How to Create a Square Video in iMovie

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How to Create a Square Video in iMovie

Last Updated: Feb. 22, 2021

Summary

In this article, we'll show you how to create a square video in iMovie. And we also share you a free, far easier way to create square videos or crop your iMovie to square on Mac.

Although iMovie on Mac may allow you to convert your video to square with an aspect ratio 1:1, it always display it in 16:9 dimension screen as a square with black bars around it to make it fit the screen. And when you export the square video, it will still be square with black bars.

Frankly speaking, iMovie itself doesn't have the capability to export your movie into a square natively. But you can crop the iMovie to square with another software, like Keynote (a presentation software that comes preinstalled on Mac OS). Or you can even rely on an online video maker to make a square video directly. So, here goes.

Part 1: How to Make iMovie Square Video - Crop iMovie to Square

As we said before, there's no way to create square videos without black bars using iMovie. But you can use iMovie to edit the video and then use Keynote to change the dimensions and crop the iMovie to square.

Step 1

Edit your movie like normal in iMovie.

Step 2

Then, export your video file and open Keynote.

Step 3

Make a square presentation at 1080x1080.

Step 4

Import your video file from iMovie into Keynote and adjust the crop of your video.

Step 5

Save your Keynote presentation as a video file.

Part 2: How to Make a Square Video Online with FlexClip on Mac

There’s also a much easier way crop your iMovie to square or directly make square videos for social media, like Instagram and Facebook.

FlexClip video maker makes it a breeze for anyone to create square videos in a snap!No download is needed! No design experience is required!

With FlexClip, creating a square video is pretty easy - simply pick a aspect ratio you want to convert your iMovie to, in our case to a 1:1 square aspect ratio, upload your video, add text, overlays, elements, and more to create a beautiful square video!

Now Let's walk you through the exact steps you’d need to take to create a square video using FlexClip.

Create a Video

View Templates

Step 1

Drag and drop all your photos and clips to the blank section and apply them to your storyboard. You can also click on the "+" button to add videos or photos to storyboard directly. If necessary, use resources from stock media.

Image Board: Make a Square Video - Add Media

Step 2

Go to the side panel to pick a aspect ratio you want to convert your iMovie to with the More icon; here we choose the 1:1 square aspect ratio. You can also fit the whole video by zooming or dragging.

Image Board: Make a Square Video - Change Aspect Ratio

Step 3

Make more edits to to level up your square video! Animated text, video transitions, interesting overlays, emojis and more are waiting to be applied.

Image Board: Make a Square Video - More Edits

Step 4

Click on the Preview button to preview your product launch video. You can continue editing or save the video to your computer.

Final Words

How easy it is! Now, you can share square videos on Instagram or Facebook or wherever you want to share them!

Sandy /

Has 4-year of professional photographing experience. Very much into recording every detail of life. She is passionate about all things related to video production, and loves to exploring tips and tricks about it.