Cropping an UIImage

Question

Update 2014-05-28: I wrote this when iOS 3 or so was the hot new thing, I'm certain there are better ways to do this by now, possibly built-in. As many people have mentioned, this method doesn't take rotation into account; read some additional answers and spread some upvote love around to keep the responses to this question helpful for everyone.

Original response:

I'm going to copy/paste my response to the same question elsewhere:

There isn't a simple class method to do this, but there is a function that you can use to get the desired results: CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(CGImageRef, CGRect) will help you out.

Here's a short example using it:

CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect([largeImage CGImage], cropRect);
// or use the UIImage wherever you like
[UIImageView setImage:[UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef]]; 
CGImageRelease(imageRef);

To crop retina images while keeping the same scale and orientation, use the following method in a UIImage category (iOS 4.0 and above):

- (UIImage *)crop:(CGRect)rect {
    if (self.scale > 1.0f) {
        rect = CGRectMake(rect.origin.x * self.scale,
                          rect.origin.y * self.scale,
                          rect.size.width * self.scale,
                          rect.size.height * self.scale);
    }

    CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(self.CGImage, rect);
    UIImage *result = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef scale:self.scale orientation:self.imageOrientation];
    CGImageRelease(imageRef);
    return result;
}

You can make a UIImage category and use it wherever you need. Based on HitScans response and comments bellow it.

@implementation UIImage (Crop)

- (UIImage *)crop:(CGRect)rect {

    rect = CGRectMake(rect.origin.x*self.scale, 
                      rect.origin.y*self.scale, 
                      rect.size.width*self.scale, 
                      rect.size.height*self.scale);       

    CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect([self CGImage], rect);
    UIImage *result = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef 
                                          scale:self.scale 
                                    orientation:self.imageOrientation]; 
    CGImageRelease(imageRef);
    return result;
}

@end

You can use it this way:

UIImage *imageToCrop = <yourImageToCrop>;
CGRect cropRect = <areaYouWantToCrop>;   

//for example
//CGRectMake(0, 40, 320, 100);

UIImage *croppedImage = [imageToCrop crop:cropRect];

Swift 3 version

func cropImage(imageToCrop:UIImage, toRect rect:CGRect) -> UIImage{
    
    let imageRef:CGImage = imageToCrop.cgImage!.cropping(to: rect)!
    let cropped:UIImage = UIImage(cgImage:imageRef)
    return cropped
}


let imageTop:UIImage  = UIImage(named:"one.jpg")! // add validation

with help of this bridge function CGRectMake -> CGRect (credits to this answer answered by @rob mayoff):

 func CGRectMake(_ x: CGFloat, _ y: CGFloat, _ width: CGFloat, _ height: CGFloat) -> CGRect {
    return CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: width, height: height)
}

The usage is:

if var image:UIImage  = UIImage(named:"one.jpg"){
   let  croppedImage = cropImage(imageToCrop: image, toRect: CGRectMake(
        image.size.width/4,
        0,
        image.size.width/2,
        image.size.height)
    )
}

Output: