Smart blur · brand color fill
Vertical video padding tool
This vertical video padding tool keeps every landscape pixel and fills the 9:16 leftover with a smart blur background or a solid brand color. Use it to add a blurred background to 9:16 video when cropping would destroy the scene. Client-side WASM — no upload required, no watermark.
Written by the FramePad editorial desk · Last reviewed 28 August 2026 · Independent overlay measurements on iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. See the about page for method.
Live preview
Waiting for media
Drop a 16:9 clip
MP4, MOV, WebM, JPG, PNG, or WebP. Processing stays in this tab.
Specification
Pixel math on 1080×1920
Pixel values assume a 1080×1920 design canvas — the interchange size for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and Stories. Millimetres are physical equivalents at 460 ppi (iPhone 15/16 Pro Max class) and 505 ppi (Galaxy S24 Ultra class) if that canvas is shown fullscreen.
| Region | Pixels | Percent | mm @ 460 ppi | mm @ 505 ppi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Master canvas The interchange format for every destination in FramePad. | 1080 × 1920 px | 100.0% × 100.0% | 59.6 mm × 106.0 mm | 54.3 mm × 96.6 mm |
Action-safe 5% Keep essential motion and product inside this box. | 972 × 1728 px | 90.0% × 90.0% | 53.7 mm × 95.4 mm | 48.9 mm × 86.9 mm |
Title-safe 10% Keep every on-screen word inside this box. | 864 × 1536 px | 80.0% × 80.0% | 47.7 mm × 84.8 mm | 43.5 mm × 77.3 mm |
Center cross Useful when converting 16:9 landscape into vertical. | 1080 × 1920 px | 100.0% × 100.0% | 59.6 mm × 106.0 mm | 54.3 mm × 96.6 mm |
Text overlap estimator
Approximate how many caption lines collide with Broadcast title-safe chrome at a given type size.
- Lines
- 2
- Block height
- 105 px
- Caption well
- 106 px
- Platform cap
- 80 ch
Fits the caption well. Verify with the overlay — platform fonts still wrap on word boundaries.
Aspect ratio calculator
Convert any source into a 1080 × 1920 master. Crop uses cover; pad uses contain.
- Simplified ratio: 16:9 (1.7778) — wider than 9:16
- Cover crop window: 608 × 1080 px from the source
- Contain pad result: 1080 × 608 px inside 1080 × 1920
Add a blurred background to 9:16 video
The eye accepts a blurred continuation of the same picture as “more of the scene.” It does not accept a black bar. FramePad paints a cover-scaled copy, blurs it (~28 px at 1080-wide), drops brightness slightly, then draws the sharp contain on top. Overscan on the blur avoids transparent edges. The result is the treatment most social apps already improvise — done on purpose, with your pan and zoom. That is the 16:9 to 9:16 smart blur background this tool exists to make repeatable.
Blur pad fails when the source is already noisy or when the subject touches the short edge. A noisy source becomes a muddy halo. A subject on the edge gets a doubled ghost in the pad. In those cases switch to color pad. Slight zoom (1.05–1.15) can hide a distracting object in the pad without a full crop. Use it sparingly; the point of pad mode is to keep the scene.
If you would rather punch in, use the 16:9 to 9:16 video cropper. Crop and pad are opposite answers to the same 16:9 file.
Color pad is a poster
A flat pad turns the 16:9 image into a card on a 9:16 poster. That is correct for quotes, slide recuts, and product packs with existing graphic language. It is wrong for cinema. Pick a color from the token swatches (ink, paper, steel, panel) or a custom hex that matches the brand, not a leftover from a competitor’s template.
Type on a color pad should live in the pad bands only if it also clears destination chrome. Flip the overlay to the TikTok safe zone checker or the Instagram Reels safe zone tool after you pad. A title in the top band will sit under For You tabs. Prefer type inside the sharp picture or in the title-safe box.
Contrast: paper pad with ink type, or ink pad with paper type. Steel is for hairlines and UI, not large fills, unless you want a cooler editorial feel.
Padding and CTR
Padded videos can outperform cropped ones when the crop would have removed the demonstration. A cooking channel that crops away the pan loses the reason to stop. A padded version keeps the pan and still fills the phone. The cost is a smaller subject. Compensate with a shorter hook and larger on-screen type inside the picture, not in the pad.
First-frame thumbnails of padded videos must still read at 120 pixels wide. If the contained 16:9 is a wide stage, the thumbnail is a postage stamp. Punch in with zoom until the subject occupies enough of the 9:16 for a shelf thumbnail, even if you back off during playback. Two exports are allowed.
Device testing: iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max, Galaxy S24 Ultra. Blur pad remains stable; the kernel is canvas blur, which those browsers implement consistently enough that a proof PNG matches the live player.
A master you can still overlay
Padding does not exempt you from safe zones. A padded 16:9 with a lower-third from the landscape edit will sit in the vertical caption well. Strip landscape lower-thirds before you pad, then add vertical type in the title-safe rectangle. Export clean for publish. Export a proof with the generic title-safe overlay — or with a specific platform overlay — for review.
The bytes never leave the machine. FramePad is a vertical video fill tool and a private video editor: no upload required, no watermark, no sign up. Close the tab and the object URLs are gone.
Method
01
Load the 16:9 media
Video or still. The sample frame is a good rehearsal.
02
Choose Smart blur pad or Brand color pad
Blur for pictorial continuity; color for graphic identity.
03
Tune zoom
Slight zoom can hide empty bands without losing the scene.
04
Pick a pad color if needed
Ink, paper, steel, panel, or a custom brand hex.
05
Export
Clean file for publish, proof with title-safe if you added type.