How to make a horizontal video vertical
Landscape clips look tiny on TikTok, Reels and Shorts, with black bars above and below. Turning them into a full-screen 9:16 video makes them feel native to the feed. This page opens the resize tool with 9:16 already chosen: crop to the action or keep the whole shot on a blurred background, then download a 1080 × 1920 video. It all happens in your browser.
- 1
Add your landscape video
Drop in a horizontal MP4, MOV or WebM video up to 10 minutes long. 9:16 is already selected.
- 2
Crop to the action, or keep it all
With Crop to fill, slide the box across the frame to keep your subject in view. With Fit on blurred background, the whole picture stays visible in the middle, with a soft blurred copy filling the top and bottom.
- 3
Make it vertical
Press Resize video. A 10-minute 1080p clip takes a couple of minutes on a recent laptop; short clips take seconds.
- 4
Download and post
Your vertical video is 1080 × 1920 when the original is 1080p or larger. Open it in Auto Captions straight from the result if you want captions too.
Which method suits your clip
A horizontal 16:9 frame is more than three times as wide as the 9:16 slice that fits a phone screen, so choosing what to keep matters.
- One person talking, a product, a pet: crop. Slide the box to center the subject; the result fills the screen.
- Two people side by side, a landscape, a game or screen recording, slides: use the blurred background. Cropping would cut someone or something important out.
- Text across the full width (titles, lower thirds): blurred background, so the text isn’t chopped.
The crop position applies to the whole video. If your subject moves from one side to the other, the blurred background is the safer choice.
Will it look sharp?
A vertical crop of a 1920 × 1080 landscape video is only 608 pixels wide, so filling a 1080 × 1920 frame means enlarging it about 1.8 times. It still looks fine on a phone, but softer than footage shot vertically. Starting from 4K footage avoids that. With the blurred background, the main picture isn’t enlarged at all.
The output is H.264 MP4 at a high bitrate, which TikTok, Instagram and YouTube all accept, and the original sound is copied whenever possible.
Before you post
Watch the vertical version once on your phone before posting. Check that faces and products stay inside the frame for the whole clip, and that nothing important sits in the bottom fifth or along the right edge, where TikTok, Reels and Shorts place their buttons and descriptions.
If the video will get captions, add them after making it vertical, not before: captions burned into a landscape video would be cropped along with the picture.
Then add captions
Vertical video and captions go together: most people watch with the sound off. After resizing, open the result straight in Auto Captions and turn on the safe-area guide to keep captions clear of the app’s buttons. Our guide to vertical video also covers doing this with the built-in apps on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac.
Need a square or 4:5 post instead? The full Resize for Social tool has every shape.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a video vertical without cutting anything off?
Choose Fit on blurred background. The whole picture stays visible in the middle, and a blurred copy fills the space above and below.
What resolution will my vertical video be?
1080 × 1920 pixels when the original is 1080p or larger, which is what TikTok, Reels and Shorts recommend. Smaller originals are not enlarged beyond their own short side.
Can I move the crop as the video plays?
Not yet. The crop position is the same for the whole video. If your subject moves around, use the blurred background so nothing is cut off.
Is it free?
Yes, with no watermark and no sign-up.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes, in a recent browser, for short clips. Longer videos are faster and more reliable on a laptop or desktop because the work happens on your device.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The video is reshaped in your browser and saved to your device. Nothing leaves it.