diff --git a/src/clip.cpp b/src/clip.cpp
index c6b1231..4e5d5af 100644
--- a/src/clip.cpp
+++ b/src/clip.cpp
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ static std::unique_ptr<PipelineManager> pipeline(ParallelJobInfo *tile, const pd
         else
         {
             // Reader can't do the filtering - do it with a filter
-            last = &manager->makeFilter( "filters.crop", *last, filter_opts);
+            last = &manager->makeFilter("filters.crop", *last, filter_opts);
         }
     }
     if (!tile->filterExpression.empty())
@@ -162,6 +162,25 @@ void Clip::preparePipelines(std::vector<std::unique_ptr<PipelineManager>>& pipel
     if (!loadPolygons(polygonFile, crop_opts, bbox))
         return;
 
+    // equal combinedBox to the polygon bounds
+    // it is never necessary to read more from the input than this
+    BOX2D combinedBox = BOX2D(bbox);
+
+    // if filterBounds is set, combine it with the polygon bounds
+    if (!filterBounds.empty()) {
+       BOX2D filterBoundsBox;
+       std::string::size_type pos = 0;
+       filterBoundsBox.parse(filterBounds, pos);
+
+       // combinedBox is the intersection of the polygon bounds and the filter bounds
+       combinedBox.clip(filterBoundsBox);
+    }
+
+    if (!combinedBox.valid()) {
+      std::cerr << "clip bounds are empty or polygon and filter bounds do not overlap" << std::endl;
+      return;
+    }
+
     if (isVpcFilename(inputFile))
     {
         // for /tmp/hello.vpc we will use /tmp/hello dir for all results
@@ -187,7 +206,7 @@ void Clip::preparePipelines(std::vector<std::unique_ptr<PipelineManager>>& pipel
               std::cout << "using " << f.filename << std::endl;
             }
 
-            ParallelJobInfo tile(ParallelJobInfo::FileBased, BOX2D(), filterExpression, filterBounds);
+            ParallelJobInfo tile(ParallelJobInfo::FileBased, BOX2D(), filterExpression, box_to_pdal_bounds(combinedBox));
             tile.inputFilenames.push_back(f.filename);
 
             tile.outputFilename = tileOutputFileName(outputFile, outputFormatVpc, outputSubdir, f.filename);
@@ -203,7 +222,7 @@ void Clip::preparePipelines(std::vector<std::unique_ptr<PipelineManager>>& pipel
         {
             isStreaming = false;
         }
-        ParallelJobInfo tile(ParallelJobInfo::Single, BOX2D(), filterExpression, filterBounds);
+        ParallelJobInfo tile(ParallelJobInfo::Single, BOX2D(), filterExpression, box_to_pdal_bounds(combinedBox));
         tile.inputFilenames.push_back(inputFile);
         tile.outputFilename = outputFile;
         pipelines.push_back(pipeline(&tile, crop_opts));
diff --git a/tests/test_clip.py b/tests/test_clip.py
index 95fa8df..8e78f04 100644
--- a/tests/test_clip.py
+++ b/tests/test_clip.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def test_input_file_output_file(
         (utils.test_data_filepath("data_copc.vpc"), utils.test_data_filepath("clipped-vpc-copc-files.copc.laz"), 66911),
         (utils.test_data_filepath("data_copc.vpz"), utils.test_data_filepath("clipped-vpz-copc-files.vpc"), 66911),
         (utils.test_data_filepath("data_copc.vpz"), utils.test_data_filepath("clipped-vpz-copc-files.copc.laz"), 66911),
-        ("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PDAL/wrench/refs/heads/fix-remote-vpc/tests/data/stadium.vpc", utils.test_data_filepath("clipped-vpz-copc-files.copc.laz"), 66905),
+        ("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PDAL/wrench/f4b156c5081dd9a1d44fccfdb67f2c36e91e3566/tests/data/stadium.vpc", utils.test_data_filepath("clipped-vpz-copc-files.copc.laz"), 66905),
     ],
 )
 def test_clip_vpc(