4:5 Aspect Ratio Video: Dimensions, Cropping and Captions
When a 4:5 aspect ratio video (1080×1350) is the better pick than 9:16 or square: how much of a 16:9 shot each crop keeps, where captions and faces go, and rendering all three at once.
A 4:5 aspect ratio video is wider than a 9:16 clip and taller than a square. At 1080 × 1350, it offers another option for a feed post when a narrow vertical crop removes too much of the source. Check the target platform’s current preview with a test upload before choosing the final file.
What the 4:5 aspect ratio actually is
Four units wide for every five tall. The common export size is 1080 × 1350, which keeps the same 1080-pixel width as a square post and a vertical Short and simply changes the height: 1080 for square, 1350 for 4:5, 1920 for 9:16. Thinking about it that way makes the choice easier. These output dimensions share a width, while their height and the amount of source footage retained differ.
At the same displayed width, 4:5 occupies more height than 1:1. That does not guarantee more attention or a particular preview crop: platforms and placements handle video differently. Use the format that keeps the subject and captions readable in the placement you are targeting.
The same clip at 4:5, 9:16 and 1:1
Say your source is a 1920 × 1080 webinar recording with one speaker framed in the middle. Turning it into any of these ratios means scaling the picture up until it fills the new frame, then cropping the sides from the centre. The ratio decides how much of the original width survives.
A square crop keeps about 56% of the width and needs no upscaling from a 1080p source, for a 1080 × 1080 output. A 4:5 crop keeps about 45% of the width and scales the picture up by 1.25. A 9:16 crop keeps under a third of the width, roughly 32%, and scales by about 1.78, which is where softness and lost context start to show. If your speaker gestures widely or a second person sits near the edge of the shot, 4:5 often keeps them where 9:16 cuts them off.
The difference is easiest to see on a real clip. Render one moment at all three ratios and look at the hands, the background and whatever sits near the frame edge. Check the full duration, not just the first frame: a speaker may move out of the centre later. Small text in screen recordings and shared slides may become unreadable in either crop.
Captions and faces inside a 4:5 frame
A taller frame gives captions somewhere to go. In 4:5 the speaker's face usually lands in the upper half, which leaves the lower third free for burned-in text without covering the chin. Keep captions to one or two short lines and away from the very bottom edge, since feeds overlay their own text and buttons around a post.
Faces are where centre-cropping can fail you. A centred crop has no idea where the person is; it takes the middle of the frame and trusts that the subject is there. For a single speaker who moves around a little, 4:5 has enough margin to cope. For a speaker who walks to one side of the stage, it does not, and that clip is better kept at 16:9.
One batch, several ratios
You rarely need only one shape. A clip might go out as a Short at 9:16, a feed post at 4:5 and a square version for a place that prefers 1:1. Exporting each one separately triples the work and makes it easy for the versions to drift apart.
In ToClips you select every ratio you want before the job runs, and each clip is rendered once per ratio at full resolution: 1080 × 1350 for 4:5, 1080 × 1920 for 9:16, 1080 × 1080 for square. The reframe video tool uses the same centred scale-and-crop. Captions are burned in at each size and each clip has an SRT file; VTT is provided for the full-source transcript, so the 4:5 version is not a separate project.
One thing that gets mixed up here: a 3:4 cover image at 1080 × 1440 is a still picture available with the Xiaohongshu preset. Cover dimensions depend on the selected preset. It is a separate file from a 4:5 video and a slightly different shape, so do not reuse one as the other without checking the crop.
What this can't do yet
ToClips fills every ratio by scaling up and cropping from the centre of the source; there is no speaker tracking, so a person standing at the edge of a wide shot can be cropped out of a 4:5 or 9:16 version. It does not import videos from links, and it does not publish to any platform for you. ToClips has only five real tools: AI video clipper, auto captions, reframe video, podcast clip generator and video-to-shorts; it does not include a full non-linear editor. Batch mode caps at 200 clips per task with a fixed set of five aspect ratios (9:16, 3:4, 1:1, 16:9, 4:5), not arbitrary custom ratios.
Frequently asked questions
What resolution should a 4:5 video be?
1080 by 1350 pixels is the usual size. It keeps the same 1080-pixel width as square and 9:16 vertical video and only changes the height of the frame.
Is 4:5 better than 9:16 for feed posts?
It depends on the placement and the footage. At equal width, 4:5 is taller than square and keeps more source width than 9:16. Check a test upload because previews and cropping vary across platforms.
How much of a 16:9 shot does a 4:5 crop keep?
About 45% of the original width when cropped from the centre, compared with about 56% for a square crop and roughly 32% for a full vertical 9:16 crop.
Where should captions sit in a 4:5 video?
In the lower third, kept to one or two short lines and lifted away from the bottom edge, where feeds tend to place their own text and buttons around a post.
Is a 3:4 cover the same as a 4:5 video?
No. A 3:4 cover at 1080 by 1440 is a still image and a slightly taller shape. It is a separate file from the 4:5 video, so check the crop before reusing one for the other.