How to make vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts
Reels, TikTok and Shorts are three front doors to the same behaviour: a full-screen vertical video, judged in the first second, watched with the sound off as often as on. Build for that and one clip serves all three.
Step by step
- 1
Compose for 9:16, always
Full-bleed vertical. A landscape clip letterboxed into a vertical frame wastes two-thirds of the screen and reads as repurposed.
- 2
Keep the important part out of the corners
Each platform stacks its own UI over your video — captions, handles, buttons. Keep your subject and any text in the middle band.
- 3
Make it work silent
Assume the sound is off. If the clip is unintelligible without audio, it's unintelligible to most of your audience.
- 4
Earn the first second
Motion, a face, or an unexpected image immediately. A slow establishing shot is a scroll.
- 5
Publish natively to each channel
Upload the file to each platform rather than sharing a link. Every platform demotes content that sends people away from it.
One clip, three platforms — where it breaks
The format is shared; the limits are not. Maximum duration, file size and caption length all differ by platform and change over time. When a multi-channel post partly fails, an over-limit video is the most common cause — check the length and file size against the strictest destination in your set.
Bringing a still to life
You don't need footage to publish video. A single strong product photo can be animated into a short clip with camera movement, which for many accounts is the cheapest route to a video habit. It costs the same as any other clip.
Common questions
- Do I need different edits per platform?
- Usually not. Build one 9:16 clip with the subject centred and it will serve Reels, TikTok and Shorts. Re-edit only when a specific platform's length limit forces it.
- How long should the clip be?
- Short enough to loop. Under fifteen seconds gives you replays, and replays are among the strongest ranking signals on every short-video surface.
Related guides
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