How to Reframe a Horizontal Talking-Head Video to Vertical

Use AI auto-reframe to convert a 16:9 talking-head clip into a 9:16 vertical that keeps the speaker centered as they move.

7 minIntermediate

Most source footage is filmed in landscape 16:9, but Shorts need vertical 9:16. A naive center crop chops off the speaker whenever they move. AI auto-reframe tracks the face and keeps it in frame as it pans across the original footage. This guide shows the workflow in Opus Clip and the equivalent in CapCut.

What you need

A horizontal talking-head clip (single or multiple speakers)
Opus Clip or CapCut (both have auto-reframe)
A finished clip you want to publish vertically
About 7 minutes

Step 1: Set the output aspect ratio to 9:16

In Opus Clip, the layout panel inside the clip editor controls the crop. In CapCut, set the project ratio to 9:16 first. The tool then needs to decide which part of the wide frame to show, which is where reframing comes in.

Step 2: Turn on auto-reframe / active speaker tracking

Opus Clip applies face tracking by default and offers layouts like Auto, Fill, and Split. Choose Auto so the crop follows the speaker. In CapCut, select the clip and use Edit, Auto reframe, then pick the 9:16 target and the motion-tracking speed.

Opus Clip - layout panel

Layout:

(o) Auto face follows speaker

( ) Fill static center crop

( ) Split stack two speakers

Tracking: smooth [ on ]

Auto layout tracks the speaker; Split handles two people.

Step 3: Handle multiple speakers with a split layout

If two people are on screen, a single-face crop will jump back and forth distractingly. Switch to a Split or stacked layout that shows both faces in the top and bottom halves of the vertical frame. Opus can also cut to whoever is speaking if you prefer one face at a time.

Smooth out jittery tracking

If the crop snaps around too fast, lower the tracking sensitivity or enable smoothing. A slightly slower follow looks far more professional than a frame that twitches every time the speaker shifts.

Step 4: Add keyframes for the moments AI gets wrong

Auto-reframe is good but not perfect. Scrub through and find any spot where the speaker drifts off-center. In CapCut you can add position keyframes to nudge the crop manually for those few seconds; in Opus, drag the crop box in the layout view at that timestamp.

ffmpeg-fallback

# Quick static center crop with ffmpeg if you only need a fixed frame
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=ih*9/16:ih,scale=1080:1920" -c:a copy vertical.mp4

CapCut - auto reframe

Auto reframe

Ratio: 9:16

Motion speed: ( ) slow (o) auto ( ) fast

[ Reframe clip ]

Auto reframe with adjustable motion speed for tracking.

Step 5: Preview full screen and export

Play the clip in full screen vertical preview before exporting. Confirm the speaker never leaves the safe center and that nothing important is cropped out at the edges. Then export at 1080x1920.

Result: a vertical clip where the speaker stays centered through their natural movement, no manual frame-by-frame cropping required.