Aspect Ratio Calculator: Get Dimensions for 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 (and More)
If you publish tutorials, aspect ratios will eat your time if you let them.
You record a perfect thirty minutes in 16:9. The next day you try to cut a 9:16 version for Shorts, and the important code block is chopped off and the UI text is microscopic.
Bad framing can’t be fixed in post. You plan dimensions before you hit record.
Here’s the cheat sheet for modern distribution, plus a calculator tool on the way.
Aspect ratio calculator (deploying soon)
AUFZEICHNA is building a free Aspect Ratio Calculator for creators: pick a ratio (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5), enter a width or height constraint, and get exact pixel dimensions.
Until it ships, use the standards below.
The standards
16:9 (widescreen)
- 1920×1080 (1080p)
- 2560×1440 (the 1440p sweet spot)
- 3840×2160 (4K)
Your baseline. YouTube masters, courses, and wide documentation embeds all live here.
9:16 (vertical)
- 1080×1920
The mobile format. YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels.
1:1 (square)
- 1080×1080
A legacy format that still works well for carousel posts (LinkedIn breakdowns, for example), where you want screen space without punishing desktop viewers.
4:5 (portrait)
- 1080×1350
For Instagram feed posts rather than Reels, 4:5 uses the maximum vertical height before the platform crops the top and bottom.
What vertical crops do to UI
Cropping a dense widescreen tutorial into a 9:16 sliver hurts the video.
Context menus vanish. The IDE panel becomes illegible. The viewer gets a shaky punch-in that makes them dizzy.
If you want a pipeline that produces both a widescreen and a vertical asset from one recording session: Exporting one recording to YouTube and Shorts
Plan before you record
Scale up your UI text. Large text survives cropping; 10pt font doesn’t.
Drag your working panels (IDE, terminal, browser preview) toward the center of the monitor. If the action happens in the middle, a 9:16 center crop later loses nothing important.
And record at 1440p if your hardware allows. It has enough pixels to survive a vertical punch-in without the lag of 4K capture. 1080p vs 1440p vs 4K for screen recordings
The multi-format pipeline
You can do this manually in Premiere, but managing keyframes across two aspect ratios is brutal.
AUFZEICHNA automates the focus layer: auto-zoom, cursor tracking, and blur direct attention for you, so cropping to a second ratio feels natural instead of forced. Watch demo · Pricing
FAQ
What aspect ratio does YouTube use? The main player is 16:9. Shorts require 9:16 vertical.
What resolution is 9:16? The standard vertical size across the major networks is 1080×1920.
What are the safest 16:9 dimensions? 1920×1080 is the floor. Text-heavy tutorials usually look better recorded at 2560×1440.