Clipping Features
“Clipping” extracts features within the bounds of a polygon layer, maintaining the attributes of the input (clipped) layer. In effect, the Clip tool acts as a cookie cutter.
Included in this tutorial:
Accessing and running the Clip tool
Comparing the Clip and Pairwise Clip tools
Software version in examples: ArcGIS Pro 2.8.2
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: L. Meisterlin with Moses Levich, Thiago Lee and Erik Strand (2021); updated L. Meisterlin (2025)
Related: This tutorial demonstrates using the Clip tool for vector features. A related tool, designed for raster datasets is the Extract by Mask tool. For more, see Extracting Rasters with a Vector Mask Layer.
the Clip Tool
Accessing the tool
In ArcToolbox, find the Clip tool under Analysis Tools > Extract > Clip. Alternatively, you can locate the tool by using the Geoprocessing pane's search function.
Running the Clip tool
Here is a brief description of the Clip tool's inputs:
Input Features or Dataset: Specify the dataset containing the input features from which to cut pieces. The attributes of these features will be preserved in the output.
Clip Features: Specify the dataset containing the clip features, which will be used to cut the input features.
Output Features or Dataset: Specify a filename and output location.
performing a clip
Note that the outputs of the Clip tool include the unchanged attributes of the clipped features.
the Pairwise Clip Tool
Pairwise Clip parameters are identical to the Clip tool’s parameters.
As an alternative, the Pairwise Clip tool offers the same parameters and functionality with parallel processing by default. That said, parallel processing is available with the standard Clip tool via its Parallel Processing Factor option under the Environment parameters.