How to Compress a Vertical Phone Video Without Distortion
A phone video may rely on orientation metadata or store physically rotated pixels. Compression should preserve aspect ratio rather than forcing a 9:16 source into 16:9.
Confirm orientation and aspect ratio
Open the source once on phone and desktop to verify its rotation. Preserve ratios such as 9:16 or 3:4 proportionally; do not type independent dimensions that stretch people and circles.
How to read longest-edge settings
The longest edge of a portrait clip is normally its height. A 1280px longest edge scales the other dimension proportionally; it does not turn the frame into 1280px wide.
- Create an original-size High quality baseline.
- Test a 1280px longest edge for sharing.
- Be cautious with 720px/480px when type is small.
Inspect difficult phone footage
Night noise, quick pans, hair, foliage, subtitles, and chat text reveal compression first. Do not approve from a cover frame; play the most active scene.
Account for platform cropping and re-encoding
A social destination may re-encode portrait video or crop its preview. Upload a short sample and inspect safe areas, captions, and clarity in the real publishing interface.
Your files are processed in the current browser and are not uploaded as article samples.