Vertical video size and format: the 9:16 guide

Short video platforms are built for phones held upright. Getting the format right means your video fills the screen and nothing important is hidden.

The numbers

• Aspect ratio: 9:16, vertical.
• Resolution: 1080 by 1920 pixels.
• File type: MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is accepted everywhere.
• Frame rate: 24 to 30 frames per second is normal for this kind of content.

Uma exports vertical MP4 files at 1080 by 1920.

Safe zones

Each app overlays its own interface. Usually the top of the screen holds search or tabs, the right edge holds the buttons for likes, comments and sharing, and the bottom holds the caption, the account name and a progress bar.

A good rule is to keep important text and faces away from the outer edges: roughly the top 10 percent, the bottom 20 percent and the right 15 percent. Test a video on your own phone before you publish.

Horizontal footage in a vertical frame

If you start from a landscape video, you have three choices:

1. Crop to a vertical window around the subject. Best when there is one main subject.
2. Blur background, with the landscape video centred over a blurred copy of itself. Safe, but it uses less of the screen.
3. Split into two stacked frames, useful for conversations or reactions.

Tools that follow the speaker's face keep the person in the frame as they move.

Keep the file size reasonable

Short videos rarely need high bitrates. A 30 second 1080p video is usually a few megabytes to tens of megabytes. Very large files upload slowly and platforms recompress them anyway.

Audio

Normalise the voice so it is easy to hear without turning the volume up. If you use music, keep it well below the voice.

Quick checklist

1. 1080 by 1920, 9:16
2. MP4
3. Text inside the safe zones
4. Subtitles on
5. Tested on a phone

You can create videos in this format directly with Create video or cut them from existing footage with Cut clips.