Video tool · Free

Crop a Video for YouTube Shorts

Reframe any video to 9:16 at 1080 x 1920, the shape YouTube Shorts actually wants. Free, in your browser.

Free to startIn your browserUp to 500 MB
How it works

Crop for YouTube Shorts in 3 steps

1

Upload your video

Drag and drop a file, or click to browse. Up to 500 MB, nothing to install.

2

9:16 is already selected

The crop is pre-set to 9:16 for YouTube Shorts. Switch ratio in the panel if you need a different placement.

3

Crop and download

We process the crop on our servers. Create a free account to download, or keep editing in REQO.

YouTube Shorts video sizes

Shorts are vertical: 9:16 at 1080 x 1920. YouTube decides a video belongs in the Shorts feed based on its shape and length, so the crop is not cosmetic, it determines where the video ends up.

Keep it under the Shorts length cap, which currently sits at three minutes. Longer vertical uploads land in the normal video feed instead, where a tall frame works against you.

The Shorts player puts the title, channel and action buttons over the bottom and right of the frame. Anything you need read should sit in the upper-middle of the picture.

PlacementAspect ratioFrame size
Shorts9:161080 x 1920
Standard YouTube video16:91920 x 1080
Square (not recommended)1:11080 x 1080

Cropping is not resizing

Cropping changes what is inside the frame by cutting the edges away. Resizing keeps the whole frame and changes how many pixels it is drawn with. Going from a landscape recording to a vertical post is a crop, and something has to leave the picture.

If your video is already 9:16 and you only need it at a different resolution, use the resize tool instead, it is free too and linked below.

FAQ

crop for youtube shorts: questions

What size is a YouTube Short?

1080 x 1920, a 9:16 vertical frame, the same size as a Reel or a TikTok.

How long can a Short be?

Up to three minutes. Anything longer is published as a regular video rather than a Short.

Is cropping for YouTube Shorts free?

Yes. Crop and preview for free, then create a free account to download the result.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in your browser on any machine, so you can crop for YouTube Shorts from a phone as easily as from a laptop.

Does cropping reduce quality?

The kept area is cropped at source resolution and re-encoded at high quality, so it stays sharp. Cropping deep into a low-resolution source is what makes video look soft, not the crop itself.

Need more than crop for youtube shorts?

REQO is a full browser video editor: record, edit by transcript, caption and export.