9 : 16

9:16 Aspect Ratio Calculator

The complete reference for vertical video dimensions. Calculate exact sizes for TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat, with safe-zone guidance and platform-specific specs for mobile-first video.

TikTok & YouTube ShortsInstagram Reels & StoriesMobile-first video

0.5625

Decimal ratio

the exact decimal value of 9 divided by 16

6 major

Platforms covered

TikTok, Shorts, Reels, Stories, Snapchat, and Pinterest-style vertical publishing

177.78%

CSS padding value

the largest padding fallback used by the common social-video ratios

Calculate 9:16 Dimensions

Use exact vertical math for Shorts, Reels, Stories, and mobile-first ads

This calculator handles width-to-height, height-to-width, and verification workflows with unit conversion, diagonal output, responsive CSS values, and a live mobile-shaped preview.

Enter a width and calculate the matching 9:16 height.

Width

HeightAuto

Unit

Pixel mode uses native publishing dimensions directly.

Standard vertical

High-definition vertical

Low bandwidth

9:16

Top UI zone

Safe content zone

Bottom controls

Current Output

1080 × 1920 px

Ratio: 9:16
Decimal: 0.5625
CSS Padding: 177.78%
Inverse ratio: 16:9
Diagonal: 2202.91 px

Matches and Formula

TikTokYouTube ShortsInstagram ReelsSnapchat

Height from width: H = W × 1.7778

Width from height: W = H × 0.5625

CSS fallback: padding-top: 177.78%

Quick actions

Get CSS

aspect-ratio: 9 / 16;
padding-top: 177.78%;
width: 1080px;
height: 1920px;

Vertical Video Platform Specs

Quick platform specs for TikTok, Shorts, Reels, Stories, and live vertical formats

This table is the fast check before export. It keeps the most searched platform specs in one place, including the recommended 9:16 size, minimum dimensions, file limits, duration ceilings, and frame-rate expectations.

Platform	Content type	Recommended	Minimum	Max file	Duration	FPS
🎵TikTokPopular	Video	1080×1920	540×960	4 GB	60 min	24/25/30/60fps
▶YouTube ShortsPopular	Short video	1080×1920	608×1080	256 GB	60 sec	24-60fps
📸Instagram ReelsPopular	Short video	1080×1920	500×888	4 GB	90 sec	23-60fps
🟣Instagram Stories	Story	1080×1920	500×888	4 GB	15 sec/segment	23-60fps
👻Snapchat	Video	1080×1920	270×480	1 GB	60 sec	24-60fps
📌Pinterest	Idea Pin	1080×1920	1080×1920	2 GB	60 sec	—
📘Facebook Stories	Story	1080×1920	540×960	4 GB	20 sec	—
✕Twitter / X	Vertical video	1080×1920	—	512 MB	2 min 20 sec	—
💼LinkedIn	Vertical video	1080×1920	256×144	5 GB	10 min	—
🟪Twitch	Vertical live	1080×1920	—	—	—	30/60fps

What Is 9:16?

Why 9:16 became the default ratio for vertical video

The 9:16 aspect ratio is the vertical inverse of the familiar 16:9 widescreen format. Where 16:9 is wider than it is tall, 9:16 is taller than it is wide, which matches the natural way people hold a smartphone. The decimal value is 0.5625, and the CSS padding-top fallback is 177.78 percent.

Any 16:9 resolution can be flipped into its 9:16 counterpart by swapping width and height. That is why 1920×1080 becomes 1080×1920, 1280×720 becomes 720×1280, and 3840×2160 becomes 2160×3840. The math is simple, but the production workflow changes dramatically because the composition now has to survive mobile interface overlays.

The rise of 9:16 is directly tied to the mobile-first internet. Short-form feeds, swipe-based stories, and vertical creators changed the center of gravity away from desktop players and toward full-screen phone playback. For creators, 9:16 is no longer a derivative format. It is often the primary distribution target.

