How do you turn a TikTok video into a vertical one? Three methods (free and no uploads)
Landscape footage posted to TikTok gets cropped or letterboxed. I compared the built-in crop, professional software and an online browser tool, and recommend a blurred background fill.
Last week I cut a 16:9 tutorial clip and planned to post it on TikTok. The preview showed half of the presenter's head cut off and big black bars down the sides — without handling landscape to vertical, the clip simply cannot be posted.
The main feeds of TikTok and Xiaohongshu are 9:16 vertical. Movie clips, landscape screen recordings and 16:9 camera footage either get force-cropped by the platform or come out with black bars, and both cost you reach and polish.
Three methods compared
Method 1: the built-in crop in the app
After uploading, pick "Fit" or drag the frame manually. It is fast, but it cuts the edges of the picture, and subtitles or the corners of a slide often get lost. The quality also takes a second round of compression.
Method 2: Premiere / a professional editor
The most control: you can reposition the subject and add a blurred background. The catch is that you have to download it and learn the timeline, which is not worth it for a 30-second clip you keep changing.
Method 3: in the browser (what I use daily)
Open Landscape to Vertical Video, drop in the MP4, pick 9:16, choose "Blurred fill", then download it locally. The file never leaves the browser and there is no sign-up. What you preview is what you post.
| Method | Speed | Quality | Privacy | Ease of use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in app | fast | ★★ | ★★★ | trivial |
| Professional software | slow | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | hard |
| TwoThink online | medium | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ | easy |
Step by step
- Open Landscape to Vertical Video and drop in a landscape MP4 or MOV.
- Set the output ratio to 9:16 (the standard for TikTok and Xiaohongshu).
- Choose the blurred fill background: the original sits complete in the middle and the space above and below is filled with a blurred copy, so nothing is cropped and nobody is squashed.
- When the subject sits off to one side, adjust the alignment in the tool — screen-recorded tutorials often put the presenter on the left.
- Download the result and upload it to TikTok.
Common questions
Where is the subject in the frame?
Interviews often place the person to one side; choose left or right alignment so a face is not stuck in the middle where captions will cover it.
Blurred background or black bars?
Black bars look jarring on TikTok; a blurred background blends with the colours of the original and usually improves completion rate. For a brand video that wants a minimal look, a solid colour works too.
What about cropping instead?
Cropping throws content away; a blurred background keeps the whole picture, which suits tutorials and commentary. If the source is already a vertical close-up, cropping is actually cleaner — in that case Trim Video the key part first and then convert it.
For a broader look at vertical publishing, see How to turn landscape footage into a vertical TikTok video without it going blurry.
My advice
My workflow now is: landscape original → Landscape to Vertical Video for 9:16 → Compress Video if needed to get it under 50MB for phone transfers → post to TikTok. Nothing touches a third-party server along the way.
Try it → Open Landscape to Vertical Video and run the landscape clip you could not post, then check whether the preview finally looks clean instead of cropped.