Reviewed answer
How do I resize a video without stretching it?
Keep the original width-to-height ratio. When you choose a new width, calculate the height as new width × original height ÷ original width; crop or pad if the destination requires a different ratio.
Claims reviewed 2026-10-16.
Changing both dimensions independently distorts circles, faces, and text. Proportional scaling changes the size while preserving the shape.
To convert landscape video to a vertical canvas, choose between cropping important content, adding padding, or reframing the edit. Scaling alone cannot turn 16:9 into 9:16 without distortion.
Example
1920 × 1080 scaled to a width of 720 becomes 720 × 405. A 720 × 1280 vertical result requires cropping, padding, or a new composition.