---
title: "Crop video to 9:16 for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts · Cutshed"
description: "9:16 is a vertical frame, 1080 by 1920 at full HD. Crop it free in the browser. The window is centered and the file is not uploaded."
canonical: "https://cutshed.com/blog/how-to-crop-video-to-9-16/"
---

# Crop video to 9:16 for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts · Cutshed

9:16 is a vertical frame, 1080 by 1920 at full HD. Crop it free in the browser. The window is centered and the file is not uploaded.

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How to
# How to crop a video to 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Published October 28, 2026 .
A 9:16 frame is nine units wide and sixteen tall. At a width of 1080 the even height is 1920. Crop it free in the browser on Crop and resize: the frame menu opens on 1:1, so choose 9:16 vertical, pick 1080, and download an MP4. The file is not uploaded. The window stays centered.
9:16 is the tall ratio a phone fills when you hold it upright. Width divided by height is 9/16. A 1080-wide export from this crop is 1080 by 1920. A 720-wide export is 720 by 1280. Those are the two sizes most people post. The page also offers 480 by 854 and 320 by 570, because the height is rounded to an even pixel so H.264 will accept the frame.
The job runs in Crop and resize . Drop a clip you already have. Nothing is sent to a server. The menu opens on 1:1, so a square is what you get until you switch it.
## Steps
- Open Crop and resize Go to Crop and resize and drop an MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, or M4V. The page accepts a video file up to 3 minutes or 200 MB. A longer master belongs in an editor. This page is for the clip you are about to post.
- Choose 9:16 vertical The frame menu opens on 1:1 square. Change it to 9:16 vertical before you crop. 16:9 wide is the third option. It is a centered wide window, and a vertical source loses the top and bottom. It is not a Shorts frame.
- Pick a width The widths are 320, 480, 720, and 1080. Height follows 9:16 and is forced to an even count. That is 320 by 570, 480 by 854, 720 by 1280, and 1080 by 1920. 720 is enough for a phone story. 1080 is the full-HD vertical frame.
- Check that the subject is centered There is no handle to drag. The filter takes the largest 9:16 window that fits inside the source and keeps the middle. A face at the left or right edge of a horizontal clip leaves the frame. If the subject is off center, crop a different take or reframe in an editor that has a position control.
- Download the MP4 Click Crop video. ffmpeg.wasm runs in the tab. The download is a new MP4: H.264, ultrafast, yuv420p, with AAC audio at 128 kbps. The file you dropped is unchanged. The result plays on the page after the job finishes. There is no crop box to drag before you run it.
## What to keep in the frame
A centered crop keeps whatever sits in the middle of the source. On a talking-head clip, that is usually the face, and the sides of the room go. On a two-shot, one person is often cut off. Square is the less surprising crop when both people sit near the center. 9:16 is the one that fills a phone.
TikTok, Reels, and Shorts draw their own buttons and captions over the picture. This page does not publish their overlay sizes, and those sizes change. Keep the subject near the middle, and leave a margin inside the 9:16 frame for type you add later. Do not park a face on the extreme top or bottom if you plan to burn captions there.
Stream Clipper is the other 9:16 path when the source is a VOD. It can center-crop, or you can drag a box around a face and stack that region on top. That box stays inside the frame. The export is 720 by 1280. Crop and resize cannot follow a face.
## Crop, pad, and scale
A crop throws pixels away until the ratio matches, then this page scales that window to the width you picked. A horizontal 16:9 clip loses the left and right. A source that is already taller than 9:16 loses the top and bottom instead. The whole picture is not squeezed.
Padding, or letterboxing, keeps every pixel and adds bars until the frame is 9:16. Crop and resize does not add bars. The timeline editor does: the aspect you pick, including 9:16, is letterboxed on the background colour. Use that when the whole wide shot has to stay visible.
Scale by itself changes the pixel size and keeps the source ratio. A 1920 by 1080 frame scaled down is still 16:9. It does not become a vertical video. The crop has to happen first. This page does both, in that order, in one download.
## Do this part in Cutshed
- Crop and resize Center-crops one clip to 9:16, 1:1, or 16:9 and scales the width to 320, 480, 720, or 1080. The file stays on this device.
- Video trimmer Cuts a start and end time and re-encodes an MP4 so the first frame is the time you typed. Same 3 minute and 200 MB limit. The source file is not edited in place.
- Video compressor Re-encodes toward a size you pick, on this device. Cropping does not shrink the bitrate by itself, so compress after the crop if the MP4 is still too large.
- Subtitles Writes an SRT or VTT from the words in the browser. The media stays on this device.
- Week of Shorts Plans 7 to 14 vertical clips, a calendar, titles, hooks, hashtags, a ZIP, and a CSV from one VOD. Planning from the sound is free. Looking at the picture spends credits.
- Stream Clipper Scores loudness in the browser and exports 720 by 1280 clips, center-cropped or with a facecam stack. It does not fetch a stream URL. Credits apply only when vision scoring is on.
## FAQ
- How do I crop a video to 9:16?
Open Crop and resize, switch the frame menu from 1:1 to 9:16 vertical, pick a width, and click Crop video. At 1080 the frame is 1080 by 1920. At 720 it is 720 by 1280. The download is an MP4 and the file is not uploaded.
- Can I drag the 9:16 window?
No. The window is the largest 9:16 area that fits, and it stays centered. A subject at the edge of a horizontal frame is cut off. An editor with a position control is the way to slide that window.
- What size is a 9:16 video?
Nine wide by sixteen tall. This page exports 320 by 570, 480 by 854, 720 by 1280, or 1080 by 1920. 720 and 1080 divide evenly. 320 and 480 are rounded up to the next even pixel so H.264 accepts the frame.
- Is the video uploaded when I crop it?
No. ffmpeg.wasm runs in the tab. The limit is 3 minutes or 200 MB. The result is a new MP4. The file you dropped is unchanged.
- What is the difference between a crop and letterboxing?
A crop cuts pixels away until the ratio is 9:16, then scales. Letterboxing keeps the whole frame and adds bars. Crop and resize crops. The timeline editor letterboxes onto a background colour when the export aspect is 9:16.
Files stay on this device.
Free tools never upload the file you open. Studio is the only paid part of the site, and the only place a prompt is sent to a video model.

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