That shift has practical consequences. Algorithms on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts tend to reward native vertical creative over recycled horizontal video with black bars. Exact dimensions, safe zones, subtitle placement, and platform-specific export rules are now core production skills rather than optional polish.

📱

1B+

TikTok monthly active users

vertical-native viewing behavior made 9:16 the default creative shape

🎬

70B

TikTok daily video views

the dominant short-form feed is built around full-screen vertical video

📊

2×

Higher mobile completion rate

vertical creative often outperforms horizontal video on upright phones

9:16 Safe Zone Guide

Keep text, faces, and CTAs inside the visible center of a vertical frame

Every major vertical platform overlays usernames, captions, progress bars, or action buttons on top of the video. This simplified guide focuses on the parts that matter most in production: top clearance, bottom clearance, right-side actions, and the conservative safe area that survives republishing.

All platforms overlay map

Top UI

Bottom UI

Actions

Safe zone

Most conservative rule: keep important content inside the center-safe rectangle and treat the edges as unstable if the same master will be reused across platforms.

All platforms safe-zone data at 1080×1920

Top blocked area

0 - 250px

Bottom blocked area

1570 - 1920px

Right blocked area

last 150px

Safe vertical range

250 - 1570px

Use this conservative shared safe zone when one vertical master will be republished across every major platform.

Shared all-platform safe zone

Top clearance

≥ 250px

Bottom clearance

≥ 350px

Side clearance

≥ 150px

Safe rectangle

150 - 930px

This section intentionally favors clarity over export-template complexity. Instead of adding a brittle download flow, the page gives you exact safe-zone numbers and a single conservative overlay that is easy to recreate in Figma, Premiere Pro, CapCut, or Resolve.

Platform-by-Platform Specifications

Detailed vertical specs for TikTok, Shorts, Reels, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Facebook Stories

This section trades heavy interaction for dense reference value. Each card keeps the operational details that creators actually search for: the preferred ratio, recommended and minimum size, encoding context, duration, and the safe-zone constraints that change how the edit should be framed.

🎵

TikTok

Native short-form video

Aspect ratio	9:16 recommended, 1:1 and 16:9 accepted
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	540×960
Frame rate	24 / 25 / 30 / 60 fps
Codec	H.264 / H.265
Maximum file	4 GB
Duration	15 sec to 60 min
Formats	MP4 / MOV / WebM / AVI
Cover	Upload 1080×1920, displayed as square in profile grid

Operational notes

Keep subtitles above 1500px from the top so the bottom caption and audio block do not cover them.
Avoid the rightmost 130px because the interaction buttons occupy that strip.
Native 9:16 content performs better than horizontal video with black bars.

▶

YouTube Shorts

Vertical shorts inside the YouTube ecosystem

Aspect ratio	9:16 required for a native Shorts workflow
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	608×1080
Frame rate	24 to 60 fps
Codec	H.264 / VP9 / AV1
Maximum file	256 GB or 12 hours
Duration	60 sec or shorter for Shorts classification
Formats	MP4 / MOV / AVI / WMV
Thumbnail	Use a dedicated 1080×1920 vertical thumb when possible

Operational notes

Keep subtitles above 1520px and stay clear of the right-side control column.
Use a strong hook in the opening seconds and keep the title and #Shorts strategy aligned with the topic.
Treat Shorts as a separate crop from the main 16:9 YouTube master.

📸

Instagram Reels

Reels with profile-grid side effects

Aspect ratio	9:16 recommended
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	500×888
Frame rate	23 to 60 fps
Codec	H.264
Maximum file	4 GB
Duration	3 to 90 sec
Formats	MP4 / MOV
Cover	Profile grid crops to square, so center-safe design matters

Operational notes

Bottom text should stay above 1540px from the top to clear controls and metadata.
Avoid the rightmost 110px because the interaction stack lives there.
Stories and Reels share the vertical frame, but Stories disappears after 24 hours while Reels remains discoverable.

