Tiktok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts are great ways to kill time. With the rise in the creation and consumption of this short-form content, iPhone users are increasingly looking for convenient tools to edit videos directly on their phones.
iMovie is Apple’s free and user-friendly video editing software and has become a popular choice for content creators and social media users. This app offers basic features and tools that help users create high-quality videos without advanced skills or a laptop.
Editing social media videos often requires vertical video formats that match the native layouts of these platforms and enhance viewer engagement. While iMovie traditionally works with landscape (horizontal) videos, creating vertical videos is possible with a few workarounds. This guide will show you how to make vertical videos in iMovie on your iPhone—from preparing your footage to ensuring it's optimized for viewing on mobile devices.
In this article
Part 1: iMovie App Vertical Videos: The Ideal iMovie Aspect Ratio for Social Media
When editing videos for social media, choosing the right iMovie aspect ratio is key to maximizing engagement. iMovie offers several aspect ratios—standard, square, horizontal, and vertical—each ideal for different types of content and viewer experiences.
The two most common aspect ratios for social media content are 16:9 (horizontal) and 9:16 (vertical). Each serves a distinct purpose based on how viewers interact with content on mobile devices.
iMovie horizontal videos on iPhoneappear wider and take up the full width of the screen. They are 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high and are ideal for YouTube or Facebook videos. iPhone iMovie vertical videos, on the other hand, have a width of 1920 pixels and a height of 1080 pixels and are optimized for mobile. They fill the length of the screen, are more versatile as they cater more to mobile users, and connect with viewers directly.
Additionally, since platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube accommodate vertical videos, creators can easily repurpose vertical content across these apps without reformating. Not to mention that it aligns with current trends brands can leverage for social media marketing.
When to Use Horizontal vs iMovie iPhone Vertical Videos
Landscape formats are typical for long videos like YouTube, podcasts, interviews, etc. In comparison, vertical videos target mobile-first audiences via shorts, stories, and reels. It is suited for delivering short video content intended to be consumed quickly.
Outside social media, iMovie mobile vertical videos are more compatible with mobile devices including iPhones, compared to horizontal videos.
Part 2: How to Create iMovie Vertical Videos on iPhone
Using the iMovie app to create vertical videos is not as simple as changing your video’s aspect ratio while editing, as iMovie doesn't have a direct setting to create vertical videos on iPhone. However, there's a smart hack to achieve this desired video format.
Follow these steps to create and edit vertical videos on your iPhone.
Step 1: Launch iMovie and create a new project.
Step 2: Click on Movie.
Step 2: Select the clips you want to import and edit.
Notice that your video does not appear vertical on iMovie after importing; it has a square aspect ratio.
Step 3: Select the clip on the timeline and click the Zoom icon on the top right corner of the preview screen. Pinch the video on the screen to zoom out. When editing vertical videos on an iPhone, it’s important to resize your videos before you start editing.
If you want to add a text effect to your videos, select the Text icon on the toolbar.
You will notice a sample text on your preview screen. Do the pinch-to-zoom motion again, on your screen to reduce the text size and prevent it from bleeding over the edges of your video.
Step 4: Once you’ve finished editing, click on Done to return to the Projects tab. Click on the Share icon shown below and select Save video from the options. Save your video to your camera roll.
You might think this is the end, but it's not!
Step 5: Open your video in your camera roll, you will notice a 16:9 horizontal video dimension with a vertical video in the center.
Step 6: Click Edit, and proceed to crop your video.
Step 7: Crop in, into the vertical video by dragging in and cropping out the sides of the video. There, you have your vertical video.
Step 7: To ensure your vertical video has the ideal 9:16 dimensions, click on the Aspect Ratio icon on the top right corner of your screen.
Step 8: Scroll along the aspect ratio options and click on 9:16. The video will automatically readjust to fit into the vertical video dimensions. Then click Done.
And that’s how to use your iPhone iMovie app for vertical video editing.
Be sure you don’t skip this last part as your video will be a portrait exported in horizontal format; always go back to your Photo Library and crop out your vertical video.
Also, when editing iMovie portrait videos on an iPhone, check text alignments and adjust overlays or design elements to suit your video dimensions.
Bonus: Adding Advanced Visual Effects to Vertical Videos
Creating a portrait video compatible with several short video platforms is recommended. However, adding suitable edits and effects to these videos is essential to capturing and holding your audience’s attention.
Unfortunately, iMovie does not offer many advanced video editing options. Fortunately, several apps indulge your creativity and allow you to play around with your video content. After creating an iMovie vertical video on your iPhone, you can edit your video further using Wondershare Filmora.
- Superb video stabilization with low distortion.
- Vast video/audio effects and creative assets.
- Powerful AI for effortless content creation.
- Intuitive, professional yet beginner-friendly.
- Works on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Filmora is a video editing app that allows you to create basic and advanced video, audio, and text edits. The mobile version of this app is intuitive and easy to use without prior experience or expert-level editing skills. You can cut and trim videos, generate video clips from text prompts, create picture-in-picture (PIP) editing, remove unwanted objects on your photos and videos, and even clone voices using Filmora on your iPhone.
So suppose you’re a content creator; here are a few ways to improve your vertical videos for social media.
After creating an iOS iMovie vertical video on your iPhone, add subtitles to your reel video with Filmora’s Speech-to-Text (STT) feature.
Step 1. First, upload your video to Filmora, then click STT on the toolbar.
Step 2. You’ll see a dropdown menu where you can select the language of your subtle text. Choose your desired language from the list of options.
Step 3. If your video has background music instead of audio that can be converted to text, try adding sound effects or audio transitions. Select Sound on the toolbar.
Step 4. Toggle the options to activate Fade In or Fade Out sound transitions. You can also Reduce noise and improve the quality of your audio.
Step 5. When you’re done editing with Filmora, ensure you set the aspect ratio to 9:16 so your video retains its vertical format. Click on Canvas on the toolbar and select 9:16.
Conclusion
Using iMovie on iPhone to make vertical videos is the go-to option for iPhone users. However, creators can leverage creative tools like Filmora on their mobile devices to edit videos for social media on the go.
While iMovie offers a straightforward way to run basic edits for vertical video formats, Filmora adds a layer of creativity, allowing you to enhance your videos with effects, transitions, and even subtitles that captivate your audience on social media.
Choose the right aspect ratio and optimize your video to fit different social media platforms and connect better with your viewing audience.
