Cropping & sizing
Video cropped unexpectedly: file or player?
Short answer
There are three different things people call a wrong crop. The crop is in your file, from an earlier export or an editor crop, and it repeats everywhere. The player is cropping, because the file's shape does not fit the surface: Instagram accepts Reels from 1.91:1 to 9:16, and LinkedIn documents that a larger aspect ratio may be cropped on the sides as well as at the top and bottom. Or nothing is cropped at all and the interface is simply covering content. The first test is always the same: open the exported file.
Key takeaways
- Open the file first. A crop visible there is yours; a crop visible only in the app is the player's.
- Repeated crops stack, and each one loses pixels permanently.
- Instagram accepts a Reel between 1.91:1 and 9:16, so a 4:5 file is legal and gets fitted.
- LinkedIn documents cropping for a larger aspect ratio and fitting for a wider one.
- Re-export from the original with the target ratio; never crop a cropped copy.
Pad or crop, and what each command does
Padding keeps every pixel and adds an edge. Cropping fills the frame and throws pixels away. FFmpeg documents both filters. pad adds space around the input at the size you ask for and centres the input if x or y is negative. crop takes out a rectangle of the size you ask for, evaluated for each frame, so expressions such as in_h and 9/16 work directly.
| Goal | Filter | Notes from the FFmpeg documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Fit inside 9:16 with bars | scale then pad | pad takes width, height, x, y and a color; negative x or y centres the input |
| Fill 9:16 and lose the sides | crop | crop=w:h:x:y, with x and y evaluated per frame |
| Square crop of a vertical clip | crop=in_h:in_h | documented example: crop the central square with crop=out_w=in_h |
| Fix a squashed file | setsar=1 | DAR = width ÷ height × SAR, so a wrong SAR is what makes a video look stretched |
Free tools:Crop a video9:16 video reference
Find your case
| What you see | What it usually means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Crop visible in the exported file | Your editor or a previous export cropped it | Re-export from the original (step 1) |
| Crop only in the app | The player fits your shape into its frame | Match the surface's shape (step 2) |
| Subject's head or feet missing | Zoom, not crop: the platform filled the height | Keep the subject inside the safe area (step 3) |
| Text missing but the frame is complete | The interface is covering it | Move text inward (step 3) |
| Crop is worse than last time | You cropped a cropped copy | Start from the original file (step 4) |
| One platform crops, another does not | Different players, same file | Export the shape that needs no crop (step 2) |
Fix it step by step
Test the file itself
Open the exported video on a computer and look at all four edges.
ffprobe -hide_banner out.mp4prints width and height, so you can compare them with what you intended. A crop that is in the file cannot be fixed by re-uploading.Match the shape the surface accepts
Instagram documents an accepted Reel aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16. Pinterest recommends 9:16 or 1080 × 1920 for full-bleed video Pins and lists 1:1, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5 and 1:2 as other options. LinkedIn publishes an aspect ratio range of 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 and documents that larger ratios may be cropped on the sides and at the top and bottom.
Distinguish a crop from a cover
Meta's safe-zone guidance says text and logos near the edges of 9:16 creative are not cropped out but covered by the user interface, such as the profile icon. If the frame edge is intact in the file and content is missing in the app, it is covered, not cropped, and only moving the content fixes it.
Re-crop from the original, once
ffmpeg -i original.mp4 -vf "crop=in_h*9/16:in_h,scale=1080:1920" -c:a copy vertical.mp4. On a 1920 × 1080 original the slice is 608 × 1080, so re-cropping that result again loses more. FFmpeg documents crop as w:h:x:y with x and y evaluated for each frame, and the documented example for a central square is crop=out_w=in_h.Check the player, not just the poster
YouTube documents that the player adapts to the size of each video, and that for 9:16 vertical video on computer browsers it may add more padding, which is white by default. LinkedIn documents that a larger aspect ratio may be cropped and a wider one fitted. Preview in the player you actually use.
Count what the crop costs
Computed: cropping 1920 × 1080 to 9:16 keeps 1080 × 9 ÷ 16 = 608 px of the 1920 px width, so 68% of the width is discarded. If your 9:16 source was itself a crop of a larger frame, add the earlier loss: two crops of 608 px cannot be restored.
Safe area for a 1080×1920 video
| Edge | Keep text out of | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 14% | 269 px |
| Bottom | 35% | 672 px |
| Left | 6% | 65 px |
| Right | 6% | 65 px |
Official guidance (approximate). Source: Sales Video Ad Specs on Instagram Reels (Meta Ads Guide), checked 2026-10-05. Meta publishes this for Reels ads; organic Reels can differ.
Which kind of crop you are looking at
| In the exported file | Your export · only a re-export from the original helps |
|---|---|
| Only in the app | The player's fit · export the shape the surface accepts |
| Content covered, frame intact | The interface · move text inward, it is not cropped |
| Cropped from an earlier crop | Stacked crops · keep the original file |
| Stretched, not cropped | Wrong sample aspect ratio · setsar=1 |
Where the bars come from, in pixels
A player that shows a 16:9 file in a 9:16 frame can either letterbox it (bars) or zoom it (crop). Both are the same arithmetic. A 1920 × 1080 file scaled to 1080 px wide is 1080 ÷ 16 × 9 = 608 px tall, so a 1080 × 1920 frame leaves 1920 − 608 = 1312 px of empty space, which is 656 px above and below when centered.
The same numbers decide whether padding or cropping is the right answer for you.
| Source | Placed in 1080 × 1920 | Padding needed | Pixels lost if you crop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 × 1080 (16:9) | 1080 × 608 picture | 656 px top and bottom | 608 of 1920 px of width |
| 1080 × 1080 (1:1) | 1080 × 1080 picture | 420 px top and bottom | 420 px of each side |
| 1080 × 1350 (4:5) | 1080 × 1350 picture | 285 px top and bottom | 228 px of each side |
| 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | 1080 × 1920 picture | None | None |
Computed: each figure is the source scaled to 1080 px wide, then the difference from 1920 px of height split evenly. A 4:5 file is the mildest case: it matches the frame width but not its height, so it gets 285 px bars, and if it is scaled to fill the height it loses 228 px per side.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my video cropped?
Either your file was cropped in an earlier export, or the player cropped it because the shape does not fit the surface. Open the exported file: if the crop is there, it is yours; if it is only in the app, it is the player's.
How do I stop an app cropping my video?
Export the shape the surface accepts: Instagram documents a Reel aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, Pinterest recommends 1080 × 1920 for full-bleed video Pins, and LinkedIn publishes 1:2.4 to 2.4:1.
Is my content cut off or covered by the interface?
Compare the frame edges in the exported file with the post. If the edges are intact in the file and content is missing in the app, the interface is covering it, not cropping it.
Can I undo an earlier crop?
No. A crop removes pixels permanently, so always re-export from the original rather than cropping a copy that has already been cropped.
Sources
- Instagram Help: Reel size & aspect ratios (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- Meta Business Help: About text overlays and the safe zone for ads (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- YouTube Help: Video resolution & aspect ratios (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- LinkedIn Help: Full-screen vertical video on LinkedIn (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- LinkedIn Help: Video sharing troubleshooting (formats, limits, safe zones) (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- Pinterest Help: Review Pin specs (Video Pin specs and safe zones) (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- FFmpeg Documentation: Video filters (crop, pad, scale, setsar, subtitles) (official, checked 2026-10-07)
- FFmpeg Documentation: Command line options (-map, -c copy, -itsoffset) (official, checked 2026-10-07)
Reviewed 2026-10-07. Steps not attributed to a source are general video practice or computed above.