👻

Snapchat

Story-native portrait video

Aspect ratio	9:16 native format
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	270×480
Frame rate	24 to 60 fps
Maximum file	1 GB
Duration	3 to 60 sec
Formats	MP4 / MOV / H.264
Spotlight	Use the same 1080×1920 baseline for TikTok-style placement

Operational notes

Snapchat is slightly more forgiving than TikTok on the right side, but top and bottom UI still matter.
Keep key content between 180px and 1680px for a conservative all-purpose Snapchat safe area.

📌

Pinterest Idea Pins

Vertical discovery content

Aspect ratio	9:16 recommended
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	1080×1920
Maximum file	2 GB
Duration	3 to 60 sec
Formats	MP4 / MOV

Operational notes

Pinterest is stricter about baseline dimensions, so 1080×1920 is the safest export.
Text-heavy creative needs more breathing room because UI and pin chrome vary across surfaces.

📘

Facebook Stories

Story placement inside the Meta ecosystem

Aspect ratio	9:16 recommended
Recommended resolution	1080×1920
Minimum resolution	540×960
Maximum file	4 GB
Duration	1 to 20 sec per segment
Formats	MP4 / MOV

Operational notes

Facebook Stories behaves like a story placement first, so center-safe subtitles and clean CTA spacing matter more than cinematic composition.
If a campaign spans Stories, Reels, and feed placements, export one vertical master and protect the center zone.

Convert 16:9 to 9:16

How to Convert 16:9 to 9:16 Without Losing the Story

The most common vertical-video workflow is repurposing existing 16:9 content for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and Stories. The goal is not just to rotate the frame. It is to preserve the important visual subject inside a much narrower crop.

Center crop

Keep only the center column

Cut a narrow 9:16 slice from the middle of the original widescreen frame.

Math: From 1920×1080, keep a center crop of about 608×1080 and scale it to 1080×1920.

Best for: Talking heads, product demos, and footage where the subject stays centered.

Watch out: You lose about 68% of the original width, so side information disappears quickly.

Best when the original composition was already tight and central.

Dynamic reframe

Auto Reframe or Smart Conform

Let the crop box follow the subject through the shot.

Math: Track the subject within a 9:16 crop and animate the crop window rather than locking it to the center.

Best for: Vlogs, interviews, sports, and moving subjects.

Watch out: Requires more editing time and careful review to avoid jitter or awkward pans.

Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and CapCut all support variants of this workflow.

Blur or split background

Full-content preservation

Preserve the entire 16:9 image inside a 9:16 canvas by filling the empty area with a blurred or stylized background.

Math: Keep the horizontal frame centered and use the top and bottom areas for blurred fill, captions, or brand graphics.

Best for: Gameplay, webinar footage, lectures, and content that cannot survive a hard crop.

Watch out: The result feels less native than true vertical footage and can look templated if overused.

Useful when losing side information would harm comprehension.

Center-crop visual logic

Crop away

Keep this center area

A straight center crop is the fastest workflow, but it only works when the subject already lives near the middle of the frame. If the action moves horizontally, use dynamic reframe instead of locking yourself to a static center column.

Common 16:9 to 9:16 crop conversions

Original 16:9	Center crop	Scaled 9:16 output
1920×1080	608×1080	1080×1920
1280×720	405×720	720×1280
3840×2160	1215×2160	2160×3840
2560×1440	810×1440	1440×2560

Pragmatic rule: if the clip is a talking head, use center crop. If the subject moves, use dynamic reframe. If the frame contains important side detail, preserve the full 16:9 image inside a vertical canvas with a blurred or branded background.

9:16 Aspect Ratio in CSS

Generate CSS, Tailwind, React, and Vue code for vertical containers

Vertical media on the web still needs explicit layout rules. Use `aspect-ratio: 9 / 16` where possible and keep the 177.78% fallback ready for older systems, embeds, or CMS blocks that still rely on padding tricks.

