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    Crop to 9:16 after you know which take survives review

    edit_video at 9:16 is the TikTok/Reels/Shorts wrap. Verticalizing a miss, or cropping before picture lock, throws away side pixels you paid to generate and bills an export you will redo.

    Versely Team••3 min read

    9:16 is the phone-native frame. edit_video with that aspect_ratio crops a horizontal or square file into it. Edge action dies. If the subject was not centered, you get a cheek and a wall. That crop is a delivery wrap on a take you are keeping. Run it on a candidate and you have studied the wrong rectangle, then you will regen, then you will crop again.

    Make a video vertical is the job. Free 480p preview, then editor_export for the final. Tell the agent whether to crop tight on the subject or keep more of the frame with a fill. That instruction is wasted on a file you will replace.

    Horizontal evidence is useful until it is not

    A wide generate shows you blocking. Cropping immediately to 9:16 is how you never see that the product was in the right third. Watch the source. If the take is the take, then decide how aggressive the crop is.

    Letterboxing a wide file in a vertical player looks lazy. Lazy is still cheaper than a charged export on a miss. The UGC generator can make natively vertical talking heads; if that is the job, generate vertical and skip this wrap. This page is for footage that was not born 9:16.

    Captions and overlays after the crop, not before. A lower-third that was safe on 16:9 sits in TikTok chrome after 9:16.

    Combining clips is a different later step

    This is a single-clip reframe in spirit. If you needed to stitch and go vertical, describe the full assembly to edit_video once — on keepers. Chaining a verticalize per clip then a merge is how seams and crops fight.

    estimate_cost for the final. Cooldown on previews is per-user. Do not burn the cooldown on takes you already know are wrong.

    Order

    1. Approve the take in its source ratio.
    2. Preview 9:16 on that file.
    3. Export. Then type, then audio finishes if they are not already in the EDL.

    FAQ

    Should I generate natively 9:16 so I never crop?

    If the shot is a vertical shot, yes. If you are still discovering blocking, a wider master you later crop is fine — later.

    What happens to left/right action?

    It is gone in a crop. If that action is the joke, 9:16 was the wrong destination or you needed a different take. Do not "fix" it by verticalizing a second miss.

    Can I uncrop?

    Not from the 9:16 export. Keep the source master. Vertical is a child.

    Is TikTok length part of this tool?

    Not by itself. Length is cut_video or clips in the EDL. Resize for TikTok pairs reframe with a trim — still after lock.