How to convert horizontal video to a vertical YouTube Short
Step-by-step workflow for upload, framing, text overlays, and export.
Tutorials
Use these guides to turn widescreen footage into vertical YouTube Shorts, choose the right framing mode, and make text overlays readable on mobile.
Featured guides
Crop vs pad for vertical video
When to fill the frame, when to preserve the full widescreen shot, and how to decide fast.
Open the converter
Start with the live tool if you already know the format you want.
Quick workflow
- Upload a horizontal video.
- Choose crop to fill or keep horizontal video with top and bottom padding.
- Pick 1080 x 1920 for standard YouTube Shorts output.
- Add headline-style text overlays if the clip needs context on mute autoplay.
- Export locally in the browser.
Best fit
- Repurposing YouTube clips into Shorts.
- Turning podcast or interview snippets into vertical social posts.
- Keeping the full horizontal composition while still publishing in 9:16.