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Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Start with your vertical clip in the timeline
Place your portrait clip on the timeline. In the example, the sequence is vertical, so the picture fills a tall frame in the Program monitor. Click the clip once to select it, so its settings appear in Effect Controls.
Step 2: Open Sequence Settings
Go to Sequence > Sequence Settings in the top menu bar. If the menu item is greyed out, click on the timeline first so Premiere knows which sequence you mean.
Step 3: Swap the frame size values
In the Video section of the window, find Frame Size. A vertical sequence has 1080 as the horizontal value and 1920 as the vertical value. Swap them, so the horizontal box says 1920 and the vertical box says 1080. The ratio label next to the boxes switches from 9:16 to 16:9, which confirms you have a widescreen frame.
Click OK. Premiere may warn you that the preview files will be deleted because of the frame size change. Confirm it, since you are just rendering previews again.
Step 4: Rotate the clip
Now your clip sits in the middle of a wide frame with black bars on each side. Select the clip, open Effect Controls and find Rotation under Motion. Type 270 or -270 into the box and press Enter. Both values turn the picture a quarter turn, so which one you use depends on which way you want the top of the picture to face. If it ends up upside down or facing the wrong way, try the other value.
Step 5: Check the finished landscape video
Look at the Program monitor. The clip now fills the widescreen frame, with no black bars. If the picture is a little too large or too small, adjust Scale and Position in Effect Controls until it sits where you want it. Press the spacebar to play it back.
Tips
- Know when to rotate. This method suits footage that was filmed sideways. If the subject should stay upright, keep the clip as it is and fill the sides with a background instead.
- Duplicate first. Duplicate your sequence before changing it, so you still have the vertical version for Reels or Shorts.
- Going the other way? Read how to change the aspect ratio in Premiere Pro.
FAQ
How do I change a vertical video to horizontal in Premiere Pro?
Open Sequence > Sequence Settings, set the frame size to 1920 by 1080, then rotate the clip in Effect Controls.
What rotation value should I use?
Use 270 or -270. They turn the clip in opposite directions, so pick whichever puts the picture the right way up.
Why are there black bars after changing the sequence?
The clip keeps its old shape inside the new frame. Rotate it and adjust Scale to fill the frame.
Want to speed up your editing in Premiere Pro? Take a look at the Adobe Basics plugins.
