Framing and Cropping Video for Any Aspect Ratio

Framing is what the viewer sees inside the edges of the picture. When footage and project have different shapes, framing also decides what gets cropped. Settle the frame first, then place each clip inside it.

Pick the frame shape first

Open the Aspect ratio tab in the left panel. The presets are:

• Widescreen (16:9), labelled YouTube
• Vertical (9:16), labelled TikTok, Reels, Shorts
• Classic (4:3)
• Cinematic (2:1)
• Square (1:1)
• Portrait (3:4)
• Custom, where you type your own width and height

Choose before you frame individual shots. Changing the shape later changes every crop.

Fit or Fill

Select a clip and open the Framing tab on the right. The Framing row has two options.

• Fit shows the whole picture, with bars where the shapes differ.
• Fill scales the picture to cover the frame and crops whatever overflows.

Landscape footage in a vertical project usually wants Fill, with a pan that keeps the subject in view.

Choose what stays in view

With Fill on, drag the picture in the preview to move the crop window. The subject stays where you leave it, and a Center button appears in the tab to return the picture to the middle. The Zoom slider runs from 100 to 400 percent, and a zoomed clip can be dragged in the preview the same way.

A few composition habits help here:

• Keep eyes roughly a third of the way down from the top of the frame.
• Leave a little headroom above the subject.
• Leave space in the direction a subject faces or moves.
• Keep faces clear of the area where captions and titles sit.

Push in slowly with keyframes

A slow push-in adds life to a static shot.

1. Select the clip and put the playhead on its first frame. In the Keyframes row, click the diamond, titled Add a key at the playhead.
2. Move the playhead to the last frame and click the diamond again.
3. A Scale row now appears. Raise it to a slightly larger value at this key.
4. Play the clip. The picture moves steadily between the two keys.

Share the frame, rotate and flip

The Layout menu at the bottom of the tab places a clip in part of the frame: Full, Top, Bottom, Left, Right or PiP. Two clips on separate video tracks with Top and Bottom make a split screen. PiP puts a smaller picture in the corner.

The Rotation buttons turn a clip by 90 degrees, which helps when a clip was filmed sideways, and Flip mirrors it. After any framing change, play the clip and watch the edges of the frame, where unwanted objects and empty space tend to hide.

Reframe a clip

Switch a project to Vertical in DepCut, set a landscape clip to Fill, and drag the picture until the subject sits where you want it.