Why is HandBrake Cropping My Videos?

Learn how to stop HandBrake from automatically cropping videos. Details below...
Patreon: / michaelbullo
By default, Handbrake will crop away large solid blocks along edges. To stop this, click on the TV icon to open up the Picture Settings dialog box. Change the Cropping from Automatic to Custom and set the crop value for each edge to 0. The Width and Height may still need to be adjusted. Changing one of these should see the other automatically change.

[@MichaelBullo]

I created this video using an earlier version of HandBrake. On the latest version the Cropping features that I demonstrate can be found within the Dimensions section. This Dimensions section can be accessed through one of the many buttons running through the middle of the HandBrake interface that starts with the Summary section.

[@aeqmill2145]

what are the settings for a square

[@MichaelBullo]

@@aeqmill2145 I don't quite follow your question. Aside from making the Width and Height equal...

[@aeqmill2145]

@@MichaelBullo my handbrake is glitching I think. When I want to enable a square video it shows it to me as an 4x5 video eventhough I have the right settings

[@MichaelBullo]

@@aeqmill2145 Are you maybe dealing with non-square pixels? Programs like Photoshop and After Effects allow you to set the "Pixel Aspect Ratio". By default, this value is 1:1 which will give you square pixels. These programs also allow you to toggle between displaying or not displaying the Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction. Basically, are the pixels displayed as square or not within the program interface.

[@MichaelBullo]

@@aeqmill2145 If you think HandBrake may be glitching, you could try...
1. Uninstalling and reinstalling the program
2. Installing a different version and see if the problem persists

[@ser7568]

this video literally saved me. THANK YOU!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear. Thank you.

[@legocontrollerjr]

Three years later and still helpful.

[@MichaelBullo]

Awesome. Thank you.

[@chelle1064]

LITERALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH. I’VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT FOR AGES
❤️

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. I know how you feel. This issue was driving me crazy for a while.

[@bee912]

I was so frustrated until your video came up! Thank you so much! Such a life saver!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Bree. Yeah this issue also drove me crazy for a while. Happy editing.

[@BahadrDegildir]

The program kept cropping the black part with the subtitles while converting my videos. Thanks to your video, I got rid of this problem. I had been looking for a solution for a long time and I was going to give up if I hadn't come across your video. Thank you so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

That's quite the comment. Thank you for letting me know and I'm very happy to have helped you out. Have a great day mate.

[@xyz24601]

Searched for this for an hour and finally found the solution, thank you!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. I know from experience how frustrating this issue can be.

[@EastmanEditing]

Thanks so much! Even years later this video saved me. Straight to the point and easy to follow!

[@MichaelBullo]

Now that's what I like to hear. Thank you and best of luck with your projects.

[@yv.leahhx]

I thought I will never be able to fix this BUT YOU LITERALLY SAVED ME. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO😭💗

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Great to hear this helped you out.

[@dipeshpanchal5573]

Very helpful...... Thanks a lot🙏 I spent hours to figure out why video getting cropped. Thanks again

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Yeah this issue was driving me crazy for a while.

[@ryy.w2506]

tysm seriously this helped me soo much i’m subscribing to you because i’ve been trying to figure out this shit for over 2 hours

[@MichaelBullo]

I feel your pain mate. Thanks for the sub and welcome to the channel.

[@novacaane]

OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH!!! as an editor who loves her black borders, this really helped tysm

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. That's great to hear.

[@RitaAlmas]

You just saved me with this video. Thank you soooooo much.

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. You just made my day :)

[@Fischergarten]

What a great video with a really really great voice! Thanks a lot!

[@MichaelBullo]

That's very nice of you to say. Thank you and have a great day.

[@leoborros]

Quick, well explained, effective. Good job, it helped me! :)

[@MichaelBullo]

I'm happy to hear that. Thanks for letting me know and have a great day :)

[@viv.m013]

this helped me so much, thank you! i’m still not sure why it started cropping, but as long as i know how to fix it i’m okay

[@MichaelBullo]

I hear ya buddy. Thank you.

[@cindilu2]

Bless you, sir! Handbrake newbie and I've been pulling my hair out trying to fix this. Thanks for saving my sanity.

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Welcome to the club. I think this situation gets all of us at some point.

