Orientation and aspect ratio
Orientation is how you shoot; aspect ratio is how you share. How to use shot masks to crop for each platform.
Two settings, one simple rule. Orientation is how you shoot. Aspect ratio is how you share.
Orientation: how you shoot
Hold the phone upright to shoot portrait, or sideways to shoot landscape. Shoot every shot of a flick the same way. We recommend landscape for the most flexibility, except for single-person, straight-to-camera videos.
Change it by long-pressing the Aspect Ratio button on the camera, or by setting Flick Orientation in Flick Settings. If you import a clip shot the other way, Rotate Shot lines it up with your flick.
Aspect ratio: how you share
Aspect ratio is the shape of the finished video, and you set it when you share:
- Landscape (16:9): YouTube, Vimeo
- Portrait (9:16): TikTok, Instagram Reels
- Square (1:1): Instagram feed
You can share the same flick in every shape, full frame, with no stretching and no black bars.
Shot masks: full-frame in every shape
A shot mask lets you choose which part of each shot shows in each aspect ratio, so the same flick shares full-frame everywhere with no black bars. It's the technique behind "shoot once, share everywhere," and it has its own walkthrough: see Full-frame sharing with shot masks.
When you can ignore all this
If you always shoot and share the same way, like shooting landscape and sharing only on YouTube, you can skip these settings entirely.
For the storytelling side of why landscape gives you more options, see the aspect ratio and orientation guide.
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