Resize a video
Scale to a standard resolution, an exact width, or a fixed canvas with letterboxing.
Your file
Drop a file here, or click to choose
It stays on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Settings
Keeping the shape right
If you only set a width or a standard resolution, the other side is calculated for you and the picture keeps its proportions. If you set both width and height and they do not match the source shape, you have two choices: letterbox, which adds black bars and keeps everything undistorted, or stretch, which fills the frame and squashes people sideways. Letterbox is on by default for a reason.
Common targets
- 1080p (1920 × 1080), standard upload quality for YouTube and most platforms.
- 720p (1280 × 720), half the file size, still fine on a phone.
- 1080 × 1920: vertical, for Reels, Shorts and TikTok. Use the exact size option with letterboxing.
- 1080 × 1080: square, for feed posts.
Encoders need even pixel dimensions, so odd numbers are rounded down by one automatically.
Resolution is the strongest lever on file size
Because it works on area rather than on width, halving both dimensions removes three quarters of the pixels. Going from 1080p to 720p leaves you with 44% of the pixel count and typically around half the file, and on a phone screen almost nobody can tell. That is a far better trade than pushing the quality number up into the thirties, which softens the picture everywhere including the parts people are looking at.
So when something needs to be smaller, drop the resolution first and adjust quality second. A sharp 720p file looks better than a smeared 1080p one at the same size, every time.
Scaling up is not an upgrade
Setting a 720p file to 1080p produces a 1080p file that contains 720p worth of detail, at a larger size, taking longer to encode. Interpolation invents plausible pixels between the real ones; it cannot recover anything that was not captured. The only reason to do it is a destination that refuses anything smaller, and even then it is worth knowing you are paying for nothing.
Letterbox, stretch, and the third option
When you set both dimensions and they do not match the source shape, letterboxing keeps proportions and pads the difference with bars, while stretching fills the frame and distorts everything in it. Letterbox is the default because stretched faces are unmistakable and rarely intended.
Neither is right for turning landscape footage into a vertical post, where bars mean most of the screen is black. Make a short fills the background with a blurred, enlarged copy of the picture and places the sharp frame over it, which uses the whole screen and keeps the full width of the shot. Crop is the other answer, filling the frame at the cost of everything outside the crop.
What this does not change
Resizing re-encodes the picture but does not touch the frame rate, the duration or the audio, which is copied across as it was. If the file is still larger than you want after resizing, compress video works on bitrate and quality, and the two together will get almost anything under a limit.
Common questions
Can I make a video bigger than it started?
You can, but upscaling invents nothing. A 480p clip scaled to 1080p is a blurry 1080p clip in a much larger file.
How do I turn a landscape video vertical?
Pick the exact size option, set 1080 × 1920, and leave letterboxing on. To fill the frame instead of adding bars, use the crop tool first.