Resize Videos for TikTok & Instagram Reels (9:16 Aspect Ratio)

The Rise of Vertical Video: Why 9:16 Matters

TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight have one thing in common: they're designed for vertical video. The 9:16 aspect ratio fills the entire smartphone screen, creating an immersive, distraction‑free viewing experience. If you upload a landscape (16:9) video to these platforms, it will appear with distracting black bars on the sides, reducing engagement and professionalism.

Our Video Cropper lets you visually select the exact region you want to keep, cropping any video to 9:16, 1:1, or any custom aspect ratio—all within your browser, with no uploads and no watermarks.

Why Cropping Beats Resizing

Simply resizing a landscape video to fit a vertical frame would squeeze the image, distorting everything. Cropping, on the other hand, preserves the original proportions of the selected area. You choose which part of the frame stays visible, ensuring the most important content remains centered.

Key advantages of cropping for social media:

• No distortion – The cropped region keeps its original shape.
• Full control – Drag the cropping rectangle to highlight the subject exactly as you want.
• Instant preview – See how the final video will look before processing.

Step‑by‑Step: Crop a Video for TikTok in Under a Minute

1. Upload your video – Any format, any size. The file stays on your device.
2. Choose 9:16 aspect ratio – Select the preset or manually adjust the cropping rectangle.
3. Position the crop – Drag the rectangle to focus on the most important part of the scene.
4. Crop and download – Click "Crop Video". The tool processes locally and delivers a perfectly sized vertical video ready for TikTok or Reels.

Pro Tips for Engaging Vertical Videos

• Keep key elements centered – Place faces, text, and action in the middle third to avoid being cut off on different devices.
• Use the rule of thirds – Align important subjects along the grid lines for a more dynamic composition.
• Check platform‑specific guidelines – TikTok prefers 1080×1920 (9:16) at 30–60 fps; Instagram Reels supports the same ratio.

What About Other Aspect Ratios?

Our cropper isn't limited to 9:16. You can also create:

• 1:1 – Perfect for Instagram feed posts.
• 16:9 – Standard landscape for YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
• 4:5 – Instagram portrait posts.
• Custom ratios – Enter any width/height ratio you need.

Ready to Crop Your Videos for Vertical Platforms?

Don't let awkward black bars hurt your social media presence. Use our free, privacy‑focused Video Cropper to transform any video into a platform‑perfect vertical clip in seconds.

For more tips on video optimization, check out our blog or try our other tools for compression, trimming, and audio removal.