You can make a horizontal video vertical without cutting people by either keeping the full frame with a blurred background or by cropping carefully and checking each clip.
Published 2026-09-20
To turn a horizontal video vertical without cropping people, you have two main choices: crop the sides to fill the screen, or keep the whole frame and add space around it. Cropping fills the display but removes part of the sides. Keeping the whole frame preserves the action, but leaves empty space around it. The right choice depends on each clip.
A single person in the centre is easier to crop than a group. For a moving subject, don't just check the first frame. Play the whole clip and watch whether the main action stays inside the frame. If important people don't fit, use a smaller size with a simple or blurred background. Another option is a short wide shot followed by a close-up. You don't have to force the same solution on every clip.
Text added to the original wide video can get lost when you crop. If you have the original project, move the title in the new vertical version. For a finished file, it's often better to keep the whole frame instead of cropping further.
Before exporting, look at the video in a true vertical preview. Checking a small crop inside a wide editor can easily miss a cut-off hand or face. Keeping the meaning of the shot is more important than a perfectly filled screen.
Many video editors let you set a vertical canvas and then either crop or fit the horizontal clip. Some apps automatically add a blurred background when you fit the whole frame. If you use Relsko, you upload your own phone clips and photos. The assistant asks at most a couple of questions and proposes three concepts. You pick one, and Relsko makes three cut variants of that concept. You download the one you like. Relsko never adds stock footage or generated scenes. It only uses what you filmed. The standard export is available to everyone. Animated captions are in beta. Publishing to social networks, dubbing, and multi-client workspaces are in preparation. The interface, assistant, speech transcription, and in-video text work in 16 languages. You can also translate a finished video's text into any of the other 15 languages. You can register for 30 days of full access without a card. Invitations extend it. After that, there is a free level with a small watermark. Limits: up to 50 files per upload, 200 per project, 2 GB per file, and video length 10–35 seconds.
For a worked example of how to handle different clips, see the guide on planning shots and choosing the right approach for vertical video.
Upload your footage to Relsko. Answer a couple of questions. Choose one of the three proposed concepts. Download one of the three cut variants. That's it.
In short: You can turn horizontal video vertical without cropping people by keeping the full frame with a blurred background or by cropping carefully and checking each clip.
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