[@Silas-sin]

Thank you this was a life savior!!

[@MichaelBullo]

That's great to hear. Thank you.

[@festy4482]

AHHH TYSM I WAS SEARCHING FOR THIS AND IT WORKEDDDDD ILY

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear. Cheers.

[@ZombieDefenseLeague]

Thank you! This helped so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

Hey that's great to hear. Thank you.

[@nomogli]

I SEARCHED AGES FOR THIS THANK YOU SO MUCH U SAVED ME

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Happy to hear this helped you out.

[@katvassos]

thank you so much! this was rly helpful

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Great to hear.

[@503video3]

good sir you are a gentleman and a scholar and I thank you greatly

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you and happy to hear this helped you out.

[@ab_dou.39]

Thank you bro! you saved my beloved video

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear the video made it ;) Cheers mate.

[@fio7587]

THANK U SO MUCH IT REALLY HELPED MEEEEEE

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear. Thank you.

[@t.0fa344]

IVE BEEN SITTING FOR THE PAST TWO HOURS OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG TYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOD BLESS YOU

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. I was also pretty freaking happy when I found this option.

[@chunktionary7525]

Thank you so much. It helped me a lot.

[@MichaelBullo]

Awesome. Thank you.

[@viper23x]

THXX FOR THE VIDEO I HOPE YOUR CHARGER WORKS IN ALL ANGLES, SOME GOOD SLEEP, AND SOME GOOD FOOD I APPRECIATE YOU BRUHHH💯💯

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. I hope your charging, sleeping and eating are also excellent 👍

[@liveintruth639]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR!! 🙏❣️

[@MichaelBullo]

Hey thank you and best of luck with your videos

[@emilygomez9299]

Thank you! Very helpful.

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers Emily. Appreciate it.

[@normalperson2549]

thank you so much this was very helpful :)

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[@rendomaccount6816]

thank you so much you just saved my time and problem 😘

[@MichaelBullo]

Hey that's great. Thank you.

[@madihaali8783]

amazing video just what i needed!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Hey thank you. Appreciate it.

[@themediocreprodigy377]

AMAZING! Thanks so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Enjoy those crop free videos :)

[@Nightfallen92]

You saved my life bruh TY!

[@MichaelBullo]

Have to have helped mate. Thank you.

[@nhrem]

THANK YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOD YOU SAVED MY LIFE YOU CAN’T IMAGINE HOW IM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !! have a great day

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. You sound nearly as happy as I was when I worked out this solution ;) Have a great day yourself.

[@arz1898]

all these years handbrake still has this stupid auto crop as default for some reason lol.
thanks for the solution!

[@MichaelBullo]

Yeah even with the newest versions I'm still having to change it sometimes. Thank you.

[@jinreiyuxi]

saved me life mate. you R a good lad mate

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. I appreciate that.

[@whitesnake9985]

YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER TYSM TYSM TYSM

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Happy to hear this helped you out.

[@icryovercats]

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS I WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. I know how frustrating this issue can be.

[@tetrastreamxvii]

Saved my hide! Was about to batch convert a bunch of 4K footage that would've been cropped.
And you know how 4k video takes so long to do.

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. That would have been horrible. Glad you found the video :)

[@cxlouisy_7542]

Omg JES you helped me A LOT!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Very cool. Thanks mate.

[@garouftw5022]

amazing saved me, i sub and like ty!

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear and thanks for the sub.

[@myideapad1]

THANK YOU!! I wish I saw this before compressing a hundred videos that got cropped 😢

[@MichaelBullo]

Ouch. Hope it doesn't take too long to redo. Thanks mate.

[@myideapad1]

@@MichaelBullo oh redoing actually took less time than when cropping was on :) seems that cropping is an extra load!

[@MichaelBullo]

@@myideapad1 Interesting. Thanks for the update.

[@bart_heart]

you solved my problem and I love you for that :)

[@MichaelBullo]

Hey thank you. Happy to help. Have yourself a great day.

[@Sylviala2009]

Yeah, this saved my output for my pull list today. I have interview subjects who are sitting in front of a grey background. When I tried to convert the output from a MOV file to Handbrake MP4 file it changed the Storage Dimension from 1920 to 554 or something, but after watching this, you gave me the steps to change that back and now it works. Do you think it was my dark grey background that caused it to crop thinking it was a black border?

