# Free vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts

> Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories: portrait clips from open archives, with tips for cropping landscape footage.

Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories are watched full-screen on a phone, in 9:16. Footage shot vertically fills that frame without losing anything; landscape footage has to be cropped to its middle third. These collections show only clips that are portrait already, from the sources searched directly, with resolution and length on every card.

Updated 2026-10-28.

## Collections

- [Free vertical nature videos for Reels and TikTok](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-nature-videos.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free vertical nature footage in 9:16: waves, skies, forests and Earth from orbit for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories, with a licence verdict.
- [Free vertical videos (9:16) for Reels and Shorts](https://video.shep.bot/footage/free-vertical-videos.md): 28 clips from 2 sources. Free vertical 9:16 stock video for Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Stories: portrait clips that fill a phone screen, with resolution and licence.

## Vertical or cropped?

A vertical original keeps its full frame and resolution. Cropping 16:9 to 9:16 keeps only the middle 32% of the picture, so a 1080p landscape clip becomes about 608×1080, which phones then upscale. Crop from 4K sources where you can (about 1215×2160 remains), and pick shots with one central subject.

## Safe zones

Platforms overlay the caption, buttons and the account name on the bottom and right of a vertical video. Keep the subject and any text in the central area of the frame, and choose clips whose action doesn't happen at the very bottom.

## Questions

**What resolution should vertical video be?**

1080×1920 is the standard for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and Stories. Higher sources are downscaled; lower ones look soft on modern phones.

**Can I make a vertical sequence from landscape clips?**

Yes: set the sequence builder to 9:16. Its ffmpeg script scales each clip to cover the frame and crops the centre, and each shot notes when a pick was cropped so you can reframe it in your editor.

## Guides

- [Vertical video for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: find and crop footage](https://video.shep.bot/guides/vertical-video-reels-tiktok-shorts.md): How to find free vertical 9:16 footage, when to crop landscape clips instead, the ffmpeg command for it, and the size short-form platforms expect.
- [Build a b-roll sequence from a shot list (OTIO, ffmpeg, Remotion)](https://video.shep.bot/guides/b-roll-sequence-from-shot-list.md): Turn a shot list into a cut b-roll sequence with free stock footage: pick the frame, review the picks, export to DaVinci Resolve, ffmpeg or Remotion.
- [4K, 1080p, codecs and containers: picking the right stock video file](https://video.shep.bot/guides/video-resolution-codecs-containers.md): Which rendition to download: resolution tiers, frame rates, H.264 vs VP9, MP4 vs WebM, file sizes, and why the master isn't always the best choice.

## Other kinds

- [Free nature footage: oceans, skies and aerials](https://video.shep.bot/footage/nature.md)
- [Free city footage: streets, skylines, timelapses](https://video.shep.bot/footage/cities.md)
- [Free space footage: launches, Earth and NASA](https://video.shep.bot/footage/space.md)
- [Free archive footage and public-domain films](https://video.shep.bot/footage/archive.md)
- [Free motion backgrounds and abstract loops](https://video.shep.bot/footage/backgrounds.md)

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Source: https://video.shep.bot/footage/vertical