How to Trim and Crop Videos for LinkedIn Posts

Posting a video on LinkedIn that’s poorly sized or drags on too long is a surefire way to get scrolled past. Trimming out the fluff and cropping your frame for the mobile feed are small edits that make a huge difference in how professionally and effectively your message lands. This guide will walk you through exactly why these edits matter and how to do them, ensuring your video content always looks its best and grabs the attention it deserves.

Why a Perfectly Edited LinkedIn Video Matters

You might think trimming a few seconds or changing the aspect ratio is a minor detail, but these small adjustments are vital for connecting with a professional audience. On a platform where first impressions count, a polished video signals that you value your own content - and your audience's time.

First Impressions and Professionalism

Imagine scrolling through your feed and seeing a video that’s awkwardly stretched or has black bars on the sides. It immediately looks out of place and less professional than the content around it. Properly cropping your video to a mobile-friendly format like square (1:1) or vertical (4:5) makes it fit seamlessly into the feed. It shows attention to detail and a modern understanding of how content is consumed, instantly boosting your credibility.

Holding Short Attention Spans

Professionals on LinkedIn are busy. They don't have time for a long, winding intro with a slow logo reveal. You have about three seconds to capture their attention before they're gone for good. Trimming your video gets right to the point. By cutting out any unnecessary pauses, introductions, or rambling, you deliver value immediately and respect your viewer's time, making them far more likely to stick around for your full message.

Optimizing for the Feed

Over 80% of engagement on LinkedIn happens on mobile devices. Think about how you scroll: with your thumb, on a vertical screen. A traditional landscape (16:9) video takes up a small sliver of that screen. In contrast, a square (1:1) video takes up about 78% more screen real estate. A vertical 4:5 video takes up even more. Cropping your video to fill more of the mobile screen makes your content more immersive and harder to ignore, which dramatically increases the chances of stopping a scroll.

Understanding LinkedIn Video Specifications

Before you start editing, it’s helpful to know the rules of the road. While LinkedIn is flexible, following these guidelines will prevent any upload errors and help you optimize for quality and performance. Thankfully, the technical details are straightforward.

Here are the key specs to keep in mind:

• Length: 3 seconds (minimum) to 10 minutes (maximum) for native video uploads. While you can post a 10-minute video, the sweet spot for engagement is typically under 90 seconds.
• File Size: Up to 5GB.
• File Format: LinkedIn accepts most major formats, including MP4, AVI, and MOV. MP4 is the most common and widely recommended for best results.
• Aspect Ratio: This is the big one. It refers to the proportional relationship between the width and height of your video. LinkedIn supports anything from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1, but the best choices for the feed are:
  • Square (1:1): A fantastic choice for the mobile feed. It's balanced, looks great on both mobile and desktop, and occupies a significant amount of screen space.
  • Vertical (4:5): The mobile-first champion. This portrait orientation fills up even more of the vertical screen than a square video, making it incredibly eye-catching for mobile scrollers.
  • Landscape (16:9): The standard horizontal video format. While it works, it’s the least effective for the mobile feed because it appears so small. Save this format for detailed product demos or interviews where a wide view is necessary and you expect viewers to be on desktop.

How to Trim Your Video for Maximum Impact

Trimming is the art of cutting out the non-essential parts of your video, specifically from the beginning and end. Think of it less as removing content and more as sharpening your message to be as potent as possible from the very first frame.

The Golden Rule: Start with a Hook

The most important part of your video is the first three seconds. This is where you either earn the viewer's attention or lose it forever. Trim away any intro sequences, company logos, or slow fade-ins. Your video needs to open with immediate impact. Here are a few ways to do that:

• Ask a provocative question: "Are you making this common LinkedIn mistake?"
• State a surprising fact: "Did you know that 80% of leads are lost because of this?"
• Show the most exciting visual: If it's a product demo, start with the "wow" moment, not the unboxing.

Cut the Fluff, Keep the Value

Once you’ve nailed the intro, watch through the entire video with a critical eye. Where do you pause awkwardly? Where do you ramble or repeat a point? Be ruthless. Every second of your video should serve a purpose by educating, entertaining, or inspiring the viewer. If a segment doesn't add clear value, trim it out. Your goal is a tight, concise video that feels energetic and packed with good information.

