Vertical reframe guide: crop 16:9 video to 9:16, 4:5 or 1:1
Open a landscape clip, move the vertical crop to where the action is, and get the numbers to set the same crop in your editor or in ffmpeg.
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Your video or image
MP4, MOV or WebM (whatever this browser can play), PNG, JPG or WebP. Or drop it here.
No file chosen yet: the numbers below are an example for a 1920×1080 source.
50% (center). You can also drag the window on the preview.
100%: the crop fills the timeline height.
50% (center)
Preview
Result
Numbers for your editor
How each row of "Numbers for your editor" is worked out, and whether its units and convention are confirmed from a primary source. Rows marked not verified could not be confirmed from the editor maker’s own documentation; check them in your editor.
| Where | Values | How the numbers are meant | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crop in source pixels | x and y from the top-left corner of the source frame, width and height in source pixels, exact decimals. | Arithmetic on the source size the browser reports; cross-checked with ffmpeg 9.0.2 on a test chart (tests/unit/reframe.test.mjs) Checked | |
| ffmpeg | crop=w:h:x:y (option order w, h, x, y; top-left origin) then scale=W:H, rounded to even integers. Run as: ffmpeg -i input -vf "<filter>" output. | FFmpeg Filters Documentation, crop and scale (option order confirmed with ffmpeg 9.0.2: ffmpeg -h filter=crop, ffmpeg -h filter=scale) Checked | |
| Premiere Pro not verified | Clip at native size ("Set to Frame Size" off) on a sequence of the timeline size. Effect Controls > Motion: Scale in percent; Position = where the clip's anchor point (its center by default) sits, in sequence pixels from the top-left corner. | Not yet confirmed from Adobe’s own documentation: Adobe’s Premiere Pro help pages could not be opened for checking on 2026-10-19. The convention follows an answer by an Adobe Community Expert (September 2025). Check the values in your Premiere Pro version Checked | |
| DaVinci Resolve not verified | Project Input Scaling "Scale entire image to fit" (the default). Inspector > Transform: Zoom as a factor after the clip is fitted to the timeline; Position X and Y = offset of the clip center from the timeline center in timeline pixels, X to the right, Y up. | DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual (July 2026): the default Input Scaling (pp. 152, 301–302) and Zoom (pp. 300, 3568–3569) are confirmed; the manual does not state the units of Position X and Y, so those values are not verified Checked |
The guide PNG is transparent and the size of your source. Put it on the top track of your original timeline: the window is the part that stays in the vertical version. Safe zones are drawn inside the window when "Show safe zones" is on.
Honest limits: values marked "not verified" use the convention described in their row, which has not yet been confirmed from the editor's own documentation; check them on one clip first. The ffmpeg string rounds the crop to even pixels. Browser seeking is not frame-exact, so pick the moment to frame by eye.
How to plan a vertical crop
- Click Choose video or image and open your 16:9 clip or a still from it. The tool shows the size your browser reports for the file.
- Pick a Target shape: 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, 4:5 or 1:1 for feed posts. Timeline size follows the shape. Change it if your vertical timeline is 2160×3840, for example.
- Drag the crop window on the preview, or use the Crop position slider, until the subject sits where you want it. The slider also works with the arrow keys.
- To punch in closer, raise Zoom. At 100% the crop is as tall as the source frame. Above 100% it gets smaller, and Vertical position moves it up or down.
- For 9:16, turn on Show safe zones to see where TikTok, Reels and Shorts put their buttons and captions inside your crop.
- Choose Fill (crop) or Fit with blurred background, explained below.
- Read the Numbers for your editor table, or save it with Download numbers (TXT). Download guide PNG (source size) saves an overlay of the crop for your 16:9 timeline.
Fill or fit with a blurred background
Fill (crop) scales the clip until it is as tall as the vertical frame and keeps a vertical slice of it. Everything outside the slice is cut off, so the crop position matters. This is the usual choice when one person or one subject carries the shot.
Fit with blurred background keeps the whole 16:9 picture. The clip is scaled down to the width of the vertical frame, and the empty space above and below is filled with a blurred, enlarged copy of the same clip. Nothing is lost, but the picture is small on a phone, and the blur takes up most of the screen. It suits wide shots, screen recordings and slides where cropping would cut out the point of the shot.
The tool shows the blurred version as a preview only and gives the numbers for scaling the sharp copy to fit. To build it in an editor, put a second copy of the clip on the track below, scale it up to fill the frame and add a blur. In ffmpeg, one command does both layers:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v]split[a][b];[a]scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,crop=1080:1920,boxblur=20[bg];[b]scale=1080:-2[fg];[bg][fg]overlay=(W-w)/2:(H-h)/2" -c:a copy output.mp4
The numbers for a 1920×1080 clip
A 9:16 frame is much narrower than a 16:9 one. Scale a 1920×1080 clip until it is 1920 px tall and the vertical frame shows a slice of the original 607.5 px wide, 31.6% of its width. The table gives the centered crop for each shape on a 1080 px wide timeline.
| Target shape | Timeline | Slice of the 1920×1080 frame | Share of the width | Premiere Pro Scale (not verified) | DaVinci Resolve Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:16 | 1080×1920 | 607.5 × 1080 px | 31.6% | 177.78% | 3.160 |
| 4:5 | 1080×1350 | 864 × 1080 px | 45% | 125% | 2.222 |
| 1:1 | 1080×1080 | 1080 × 1080 px | 56.25% | 100% | 1.778 |
The same crop takes different numbers in each program, because each one starts from a different size. Premiere Pro's Scale counts from the clip's own pixel size, so a 1080 px tall clip needs 1920 ÷ 1080 = 177.78% to fill a 1920 px tall frame. DaVinci Resolve first fits the whole clip into the frame, at 1080 × 607.5 px on a 1080×1920 timeline, so its Zoom has to be 1920 ÷ 607.5 = 3.160.
