What aspect ratio is YouTube Shorts?
YouTube Shorts is 9:16 vertical — 1080×1920 pixels at standard HD. The same ratio serves TikTok and Instagram Reels, so one vertical export covers all three platforms. Videos up to 3 minutes in 9:16 (or square 1:1) qualify as Shorts.
Two practical details matter more than the number: keep captions and key action inside the central safe zone (platform UI overlays eat the top and bottom edges), and don't just crop a 16:9 video to fill the frame — you'll amputate faces and text. A proper editor like EseCut treats 9:16 as a native project format, sizes captions for it automatically, and can restage a widescreen edit into vertical instead of blind-cropping it.
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EseCut runs in your browser: timeline, auto captions, effects, and clean 1080p export.