OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Square and Story Padder
Fit a Whole Video Into a Square, 9:16 or 4:5 Frame Without Cropping
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How the Square and Story Padder works
The square and story padder fits a whole video into a new shape without cutting anything off. A landscape clip becomes a 9:16 story or a 1:1 post, with the empty space filled by a blurred, zoomed copy of the clip or by plain black or white. It all runs in your browser.
Cropping to a new shape always throws picture away. When the edges matter, such as a group shot, a slide with text to the margins, or a screen recording, padding is the better choice: the full frame sits in the middle, and the spare space around it is filled.
How the square and story padder works
Each frame is drawn twice onto a canvas of the target size. First comes the fill: for Blurred, the clip is scaled up to cover the whole canvas, blurred by 30 pixels and darkened slightly, so it reads as a soft backdrop. Then the clip is drawn again on top, scaled to fit entirely inside the canvas. The result is recorded with MediaRecorder along with the sound.
The long side of every output is 1080 or 1920 pixels, matching what Instagram, TikTok and YouTube recommend for their formats.
Output sizes
| Shape | Output | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Square 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | Feed posts, LinkedIn, Facebook |
| Story 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | Stories, Reels, TikTok, Shorts |
| Portrait 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 | Tallest Instagram feed post |
| Landscape 16:9 | 1920 × 1080 | YouTube, TV, presentations |
Blurred, black or white?
- Blurred is what most apps do and looks the most finished. The colours of the backdrop match the clip, so the borders do not distract.
- Black suits film and dark footage and is the classic letterbox look.
- White suits bright product shots, slides and pages with a white background.
Tips and pitfalls
A landscape clip in a story is small. A 16:9 video fitted into 9:16 fills only about a third of the screen height. If the subject is central, the video cropper may be better.
Platforms overlay their own interface. On Reels and TikTok, captions and buttons cover the bottom fifth and the right edge. Padding pushes a landscape clip into the safe middle, which is one reason creators like it.
The blur needs canvas filters. Chrome, Edge and Firefox blur the fill properly. A browser without canvas filter support shows a zoomed copy without the blur; pick Black or White there.
How to read the result
The stats show the source size, the output size and the size of the video area within it, so you can see how much of the frame the clip itself occupies.
FAQ
How do I post a landscape video to Instagram Stories without cropping?
Choose Story 9:16 and the Blurred fill. The whole video sits in the middle at full width, with a soft blurred copy above and below, and the result is the 1080 × 1920 size Stories expect.
What is the difference between padding and cropping?
Cropping cuts the edges off to reach the new shape, so some of the picture is lost. Padding keeps every pixel of the original and adds borders around it, so the video is smaller within the frame.
Is the video uploaded?
No. The padding is drawn and recorded by your browser on your device. Nothing is sent to a server, so client footage and private clips stay with you.
Will the sound be kept?
Yes, unless you choose Remove. The audio is recorded in sync with the padded picture, and the render runs in real time, so a 30-second clip takes about 30 seconds.
See also: all Video & Screen tools, Images, Audio, PDF, SVG, Simulations & Screensavers, Generative Art, Chart Makers, 3D Model Viewers, Drawing Pads, Mockups & 3D Making, Diagram Makers, 3D Science, Tracker Music.
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