Clip raster

Draft: written, not yet checked by a person Operation · clip-raster

Cuts a raster to a polygon mask or a bounding box.

Pitfall. Cells outside the mask become nodata; a raster without a nodata value turns them into real zeros.

About this operation
Also called	Clip Raster, Extract by Mask, Clip raster by mask layer, Clip raster by extent
Group	`raster/extraction`
Checks	`crs.agreement, raster.nodata`
Pitfalls	1 listed above
Columbus tool	`raster_op · clip`
Notes	Not stated
Status	active
Broader	Not stated
Narrower	Not stated
Related	`clip`

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Default	Values	Note
`bbox`	extent	no	Not stated	Not stated	Used when there is no mask.
`bbox_crs`	crs	no	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
`all_touched`	boolean	no	Not stated	Not stated	Keep every cell the mask touches, not only cells whose centre is inside.

Inputs and outputs

Direction	Name	Type	Geometry	Note
Input	`raster`	raster	Not stated	Not stated
Input	`mask`	vector	polygon	Optional; a bbox can be given instead.
Output	`output`	raster	Not stated	Not stated

In each engine

Engine	Tool	Parameters	Differences
`gdal`	`gdal raster clip`	`bbox` → `bbox` `bbox_crs` → `bbox-crs` `raster` → `input` `mask` → `like` `output` → `output`	None noted
`postgis-raster`	`st_clip`	`bbox` Pass the box as a geometry (ST_MakeEnvelope). `all_touched` → `touched` `raster` → `rast` `mask` → `geom`	None noted
`qgis`	`gdal:cliprasterbymasklayer`	`raster` → `INPUT` `mask` → `MASK` `output` → `OUTPUT`	Runs GDAL's warp underneath; CROP_TO_CUTLINE (on by default) shrinks the output to the mask's extent.
`rasterio`	`rasterio.mask.mask`	`bbox` Pass the box as a polygon in shapes. `all_touched` → `all_touched` `raster` → `dataset` `mask` → `shapes`	Takes an open dataset and GeoJSON-like shapes in the raster's CRS; returns an array and its transform rather than writing a file. Without crop = True the result keeps the full extent, with cells outside the shapes set to nodata. Preset: `{"crop":true}`
`rioxarray`	`rioxarray.raster_array.RasterArray.clip`	`bbox` Use clip_box(minx, miny, maxx, maxy, crs=...) for a box. `all_touched` → `all_touched` `mask` → `geometries`	Called through the .rio accessor of a DataArray (da.rio.clip); crs gives the geometries' CRS when it differs from the raster's.
`terra`	`terra::crop`	`bbox` Pass the box as a SpatExtent (ext(xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)) in y. `all_touched` → `touches` `raster` → `x` `mask` → `y`	touches defaults to TRUE (cells touched by the mask are kept); Columbus and GDAL default to cell centres. Without mask = TRUE, crop only cuts to the mask's extent. Preset: `{"mask":true}`
`whiteboxtools`	`ClipRasterToPolygon`	`raster` → `input` `mask` → `polygons` `output` → `output`	None noted

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