What is the 9:16 aspect ratio?
9:16 is 16:9 turned on its side. The frame is 9 units wide for every 16 units tall, so the height is about 1.78 times the width (decimal ratio 0.5625). It fills a typical phone screen held upright, which is why short-form vertical video uses it.
How to calculate 9:16 dimensions
height = width × 16 ÷ 9width = height × 9 ÷ 169 ÷ 16 = 0.5625A 1080 px wide vertical video needs 1080 × 16 ÷ 9 = 1920 px of height. That is why 1080 × 1920 is the usual export size.
Where 9:16 is used
- Short-form video: Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts are built around full-screen vertical video.
- Stories: full-screen stories on social apps use the same shape.
- Mobile-first ads and posters: digital signage in portrait mode and phone-first campaigns.
Apps place buttons, captions and profile details over the top and bottom of vertical video. Keep important text and faces away from the outer edges, especially the bottom fifth of the frame.
Turning 16:9 footage into 9:16
A 16:9 frame cropped to 9:16 keeps only about 32% of the original width. Plan for that while shooting: keep the subject near the centre, or shoot vertically from the start. You can preview how much of an image survives each crop with the image ratio finder.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a 9:16 video?
The most common size is 1080 × 1920 pixels. 720 × 1280 works for lighter files, and 2160 × 3840 is 4K vertical.
Is 9:16 the same as 16:9?
Same proportions, different orientation. 16:9 is landscape (wider than tall) and 9:16 is portrait (taller than wide).
Is 1080×1350 a 9:16 size?
No. 1080 × 1350 is 4:5, a shorter portrait shape used for feed posts. See the 4:5 calculator.