Convert horizontal video to vertical
Upload a video or paste a clip link, pick a vertical layout, and StreamClip reframes your 16:9 footage into a 9:16 video that fills a phone screen. No black bars, no tiny facecam.
Step by step
- 1
Add your video
Upload a video file or paste a Twitch, Kick or YouTube clip link.
- 2
Pick a vertical layout
Choose how to fill the 9:16 frame: facecam on top and gameplay below, a single full crop, or another split. Facecam can be auto-detected.
- 3
Adjust crop and zoom
Drag each frame to choose exactly what shows, zoom in on the action, and trim the start and end.
- 4
Export in HD
Add captions or effects if you want, then export the vertical video in HD straight from your browser.
Why simply rotating or resizing doesn't work
Horizontal video is 16:9 and vertical video is 9:16, the format TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are designed for, usually at 1080×1920. Rotating a horizontal video just turns it sideways, and fitting it inside a vertical frame leaves huge black bars that waste most of the screen.
Stretching it to fill the frame distorts everything. The real fix is reframing: deciding which part of the wide shot matters and cropping to it, or splitting the frame so two parts of the original video, like a facecam and gameplay, share the vertical space.
The manual way to convert 16:9 to 9:16
In a typical video editor, you create a new 1080×1920 project, import the horizontal clip, and scale it up until it fills the height. Then you slide it left or right to center the action. For a split layout you duplicate the clip, crop each copy to a different region, and stack them.
If the subject moves, you may need keyframes to follow it. It's doable, but it takes time to set up for every video, and small mistakes like a cropped-off face or a cut HUD element are easy to miss until after you post.
Reframing with StreamClip
StreamClip's editor is vertical 9:16 only, so everything you do is already in the right format. Choose a layout and each frame shows a crop of your original video. For stream footage, the facecam can be found automatically and placed in its own frame above or below the gameplay.
You can drag and zoom each crop, trim the clip, and then add automatic captions, freeze frames, slow motion, mute zones, stickers or animated emojis. Export runs in the browser in HD, so there's nothing to install and no render queue.
Free and Pro
Converting horizontal video to vertical is fully available on Free, along with captions and effects. Free exports carry a small watermark, and you can sign up without a credit card. Every layout, crop and zoom option works the same on both plans, so you can convert as many videos as you need.
Pro is USD $15 a month or $150 a year. It removes the watermark, gives you unlimited HD exports, lets you publish or schedule straight to TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and includes AI Clipping to find the best moments in long VODs.
Frequently asked questions
What aspect ratio is vertical video?
Vertical video is 9:16, and the common resolution is 1080×1920 pixels. It's the native format for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Will converting to vertical cut off part of my video?
A 9:16 frame is narrower than 16:9, so some of the width is always cropped. Split layouts let you keep two important areas, like facecam and gameplay, in the same video.
Can I upload my own video file?
Yes. You can upload a file or paste a clip link from Twitch, Kick or YouTube.
Does StreamClip work for non-gaming videos?
You can upload any horizontal video and crop it to vertical. The layouts and facecam detection are designed with stream footage in mind.
Do I need to install anything?
No. StreamClip runs in your browser, including the HD export.
Make your footage fit the phone screen
Drop in a horizontal video and get a clean 9:16 version ready for TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
Start for free