Cropping 1080p footage to 9:16 enlarges the 607.5 px slice to 1080 px, 1.78 times, so expect it to look softer than the original. A 3840×2160 (4K) clip gives a 1215 px slice, which fills a 1080×1920 timeline without enlarging.
Set the crop in your editor
ffmpeg
The ffmpeg row is a filter you can paste into a command, for example ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=608:1080:656:0,scale=1080:1920" -c:a copy output.mp4 for the centered 9:16 crop of a 1920×1080 clip. The tool rounds the crop to even whole pixels. The crop filter's documentation explains that, unless you ask for exact cropping, video with subsampled color, as most H.264 and HEVC files are, is cropped to the nearest smaller size it can take.
DaVinci Resolve
- Make the timeline vertical. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve 21 manual describes a Use vertical resolution checkbox under Timeline Format in Project Settings > Master Settings, which swaps the width and height of the timeline resolution.
- Resolve's default Input Scaling is Scale entire image to fit. The manual says it fits the clip's longest side to the frame, so a 16:9 clip sits small in the middle with empty bands above and below.
- Select the clip, open the Inspector's Video tab and set Zoom in the Transform section to the number in the table. Then use Position X to slide the picture sideways until it matches your crop. The manual doesn't state the units of Position X and Y, so the tool marks those values as not verified. Drag Position X while you watch the Viewer.
- If the timeline's Mismatched resolution files setting is Scale full frame with crop, the clip already fills the frame at a Zoom of 1.000. The manual suggests that setting when you reframe with Smart Reframe, which it lists as a DaVinci Resolve Studio feature.
Premiere Pro
We couldn't open Adobe's help pages, so these steps follow their search-index summaries from October 2026 and an Adobe Community Expert's answer, and the tool marks its Premiere values as not verified.
- Create a sequence at your vertical size, for example 1080×1920, and put the clip on it. If Premiere has already shrunk the clip to fit, right-click it and turn off Set to Frame Size so that a Scale of 100% is its native size.
- Set Scale and Position under Motion in the Effect Controls panel. Position is in sequence pixels, measured from the top-left corner, with Y counting downward. For a centered crop it is the middle of the sequence: 540, 960 on a 1080×1920 frame.
- Adobe's help also describes Auto Reframe Sequence, which reframes the clip for you.
CapCut
CapCut's own guide describes an Auto reframe feature in CapCut Desktop that converts a horizontal video to 9:16 or 3:4. We haven't verified how CapCut's scale and position values relate to pixels, so the tool gives no CapCut numbers. Use the crop and the guide PNG to match it by eye.
The guide PNG
Download guide PNG (source size) saves a transparent image the size of your clip, with the crop window outlined and everything outside it shaded. Put it on the top track of your original 16:9 timeline. You can then keep editing in 16:9 while you see what the vertical version will keep, for example to stop a title or a lower third from falling outside the crop. Turn the track off or delete it before you export.
Limits
- The crop is fixed for the whole clip. If the subject moves, plan one crop per shot, or animate the position in your editor.
- The editor numbers assume the clip starts at its native size in Premiere Pro and at Resolve's default Input Scaling. Other settings change the numbers.
- Values the tool couldn't check against an editor's own documentation are marked not verified. Check them against the preview in your editor before you rely on them.
- The video has to be a format your browser can play. If yours won't open, export a still frame from your editor and plan the crop on that.
- The safe zones are approximate and change with app updates. The safe zone checker lists their sources and dates.
Your files stay on your device
Your video is played by your browser from your own disk. The crop, the numbers and the guide PNG are worked out on your computer, and nothing is uploaded.
Questions
How much of a 16:9 frame is left after cropping to 9:16?
About 31.6% of the width. The vertical frame keeps the full height of the clip, and its width is 9/16 of that height: 607.5 px of a 1920 px wide frame. A 4:5 crop keeps 45% and a 1:1 crop keeps 56.25%.
Why is my 16:9 clip small with black bars in a vertical DaVinci Resolve timeline?
Resolve's default Input Scaling, Scale entire image to fit, fits the clip's longest side to the frame. On a 1080×1920 timeline a 1920×1080 clip becomes 1080 × 607.5 px with empty bands above and below. Set Zoom to about 3.160 in the Inspector, or change the timeline's Mismatched resolution files setting to Scale full frame with crop.
How do I make a horizontal video vertical in Premiere Pro?
Create a vertical sequence, for example 1080×1920, and add the clip at its native size. With 1080p footage, a Scale of 177.78% (1920 ÷ 1080) fills the height. Then move Position until the subject is framed. Adobe's help, as indexed in October 2026, also describes Auto Reframe Sequence, which reframes for you. We couldn't open Adobe's pages to confirm these values, so the tool marks them not verified.
Should I crop to fill or use a blurred background?
Crop when one subject carries the shot, so it fills the phone screen. Use a blurred background when cropping would cut out what matters, such as a wide shot, two people far apart, a screen recording or a slide. Try both with the Fill (crop) and Fit with blurred background buttons on your own clip.
Does the free version of DaVinci Resolve have Smart Reframe?
No. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve 21 manual lists Smart Reframe as a Studio-only feature. In the free version you set Zoom and Position by hand, which is what the numbers on this page are for.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Your browser opens the file from your disk and the page works it out locally. Once the page has loaded, the tool works with your connection switched off.
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