How to Make iMovie Vertical for TikTok

Trying to edit a vertical TikTok video in iMovie can feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. While iMovie is a powerful and free tool, it defaults to a standard horizontal format. This article will show you the exact workarounds to create perfectly formatted vertical videos for TikTok and reels, covering step-by-step methods for both iPhone/iPad and Mac.

Why Vertical Video is Non-Negotiable for TikTok

Before jumping into the how-to, it’s worth a quick refresher on why this matters so much. TikTok is a mobile-first platform. Your audience holds their phones vertically nearly 100% of the time they're scrolling. A vertical video doesn't just look better - it performs better because it:

• Fills the entire screen: It creates an immersive, full-screen experience that captures attention immediately, leaving no room for outside distractions.
• Feels native to the platform: Horizontal videos with big black bars (called "pillarboxing") scream "I repurposed this from YouTube." It looks out of place and can cause users to scroll right past.
• Boosts engagement: The TikTok algorithm tends to favor content that provides the best user experience. Native, full-screen vertical content is a huge part of that equation.

Making your video vertical isn't just a technical step, it’s a strategic one that signals to your audience (and the algorithm) that you understand the platform's culture.

The Easiest Method: Creating Vertical iMovie Projects on iPhone or iPad

If you're editing on your iPhone or iPad, you're in luck. The process is a clever workaround that essentially "tricks" iMovie into creating a vertical project from the very beginning. Here’s how it’s done.

Step 1: Start A New Project With a Vertical Clip

This first step is the most important part of the entire process. The orientation of the very first clip you add to your project determines the aspect ratio for the entire timeline.

1. Open iMovie on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap “Create Project” and then select “Movie”.
3. Now, you’ll see your photo library. Find a video clip that was filmed vertically (in 9:16 aspect ratio). If you don't have one, just film a quick 2-second vertical video of your desk or an empty wall to use as a placeholder.
4. Select that single vertical clip and tap “Create Movie.”

You’ve now created a project timeline that is locked into a vertical format. You can even delete that initial placeholder clip if you want, and the project will remain vertical.

Step 2: Add and Edit The Rest of Your Clips

Now that your project's aspect ratio is set, you can start building your video. Tap the “+” icon to add more videos or photos from your library. Whether a clip was shot vertically or horizontally, iMovie will now force it to fit within a vertical frame. The good news is your vertically shot clips will fit perfectly without any extra work.

Step 3: How to Handle Horizontal Video Clips

So, what happens when you add a horizontal (landscape) video? It will appear in your timeline with black bars above and below it (called "letterboxing"). We obviously don't want that for TikTok. Here’s how to fix it:

1. Tap on the horizontal clip in your timeline to select it.
2. In the viewer window at the top, a small magnifying glass icon will appear in the corner next to the volume and text options. Tap it.
3. Now you can use the classic pinch-to-zoom gesture with two fingers on the screen. Zoom in on the video until it completely fills the vertical frame and the black bars disappear.
4. With a finger, you can drag the zoomed-in video left or right to reframe the shot, making sure your main subject is centered and in view.

You'll lose the sides of your horizontal shot, but this is the necessary trade-off for creating a clean vertical video. Think of your framing ahead of time when filming so your most important action happens in the center of the frame.

Step 4: Export Your Finished Vertical Video

Once you’re done trimming your clips, adding transitions, text, and music, it's time to export.

1. Tap “Done” in the top-left corner.
2. Tap the “Share” icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like a box with an arrow pointing up).
3. Choose “Save Video.”

The video will be saved directly to your Photos app as a high-resolution, perfectly vertical file, ready for you to upload straight to TikTok.

How to Make iMovie Vertical on a Mac

Making a vertical video in iMovie on a desktop Mac is a bit more complicated because you can’t "trick" it into a vertical aspect ratio. Instead, you have to use a three-stage "rotate-edit-rotate" workflow. It feels strange at first, but it works flawlessly once you get the hang of it.

Step 1: Create a Standard Project and Import Your Clips

Start a new project in iMovie as you normally would. It will be a standard 16:9 horizontal project. Go ahead and import all of your media - both vertical and horizontal clips.

Step 2: Add Your Vertical Clip... and Rotate It Sideways

Drag your first vertical clip onto the timeline. You will immediately notice the problem: your clip is displayed in the center of the screen with giant black bars on either side of it.

This is where the magic (or madness) begins. You need to rotate every single one of your clips 90 degrees:

1. Select the clip in the timeline.
2. Above the video preview window, click the “Cropping” icon (it looks like a square with intersecting lines).
3. Two rotation buttons will appear on the right: Rotate Clockwise and Rotate Counter-Clockwise.
4. Click one of them. Your vertical video will now be lying on its side, but importantly, it will fill the entire horizontal frame. The black bars are gone.

Step 3: Repeat the Rotation for All Your Clips

You have to repeat this rotation process for every single clip you add to your timeline. Yes, it’s a bit tedious, but it’s an essential part of the process. If you added horizontal clips, you’ll need to rotate them on their side as well.

Step 4: Edit Your Entire Video Sideways

Here’s the strangest part of the workflow: you must now edit your entire video while it is turned on its side. Your characters will look like they are flying or lying down, but this is exactly what you want. Trim your clips, add transitions, and perform all your other edits on the sideways timeline.

If you add text or titles, they will appear horizontally over your sideways video. To fix this, you’ll also need to rotate the text to match, which is usually not ideal. A better approach is to skip adding text in iMovie and add it later within TikTok’s or Instagram’s native text editor for best results.

Step 5: Export the Sideways Video

Once your sideways masterpiece is complete, export it just like you would any other video.

1. Click the Share icon in the top-right corner.
2. Select "Export File" (or "YouTube & Facebook" - either works).
3. Choose your desired resolution (1080p is great for social media) and save the file to your computer.

What you now have is a high-quality horizontal video file where all the content is turned 90 degrees.

Step 6: The Final Fix - Rotate it Back to Vertical

The final step is to turn that sideways video into a properly oriented vertical one. The easiest way to do this on a Mac is with QuickTime Player, which comes pre-installed.

1. Find your exported video file and open it. It should open in QuickTime Player by default.
2. In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click “Edit.”
3. From the dropdown menu, select either “Rotate Left” or “Rotate Right” until your video is oriented correctly.
4. Simply close the video window (by clicking the red "x" button). QuickTime will prompt you to save the changes. Give it a new name (like "[VideoName]_Vertical") and save it.

And that’s it! The newly saved file is a perfect 9:16 vertical video, ready to be AirDropped to your phone and uploaded to TikTok.

Final Thoughts

Creating vertical video in iMovie isn’t a one-click process, but whether you’re using the "first clip" trick on your iPhone or the "rotate-edit-rotate" workflow on your Mac, you can absolutely get the job done for free. Following these specific steps will ensure your content is perfectly formatted to grab attention and perform well on short-form video platforms.

Once our videos are edited and ready to go, the next step is getting them published consistently. From our own experience in running social media, trying to post in real-time is a quick recipe for burnout. That’s why we built Postbase from the ground up to handle the content formats that matter today - like TikToks and Reels. We can upload a batch of edited vertical videos, tweak the captions for each platform, and get our entire week's content calendar scheduled in one session. It helps us stay on track without being glued to our phones.