Clipping an image or raster in ArcGIS

There are many ways to clip out a part of an image or raster in ArcGIS. What you choose may depend on what you’re doing. For example, if you’re using ArcMap and have a graphic, you can use the Clip button on the Image Analysis window. Or if you want to clip something as part of an automated process you can write a script or model that uses the Clip tool.

To help you decide what to use, here are the different options and the results you will get.

Clipping Option	Remove Inside	Remove Outside
.  Data > Export Data (or Image Analysis window > Export)- Using Selected Graphics (clipping)		X
.  Data > Export Data (or Image Analysis window > Export)- Using Selected Graphics (clipping) + Clip Inside	X
.  Image Analysis window > Clip button		X
.  Image Analysis window > Mask button	X
.  Clip function (Inside)	X
.  Clip function (Outside).		X
.  Extract By Mask tool.		X
.  Clip tool (w Output Extent)		X* (envelope)
. Clip tool (w Output Extent + Selection Extent)		X

Written by: Melanie Harlow

About the author

Simon W

Simon is an Esri product engineer on the Raster team. He works mainly with Pixel Editor, raster visualization, georeferencing, and documentation.