Turn a horizontal clip into a vertical 1080 by 1920 video. Choose a blurred background or a centre crop, pick the start and length, and download an MP4 ready for YouTube Shorts. Runs in your browser.
How to use
- Add your video. Drop a horizontal or square video. MP4, MOV and WebM files all work.
- Choose how to fill the frame. Blurred background keeps the whole picture and fills the empty space. Crop to fill zooms in so the picture fills the whole screen.
- Set the start and length. Trim to the part you want. Shorts can be up to 3 minutes, and the tool warns you if you go over.
- Create and download. Press the button. The result is a 1080 by 1920 MP4 with H.264 and AAC, ready to upload.
Features
Blur-fill or crop
Keep the full picture over a soft blurred copy of itself, or zoom in to fill the screen. You can move the crop left, centre or right.
Trim built in
Choose where to start and how long to run, and see the length compared with the 3 minute Shorts limit.
Two output sizes
1080 by 1920 for the best quality or 720 by 1280 for a faster result on a phone.
Standard MP4
H.264 and AAC with constant frame rate and a fast-start index, so the upload processes smoothly.
Private
Your clip is processed on your device and never uploaded.
What people use it for
- Turn a section of a long horizontal video into a Short.
- Reframe a screen recording so it fits a vertical feed without cropping the text.
- Make a vertical version of a talking-head clip with the speaker centred.
- Trim a clip to under 3 minutes so it counts as a Short.
- Prepare a vertical clip before adding animated captions.
- Create a square-friendly or 9:16 version of footage you filmed in landscape.
What makes a video a Short
YouTube treats an upload as a Short when it is vertical or square and no longer than 3 minutes. A horizontal video is published as a normal video, however short it is. So the shape is the first thing to fix when you want to repurpose a horizontal clip.
YouTube recommends 9:16 for Shorts, which is 1080 by 1920 pixels. This tool exports exactly that.
Blur-fill or crop?
Blur-fill is the safe choice when nothing in the frame can be cut off, such as a screen recording or a wide shot with text. It leaves bands above and below the picture, filled with a blurred copy so they do not look empty.
Cropping fills the screen and feels more native to vertical video, but it throws away the left and right of the picture. Use it for talking-head clips where the speaker is in the middle, and move the crop if they are off centre.
Add captions after reframing
If you plan to burn captions in, reframe first and then run the vertical file through the auto captions tool, so the caption size and position suit the 9:16 frame.
Shorts format rules at a glance
A Short is a video that is vertical or square and no longer than 3 minutes. YouTube recommends 9:16 at 1080 by 1920 pixels. If a video is horizontal, or longer than 3 minutes, YouTube publishes it as a standard video. Before October 2024 the limit was 60 seconds, and many guides online still say so.
This tool exports exactly 1080 by 1920 or the faster 720 by 1280, as a standard MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio at 30 frames per second, which uploads and processes smoothly.
Where to keep things on screen
The Shorts player draws the title, channel name and buttons over the bottom and right of the picture. Keep text and faces away from roughly the bottom fifth of the frame and the right edge. When you crop to fill, position the crop so the subject sits in the middle. When you blur-fill, the original picture sits in the centre of the vertical frame with room above and below.
Why vertical encoding is slow in a browser
Encoding video is heavy work, and your browser does it on a single thread with software that was written for desktops and compiled to run in a web page. A 1080 by 1920 clip takes noticeably longer than a small horizontal one. For quick tests use the 720 by 1280 size or a short clip, then do the final export at full size.
Troubleshooting
The export is very slow
Choose the 720 by 1280 size, trim to a shorter section, and close other tabs. Phones are much slower than computers for this.
The sides of my picture are cut off
That is what crop to fill does. Use the blurred background option to keep the whole picture, or move the crop left or right.
YouTube did not make it a Short
Check the length is 3 minutes or less and the shape is vertical or square. The video checker tests both on your file before you upload.
The video has no sound
A few files carry audio in a format the browser cannot decode. Convert the original to MP4 with the video converter first, then reframe it.
Limits and good to know
- Encoding a vertical 1080 by 1920 video in a browser is slow. Start with short clips, or choose the faster 720 by 1280 size.
- Files over about 500 MB can run out of browser memory on some devices.
- Keep the tab open and visible until the video finishes.
Related searches
- horizontal to vertical video
- youtube shorts size
- convert video to 9:16
- make a youtube short
- resize video for shorts
- crop video to vertical
- blur background video
- youtube shorts aspect ratio
- vertical video maker
- trim video to 60 seconds
FAQ
How long can a YouTube Short be?
Up to 3 minutes since October 2024. The video also has to be vertical or square to count as a Short.
What size should a Short be?
1080 by 1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical video. The tool exports that size.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser.
Will it add a watermark?
No.
Why is it slow?
Your device does the encoding in a browser, which is slower than desktop software. Shorter clips and the 720 by 1280 size are faster.
Should I upload Shorts at 1080 by 1920?
Yes, it is the recommended size. Lower resolutions work but look softer.
Can a Short be square?
Yes, a square video up to 3 minutes counts as a Short, but 9:16 uses the whole screen and is what YouTube recommends.
Does reframing reduce quality?
Blur-fill keeps the original sharpness of the foreground. Cropping zooms in, so a low-resolution source looks softer.