Convert a horizontal video to vertical (9:16)
TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts expect vertical videos in 9:16 format. Three methods let you adapt a horizontal video: crop the center, place it over a blurred background, or add black bars.
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The lower the number, the better the picture and the larger the file.
How to use it
- Install ffmpeg if you haven't already.
- Open a terminal in the folder containing your file.
- Copy the generated command, adjust the file names if needed, then run it.
- Open the resulting file to check the result.
How the blurred background works
The video is duplicated: one copy is enlarged to fill the whole vertical frame, cropped, then blurred to serve as the background. The other copy is scaled down to the width of the frame and placed in the center. The result keeps the entire picture, without black bars.
Trim before converting
Short-form formats rarely go beyond a minute. Trim the part you need first to save processing time.
Trim a video without re-encoding
Frequently asked questions
Which method should I choose?
Cropping fills the screen but cuts off the sides: ideal when the subject is in the center. The blurred background keeps the whole picture with a polished look, widely used on social networks. Black bars are the simplest and lightest solution.
The subject isn't in the center. How do I crop somewhere else?
The crop takes the center of the picture. To shift the area, add a horizontal position to the crop filter, for example "crop=trunc(ih*9/16/2)*2:ih:0:0" to keep the left part.
Do social networks re-compress the video?
Yes, always. Uploading a good-quality 1080 × 1920 video (CRF 18 to 20) limits the loss caused by that second compression.