End with a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Don't let your video just fizzle out. After you've delivered your message, tell the viewer exactly what to do next. But keep this part brief, too. Trim any long, drawn-out goodbyes or trailing sentences. End the video immediately after you’ve made your ask. For example:

• "What are your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments below."
• "Visit the link in my profile to learn more."
• "Follow me for more tips on [your topic]."

Your trimmed video should be lean, focused, and purposeful from start to finish.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Cropping Your Video

Cropping changes the dimensions of your video frame to fit a specific aspect ratio, like 1:1 or 4:5. This ensures your video looks native to the LinkedIn feed and maximizes its screen real estate, especially on mobile. Luckily, you don't need to be a video editing pro to do this.

Choose Your Weapon: Video Editing Tools

Plenty of accessible tools, from mobile apps to web-based platforms, can get the job done quickly. Here are a few popular options:

• Free & Easy:
  • CapCut & InShot (Mobile): Perfect for quick edits on your phone. They have presets for all social media sizes and are incredibly user-friendly.
  • Canva (Web): Known for graphics, but Canva's video editor is simple and effective. It's great for adding text overlays and other brand elements at the same time.
• Free & Powerful:
  • DaVinci Resolve (Desktop): A professional-grade editor with a free version that is more than powerful enough for social media. It has a steeper learning curve but offers incredible control.
• Simple & Paid (but worth it for teams):
  • Veed.io (Web): A user-friendly, browser-based editor built for social media content. It excels at auto-captioning, progress bars, and, of course, simple resizing.

For this example, we’ll outline a process that’s similar across most simple web-based or mobile tools like Canva or CapCut.

Cropping for a Square (1:1) Aspect Ratio

1. Upload Your Video: Open your tool of choice and upload the video file from your computer or phone.
2. Choose the Aspect Ratio: Look for a "Resize," "Format," or "Aspect Ratio" button. Select the "Square" or "1:1" preset. Your canvas will immediately change to a square shape.
3. Reframe Your Shot: You'll see your original video inside the new square frame. Click and drag the video to reposition it. The goal is to ensure the main subject (your face, the product, etc.) is perfectly centered and nothing important is cut off. You may need to scale the video up slightly to fill the frame completely.
4. Review and Export: Play the video back to ensure your subject stays in frame throughout the entire clip. Once you're happy with it, click "Export" or "Download" and save your new square video as an MP4 file.

And that’s it! Cropping for a 4:5 vertical video follows the exact same process - just select the "4:5" preset instead of "1:1" in the second step.

Bonus Tips for LinkedIn Video Success

Trimming and cropping are foundational, but a few more details can take your LinkedIn videos from good to great.

Always Add Captions

A staggering amount of video on social media is watched with the sound off. If your video doesn't have captions, your message is lost on a huge portion of your audience. Use a tool like Veed.io or CapCut to auto-generate captions, then quickly review them for accuracy. Burned-in captions (text that is part of the video file itself) are non-negotiable for success.

Add a Bold On-Screen Title

Since you’re grabbing attention in seconds, supplement your visual hook with a clear, concise headline as a text overlay. In a 4:5 video, this fits perfectly in the space above your head. It tells the viewer exactly what the video is about and why they should care, even before they’ve fully processed the moving image.

Check Your "Safe Zones"

When your video appears in the LinkedIn feed, the platform's user interface - your name at the top, the likes/comments area, and the text caption at the bottom - can obscure parts of your video. Keep this in mind when placing text overlays or burned-in captions. Avoid putting anything critical at the very top or bottom edge of the frame to keep it from being covered up.

Final Thoughts

Strategically trimming your LinkedIn videos creates immediate impact, while cropping them for a mobile-first aspect ratio makes them impossible to ignore in the feed. These seemingly small edits are actually big steps toward looking more professional, respecting your audience’s time, and ultimately getting better results from your content marketing efforts.

Creating polished, perfectly formatted video is one piece of the puzzle, the other is getting that great content scheduled consistently without the usual headaches. When we built Postbase, we designed it specifically for how social media works today, with a strong emphasis on video. Handling different formats and aspect ratios is seamless, so the beautiful square or vertical video you created for LinkedIn uploads without a fuss. We made sure it’s a reliable, video-first tool that lets you focus on creating great content instead of wrestling with outdated software.