crop your video to. If you want to crop your video to square dimensions, pick Square under the Create a video section in your dashboard.
Upload the video you want to crop; navigate to the Upload tab in the main navigation bar, then click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window.
Once the video’s uploaded, click on it to set it onto the canvas.
Now click on the Crop button to start cropping your video. Hold and drag the edges to scale it or shrink it, then adjust the position so it fits the dimensions perfectly. Once you’re done making the adjustments, click on the green button that says Apply to save the changes made.
To download your cropped video,click on the Publish button, then select Download Video from the dropdown menu.
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.
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.
How to Crop a Video in iMovie on iPhone or iPad
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:
Open iMovie, tap on the Projects tab at the top, then tap on the button with a plus icon.
Now select Movie from the popup window.
Select a video you want to crop from your library and tap Create Movie at the bottom of the app screen.
In the timeline at the bottom, tap the video; this will bring up a button that says Pinch to zoom video—with a magnifying glass icon on it—on the top right; tap this button to start cropping the video. Now pinch or spread your two fingers to zoom in or out and reposition the video the way you want. Once you’re done cropping, tap the Done text button in the top left corner of the app screen.
How to Crop a Video in iMovie on Your Mac Computer
If you’re on a Mac computer and want to use iMovie to crop a video, follow the below steps:
Open iMovie and click on the button with the plus icon that says Create New.
Now select Movie from the dropdown menu.
Click on the Import Media button and select the video you want to crop.
Once the video’s been imported, click on the Cropping button in the toolbar right above the video player. This will reveal a button that says Crop in the top left corner of the player; click on it to start cropping your video.
Now click and drag one of the handlebars to select the area you want to crop.
Once you’re done selecting the part you want to use, click on the blue checkmark button in the top right corner to save the changes you made.
How to Crop a Video Online using Animaker
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:
Sign up or log into the app. Now pick the dimensions you’d like to crop your video to, like square, vertical, horizontal, etc. Do you want your video to be in square dimensions? Then, from your dashboard, pick Square under the Create a video section. You can also use the Custom Size button to crop your video to custom dimensions.
Now upload the video you want to crop. To upload your video, go to the Upload tab in the main navigation bar, then click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window. Once it’s been uploaded, click on it to set it onto the square, vertical or horizontal canvas, depending on the size you chose in the previous step.
Click on the Crop button to select the part you want to use. Hold and drag the edges of the selection to scale or shrink it, and adjust its position so it fits the dimensions the way you want it to. Once done, click on the green button that says Apply to save the changes.
Now preview the video to see if any adjustments would need to be made. Click on the preview button next to the publish button in the top right corner of the app screen; if everything seems fine, go ahead and click on the Publish button, then select Download Video from the dropdown menu to download your cropped video.
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.
How to Create Square Videos for Facebook Online using Animaker
If you’re looking to create square videos using an online tool on your laptop or PC, Animaker should be your go-to tool.
Animaker’s square video maker lets you quickly create and export videos in square dimensions.
You don’t need any video making experience to create square videos using Animaker.
Easily resize a landscape or vertical video to square dimensions in a matter of clicks.
Add and animate text, shapes, stickers, and more to create a beautiful square video!
Add gradient backgrounds, use high-quality stock videos and photos, upload your own font, the possibilities are endless!
Follow these steps to create a square video from scratch using Animaker:
First, sign up and log into the tool. Then, pick the “Square” option from the Create a video section in the dashboard.
If you want to create a square video from scratch, click on the button that says “Blank” to open a blank square video project. If you want to use a template as a starting place to create your square video, pick one of the square video templates from our huge collection.
To upload the video, navigate to the upload tab in the main navigation bar, then click on the upload button at the bottom to select the video you’d like to convert to the square size. Once the video has been uploaded, click on it to use it in your square video project. If you have a vertical or landscape video that you’d like to fit properly to the square dimensions, you can use Animaker’s video cropper.
Click on the Crop icon in the top right corner of the canvas, then hold and drag the edges to expand the video. Once you’re done, click on the green button that says “Apply” to save the changes. You can, however, let the blank space remain at the bottom and top — or at the right and left if it’s a vertical video—to add text to your square video.
To change the white background color, click on the background area, this will bring up the color palette at the bottom of the app screen. Now you can use the color picker or one of the colors listed to set the color. You can upload your own logos, images, and videos the same way you’d uploaded in the 3rd stepOr you can use readymade visuals and animations from Animaker’s huge built-in library.
