iMovie Portrait Mode: How to Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok Online/on iPhone

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iMovie Portrait Mode: How to Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok Online/on iPhone

Last Updated: 2022. 08. 18

iMovie, the home-built powerful video editing application for all the macOS, iOS, and iPadOS devices, gives you many great editing features to help you edit and make a better video. Then have you try to edit a vertical video in iMovie? What will happen then?

You should find that the exported vertical video in iMovie will become horizontal with black bars filling in the two sides. That's because iMovie does not support full screen vertical videos with an aspect ratio of 9:16 - the portrait mode. So, when you edit a portrait video in iMovie, it will fill the vertical video with black bars to turn it into a 16:9 horizontal video finally, instead of a portrait one.

So how to edit portrait videos in iMovie and keep them vertical? How to make your iMovie vertical for TikTok or Reels? This post will show you how make iMovie portrait via a free third-party iMovie alternative and how to make iMovie vertical on iPhone for your Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, or any other platform that uses vertical video. So, here goes.

How to Make iMovie Vertical:

Method 1 Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok/Reels Online - Recommended

Method 2 Make iMovie Portrait/Vertical for TikTok and More on Your iPhone

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Also Read: 5 Best Vertical Video Editor - Free & Fast>

Method 1 Recommended Way to Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok/Reels Online

As we said before, iMovie doesn't support the portrait mode, a full screen vertical video with an aspect ratio of 9:16, so you can not edit a vertical video in iMovie and keep it vertical without black bars directly. You'll need another tool to remove black bars or make your iMovie vertical.

Here we'll share a much easier way to edit vertical videos or make your iMovie vertical for TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more.

Various online video editors allow you to edit a vertical video and make your iMovie portrait effortlessly for free. FlexClip is just one of them. With FlexClip, creating a vertical video is pretty easy - simply pick an aspect ratio you want to convert your iMovie to, in our case to a 9:16 portrait aspect ratio, upload your video, add text, overlays, elements, and more to make a beautiful vertical video!

Get Stared Now

View Templates

Step 1

Upload your video to FlexClip first. Never mind that the FlexClip is designed for use on computer, as it not only allows you to upload your footage from the local file of your computer but also you can upload an iMovie video from your iPhone directly by scanning the QR code.

Make a Vertical Video - Add Media

Step 2

Apply the footage to the Timeline, and here remember to check and pick the 9:16 portrait aspect ratio to make it vertical. You can also make your video fit the whole screen by zooming or dragging.

Make a Vertical Video - Change Aspect Ratio

Step 3

Make more edits to to level up your vertical video for TikTok or Reel! Animated text, video transitions, interesting overlays, emojis and more are waiting to be applied.

Method 2 Make iMovie Portrait/Vertical on iPhone for TikTok and More

In fact, iMovie does not support the portrait mode or give you an option to make vertical video full screen directly. But, you can edit the vertical video in iMovie and export with the black bars, then use the stock Photos app on your iPhone to remove black bars and make the iMovie video vertical in clicks.

Check the simple guide below to learn how to make iMovie vertical video full screen on iPhone:

Step 1

Start iMovie on your iPhone and tap the plus sign to start a new movie, then import the vertical videos you want to edit.

Step 2

After importing the vertical to iMovie, you might notice that the footage will be zoomed in by default, and make the portrait video to a square one. To make it back to a portrait one, tap on the Pinch to zoom icon in the upper right corner, and make the pinch gesture on the screen of your iPhone to zoom in/out the video, this will make iMovie show the full clip and convert the clip to the original ratio as a vertical one.

Step 3

Once you make the video to vertical, you can edit your video in iMovie as usual, whether that's adding titles, backgrounds, transitions, or anything else! Once finished, you can tap Done, then click on the Share button and Save Video.

Note:

Although you've edit the vertical video in iMovie, it doesn't save the project as a full vertical video, it attached the black bars on either sie of the vertical video, so you need to do the final touch to make the iMovie video a portrait one on your iPhone.

Step 4

Press the home button to go to the main screen, launch the Photos app, select the exported "iMovie vertical video", and tap Edit in the upper right corner.

Step 5

Go to the cropping section and drag the cropping tool to crop the black bars out and then tap Done, and save the iMovie "vertical" video as a real portrait one.

Now you've got the iMovie vertical video on your iPhone without turning horizontal and black bars.

Edit Vertical Video in iMovie and Make it Portrait without Black Bars

Final Words

Now that you know how to edit a vertical video without black bars in iMovie on your iPhone or how to another powerful online vertical video editor, FlexClip, to make the iMovie portrait, it's time to put these tips into practice now!

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.