How to Resize a Video for Instagram (Without Cropping)
Fit any video into Instagram’s 4:5, 1:1 or 9:16 sizes without cutting anything off — with a blurred background or bars. Free and in your browser.
3 min read ·
To resize a video for Instagram without cropping, open Resize Video, choose Social media frame, pick 4:5 · 1080×1350 (Instagram portrait) for feed posts or 9:16 · 1080×1920 (Reels, TikTok, Shorts) for Reels and Stories, and fill the gaps with Blurred background. Press Resize video and download the MP4. The whole picture stays visible.
Instagram video sizes
| Where | Shape | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Reels and Stories | 9:16 vertical | 1080×1920 |
| Feed post (portrait — takes the most space) | 4:5 | 1080×1350 |
| Feed post (square) | 1:1 | 1080×1080 |
Reels show in the feed with a 4:5 crop of the middle, so keep important things near the centre of a 9:16 video.
Resize step by step
- Open Resize Video.
- Add the video — MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV.
- Choose Resize by: Social media frame.
- Pick the frame: 4:5 · 1080×1350 (Instagram portrait), 1:1 · 1080×1080 (Instagram post) or 9:16 · 1080×1920 (Reels, TikTok, Shorts).
- Choose Fill the frame with:
- Blurred background — a soft, enlarged copy of the video fills the empty space (the look most creators use).
- Black bars — classic letterbox.
- Crop to fill — fills the frame by trimming the edges (some of the picture is lost).
- Press Resize video and download the MP4.
Blurred background, bars or crop?
- Landscape video into a vertical Reel: Blurred background keeps the whole shot and looks intentional. Crop to fill makes it full-screen but only keeps the middle third.
- Landscape into a 4:5 post: Blurred background or black bars leave a modest band at the top and bottom; Crop to fill loses the sides.
- Vertical phone video into a square post: Blurred background fills the sides.
When you'd rather choose exactly which part to keep, use Crop Video instead and drag the frame.
Making a video smaller
Resize by: Resolution lowers the resolution while keeping the shape — for example, 4K to 1080p, or 1080p to 720p — which makes the file much smaller. It never makes a video bigger. For a file under a specific size, use Compress Video to Size; to simply make it smaller, Compress Video.
Tips for Instagram
- Upload 1080 pixels wide: Instagram displays at that width, so larger videos are just scaled down (and smaller ones look soft).
- Keep text away from the edges, especially the bottom fifth of Reels where captions and buttons appear.
- Cover image: choose an engaging frame as the cover when posting, or make one with the Social Media Image Resizer.
Example: a landscape clip as a Reel
You filmed a 1920×1080 clip sideways and want to post it as a Reel. Choose 9:16 · 1080×1920 and Blurred background: the full clip sits across the middle of the screen at its original shape, and the space above and below shows a soft, darkened, enlarged copy of the same footage. Add a title in the top band with Add Text to Video — that space is otherwise empty.
Privacy
The video is resized in your browser with ffmpeg (WebAssembly); it's never uploaded, and there's no watermark. The first use downloads the video engine once (about 30 MB).
Frequently asked questions
Will resizing reduce quality?
Resizing re-encodes the video as an MP4 (H.264 and AAC) at high quality. Lowering the resolution naturally shows less detail, but at Instagram's 1080-pixel display width it looks the same.
Does Instagram crop my video anyway?
Instagram crops videos that don't match its ratios. Resizing to an exact Instagram frame first means nothing gets cut off unexpectedly.
Can I do this on my phone?
Yes, in Safari or Chrome. Short clips are quickest on a phone.