// GLOSSARY · VERTICAL VIDEO

Vertical video

Video shot or cropped at 9:16 aspect ratio, optimized for phone-held viewing on Reels, Shorts, TikTok, and Stories.

Vertical video matches the way phones are held — portrait orientation, 9:16 aspect ratio. Reels, Shorts, TikTok, and Stories are all vertical-first feeds. Cross-posting a horizontal 16:9 video to a vertical feed produces a small letterboxed clip surrounded by black bars, which the algorithm reads as low-effort and downranks.

The practical resolution is 1080×1920 pixels. Captions sit in the middle third (Reels/TikTok UI eats the top and bottom thirds). Faces and key visual elements should sit between 30% and 70% of vertical height to survive UI crops.

Kompozy renders every short-form output at 1080×1920 by default. The HyperFrames templates are designed around a 9:16 safe zone — the avatar, captions, and overlay graphics all sit within the UI-safe middle band.

Related terms

  • Aspect ratioThe proportional relationship of a video or image’s width to its height, expressed as W:H (e.g. 9:16, 1:1, 16:9).
  • 9:16 videoVertical video aspect ratio (1080×1920) — the native format for Reels, Shorts, TikTok, and Stories.
  • Horizontal videoVideo shot at 16:9 aspect ratio — the standard for YouTube long-form, webinars, and traditional broadcast.
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