Resize video for YouTube at 1920×1080 or 1280×720

YouTube aspect ratio and resolution: 16:9 at Full HD or HD

The YouTube player is 16:9, so that is the YouTube aspect ratio to aim for. The tile labelled YouTube, 16:9 Full HD, outputs 1920×1080, and 16:9 HD outputs 1280×720. Both have the same shape and differ only in how many pixels they have.

YouTube's own help on upload settings lists both among its sizes for 16:9 video: 1920×1080 as 1080p and 1280×720 as 720p. So to convert a video to 1080p or 720p, pick the matching tile. Full HD is the tile this page starts on, and HD suits a quick share where a smaller picture is fine. For a smaller file rather than a smaller picture, the Compress video tool is the one built for that.

For a larger 16:9 frame, choose Custom. It takes any even width and height from 16 to 7,680 pixels, so you can type 2560×1440 or 3840×2160 when your source is that big. Keep the proportions is on by default, so on a 16:9 clip the height follows the width you type.

Which YouTube resolution to pick depends on the clip you start with. Going down in size is the safe direction. A 3840×2160 video resized to 1920×1080 keeps the shape and gives a smaller picture. The 16:9 HD tile does the same at 1280×720.

Resizing a small video up to 1920×1080 gives it the right shape and size, but it cannot add detail that was not there. For the sharpest result, start from the best version of the clip you have.

How to resize a video for YouTube

1. Drop your video onto the page, or choose it from your device. You can add several clips at once.
2. Check that the 16:9 Full HD tile is selected under Size. The To line should read 1920×1080.
3. Under "When the shape is different", choose Fill, Fit or Stretch. If your clip is already 16:9, this choice changes nothing.
4. Look at the stage preview to confirm how it will look.
5. Press Resize. Save the MP4, or download a batch as a zip.

If you drop in several clips, they all get the same size and fit. That suits a set of videos from one shoot, which you want to match before uploading them as a series.

The saved file has the size on the end of its name, for example _1920x1080, so it never replaces your original.

Vertical to horizontal video for a wide player

The common problem the other way round is a phone video, which is tall, going into a wide player. You may not need to change it. YouTube's help page says its player adjusts to a video of another shape, and advises against adding padding or black bars into the video itself. So you can upload a tall clip as it is.

If you need a 16:9 file anyway, the two shapes do not match, so you decide how the picture meets the frame. All three choices convert the video to 16:9; they differ in what happens to the parts that do not fit.

Fit: keep the whole tall picture with bars at the sides

Fit shrinks the tall picture until all of it is visible and puts bars on the left and right. The picture is small in the middle of the frame, but nothing is cut off. The bars become part of the file, which YouTube advises against, so use Fit only when you need a 16:9 file.

Fill: a full wide frame, with the top and bottom cut

Fill makes the picture cover the wide frame and trims the top and bottom. Because a tall picture is much narrower than a wide frame, a lot gets cut. It can work for a tight shot of a face, but it is risky for anything with action near the top or bottom.

Stretch: distorts the picture

Stretch pulls a tall picture across the wide frame, so everything looks wide and squashed. It is available, but it is hard to find a video that looks better for it.

If you want a tall video on YouTube

If the video is meant to be tall, you do not have to force it into a wide frame. See resize video for TikTok and YouTube Shorts, which uses the 9:16 vertical size.

Avoid unwanted black bars

Black bars on a wide player are nearly always a shape mismatch. These checks help.

• Look at the From line. If it is already close to 16:9, such as 1920×1080 or 1280×720, you probably need no resize at all.
• If the clip is on its side, rotate it first. A sideways video resized to 16:9 will give strange results.
• If the clip has bars baked into it, such as old black bands from a screen recording, remove them with crop video first, then resize.
• Pick Fill if you want no bars and can afford to lose the edges.

For a clip with a slow start or an extra ending, trim it with trim video before you resize, so the saved file is only the part you want to upload.

Fix a picture that faces the wrong way at the same stage. Flip video swaps left and right, for example when a selfie camera saved the clip mirrored, and the upside down video tool swaps the top and the bottom.

Resize for YouTube privately, without an upload

Because it all happens locally, you can try both wide tiles and compare the files. Save one at Full HD and one at HD, and check them before you decide which to use.

The resize runs on your own computer, inside the browser tab. The video is not uploaded, and the server does no video work. That suits unreleased videos, when you want to prepare a file before it goes anywhere.

• Free, with no account and no watermark.
• 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.

The result is saved as an MP4, and your original file is left as it was.