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How to turn a horizontal video into a Reel or TikTok

Reels, TikTok and Shorts are vertical, 9:16, so a landscape video shows with black bars or gets cut badly. Crop it to 9:16 yourself, framing the subject, then trim it to the part you want.

  1. 1Crop video
  2. 2Trim video
  3. 3Compress videoif needed
Start step 1: Crop video

Each step passes your file to the next, so you only add it once. Nothing is uploaded.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Crop to 9:16

    Choose 9:16 (Reels, TikTok) as the shape, then drag the frame so the subject sits in the middle.

    Open Crop video
  2. 2

    Trim it

    Keep the best few seconds. Short clips do better, and the first two seconds matter most.

    Open Trim video
  3. 3

    Make it smaller, if you need toIf needed

    The apps take large files, so this is only needed for sending the video in a chat or by email first.

    Open Compress video

Questions

What size should a Reel or TikTok be?

1080 × 1920 pixels (9:16). If your video is 1080p landscape, the 9:16 crop comes out about 608 × 1080, which the apps show full screen; it looks best when filmed at 4K.

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