Convert video to vertical 9:16

1. 1Drop in an MP4, MOV or WebM video up to 1 GB.
2. 2Pick 9:16, 1:1 or 4:5. The frame starts in the middle of the picture.
3. 3Drag the frame over the person or the thing that matters. Zoom in to crop tighter, and move the slider under the preview to check the framing later in the video.
4. 4Select Convert. Your browser crops every frame and encodes an MP4, with the sound copied as it was.
5. 5Download the MP4, or open it in the studio to add captions.

Cropping a 16:9 video to 9:16 keeps a slice of the picture at full height and cuts away the sides, so the result fills a phone screen with no bars. From 1920 × 1080 footage that slice is 608 × 1080, about a third of the width.

The frame starts in the middle. When the person is off to one side, drag the frame onto them, then move the slider under the preview to a few points in the video. The frame keeps one position for the whole video, so someone who walks across the shot can leave it. Pick the spot that holds them for longest, or trim the video into parts and frame each one.

Zoom crops tighter, from 100% to 200%. A zoomed frame can move up and down as well as sideways, which helps when a face sits high in the shot.

A vertical video in another shape, such as 3:4 from some cameras, gets a full-width frame that moves up and down instead. Portrait clips from an iPhone are stored sideways with a note to turn them upright. The tool reads that note, so the preview and the crop match what your phone shows.

Trim a video into shorter parts

To resize a video for TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, use 9:16, the shape of a phone held upright. TikTok’s video ad specifications list 9:16 as the recommended vertical format, and Meta’s ads guide gives 9:16 for Reels.

YouTube treats a video as a Short when it is square or vertical and up to 3 minutes long, so 1:1 also works there.

For an Instagram feed post, use 4:5 or 1:1. Meta’s media requirements accept feed video from 1.91:1 wide to 4:5 tall and recommend 1:1. 4:5 is the tallest shape in that range, so it takes up more of the screen as people scroll.

• 9:16: TikTok, Reels and Shorts, up to 1080 × 1920
• 1:1: square feed posts, and Shorts, up to 1080 × 1080
• 4:5: tall feed posts on Instagram, up to 1080 × 1350

Adding bars, or a blurred copy of the video behind it, keeps the whole wide picture but shrinks it to a strip across the middle of the phone. The person on screen ends up a fraction of the size, with empty space above and below.

Cropping keeps the person at full height and fills the screen. You lose the sides of the shot, which is why you choose where the frame sits. When the sides matter, for example 2 people sitting apart, a crop loses one of them, and that video is better posted wide to YouTube.

This tool only crops. For bars or a blurred background, CapCut and most phone editors have a canvas or fit setting.

The MP4 keeps the crop’s own pixels and is never scaled up, because scaling up makes a bigger file with no more detail. A 9:16 crop from 1080p footage comes out at 608 × 1080, and at 200% zoom at 304 × 540.

A crop larger than the format’s full size, from 4K footage for example, is scaled down to it: 1080 × 1920 for 9:16, 1080 × 1080 for 1:1 and 1080 × 1350 for 4:5.

Your browser encodes the picture as H.264 at a high bitrate and copies the sound unchanged, so the voice the studio transcribes next is the one you recorded. Encoding needs Chrome, Edge or Safari. The tool checks your browser before you start and tells you if it cannot encode.

The MP4 is built in your browser’s memory before you download it. Long or 4K videos take a while, because the browser decodes and encodes every frame, so keep the tab open until it finishes.

• Check the start, the middle and the end with the slider before you convert, because the frame stays where you put it for the whole video.
• Leave room at the bottom of the frame for captions and the platform’s buttons. The safe zone checker shows where TikTok, Reels and Shorts put them.
• Zoom only as far as you need. A tight zoom on 1080p footage gives a small MP4 that looks soft on a large phone.
• Trim first when you only need part of a long video. A shorter video converts faster.
• HDR footage from an iPhone can look paler after conversion, because the MP4 is saved without HDR.

Check your clip in the safe zone checker

How do I convert a 16:9 video to 9:16?

Drop it into the tool at the top of this page, keep 9:16 selected and drag the frame over the part you want to keep. Select Convert, then download the MP4.

Is my video uploaded?

No. Your browser crops and encodes the video, so the file stays on your device. If you then caption it in the studio, only the audio track, about 1 MB a minute, goes to Groq for transcription, and it is not stored.

Can the crop follow the person as they move?

No. The frame stays in one place for the whole video, with no face tracking. If the person moves across the shot, trim the video into parts and crop each one, or pick the spot that holds them for longest.

Will the vertical video lose quality?

A little, as with any re-encode. The tool keeps the crop’s own pixels and never scales up, so a crop from 1080p footage comes out at 608 × 1080 rather than a blurred 1080 × 1920.

Which size should I use for Instagram?

9:16 for Reels. For a feed post, 4:5 takes up the most screen, and 1:1 is the shape Meta recommends for the feed.

Is there a watermark?

No. The MP4 has no logo on it, and the tool needs no account.

• TikTok: video ads specifications, checked October 11, 2026
• Meta ads guide: Instagram Reels video, checked October 11, 2026
• Meta for developers: Instagram media requirements, checked October 11, 2026
• YouTube Help: upload YouTube Shorts, checked October 11, 2026