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear this helped you out Sylvia. I haven't run exhaustive tests to find out exactly when and why HandBrake crops a video. However, your guess sounds very likely based on what I've seen. Happy editing :)

[@SouravGaonkar]

thank you so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Happy to have helped.

[@MoshimaOfficial]

thx man helped alot

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

[@sukhrajmomi5779]

You saved me dude saving the video!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Great to hear.

[@LizaB1437]

THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[@shot1999]

thanks bro your'e the mvp

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers Tomas

[@isabel4892]

THANK TOU SM you just saved me

[@MichaelBullo]

Happy to hear that. Thank you.

[@farhaancfc7883]

Thank you soooooo much man

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate

[@humansonofhuman]

Thanks, Michael! :)

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Hope it helps.

[@prodiqal]

THANK YOU SO SO MUCHH !!

[@MichaelBullo]

My pleasure. Thank you.

[@martonmedia1019]

Thank you!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers

[@MS-xk1ne]

Thank you so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

My pleasure. Hope it comes in handy.

[@Dzwalkthrough]

Thank you

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate

[@UziHussainRBLX]

Hey, I export my videos using handbrake and it often cuts the music short. Do you happen to know what the issue is and how to fix it?

[@MichaelBullo]

Sorry but I don't know. Perhaps you could post your question in a HandBrake specific forum. Could you try another program like VLC? Good luck.

[@renee8893]

thank you so much

[@MichaelBullo]

My pleasure. Thank you.

[@BlueFlow83]

thank you!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@sugar4392]

THANK YOU

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers. Thank you.

[@eleyn]

Thank you man

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@filxmss963]

MY GUY CAME IN CLUTCH!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Great to hear. Thank you.

[@pyutb4614]

THANKS!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers

[@pth55]

Thanks 😊

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@constantlycaitlin]

Thanks so much!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers Caitlin

[@AbhishekGupta-rg2jv]

even after a make this type of change it still going back to defailt, custom version is not working as i enter the value of my like it still going back to its orignal version, my video dimention is 2560x1350p when i try to enter this value it automatically chane to 1920x1080p, my video is avatar the way of water new teaser trailer it has imax ratio its setting shows me 2560x1350p dimention. What do i do?

[@MichaelBullo]

This is tricky here in the UA-cam comments section. I'm going to recommend you take a screen shot and post it in a HandBrake forum. Good luck and please let us know if you find a good solution.

[@bigcheese5674]

thank you a lot this works.

[@MichaelBullo]

Excellent. Thank you. Happy to help.

[@maria_remedios]

Bless you!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@zigaudrey]

Thank god! That annoyed me to no end!

[@MichaelBullo]

I hear ya buddy

[@Thinkstr]

Thanks!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@newecreator]

I mean the automatic cropping feature is neat for videos you don't want any padding but thank you for the tip!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Hope it proves useful.

[@brisa1015]

helppp I don’t know why but handbrake is making the video into a different color from what it original is, it’s grayer? if that makes sense? In the filter section it is all off I don’t know how to make the video back into its original color

[@MichaelBullo]

Sorry mate. I don't have any suggestions for you. Best of luck.

[@Abdirizakmrashid]

Thanks bro

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@angievfx]

OH MY GOSH THANK U SOOOO MUCH!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Yeah it's a wacky little default isn't it.

[@miafee07]

Thank you!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers. Thank you.

[@therobotcompany3333]

Thank you thank you thank you

[@MichaelBullo]

I'm assuming it helped a little ;) Thanks mate.

[@snowspilll]

omg tysm this video saved me

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Very nice of you to say.

[@robynb6818]

SAMEE

[@MichaelBullo]

@@robynb6818 Cheers

[@noemi7487]

does it work on windows or is this like a newer version of handbrake?

[@MichaelBullo]

I created this video using an earlier version of HandBrake. On the latest version the Cropping features that I demonstrate can be found within the Dimensions section. This Dimensions section can be accessed through one of the many buttons running through the middle of the HandBrake interface that starts with the Summary section.

[@urban06]

thx bro ❤

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@almacolina1598]

THANK YOUUUUU

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers Alma

[@abhishekkujur2049]

helpful 🥰

[@MichaelBullo]

Cool. Thank you.

