Filming in Landscape or Portrait?

Tom Vince
3 days ago
4 min read

How to Choose the Right Format Before You Press Record

One of the most common questions we hear from marketing teams filming in-house is:

Should we film in landscape or portrait?

There is no universal answer. The right choice depends on:

The requirements of the content
How much flexibility you need
Your archiving system
The time available to you

Making this decision intentionally, before you start filming, can save hours of editing frustration later.

Start With the End Use

Before you pick up your phone, ask one simple question:

Where will this content live?

Different platforms favour different formats. Choosing the right orientation upfront prevents awkward crops and wasted footage later.

Here’s a practical overview of common platforms and their preferred ratios.

Common Video Aspect Ratios

16:9 – Standard landscape (widescreen)
9:16 – Full vertical (portrait)
1:1 – Square
4:5 – Slightly vertical (often used for feed posts)

Platform Guide: Landscape vs Portrait

Feed video: 1:1, 4:5, or 16:9 all work
Vertical performs well on mobile
Landscape still suitable for corporate or longer-form content

Best for flexibility: 16:9

Best for feed engagement: 4:5 or 1:1

If the content may live on your website or YouTube as well, film landscape.

YouTube

Standard video: 16:9
YouTube Shorts: 9:16

If you are producing traditional YouTube content, always film landscape.

If you are creating Shorts only, film portrait.

If you want both, landscape gives you more repurposing flexibility.

Instagram

Reels: 9:16
Feed: 4:5 performs well
Square posts: 1:1

If this is social-first content made purely for Reels, film portrait.

If it may live beyond Instagram, consider landscape and crop strategically.

TikTok

Primary format: 9:16

TikTok is built for vertical viewing. Film portrait if this is your only destination.

Website / Homepage

Almost always 16:9

Landscape integrates cleanly into web layouts, banners and background videos.

Portrait video rarely works naturally on a desktop website.

Internal Comms / Presentations

Typically 16:9

Most presentation screens, meeting room displays and embedded video systems are landscape.

If You Need Flexibility, Film Landscape

If you are a marketer capturing a lot of content that might be reused in multiple ways, landscape is usually the safer long-term choice.

Why?

Because you can crop landscape into:

1:1 for LinkedIn
4:5 for Instagram feed
9:16 for Reels or Shorts

You cannot easily expand portrait into landscape without losing quality or adding borders.

Landscape protects future flexibility.

This is particularly important if:

You are building a content library.
You do not know yet how the footage will be used.
You want assets that last beyond one campaign.

If It Is Purely Social, Film Portrait

If the content is designed specifically for short-form social and will never be repurposed, portrait makes sense.

This applies when:

You are filming quick updates.
The content is reactive or time-sensitive.
Speed matters more than long-term reuse.
It is clearly a social-only campaign.

Portrait feels native in-feed. It fills the screen and demands attention.

Just be confident it truly is single-use content.

Think About Your Archiving System

If you are regularly filming content, your archive matters.

Ask yourself:

Are we building a long-term content library?
Do we revisit old footage for new campaigns?
Do we have a structured filing system?

If the answer is yes, landscape is often more sustainable.

A strong archive of landscape footage becomes a strategic asset. It can be repurposed for:

Website refreshes
Recruitment campaigns
Presentations
Future social edits

Portrait-only footage limits your options later.

Consider the Time You Actually Have

Time is often the real constraint.

If you are:

Shooting and editing yourself
Posting same day
Working without advanced editing software

It may be smarter to fully commit to one format per shoot.

Trying to film everything twice, once in landscape and once in portrait, often halves the quality and doubles the workload.

Choose deliberately. Stick to the plan.

A Simple Decision Framework

Before filming, ask:

Is this content multi-purpose or single-platform?
Will we want to reuse this footage in the future?
Do we need maximum flexibility?
How much time do we realistically have to edit and repurpose?

If the goal is long-term flexibility and asset building, film wide in landscape.

If the goal is fast, platform-native social content, film portrait.

Intent should drive orientation.

One Practical Tip

If you film landscape but expect to crop for portrait later:

Keep subjects closer to centre frame.
Avoid placing key elements near the edges.
Leave a little extra headroom.
Film at the highest resolution available on your phone.

This makes vertical crops much cleaner later.

The Final Shot

Landscape versus portrait is not about trends. It is about strategy.

Your choice should reflect:

The requirements of the content.
Your wider content plan.
Your archiving system.
The time you actually have.

Make the decision before you press record.