Workflow
Turn a landscape video into a vertical short
Short answer
Take a 16:9 recording to a 9:16 vertical short, deciding deliberately between cropping (fills the screen, loses the sides) and padding (keeps everything, adds bars).
The decision that matters: Crop or pad. Going 1920×1080 to 1080×1920 by cropping keeps only about 32% of the original frame - fine for a centred talking head, fatal for a wide shot with action at the edges.
Step by step
Check what you actually have
Read the dimensions, ratio, duration and size off the file before deciding anything. Most bad exports come from assuming the source rather than looking at it.
See exactly what a crop would cost
Work out the crop box and the percentage of frame you lose before committing to it.
Or price up the padded alternative
If the subject moves across the frame, fitting the whole thing inside 9:16 with bars keeps the content at the cost of screen space.
Perform the crop
Set the crop box yourself - width, height and offset - so an off-centre subject stays in frame. The 9:16 preset gives you a starting box to move.
Check the size before uploading
Vertical exports of long recordings can still exceed a platform limit. Compress only if the number says you need to.
Limits to know
- The crop box is set by you - there is no subject tracking, so a subject that moves across the frame still needs a real editor.
- The tools here accept files up to 100 MB; larger sources need a local editor first.
Run the whole workflow in one place
Koldflux takes one source through checking, reframing, captions and export, and gives you a pack per platform.
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team against the platform limits used by the linked tools.