After re-reading your post, I just noticed that you mentioned cropping as an option. If your files are avi or mpeg, you can use VirtualDub to edit them. Read the options carefully, there is a cropping filter that will allow you to edit your video output. VirtualDub is also a completely free download. (
http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/ ) It gives you more options re: compression for both video and audio. However, it is a bit more complicated than Freemake.