How to make a video vertical for Reels and Shorts

Reels, Shorts and TikTok use a tall 9:16 shape. If your video is wide, you can crop it to fit the screen of a phone held upright.

Open Crop Video: free, no upload

Step by step

  1. Open the Crop Video to 9:16 tool and choose your video.
  2. Check that the Aspect ratio is set to 9:16.
  3. Press Start and wait for the new video.
  4. Press Download and upload the vertical video to your app.

How the crop works

The crop is taken from the centre of the video. Anything outside that centre strip is cut off, so make sure your subject is in the middle of the frame before you start. If it is not, the wrong part of the picture will remain.

Planning for vertical

If you can, film vertically from the start. Keep faces and key text in the middle, and leave margins at the top and bottom, because apps place buttons and captions over the video.

Tips

  • Check where your subject is before cropping. Only the centre is kept.
  • Keep important text away from the edges.
  • If your video is already vertical, you do not need to crop it.

Questions

What size is a vertical video?

9:16 is the shape, for example 1080 by 1920 pixels.

Can I choose which part is kept?

No. The tool always keeps the centre, so frame your video accordingly.

Is my video uploaded?

No. Cropping runs in your browser, on your device.

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