A vertical video editor is any editor that works on a tall 9:16 frame instead of a wide one. The real decision isn't the app. It's whether your footage was shot vertically, because that decides whether you're editing or rescuing.
This guide covers the two ways to end up with a vertical video, the tools for each, and the export settings that survive Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. By the end you'll know which route your footage needs and how to set up the project before the first cut.
Should you edit natively in 9:16 or reframe horizontal footage?
| Native 9:16 | Reframed from 16:9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Footage | Shot vertically on a phone or rotated camera | Shot widescreen |
| Resolution kept | All of it | About a third of the width |
| Composition | Framed for the tall screen | Cropped after the fact |
| Work per clip | None | Check and fix every crop |
| Best for | Reels, TikTok, Shorts made for the feed | Repurposing YouTube videos, events, interviews |
Native is better whenever you have the choice. A 1920 × 1080 frame cropped to 9:16 leaves a strip about 608 pixels wide, which then gets scaled up to 1080. That's where the softness in many repurposed clips comes from. Shooting vertically, or shooting 4K horizontally if you know you'll crop, avoids it. Filming b-roll on a phone covers the settings.
Reframing still has its place. A podcast filmed widescreen, a wedding shot on a cinema camera or last year's YouTube videos can all become vertical clips. You just have to check every crop.
Which vertical video editor starts in 9:16?
These tools are built around the tall frame or let you set it in one step:
- CapCut: pick 9:16 when you start a project, on the phone or desktop.
- Instagram Edits: Meta's free phone editor, vertical by default.
- YouTube's Shorts editor: in the YouTube app, for quick Shorts.
- Easy Reels: a browser app where every template renders a 1440 × 2560 vertical MP4.
- DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro: set the timeline to 1080 × 1920 before adding clips. In Final Cut Pro that's a custom format when you create the project.
iMovie on the Mac is the exception: it has no vertical setting. How to edit reels on a Mac walks through the setup in each Mac editor.
Where Easy Reels fits
Easy Reels is for vertical video cut to music, from your own clips and photos. You upload a song, it detects the beats, and your clips are assigned to the cuts with your color filter and saved text on top. The template keeps that recipe, so the next video is one click, and a batch makes 10 on Pro or 50 on Ultra. Feed it footage shot vertically and nothing has to be reframed.
It isn't a reframing tool, and it has no timeline or frame-by-frame editing. If your job is turning widescreen footage into vertical clips one by one, use one of the editors below.
How do you reframe horizontal footage to vertical?
The big desktop editors can track the subject and move the crop for you:
| Editor | Feature | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere Pro | Auto Reframe | Analyzes the clip and keeps the action inside the new frame |
| Final Cut Pro | Smart Conform | Adjusts the framing of each clip around faces or areas of interest |
| DaVinci Resolve Studio | Smart Reframe | Tracks the subject with keyframes you can adjust (not in the free version) |
The steps are the same in each:
- Duplicate the project and change the new copy's timeline to 1080 × 1920.
- Run the reframe on all the clips.
- Watch every clip. Automatic crops lose the subject when two people talk, or when the action moves fast.
- Fix the misses by hand with position keyframes.
- Re-place the text. Titles designed for a wide frame won't fit; move them into the vertical safe area.
If a clip has two people far apart, a split screen (one above the other) often works better than a single crop.
What export settings should a vertical video use?
| Setting | Use |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 1080 × 1920, or 1440 × 2560 if your editor exports it |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 |
| Codec | H.264 (high profile), MP4 |
| Bitrate | Around 10 to 12 Mbps |
| Frame rate | The same as the footage, usually 30 fps |
| Audio | AAC, 128 to 192 kbps |
Every platform re-encodes your upload, so give it a generous file to start from. Why Instagram ruins your video quality explains why, and vertical video size has the safe area margins: keep text about 250 pixels from the top and 420 from the bottom.
Which should you use?
If you shoot for the feed, shoot vertically and edit in a tool that starts in 9:16. Repurposing widescreen video? Use Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Resolve Studio to reframe, and check every clip. If you make vertical videos cut to music every week, save the edit as a template in Easy Reels and batch them. It has a 14-day free trial, then $19 a month for Pro or $39 for Ultra; cancel before the trial ends and you're not charged. See pricing.
Common questions
What is the best free vertical video editor?
CapCut and Instagram's Edits on a phone, and DaVinci Resolve on a computer once you set a 1080 × 1920 timeline. Resolve's automatic Smart Reframe is only in the paid Studio version.
Can you turn a horizontal video into a vertical one?
Yes, by cropping it to 9:16, ideally with an automatic reframe that follows the subject. Expect to fix some clips by hand, and expect a softer image if the source was 1080p.
What resolution is a vertical video?
1080 × 1920 pixels is the standard for Reels, TikTok and Shorts. Higher, such as 1440 × 2560, uploads fine too; each app re-encodes it to its own size.
Is 4:5 or 9:16 better?
9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, which fill the phone screen. 4:5 suits feed posts. Make one 9:16 master and keep key content in the center if you also crop it to 4:5.