Ethan Brooks
How To Transform Landscape Videos Into Portrait Format Using CapCut
So, you’ve got some landscape footage that’d work way better if it was in portrait for TikTok, Instagram Reels, or whatever else. CapCut’s pretty popular for quick edits, but figuring out how to flip that horizontal nightmare into something vertical? Sometimes feels like a puzzle. Here’s what’s worked after some messing around—because of course, Windows has to make it harder than necessary, and not everything is straightforward.
Step 1: Open CapCut and Create a New Project
Fire up CapCut. Once inside, tap or click New Project. Find that landscape video sitting in your files—you know, the one you wanna reframe. Tap on it, then hit Add. Easy enough, right? But here’s the thing — if you’re on mobile or PC, the process feels similar, just different menus. Just make sure you get that video in.
Step 2: Adjust the Video Aspect Ratio
After the clip loads, scroll (or click) down to find Ratio. On some versions, it’s at the bottom or on a side menu. Here’s where it gets a little confusing—select 9:16 for portrait. Yes, just like that, this standard aspect ratio will help you make your video vertical. Confirm your choice by tapping the check mark or whatever applies. This basically tells CapCut, “Hey, I want a portrait frame now.”
Quick tip—sometimes this step “fails” on the first try, or the ratio reverts. Not sure why it works, but a quick restart of the app or toggling the ratio again usually does the trick. Because of course, Windows has to make it a little more complicated!
Step 3: Resize and Position Your Video
Now, you might see black bars on the top and bottom, which is normal because you just changed the aspect ratio. To fix this, zoom into the video—drag the edges or pinch to crop. Be careful, because zooming might cut out some of the original image or shift your focal point. Play around with the position until important stuff stays centered. Sometimes it’s trial and error, but it’s worth it to avoid awkward framing.
Step 4: Customize Your Background
Because that black background can look kinda unpolished, here’s what I usually do: go to Canvas. Tweak the Color to pick a nice background that matches or complements the video. Or, if you wanna go fancy, set the background to Blur—gives a nice Instagram story vibe. Honestly, on some setups, this background tweak makes the overall look way cleaner, especially if some cropping cut out part of the scene.
Step 5: Export Your Portrait Video
When all’s good, hit that Export button—usually at the top right. Pick your resolution and frame rate, then save it. Sometimes, exporting might crash or the quality drops if your source material was crap to begin with, but use a high-res video for best results. On some setups, exporting can take a bit, so grab a coffee while it works.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
Here’s when things get weird. If your video looks squished or weird after converting, double-check the aspect ratio and the zoom level. Also, make sure you didn’t accidentally crop out the main subject while zooming. Sometimes, on some versions or devices, the ratio toggle might not stick right away. Restarting the app can help—don’t ask me why this works, but it does. And yeah, save your project often because crashes happen more than you’d like.
Conclusion
Yeah, converting landscape to portrait isn’t rocket science, but it’s not exactly one-click either. With a bit of patience and some toggling, your video will be ready for prime time. Just keep an eye on framing and export settings, and it’ll look sharp enough for social media feeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I convert videos directly from my camera roll?
Definitely. You just import them into CapCut, like usual. No extra fuss.
What if the video quality drops after converting?
Start with the highest quality footage possible. Also, avoid excessive zooming or cropping—these often cause quality to degrade because you’re enlarging pixels.
Are there other apps that can do the same job easier?
Yeah, InShot and Adobe Premiere Rush can handle this too. But honestly, CapCut works pretty well once you get the hang of it.
Summary
- Open CapCut, import your landscape video.
- Set aspect ratio to 9:16.
- Zoom and reposition to keep important content centered.
- Customize background if needed.
- Export in the right resolution.
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours for someone. Just something that worked on multiple machines. Fingers crossed this helps.