Guide · 4 steps
How to crop a landscape video to vertical
You crop a landscape video to vertical by choosing the 9:16 strip that contains the subject and exporting at 1080×1920. Order matters: pick the shot first, place the box second, check the interface margins third, and export last.
Before touching the crop
Not every shot survives a 9:16 crop. A wide shot with three people loses two of them; a close-up gains. Spend thirty seconds deciding which shot is the protagonist: it saves half the work.
- One subject → clean crop, the easy case.
- Two separated subjects → decide who you follow, or split the clip into two segments.
- Wide shot with no clear subject → consider a blurred fill instead of cropping.
Pick the segment
Split the timeline where the shot changes. One crop per shot looks intentional; a pan that crosses from one face to another mid-sentence does not.
Place the box on the subject
The 9:16 box starts centred. Drag it until the face sits in the upper third: in vertical, the eyeline should fall above centre, not dead centre.
Zoom in if there is dead space
Pulling a corner inwards tightens the frame. On a medium shot, 1.2× to 1.5× is usually enough for the subject to fill the vertical without losing context.
Check margins and export
Leave the bottom strip and the right edge clear: that is where TikTok, Reels and Shorts put buttons and the caption. Then export at 1080×1920 and watch the first second.
Where to put the face
The rule of thirds works the same in vertical: the eyeline sits one third down from the top. If the subject looks to one side, leave air on that side. If the face touches the top edge, any later crop cuts it.
What to check before exporting
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| The face does not touch the edges | The platform interface covers the bottom and the right edge. |
| The cut does not land mid-word | A framing jump in the middle of a sentence reads as a mistake. |
| The first second is already vertical | That is the thumbnail people see in the feed. |
| Audio is still in sync | After splitting and speed changes, check the exported clip, not just the preview. |
When cropping is the wrong answer
If the value of the clip is in the whole frame —a landscape, a whiteboard, gameplay with HUD in the corners— cropping destroys exactly what you wanted to show. There a blurred fill or publishing horizontal on a platform that allows it is the better call.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a one-minute clip take to crop?
Framing takes seconds to a couple of minutes depending on how many shots it has. The export depends on the machine; on a recent laptop it usually runs under real time.
Do I have to crop every shot separately?
If the subject moves, yes: split on the timeline and place the box in each segment. Movement between two keyframes interpolates itself, so nothing has to be animated by hand.
Can I get the original framing back?
Yes. The crop is stored as project keyframes; it is not applied to the source file. You can reopen it and change the box without losing quality.
What if the video is already vertical?
Then there is no crop to make: just set the output to 1080×1920 and, at most, trim the edges. The tool works the same, but step 2 is unnecessary.