How do you convert 1920 × 1080 to 9:16?
Crop 608 × 1080 → 1080 × 1920
To fill a 9:16 frame from 1920 × 1080, take the largest 9:16 region the source contains — 608 × 1080 — and scale it to the 1080 × 1920 delivery size. That keeps 31.7% of the original picture. Padding instead of cropping keeps all of it, at 1080 × 608 with bars of 656 px top and bottom.
How that is worked out
crop = the largest target-ratio box inside the source
1920 × 1080 → 608 × 1080 → 1080 × 1920
Worth knowing
- A crop keeps 31.7% of the source pixels. Everything that matters has to sit inside a 608 px wide column of the original frame.
- Reaching 1080 × 1920 means scaling that crop up 1.78×, so the delivered file is softer than the source. Finishing from a 4K master removes the upscale.
- Padding instead keeps the whole picture at 1080 × 608 inside the 1080 × 1920 frame, with bars of 656 px top and bottom. On feeds that autoplay muted, bars read as a repost and cost reach.
- Both routes land on even pixel dimensions, which H.264 and H.265 require in 4:2:0. Where the exact ratio and an even number disagree, the 608 × 1080 crop follows the even number — a fraction of a pixel is not worth a rejected encode.
Crop or pad 1920 × 1080 for 9:16
| Route | Pixels | The cost |
|---|---|---|
| Crop to fill | 608 × 1080, scaled to 1080 × 1920 | 68.3% of the picture is cut away |
| Pad to fit | 1080 × 608 inside 1080 × 1920 | Bars of 656 px top and bottom |
Cropping trades picture for a full frame; padding trades screen for the whole picture. A third route — reframing shot by shot with keyframed position — keeps more than either, but no calculator can do it for you.
1920 × 1080 to every common ratio
| Target ratio | Crop | Delivery size | Picture kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:16 — this page | 608 × 1080 | 1080 × 1920 | 31.7% |
| 4:5 | 864 × 1080 | 1080 × 1350 | 45.0% |
| 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | 1080 × 1080 | 56.3% |
| 5:4 | 1350 × 1080 | 1350 × 1080 | 70.3% |
| 4:3 | 1440 × 1080 | 1440 × 1080 | 75.0% |
| 3:2 | 1620 × 1080 | 1620 × 1080 | 84.4% |
| 16:9 | 1920 × 1080 | 1920 × 1080 | 100.0% |
| 1.85:1 | 1920 × 1038 | 1920 × 1038 | 96.1% |
| 1.9:1 | 1920 × 1010 | 1920 × 1010 | 93.5% |
| 2:1 | 1920 × 960 | 1920 × 960 | 88.9% |
| 21:9 | 1920 × 822 | 1920 × 822 | 76.1% |
| 2.39:1 | 1920 × 804 | 1920 × 804 | 74.4% |
Need it for other values?
Scale width and height to 16:9, 9:16, 4:5, 2.39:1 or a custom ratio, with pixel dimensions at 1080p and 4K.