What an aspect ratio actually is?
Aspect ratio means the relationship of two sides of an image: its width to its height. The aspect ratio is usually expressed with two numbers separated by a colon, for example, 16:9 or sixteen-to-nine. The first number shows the width of the image and the second number indicates its height. This relationship is important because it determines how much space surrounds the subject of a single image or the series of moving images. The most DSLRs, smartphones, and tablets record in 16:9 by default.
Why change the aspect ratio of the video?
Since videos made for social media are different from films or movie trailers shown in cinemas we need to change the aspect ratio of a video. This way your video will perfectly fit the screen that viewers will watch your movie on and will have no black bars or extra space in the frame. So you can opt for 9:16 if your film will be shown on smartphone, 4:3 for TVs or choose the universal 16:9 aspect ratio which can be a perfect option for almost every screen. By the way, changing the aspect ratio of videos will not affect the quality of your short movie.
How to change the aspect ratio of a video?
Once you have decided what aspect ratio will be perfect for your video or want to turn it into different ones to play it on different screens but in perfect quality, have a look at 3 best ways to do the job yourself.
Let’s start with InVideo. This program allows you to resize your clip in two different ways. First, you can add black bars to your movie. To do that you will need to log into the platform, then you can reach the dashboard and click ‘Blank Canvas’. After that choose the aspect ratio you want to resize the video into and click on ‘Make a Video’. Now it’s time to upload your video. To perform it click on ‘Upload Media’ and follow the tips of InVideo. When the video is uploaded, you will need to add it to the canvas. That’s it! Your video is ready, first click on ‘Download & Share’ and then on Export.
If you do not want your video to have any black bars, you can just crop your video to the necessary aspect ratio. First, upload your video clip to InVideo. After that choose Video Edit, and click Crop. You will see a frame and some aspect ratio options under it. Go with the one you need. At this point you need to drag the selection right or left to crop only unnecessary parts of your clip out. Make sure that everything is the way you want it and click Done and save your video.
The next handy video editing program on our top list is Clipify. The software allows you to edit videos in various ways as well as improve the quality of your clips, add some effects to your short movies or overlay them with captions. But now let’s see how to adjust the aspect ratio with Clipify in a few simple steps. After you have downloaded and installed the editor on your computer, start the software. Now click New Project and Blank Project then choose Add Videos and Photos. Open the video you need and it will appear on the timeline. After that click the Crop icon on the toolbar. Now choose an aspect ratio from the drop-down menu or apply your own cropping settings by typing in the desired size. Ready with that? Then preview your short film and click Create Video. The menu will pop up so you can choose the format you want to save your video in. Clipify allows you to export your video in more than 30 different formats without loss of quality. What’s more, the program allows you to further edit your video if you want, so you will not need to download and install any additional software on your computer.
The third tool to fix the aspect ratio of your video is VEED. The platform allows you to resize your clips online and keep the quality of your video’s image. First, click on ‘Upload Your Video’ then choose the file and click on Open. Now you will have to give a name for your video project. When finished, go to the settings tab in the left toolbar, under the size menu you will need to click on the drop-down menu. There you will see different video canvas and here you can choose the aspect ratio. Click the one you need and preview your resized video. At this point you may need to fix the crop and layout of your short film, so it perfectly fits the chosen aspect ratio. To do that click on your video, little handles will appear on one side. You need to click and drag them to make changes to your clip. The alternative way to resize it is to click on the dots in the corners and make the shape and size you want. Or you can just click on the video, go to the transformation section and click Fit the canvas or Fill the canvas. When finished, download your resized video!
Now you know some handy video editing apps to change the aspect ratio of your videos and can easily resize your short film to make it compatible with the Internet platform and device it will be viewed on.
