A wide 16:9 clip looks thin in a feed, with a lot of empty space around it. A square or a portrait frame takes up more of the screen. So when you resize video for Instagram, the first thing to settle is the Instagram video size: square, or a taller 4:5.
This page opens the resize tool on the 1:1 square tile, 1080×1080, which is labelled Instagram feed. The 4:5 portrait tile, 1080×1350, is one tap away if you want a taller post. Your video is resized in your browser and never uploaded.
Read on to choose between square and 4:5, and to see how to keep the right part of the picture when you change the shape.
Instagram video size: square or 4:5 portrait
On this page, the 1:1 square tile (labelled Instagram feed) outputs 1080×1080, and the 4:5 portrait tile (labelled Instagram portrait) outputs 1080×1350. Those are the two Instagram video dimensions the tool offers as tiles. They are different shapes, and which is better depends on your footage and how much of the screen you want to take up.
| Tile | Output size | Note on the tile | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:1 square | 1080×1080 | Instagram feed | The subject is centred and you want an even, simple frame |
| 4:5 portrait | 1080×1350 | Instagram portrait | You want a taller post and the subject is upright |
A square is the safest shape because it works for subjects that sit in the middle, such as a face, a plate of food or a product. A 4:5 video is taller, so it suits people standing, rooms and anything with vertical lines. For a full-screen tall video, the 9:16 tile labelled TikTok, Reels, Shorts makes 1080×1920, and it opens ready on the resize video for Reels page.
- Choose the square when the subject sits in the middle of the frame, when you are working from wide footage, or when you want a simple, even shape.
- Choose 4:5 portrait when your footage is already tall, when people or rooms need height, or when you want the video to take up more of the screen.
- If you are unsure, try both. Resize once to each tile and compare the two results side by side before you decide.
The page starts on the square. To switch, tap 4:5 portrait under Size, and the To line changes to 1080×1350.
How to resize a video for Instagram
- Drop your video onto the page, or choose it from your device. Several clips can be added and resized together.
- The 1:1 square tile is selected. Tap 4:5 portrait if you want the taller shape.
- Choose how the picture fills the frame under "When the shape is different": Fill, Fit or Stretch.
- Check the From and To lines, and the stage preview.
- Press Resize, then save the new MP4 or download a batch as a zip.
Because the tool keeps your original, you can resize the same clip twice, once to square and once to portrait, and have both files ready. Neither one replaces the other. This is a simple way to test which shape suits a post before you share it.
The file is named with the new size on the end, such as _1080x1080, so you can tell it apart from the original.
Turning wide video into a square
Most video starts out wide. Turning it into a square means giving up something, and the three fit tiles let you choose what.
Fill: a full square, with the sides trimmed
Fill covers the whole square with no bars, and trims the left and right edges of a wide picture. It looks the most polished in a feed, since the picture fills the frame edge to edge. Use it for talking-head clips, close-ups and anything where the action is in the middle.
Fit: the whole shot, with bars
Fit keeps all of the picture and adds bars above and below. Choose it for wide scenes, group shots and anything with text near the edges. The picture will be smaller inside the square, but nothing is cut off.
Stretch: rarely what you want
Stretch squashes the picture into the square, which makes people look narrow. It is available, but you will seldom want it for video that includes faces.
Keep the right part of the picture
A square from a wide clip loses a lot of the width. A 1920×1080 picture is much wider than it is tall, so a square can only keep the middle part. That is fine for a face or a product. For a landscape shot or a group of people, the portrait or the Fit option may serve you better.
Fill always crops around the centre of the picture. If your subject is off to one side, Fill may cut it. There is an easy fix: crop first, then resize.
- Open crop video and drop your clip in.
- Tap the 1:1 chip, or 4:5 for portrait, and drag the box over the part you want to keep.
- Press Crop, then open the resize page and drop in the cropped file.
Because the cropped file already has the right shape, Fill then changes only the size and does not cut anything more. If you need to shorten the clip as well, use trim video before you start.
If the picture is also sideways, fix that with the rotate tool first. A video resized to square while on its side will be cropped in the wrong place. If a selfie clip shows writing that reads backwards, swap its left and right sides with flip video before you resize. To swap the top and bottom instead, flip the video upside down.
Free and private in your browser
The resize runs on your own computer. Your video is never uploaded, and the server does no video work. There is no account to make and no watermark added to the picture.
It also means large files are no problem for your connection. There is nothing to upload and nothing to wait for before the work starts, so you can try different tiles and fits as many times as you like.
- Video tools are not counted in the free daily limit, which applies to document conversions only.
- Works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
- Most videos have no size limit. A few files, such as certain AVI or WMV videos, take longer and can be up to 2 GB.
For anything else you might want to do to the clip, the Video Tools link at the top of this page lists every video tool.
Resize your Instagram video now
For the right Instagram video size, start on the 1:1 square at 1080×1080 or tap the 4:5 portrait at 1080×1350, then choose Fill for a full frame or Fit to keep the whole picture. Crop first if the subject is off-centre.
It is free, private and watermark-free. Drop your video in the tool above and press Resize.
