How to make a video vertical for Reels with an API
Reels, Shorts and TikTok want 9:16. Stretching a landscape clip looks bad and cropping loses the subject. Padding to vertical with a blurred fill keeps the whole frame and fills the sides. Here is how to do it with an API.
The manual FFmpeg way
That filtergraph is exactly the kind of thing a language model gets subtly wrong. A typed tool exposes one option, the target aspect ratio, and handles the rest.
ffmpeg -i landscape.mp4 -lavfi "[0:v]scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,boxblur=40[bg];[0:v]scale=1080:-1[fg];[bg][fg]overlay=(W-w)/2:(H-h)/2" out.mp4
Do it with one API call
- 1
Provide the source clip
Give a public URL or upload the file and use the returned media URL.
- 2
Call the vertical tool
Send the source as "main". KinoPipe pads to 9:16 with a blurred background instead of stretching or cropping.
- 3
Download the vertical MP4
Poll the job and download the finished 1080x1920 file, ready to post.
curl https://kinopipe.com/api/v1/tools/video-to-vertical \
-H "Authorization: Bearer kp_live_..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "inputs": [ { "id": "main", "url": "https://example.com/landscape.mp4" } ] }'FAQ
Does it crop the video?
No. The source is scaled to fit and centred over a blurred fill, so nothing is cropped out of frame.
What resolution is the output?
A standard 1080x1920 vertical MP4. Platform-specific tools for Reels, Shorts and TikTok are also available.