How to make a video vertical (9:16)
Turn a wide video into a tall one for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and decide yourself what stays in the frame.
TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are all tall: 9:16, normally 1080 × 1920 pixels. Post a wide video and you get thick black bars, or the app crops the middle for you and cuts off what matters. Crop it yourself and you decide what stays in the frame.
How to make a video vertical
- Open the video cropper and choose your video.
- Pick the 9:16 shape.
- Drag the box over the part you want to keep while the video plays.
- Choose 1080p as the output size so it matches the apps, and press Save video.
When the subject moves around
A fixed crop works when the person or thing you film stays in one place. If they walk around, use long video to shorts instead: it reframes a wide video to tall and follows the person who is speaking.
Other shapes
| Where | Shape | Size |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok, Reels, Shorts, stories | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 |
| Instagram feed | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 |
| Square posts | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 |
| YouTube | 16:9 | 1920 × 1080 |
Tip: cropping a wide 1080p video to 9:16 keeps a strip about 600 pixels wide, which still looks fine on a phone. When you can, film tall from the start.
Related: add music to a photo and add subtitles to a video.
Questions
How do I turn a horizontal video into a vertical one?
Crop it to 9:16 with the video cropper, drag the box over the part you want, and save at 1080p.
What size is a TikTok or Reels video?
9:16, which is 1080 × 1920 pixels.
Can I keep the whole video without cropping?
Yes. In the video editor, set the format to 9:16 and set the clip’s Framing to the blurred option, so the wide video sits in the middle with a blurred copy filling the space behind it.