Turning Landscape Video Into Vertical for Reels, Shorts and TikTok
Going from 16:9 to 9:16 throws away two-thirds of your width. Which part to keep, where the interface covers your frame, and the specs each platform wants.
Updated August 11, 20265 min read
The maths of this conversion is brutal and worth internalising before you start. A 1920 × 1080 frame reframed to 9:16 keeps a 608-pixel-wide slice — you are discarding about 68% of the width. Whatever was at the edges is gone. That is not a tool limitation; it is what changing the shape of a rectangle means. Everything useful about doing this well comes from deciding deliberately which third to keep.
The specs, briefly
| Platform | Size | Max length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | 3 minutes (longer uploads reach mostly followers) | Under 90s tends to travel further |
| YouTube Shorts | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | 3 minutes | Accepts up to 4K; player targets 1080p |
| TikTok | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | 10 minutes in-app, 60 uploaded | MP4, H.264 + AAC |
| Facebook Reels | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | No limit (every video is a Reel since 2025) | Same asset as Instagram |
One size fits all four: 1080 × 1920, MP4, H.264 video with AAC audio, 30 or 60fps. Export once, post everywhere. Uploading 4K to Shorts is permitted but buys little, since the player is optimised for 1080p and the file takes far longer to upload and process.
The interface covers your frame
Every vertical platform draws its own controls over your video. The top carries the profile row and any promotional banner; the bottom carries the caption, the audio attribution and the progress bar; the right edge carries the like, comment, share and follow buttons.
Meta's guidance for Reels is to keep text and key elements out of the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% at each side — on a 1080 × 1920 frame, a box of roughly 950 × 980 pixels that sits above the centre. TikTok's overlays are comparable. Treat the top and bottom bands, and a strip down the right edge, as decoration only.
Choosing what to keep
A centre crop is the default and it is frequently wrong. Interview footage usually places the subject off-centre; product shots put the item to one side; anything shot with headroom for a lower-third has its subject low in the frame. Accepting the centre by default is how you end up with a vertical video of somebody's shoulder.
- Single subject off-centre — shift the crop window onto them. The aspect ratio tool lets you pin the window left, centre or right (or to a corner) instead of defaulting to the middle, and zoom in to tighten it.
- Two people talking — a static crop cannot hold both. Either cut between two differently-cropped versions, or accept a wider crop with bars.
- Text or graphics in the original — they will be cut. Re-add them after reframing, positioned for the vertical frame.
- Action moving across frame — a fixed crop loses the subject. Cut the clip into sections and crop each to follow the action.
Blurred bars, and when they are acceptable
The alternative to cropping is to fit the whole landscape frame into the middle of a 9:16 canvas and fill the space above and below — usually with a blurred, enlarged copy of the video itself. Nothing is lost from the frame.
It is a reasonable choice when the composition genuinely cannot be cropped: a wide landscape, a stage performance, a screen recording where the whole width carries information. It is a poor default, because the actual picture ends up occupying about a third of the screen on a device where full-bleed is the norm, and it reads as repurposed rather than made for the platform.
The honest guidance: crop when you can, pad when you must, and if you are padding most of your content, shoot vertical instead.
Pin the vertical window left, centre or right rather than accepting a centre crop, and zoom in to tighten it. Runs on your device, not our servers.
Reframe to verticalThe workflow
Trim to the strongest section first
Vertical formats reward brevity, and every later step is faster on a shorter clip. Cut with the video cutter before reframing.
Reframe to 9:16, choosing the window
Pin the crop to the side your subject is on (left, centre or right) and zoom in if it needs tightening. Play it through — a crop that works in the first shot may abandon the subject in the third.
Add captions inside the safe area
Most vertical video is watched muted. Captions are not optional, and they belong in the middle band, not the bottom.
Export at 1080 × 1920 and post the same file everywhere
One export covers Reels, Shorts, TikTok and Facebook. Do not pre-compress hard — every platform re-encodes, and giving it a clean source produces a better result. In our aspect ratio tool, free exports stop at 720 pixels on the long edge (404 × 720 for 9:16) and Pro goes up to 2160; the tool never enlarges, so a crop from a 1080p landscape clip comes out at 608 × 1080.
One habit that pays off if you do this regularly: when shooting landscape you know will be repurposed, frame the subject with deliberate space around them and keep essential action away from the edges. A vertical crop from generous framing is a crop; from tight framing it is a compromise.
Frequently asked questions
What size should a Reels or Shorts video be?
1080 × 1920 pixels at 9:16, as an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, at 30 or 60fps. The same file works for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Facebook Reels, so you only need to export once.
How do I convert a landscape video to vertical?
Reframe it to 9:16 and choose where the crop window sits rather than accepting the centre. Going from 16:9 keeps only about a third of the width, so positioning the window over your subject is the whole job — a default centre crop often misses them entirely.
Where do the platform buttons cover my video?
The top carries the profile row, the bottom the caption and progress bar, and the right edge the like, comment and share buttons. Meta's guidance for Reels is to keep text out of the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% at each side — about 950 × 980 pixels on a 1080 × 1920 frame, sitting above the centre — and the other platforms are comparable, so keep anything essential inside that box.
Should I use blurred bars instead of cropping?
Only when the composition genuinely cannot be cropped — a wide landscape, a stage shot, a screen recording. Padding leaves your actual picture filling about a third of the screen, which reads as repurposed. Crop when you can; if you are padding most of your content, shoot vertical.