Portrait! Landscape! The landscape versus portrait debate is no longer confined to Renaissance-style paintings. Video content creators and editors will gladly join forces with painters and visual artists on this heated debate, and social media came waltzing in, ready to settle it. Who would have thought that vintage artwork and social media could be so well connected? Stick around as we explore the science behind video rotation and learn more about how to convert landscape videos to portrait mode with shortx.
Social media aspect ratios: from landscape to portrait
We bet you’ve seen those amazingly aesthetic videos with a short intro that says, “rotate your phone for a better viewing experience”. The reason behind this is that social media platforms, the medium where we usually watch videos, have different requirements when it comes to video sizing and aspect ratio. Let’s break it down:
- Landscape aspect ratios
The landscape aspect ratio is a standard for platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. Ideally suited for desktop or TV viewing, landscape videos are for those who prefer sitting down in front of a (big) screen, relaxing, and snacking on some popcorn.
- Portrait aspect ratios
This video orientation is designed to fill the entire screen of a vertically-held smartphone. You guessed it; the vertical aspect ratio is a favorite among TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts fans.
This raises the question of why you should rotate videos in the first place when you can simply edit a brand new video, depending on your social media platform of choice. See the flaw in that premise? Let’s dive further into why it’s a great idea to convert a landscape video to portrait mode.
Flip the switch: why should you convert landscape videos to portrait?
When you choose to rotate video content, it’s more than just a technical adjustment. This technique is, in fact, part of a bigger strategy with an even bigger goal: enhancing your content’s impact and boosting its reach. Rotate video = repurpose content; it’s as simple as that!
With social media networks like TikTok or Instagram, you need to maximize screen real estate, meaning that it’s desirable that your content fills the screen for a better viewing experience. Unfortunately, we can’t help it… but we can definitely convert it from landscape to a portrait video. This small step makes a big difference in how you’ll be getting your message across through beautiful videos in different formats and environments. So what’s in it for you? Not only do you effectively boost the reach of your content by embracing new audiences or further creating a connection with the same audiences, only on different platforms, but you also save a lot of time and effort. All you ever really need is the right tool that makes rotating videos a piece of cake.
How to rotate video online: step-by-step tutorial
Speaking of the right tool, what better way to learn how to rotate video than through the power of example? We’ve picked a handy online tool that runs directly in your browser, has a user-friendly interface, and brings together hundreds of audio and video editing features, so you don’t have to switch between different apps and tabs as you’re working your editing magic.
Step 1: Import your video with ease
Simply open a tab on your favorite browser and head to flixier.com before you tap the Start Editing button. Effortlessly import your video straight from your computer or even your smartphone. As a nice bonus, you can also bring over videos from cloud storage providers like Google Drive or Dropbox by signing in to your account.
Step 2: Rotate the video
Drag and drop your video on the Flixier timeline to start editing. Select your footage on the canvas, and you’ll see a grey floating toolkit that features 5 distinctive buttons appear next to it. From the bottom up, you’ll find two circular arrow icons that correspond to the video rotation feature. Click one to rotate your video by 90 degrees and switch perspectives from landscape to portrait or vice versa. You can also right-click on the canvas, hover over the Transform feature, and tap one of the two available Rotate options.
Step 3: Edit your video
It’s time to unleash your imagination! Flixier features oh-so-many easy-to-use video editing tools, making it a piece of cake to trim, crop, add stickers, or even GIFs to your video. Enhance your visuals through stunning filters or colorful effects, and don’t forget about smooth transitions. Explore AI-powered features like the automated voice-over generator or the AI-powered captions, and even experiment with an AI image generator that turns your text prompts into masterpieces.
Step 4: Easily export and share on socials
Once you’ve wrapped up with the editing, tap the blue Export button on the top-right side of the interface. Select the video export format, and your video will be ready to download on your device really quickly. What’s better is that you can share your content straight to YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels at the touch of a button. Pretty neat, right?
