How to convert a horizontal video to vertical
- Choose the landscape video above. MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM and MKV open if your browser can decode the picture.
- Under Method, pick "Crop a 9:16 window (fills the screen)" or "Fit the whole picture with a background".
- For a crop, drag the 9:16 box over your subject, and tick "Scale to 1080×1920" if you want standard full HD vertical dimensions. For a fit, choose the background: a blurred copy of the video, black or white.
- Press "Make it vertical" and keep the tab open until the progress bar completes.
- Download the MP4 and watch it on a phone before you post it.
Crop or fit: what each method gives you
A 16:9 frame is more than three times as wide as a 9:16 frame of the same height, so something has to give. The two methods make opposite trade-offs:
- Crop a 9:16 window
- fills the whole phone screen but keeps only about a third of the width. From a 1920×1080 video the window is about 608×1080.
- Fit with a background
- keeps every part of the picture, shown as a band of about 1080×608 across the middle of a 1080×1920 canvas, with background above and below.
Crop suits one person talking to the camera, a single product on a table, or any shot where the action sits in one area. Fit suits wide shots, two people side by side, slides and anything where cutting the sides would remove information the viewer needs.
The blurred background is made from the video itself: each frame is enlarged to fill the canvas, heavily blurred and slightly darkened, then the sharp picture is placed on top. Because it is built from the same frame, the background moves and changes colour with the video. Black or white bars are plainer and suit a brand look or a clip that will sit on a page of the same colour.
The 1080×1920 numbers
Fit mode always produces 1080×1920. Crop mode keeps the window at its native pixel size unless you tick "Scale to 1080×1920":
- 1920×1080 source, crop
- about 608×1080, or 1080×1920 when scaled up
- 3840×2160 (4K) source, crop
- about 1216×2160, or 1080×1920 when scaled down
- Any 16:9 source, fit
- 1080×1920, picture band about 1080×608
Scaling a 608-pixel-wide window up to 1080 changes the pixel count, not the detail; it can look soft on a large phone. Starting from 4K footage gives a crop that is sharp at 1080×1920, because the window already has more pixels than the target.
Choosing where the window sits
The 9:16 window stays in one place for the entire clip. There is no automatic reframing, no face tracking and no keyframed pan. Before you convert, scrub through the preview and place the window where your subject spends most of the time. If the subject moves between two positions, trim the video into sections, convert each with its own window, and join the parts in your phone or desktop editor.
Examples
A 1920×1080 two-shot with a host at each end. A crop would show only one of them, so fit it on a blurred background and place the captions in the lower band.
The speaker sits in the centre of the frame for the whole video. Crop a 9:16 window over the speaker and tick "Scale to 1080×1920".
A 3840×2160 shot of a street performer. The cropped window is about 1216×2160, so scaling it to 1080×1920 keeps it sharp.
Settings are changed in one panel on the left of the screen. Crop the window over that panel so the text stays readable; a fit would shrink the whole 1920-pixel width to 1080.
Limits
- One fixed window per conversion, as described above.
- Every frame is decoded and encoded again, so speed depends on your device and the clip's length. Encoding needs WebCodecs video encoding: a current Chrome or Edge, Safari 16.4 or later, or Firefox 130 or later on a computer.
- The result is always an MP4; the sound is copied as it was when MP4 can hold it.
- This tool changes the frame, not the orientation flag. A phone video that plays sideways needs to be rotated, not converted.
- For a 4:5 or square version, use resize video to fit the whole frame or crop video to choose any shape.
More free tools
- Crop Video Online
- Resize Video to a New Size or Shape
- Resize Video for Instagram Reels, Stories and Feed
- Change Video Resolution: 4K to 1080p, 1080p to 720p
- Rotate Video 90° or 180°, or Flip It
- Mute a Video: Remove the Sound Track
- Trim Video Online: Fast Copy or Frame-Exact Cut
- Change Video Frame Rate (60fps to 30fps and More)
- Speed Up or Slow Down a Video
- Blur Part of a Video
- Add Audio to Video: Replace the Soundtrack
Turn the file into text
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Frequently asked questions
Where does the blurred background come from?
It is the same video, enlarged to fill the 9:16 canvas, blurred and darkened slightly. It moves with the picture, so it never looks like a frozen still.
Can the vertical window follow the speaker automatically?
No. The window stays where you put it for the whole clip. For a subject that moves, split the video and convert each part with its own window position.
What resolution is the vertical video?
The fit method always gives 1080×1920. The crop method keeps the window's native size, about 608×1080 from a 1080p source, unless you tick the option to scale it to 1080×1920.
Should I crop or use a blurred background for a two-person podcast?
A crop keeps only about a third of the width, so it usually shows one person. Fitting on a blurred background keeps both, at the cost of a smaller picture.
Can I turn a vertical video into a horizontal one?
Yes, with the resize tool: choose a 16:9 size such as 1920×1080 and fit the picture inside with a blurred, black or white background.
Is the original sound kept when I make a video vertical?
Yes. The picture is re-encoded but the soundtrack is copied as it was whenever the MP4 format can hold it.