Forum Discussion

Tantanai's avatar
Tantanai
Copper Contributor
Jul 21, 2026

How can I crop a mp4 video and cut a part of it in Windows?

Currently, I work with an MP4 video that needs two things done to it — first, cropping the frame to remove unwanted edges and black bars around the footage, and second, cutting out a specific section...
Skylarun's avatar
Skylarun
Tin Contributor
Jul 21, 2026

It’s a modern fork of the ancient VirtualDub, and the best part? It actually supports MP4 files out of the box. No conversions, no fuss.

Here’s the casual, step-by-step guide to getting it done.
Step 1: Grab VirtualDub2 

  • First, head over to the official VirtualDub2 page on GitHub (just search "VirtualDub2 GitHub").
  • Download the ZIP file (not the installer if you don't want one).
  • Extract it anywhere – your Desktop, Downloads folder, wherever. There’s no installation needed. Just double-click VirtualDub2.exe and you’re ready to crop an MP4 video in Windows 11 in about 30 seconds.

Step 2: Open Your MP4 File

  • Open VirtualDub2.
  • Go to File → Open and select your MP4 video.
  • Wait a second – it’ll load up and show you the first frame.

Step 3: The Actual Cropping Part
Here’s where the magic happens. To crop an MP4 video in Windows 11 using VirtualDub2:

  • Go to Video → Filters.
  • Click the Add button.
  • Scroll down the list and select Crop → click OK.
  • A little box pops up with four numbers: Left, Right, Top, Bottom.

 

Now, here’s the fun part – you can either:
Type in pixel values manually (e.g., crop 100 pixels from left, 100 from right, 50 from top, 50 from bottom).
Or, click the Preview button and literally drag the edges of the red box on your video to visually crop it. This is way easier if you're not a pixel-counting nerd.

Step 4: Save Your Cropped Video
Now, this is the most important part if you don't want to lose quality:

  • Go to Video → set it to Direct Stream Copy. This tells VirtualDub to not re-encode your video – it just saves the cropped version with zero quality loss.
  • Go to Audio → set it to Direct Stream Copy as well.

Honestly, if you just want to crop an MP4 video in Windows 11 quickly and don't care about the container format, saving as AVI with Direct Stream Copy is blazing fast and lossless. You can always convert the AVI to MP4 later using a free tool if you really need to.

Step 5: Done!
That’s it. You’ve successfully cropped your video. No ads, no paywalls, no "upgrade to Pro" nonsense.

If you want to crop an MP4 video in Windows 11 without installing heavy software or typing scary commands, VirtualDub2 is a fantastic, obscure little tool. It's not flashy, but it gets the job done fast, and the visual crop tool is a lifesaver.