To add “Text” to the video, go to the text tab and click on one of the text sizes to add it to to your video. Once you’re done making the changes, preview the video to see if everything’s fine. Click on the play button beside the publish button in the top right corner to preview the entire video.
If everything looks good, go ahead and 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.
Create Square Videos on Both Android and iOS with InShot
If you’re an Android or iOS user, you can use a video editing app called InShot to create a square video for Instagram. here’s how you create square videos using InShot:
Open InShot, then tap “Video” to upload and edit your video.
Once the video’s been uploaded, go to the “Canvas” tab in the main menu bar.
As you can see, the square (1:1) option is selected by default. Optionally, you can adjust the size of your video—how it should fit the square dimensions— using the slider.
To save the video to square dimensions, click on the Tick icon beside the text that says CANVAS.
Once you’re happy with how your square video looks, click on the SAVE button in the top right corner of the app screen to save the video.
Make Square Videos for Facebook on iOS with Square Fit Photo Video Editor
If you’re looking for a free iOS app to create square videos for Facebook, you can use Square Fit Photo Video Editor.
The app has tons of modern background patterns, filters, frames, stickers, etc.
You’re going to need iOS 9.1 or higher to use this app.
Make Square Videos for Facebook on Android with Video Editor: Square Video
Video Editor: Square Video is a free Android app that lets you create beautiful square videos for Facebook.
Apart from providing users with the ability to set a blurred background, it’s incredibly easy to use and lets you capture videos in square dimensions.
Also, it gives you the ability to add and trim your music files.
You’ll need Android OS 4.1 or higher to use it.
And that would be all the tools you’d need to create square videos for Facebook!
If you’re looking to create branded, beautiful square videos for Facebook, feel free to check out Animaker’s square video maker.
And if you have any questions on creating square videos for Facebook, let us know about them in the comment section below.
Want to learn how to make a square video for Instagram?
Looking to quickly convert your landscape or vertical video to square dimensions?
Wondering how to post a square video on Instagram?
In this article, we show you how.
Things to Keep in Mind When Creating Square Videos
If you plan to expand or zoom your video to full square; that is, your footage completely fills the entire video without any blank space, then:
Don’t shoot the video too close to make sure that the important parts of the video, say your face or your body, don’t get cut off.
Make sure to record your video in HD quality. A low-quality video may turn out blurry when you expand it.
Create Square Videos for Instagram on Your Desktop
If you’re on your computer, you can use Animaker to convert your videos to square dimensions.
Animaker’s square video maker lets you create beautiful square videos online.
You don’t need any video making experience to use the tool.
And if you want to post a vertical video to Instagram, you need to know that Instagram automatically crops the vertical video to a 4:3 ratio.
This cuts off the top and bottom parts of your vertical video.
So if you want to fit your whole video into your Instagram post, you’re going to have to convert it to square dimensions before posting it.
You can use Animaker to easily turn your videos to the square format. Here’s how:
From the dashboard, pick “Square” from the Create a video section.
Now click on the button with the plus icon and text that says “Blank”. This will open a blank square video project.
To upload your video, head to the “Upload” tab in the main navigation bar, then click on the Upload button at the bottom of the tab window. Once the video has been uploaded, simply click on it to use it in your project. As you can see, there’s some empty space that appears on either side of the video—if it’s vertical (9:16)— or top and bottom—if it’s a landscape video (16:9).
You can make use of the empty space and add some text or your logo.
To add text to the video, click on the “Text” tab in the main navigation bar, then click on one of the text sizes to add it to to your video.
Or you can adjust or expand the video to make it fit the square dimensions the way you want it to.
Click on the Crop icon in the top right corner of the video, then drag the edges of the video to expand it and adjust its position. once you’re done, click on the green button that says “Apply”.
If you want to change the white background color, simply click on the background area, this will bring up the color palette at the bottom of the screen. You can use the color picker or one of the colors listed to set the background color. Also, you can use readymade stickers, shapes, emojis, gifs (from GIPHY), HD stock videos, and photos from Animaker’s huge built-in library.
Once you’re done creating your square video, you can download it to your local computer. Hit the “Publish” button in the top right corner of the app screen, then select Download Video from the dropdown menu. Finally, pick a resolution for your square video and hit Download.
And that’s how simple it is to create a beautiful square video from scratch using Animaker!
If you already haven’t started creating square videos for your Instagram channel using Animaker, we’d encourage you to check out square video maker.
It’d save you a ton of time and help you be more consistent in whipping up those beautiful square videos
And if you have any questions on creating square videos for Instagram, please let us know about them in the comment section below.