In short: Most short-form video is made in three aspect ratios. 9:16 is full-screen vertical and is the native format for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok. 4:5 is a tall portrait that takes up most of the screen in a scrolling feed, and 1:1 is square, which still works almost everywhere. The practical approach is to edit once in 9:16 and plan the framing so the same edit can be cropped to 4:5 and 1:1 without losing the speaker's face or the captions. Keep faces and key text near the centre, leave space at the top and bottom where platform buttons and captions overlap the video, and check every version on a phone before posting. Deliver all three from the start, because changing the format after the edit is finished usually means re-framing every shot by hand.
The same video can look polished on one platform and awkward on another, and the difference is often just the shape of the frame. Choosing formats before you edit saves a round of re-framing later.
The three formats
- 9:16, full-screen vertical. The native shape for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok. It fills a phone screen, so it gets the most attention.
- 4:5, tall portrait. A strong choice for feed posts on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, where it takes up more of the screen than a square while scrolling.
- 1:1, square. The safest all-rounder. It rarely looks wrong anywhere, though it gives up some screen space on vertical-first apps.
Edit once, frame for three
The most efficient workflow is to edit in 9:16 and plan from the start for 4:5 and 1:1 crops. That means keeping the speaker's face and any key on-screen text inside the area all three shapes share, which is roughly the centre of the frame. If a shot only works in 9:16, for example a full-body move or a tall product, decide early whether the other versions get a different framing for that moment.
Mind the safe zones
On vertical apps, the interface sits on top of your video: the caption and account name near the bottom, buttons down the right side, and sometimes a header at the top. Keep captions and important text clear of those edges, a little above the bottom third, and away from the right-hand side. Check the finished file on a real phone in each app before posting.
Captions in every format
Many people watch short-form with the sound off, so burned-in captions belong in every version. When you crop from 9:16 to 1:1, captions often need to move up or shrink slightly so they stay inside the frame. Build that into your style guide rather than fixing it video by video.
A simple checklist
- Decide the formats before editing: usually 9:16, plus 4:5 or 1:1 for feeds.
- Keep faces and key text in the shared centre of the frame.
- Leave the top, bottom and right edges clear of captions and text.
- Check each version on a phone, in the app it is meant for.
- Name files clearly by format so the right one gets posted.
ReelNinja delivers every short video in 9:16, 1:1 and 4:5, captioned and framed for each. See how we produce short-form at scale, look up terms in the glossary, or get three free clips from your own footage.