Vertical vs Horizontal Music Video: Which to Make?

Ten years ago every music video was wide. Today many songs are first discovered on a phone held upright. So which should you make: a vertical vs horizontal music video? The short answer is that it depends on where your listeners will see it first. Here is how to decide.

The two formats

• Horizontal (16:9): the classic music video shape. It fills a TV, a laptop and YouTube's main player.
• Vertical (9:16): the phone shape. It fills the whole screen on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

A horizontal video on a phone held upright shows up small, with black bars. A vertical video on a TV shows up as a thin strip in the middle. Each format wins on its own screen.

When to choose horizontal

• Your main release is on YouTube as a full-length official video.
• You expect people to watch on TV or a laptop, for example for long, cinematic songs.
• The video tells a wide, cinematic story with landscapes and groups of people.

When to choose vertical

• Your audience finds music on TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
• The video is built around the singer's face and the lyrics.
• You want one video that works as a full clip and as shorts without cropping.

A clip from a music video made with MusicClip. Press play to hear it.

Why many artists now make both

The release usually happens in two places: the full music video on YouTube, and many short clips on social apps. Making both formats means each platform gets the best version. With MusicClip you choose vertical or horizontal when you generate, so you can make the YouTube version and the phone version from the same song.

If you only have a horizontal video

You do not have to start over. VideoShort.ai turns a horizontal video into vertical shorts and keeps the singer in frame by following whoever is singing. For wide scenery it can show the whole picture with a soft blurred fill instead of black bars.

How format changes the edit

• Vertical videos work best with close shots: faces, hands, single objects. Wide landscapes become thin slices.
• Horizontal videos give space for wide shots, two people side by side and slow camera moves.
• Captions in vertical videos should sit in the middle or upper part of the screen, above the app buttons. See VideoShort's guide to caption styles for shorts.

A simple rule

Ask where 70% of your listeners will see the video first. If the answer is YouTube on a big screen, go horizontal. If it is a phone feed, go vertical. If you do not know yet, make both: they cost far less than one traditional shoot.

Make your video in either format

Upload your song to the music video maker, choose your singer and mood, and pick vertical or horizontal. The first draft is usually ready in minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Does YouTube accept vertical music videos?

Yes. YouTube plays vertical videos in the main player, and vertical videos up to 3 minutes can also appear as Shorts.

Can I make a square video?

Most feeds now favour vertical or horizontal. Vertical gives the most screen space on phones.

Will the AI singer look the same in both formats?

Yes. The singer and the lip sync follow your song; the format only changes the shape of the frame.

Pick your format

Create a MusicClip account and make the version your listeners will see first.