iMovie Vertical Videos: Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok or Reel Online/on iPhone

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. When editing a vertical video in iMovie, it will fill the video with black bars to turn it into a 16:9 horizontal video.

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

Contents:

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

Part 1 Better Way to Make iMove Vertical for TikTok/Reels Online

As we said before, iMovie doesn't support 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 vertical 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

Add your photos and clips to the Media section and apply them to the Timeline. Here you can upload your footage form the local file of your computer or from your phone directly

Make a Vertical Video - Add Media

Step 2

Go to the ratio icon on the top left of the screen to pick an aspect ratio you want to convert your iMovie; here, we choose the 9:16 portrait aspect ratio. 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! Animated text, video transitions, interesting overlays, emojis and more are waiting to be applied.

Part 2 How to Edit Vertical Video in iMovie for TikTok and More on iPhone

In fact, iMovie does not give you an option to make vertical video full screen directly. But, you can edit vertical videos with a simple workaround using the iMovie by editing it horizontally and then turning to the stock Photos app on your iPhone to rotate the horizontal video to portrait again.

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

Select the vertical video you just uploaded, tap on the Pinch to zoom icon in the upper right corner, and make the pinch gesture on the screen of your iPhone. Tap one more time on the Pinch to zoom to deselect it.

Step 3

Edit your vertical in iMovie as usual, whether that's adding titles, backgrounds, transitions, or anything else!

Edit Vertical Video in iMovie Horizontally (Image Source:homeexplained.com)

Step 4

Once you are done editing, rotate the vertical video with the gesture on your iPhone's screen. (If you export the vertical video without rotating it, iMovie will automatically add black borders to the sides of your video).

Step 5

Now, you can tap Done, then click on the Share button and Save Video.

Step 6

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

Rotate iMovie to Vertical with Photos App (Image Source:homeexplained.com)

Step 7

Go to the cropping section and click the rotate button to make your video vertical again.

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

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.