Ah yes, the age-old question*. Whether you’re filming with a phone or with pro camera kit, should you shoot horizontal or vertical? There are a few things you’ll need to consider before you can answer that question. We could discuss the merits of both formats endlessly (landscape is how our eyes see! Vertical is how we hold our phones !) Or we could accept that the format we should shoot in is dictated by our social media platform of choice. The main thing is that you do decide beforehand, rather than shooting in a less-than-ideal format or (even worse) shooting in a mix of portrait and landscape.
*Alright, it’s only about 10 years old, but that’s an age in internet terms.
Let’s get into it, after a quick note on terminology.
Maths alert 🤓
The dimensions of a video – I mean the shape of it, how tall/short/wide/narrow it is – is technically called the aspect ratio. People use a bunch of different terms to describe the aspect ratio of a video, so I should clarify those before I start. Generally on this blog I’m going to refer to portrait, landscape and square.
Here’s a handy little table with the four aspect ratios I’m going to talk about:
| Aspect ratio | Alternative names | Typical resolution |
| 16:9 | landscape, horizontal, widescreen, HD, 4K | 1920 x 1080px (HD or Full HD) 3840 x 2160px (4K or UHD) |
| 1:1 | square | 1080 x 1080px |
| 4:5 | Instagram portrait | 1080 x 1350px 864 x 1080px |
| 9:16 | portrait, vertical | 1080 x 1920px (HD turned 90º) 608 x 1080px (cropped HD) |
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the wider formats look smaller in these very cute cat photos. On a computer screen or a phone held in horizontal mode, 16:9 will take up far more of the screen than portrait formats. Generally this is the main thing driving your decision: how much real estate will your video take up in the feed or in full screen? Square video can be a bit of a happy medium, but it’s becoming less and less common as platforms like Instagram have phased it out.
Which platform/s are you posting to? 📲
If you’re only posting to one platform, the answer to what aspect ratio to film in is easy! Just check the table below and go with the recommended format for that platform.
If you’re posting to multiple channels, use the table to check whether there’s a format that works for all of them. If not, consider filming in landscape and creating a cropped portrait version in the edit. You can do this the other way around (shoot portrait and crop for landscape) but you’re more likely to end up with awkward framing – see “How to shoot with cropping in mind”. Also, cropping by definition means removing a load of your pixels. In other words you’re inherently lowering your video’s resolution.
| Platform | Best aspect ratio | Other accepted formats |
| 16:9 (9:16 for Stories) | All accepted, but you might see some cropping on portrait formats. | |
| 9:16 (Reels and Stories) | All are technically accepted, but anything other than 9:16 will have black bars added at the top and bottom. | |
| 16:9 | All accepted, but consider that half of your LinkedIn audience will be watching on desktop, where landscape looks best and portrait looks a bit rubbish. | |
| TikTok | 9:16 | As with Instagram, you really shouldn’t use other formats if you can help it. |
| X/Twitter | 16:9 | All accepted, but you might see some cropping on portrait formats. |
| YouTube | 16:9 (9:16 for Shorts) | Stick to 16:9 otherwise you’ll get black bars either side. |
Is one of your channels higher priority than another? 📊
Let’s say you’re posting to Instagram and LinkedIn, but you have 50k followers on Instagram and only 50 on LinkedIn. In that case, you should probably film in portrait and use the same, or a cropped landscape version, on LinkedIn. Think about delivering the best quality content to the biggest audience. For the greater good. (The greater good.)
Can you shoot both? 🎥
There are some situations where the correct answer to “should I film in landscape or portrait” is YES. Both of them. Let’s say you’re producing a short promo video for both YouTube (not YouTube Shorts) and TikTok. Shooting both versions in portrait and then cropping to landscape for YouTube won’t look great. Shooting in landscape and cropping to portrait for TikTok will look okay but it won’t have that “native” feel because it’ll be obvious you’ve cropped landscape content.
If time and budget allows, you should consider filming two completely separate versions. One in portrait, specifically aimed at TikTok, and one in landscape for YouTube. It might work to do this with two cameras at the same time.
What about other formats? ▶️
You might choose to go for 1:1 (AKA square) on some platforms. Or, increasingly, 4:5 (a sort of stubby portrait) – which has replaced square on the little thumbnails that make up your Instagram profile grid. For Instagram, though, it’s still best practice to upload in full portrait (9:16) as this is the native format for Reels. Reels in landscape, square or 4:5 format will appear with blurry space at the top and bottom, which is fine but not ideal.
How to shoot with cropping in mind ✂️
This might be obvious, but if you’re going to crop landscape footage to make it portrait, the shot needs to be wide enough to take it. Put simply, a close-up shot of a face in landscape is going to be very close in portrait, probably with both your subject’s cheeks lopped off. Not a good look. This is one reason why it’s so important to have the end goal in mind before you press that big red record button.
If possible, you might want to use guides on your screen/monitor to show you where the crop will be. If in doubt, err on the side of shooting wide. If you can film in 4K resolution, you’ll have more flexibility to crop in without losing too many pixels.
Are you a bit lost? 🤷
I’ve tried to make this guide as useable and understandable as possible. But if you’re stuck, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. Otherwise, whichever aspect ratio you decide to go with, have a great time and good luck!