[@lizzy-lg2tu]

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SIR

[@MichaelBullo]

I'm guessing this video helped you out a little then ;) Thank you.

[@lm3llmx]

U saved my life fr

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate. Great to hear.

[@robynb6818]

for some reason i tried this (my video is 1080x1080) and when type 1080 it changes back to 1064 for some reason. i made sure to click custom and i followed everything idk why it won’t work

[@MichaelBullo]

Have you checked that all of the values are 0 for top, bottom, left and right?

[@robynb6818]

@@MichaelBullo Yes :(

[@robynb6818]

@@MichaelBullo never mind I found the fix!

[@MichaelBullo]

@@robynb6818 Hmmm. What is your Modulus set to? I was just looking at the documentation on this page…
handbrake.fr/docs/en/1.3.0/advanced/resizing-video.html

[@MichaelBullo]

@@robynb6818 Hey cool. What was the fix?

[@leo6629]

tysm

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@RandomDeathChild]

the real mvp

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@RandomDeathChild]

@@MichaelBullo madlad answering comments asap for years. the hero we dont deserve

[@MichaelBullo]

@@RandomDeathChild That's very kind of you. Have a great day.

[@andhikarahadiansyah6625]

TYSM!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@mikkiafrobeatdancehallinst7155]

That's dope

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate

[@tadwer]

i am tryin to compress my youtube short vids and it keeps stretching them out even when i keeep doing ur instructions plz help

[@MichaelBullo]

When you say "it keeps stretching them out", do you mean…
1. The file size is increasing?
2. The physical dimensions (width and height in pixels) are increasing?

[@tadwer]

@@MichaelBullo 2 the width and height gets stretched it fills the screen and also it gets rotated to the left its crazy

[@MichaelBullo]

@@tadwer Could the problem be that whatever program you are viewing the file with is stretching the video during playback? Have you checked the actual dimensions of the video? Review the properties of the file and see if the width and height (in pixels) are what you were trying to export out from HandBrake or something else entirely.
Can you explain more what you mean by "it gets rotated to the left". Sounds crazy indeed.

[@pctals2751]

I have a video i want to convert thats sized 1920x1080, but the thing is even if I’ve done that method, I can’t change the width for 1080, it keeps converting back to 864. I followed all the steps too, what do I do??

[@MichaelBullo]

Have you definitely changed the Cropping option from Automatic to Custom? Are you having other problems with HandBrake in general? Perhaps try downloading another version. If you try a newer version, keep in mind that the settings I demo in this movie are located in a different place within the interface. Refer to my Pinned comment for where to find them.

[@pctals2751]

@@MichaelBullo it converts the file into an audio file even when I chose the option MP4

[@MichaelBullo]

@@pctals2751 Oh wow. Is HandBrake defaulting to some Preset? Not knowing what version you are running, have a look around and look for a Preset section or dropdown menu.

[@mielalol5247]

@@MichaelBullo hi there i have the exact same problem but it wont let me put the height to 1920, how can i fix this? i followed all the steps and it wont let me

[@MichaelBullo]

@@mielalol5247 Are you trying to distort the video? Next to the Width and Height options is a value called "Keep Aspect Ratio".

[@robynb6818]

THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. It's kind of an odd default behaviour isn't it.

[@robynb6818]

@@MichaelBullo yes i wish it didn’t do that😭

[@samrarashid123]

Which version of handbrake is this?

[@MichaelBullo]

I believe the video was recorded using version 0.10.5.

[@marco00023]

Thanks a lot, i thought there's something wrong with my video lol

[@MichaelBullo]

I know exactly how you feel. Cheers.

[@aestheticmaddie1970]

TY TY TY TY TY TY TY TY TY

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you :)

[@nad4249]

thank you so much omg T.T

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Happy to help :)

[@sakusanrio]

I LOVE U THANK U OMG

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Appreciate it.

[@taleenxhoney45]

I cant find the picture setting can you help?

[@MichaelBullo]

Have a look at my pinned comment. You may be using a newer version of HandBrake.

[@nasmcuu]

can u show a tut to do this on windows version?

[@MichaelBullo]

Can you find the Dimensions section? If so, set the Cropping option to None.