How to resize a video for TikTok, Reels and Shorts

Attach the video and ask Recut to "export it for TikTok" (or Reels, or Shorts). Recut fits it to a 1080×1920 vertical frame at 30 frames a second, either keeping the whole picture with blurred bars or cropping to fill, and brings the sound to a steady loudness.

Just need to do it once? Try the free video resizer and trimmer: it runs in your browser, with no sign-up and no upload.

Step by step

1. Attach the finished videoDrag the video into a Recut project. It can be a landscape recording, a square clip or something Recut made for you.
2. Name the platformSay where it will be posted: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, YouTube, the Instagram feed, LinkedIn or X. Each has its own preset.
3. Choose how it fitsBy default the whole picture is kept and the empty space is filled with a blurred copy of the video. Say "fill the frame" or "crop it" to fill the frame instead, or ask for black or white bars.
4. Run and saveThe export runs on your device, with no model cost. Play it back, then save it and post it.

What Recut does

Recut's TikTok, Reels and Shorts presets all make a 9:16 video 1080 pixels wide, at 30 frames a second. The Instagram feed and LinkedIn presets make a 4:5 video, and YouTube and X a 16:9 one.

The presets also cap the length (10 minutes for TikTok, 3 minutes for Reels and Shorts in Recut's presets) and measure the loudness, then turn the whole track up or down once, to about -14 LUFS for TikTok, Reels, Shorts and YouTube, with a limiter so peaks don't clip. That is the level those apps play at, so your video won't sound quieter than the one before it.

Tips

• Talking to camera in landscape? Cropping to fill usually works, because the speaker is often near the middle.
• A screen recording or a wide shot usually looks better with the whole picture kept and blurred bars.
• Add captions after the export, so they are placed on the vertical frame.

What it doesn't do

• Cropping is taken from the centre of the picture. Recut does not track a face or a subject and move the crop with it.
• Platform rules change. The presets are Recut's settings, not an official spec from TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.

Related guides

• How to change a video's aspect ratio (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5)Make a video vertical, square, 4:5 or widescreen with Recut: crop to fill the frame or keep the whole picture with bars. Runs on your device.
• How to normalize a video's audio loudnessRecut measures a video's loudness and sets it to the level TikTok, Reels, YouTube or LinkedIn play at (-14 or -16 LUFS), with a limiter on peaks.
• How to add captions to a video automaticallyAttach a video, type "add captions" and Recut times each word to the speech and burns captions in, styled to read on a phone.
• How to turn a long video into a Short or ReelPick the moment by time or by what is said, and Recut cuts it out of the long video, makes it vertical and captions it for Shorts, Reels or TikTok.