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YouTube Shorts Dimensions & Specs Guide (2026)

March 29, 2026 · 5 min read

If you want a video to show up as a Short, make it vertical first. The cleanest starting point is 9:16 portrait video, and Crop & Resize is the fastest way to get there.

Crop your video for YouTube Shorts

Convert any video to the 9:16 vertical format Shorts requires.

Crop & Resize for Shorts

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Shorts

Best Tools For This

Start here

Use Crop & Resize

Best first move for turning landscape video into Shorts-ready 9:16 format.

Open Crop & Resize

Use Trim & Cut

Use this if you need to get the final clip under the Shorts time limit.

Open Trim & Cut

Use Compress

Use this if the export still feels too large or you want a lighter working file.

Open Compress

Quick Shorts workflow

How To Make It Shorts-Ready

Open Crop & Resize

Upload the video and switch it to the Shorts preset.

Choose how it should fit

Blur background is usually the safest choice when you want to preserve the full frame.

Render the vertical export

Download the 9:16 version once the resize is done.

Trim if the clip is too long

Use Trim & Cut to keep the final video inside the Shorts limit.

YouTube Shorts dimensions

RecommendedShorts (required)1080 × 1920 px9:16Max 60 seconds

Minimum720 × 1280 px9:16Softer quality

If the video is not 9:16, it will not feel like a proper Short.

Best choices

Best resolution: 1080 × 1920 px
Best format: MP4 with H.264
Best duration target: under 60 seconds
Best audio: AAC stereo

Safe zone reminder

Keep text, faces, and important action away from:

the bottom area, where title and channel info sit
the right side, where interaction buttons stack
the top edge, where status elements appear

Common mistakes

Uploading landscape video and expecting it to work like a Short.
Going over 60 seconds.
Using a weak bitrate source.
Letting captions sit too low in the frame.

Quick reference card

Spec	Value
Resolution	1080 × 1920 px (portrait 9:16)
Format	MP4 / H.264
Frame rate	30 or 60 fps
Bitrate	5,000–8,000 kbps
Max duration	60 seconds
Audio	AAC, 48 kHz, stereo

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