Fixed size helper

Build a vertical box from one width

aspect-[9/16]

Width in pixels

Width

1080px

Height

1920px

The vertical container is effectively the widescreen ratio turned upright. That makes `aspect-ratio: 9 / 16` the cleanest semantic expression of a mobile-first media slot.

Note: 177.78% is a large padding value. If you still rely on the classic padding hack, pair it with `overflow: hidden`, `max-height`, or an outer wrapper so the layout does not spill awkwardly on short viewports.

Modern aspect-ratio

The cleanest option for modern browsers and responsive vertical embeds.

.vertical-916 {
  width: 100%;
  aspect-ratio: 9 / 16;
}

Padding-top fallback

Legacy fallback when you still need classic padding-based ratio containers.

.vertical-916-wrapper {
  position: relative;
  width: 100%;
  padding-top: 177.78%;
}

.vertical-916-wrapper > * {
  position: absolute;
  inset: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
}

Fixed dimensions

Useful for exact artboards, export templates, and ad specs.

.vertical-916-fixed {
  width: 1080px;
  height: 1920px;
}

Fullscreen mobile-first container

Useful when the design goal is a centered, phone-like full-height container.

.vertical-fullscreen {
  width: 100vw;
  height: 100vh;
  aspect-ratio: 9 / 16;
  max-width: calc(100vh * 9 / 16);
  margin: 0 auto;
  overflow: hidden;
}

How to Shoot 9:16 Video

Shooting Tips for 9:16 Video

Vertical video needs a different production mindset. Native portrait capture, center-safe composition, and subtitle-aware framing matter more here than cinematic width or widescreen background context.

Hold the phone vertically from the start

The most common mistake in short-form production is shooting horizontally and planning to crop later. Native vertical footage uses the device sensor more efficiently for the target format and usually looks sharper than a late crop from 16:9.

If you are shooting with a mirrorless camera instead of a phone, use the camera's vertical video mode when available so your monitoring and stabilization choices match the final delivery format.

Frame for the safe zone

Before recording, treat the top 15%, bottom 20%, and right-side action rail as unstable territory. Place faces, product details, and CTA copy inside the center-safe region instead of hugging the edges.

Top UI: avoid key content in the first 150 to 250px.
Bottom UI: subtitles and CTAs should sit above the lower 300 to 350px.
Right rail: keep important content away from the interaction stack on TikTok, Shorts, and Reels.

Use vertical composition principles

Vertical framing changes how space works. Instead of spreading subjects horizontally, stack elements, lean on vertical lines, and keep more headroom than you would in a widescreen interview shot.

Use doorways, trees, and buildings as vertical leading lines.
Place multiple subjects one above another rather than side by side.
Add foreground elements near the bottom to create depth in a tall frame.

Audio still matters in vertical video

Short-form viewers often start with sound off, but poor audio still hurts retention once they unmute. Good vertical production uses both clean audio and captions that stay inside the safe zone.

Use a lav mic such as Rode Wireless GO II.
Use a compact shotgun or wireless kit such as DJI Mic 2.
Always add captions because viewers may watch with or without sound.

Phone stabilizers

DJI OM 6
Zhiyun Smooth 5S
Insta360 Flow

Vertical-friendly cameras

Sony ZV-E10
Fujifilm X-S20
DJI Osmo Pocket 3

Lighting

Ring light for face-first setups
Portable LED panel for movement-heavy shoots

Production shortcut: if the clip is meant primarily for phone consumption, shoot vertically first and crop horizontally later only if you really need an alternate version. The reverse workflow almost always costs more image area and more editing time.

Complete 9:16 Resolution List

From 360×640 to 2160×3840, the vertical video sizes that matter in production

Exact 9:16 sizes keep your exports native to mobile platforms. Click any row to push it back into the calculator above and confirm the ratio, CSS padding, and diagonal size immediately.

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