This post was written with AI help (Claude), from our own screenshots and screen recording of the RefVid studio; every step shows the real UI.

A phone screenshot of a product brings the status bar, the app's buttons and the price into your AI video. RefVid now lets you crop any reference photo before you generate: the video model sees the cropped photo, not the original, so the product stays clean and the same in every shot.

Here is the whole thing in a 3-minute video, then step by step with a screenshot each. Full written guide with the transcript: Crop product image for AI video.

1. Add the photo, or paste it

In the studio, click New element and add a product photo, or paste one with Cmd+V (Ctrl+V on Windows). When a photo has a phone screenshot's shape, RefVid says so and offers Crop.

New element with a phone screenshot of a perfume bottle and the "Looks like a phone screenshot" note

2. Point at a photo and click Crop

Crop sits in the middle of every photo tile when you point at it, not only the main one. The × that removes the photo stays in the corner.

The Crop button in the centre of the photo tile

3. Start from the whole photo

The crop dialog opens on Original, with the box around the whole photo. Drag the box to move it; on Original a corner resizes it freely.

The Crop photo dialog on Original with the shapes Original, 1:1, 9:16, 16:9, 3:4 and 4:3

4. Mind the yellow note

Pull an edge to trim one side. A crop longer than 2.5 : 1 gets a yellow note that it will be padded; under 300 px it can't be applied. Back in range, the note fades.

A thin crop with the yellow note "Too long: 3.3 : 1 — max 2.5 : 1, it will be padded"

5. Pick a shape and frame the product

Choose 1:1, 9:16, 16:9, 3:4 or 4:3 and the box glides to that shape. Drag it onto the product. In a shape, a corner keeps the ratio; an edge frees it and turns the shape off.

A square box around the perfume bottle, leaving out the status bar, the price and the buttons

6. Apply

The cropped photo fades into its tile. RefVid keeps the original.

The main photo tile now shows only the perfume bottle

7. Reopen or reset

Crop again starts from the original with your last crop on it; Reset to original brings the whole photo back. New element keeps the photos, the crop and your words across a page refresh.

The crop dialog reopened with Reset to original

8. The same in the home page box

In the box on the home page, point at the photo pile to spread it out. Each photo has Replace and Crop side by side.

Replace and Crop side by side on a photo in the home page box

Quick answers

Does cropping change the video's aspect ratio? No. A crop changes only the reference photo; you pick the video's shape separately in the settings.

Is the original lost? No. Reopening Crop starts from it, and Reset to original brings it back.

Which photos work best? One product, sharp and well lit, on a plain background; front, side and back views. More in how to shoot product reference photos.

Try it in the RefVid studio.