You generated 16:9 and you need 9:16. The instinct is to crop, and it is worth knowing what that actually costs before you do, because the alternative is cheaper than most people assume.
Regenerating vertically costs the same credits as the horizontal clip did. Ratio is not a price dimension on any model on this canvas.
TL;DR
- Cropping 16:9 to 9:16 keeps about 30 percent of the horizontal frame
- Regenerating costs the same as the original. Ratio is free
- There is no video upscaler here, so a cropped-and-rescaled clip stays soft
- If you must crop: reframe per shot, do not centre-crop everything
- Next time: set the ratio before you generate and draft at 480p for 24 credits to check the framing
What a crop actually costs you
Most of the image. Going from 16:9 to 9:16 keeps roughly 30 percent of the horizontal frame. Everything you composed at the edges is gone.
The composition. A subject placed on a third in 16:9 lands somewhere arbitrary after a centre crop, and the negative space that made the shot work disappears with it.
Sharpness. Cropping to a tall slice and scaling back up to full vertical resolution is an upscale, and there is no video upscaler on this canvas to do it well. Your editor will do it, and the result will be softer than a native generation.
Nothing saved. This is the part that settles it. Canon 8frame prices, a credit is $0.01 at pack rate, and these are identical in 9:16 and 16:9:
| Model | Clip | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Wan 3.0 at 480p | 5s | 24 |
| Veo 3.1 Lite, silent | 8s | 33 |
| Wan 3.0 Prime at 480p | 5s | 46 |
| Veo 3.1 Lite, with audio | 8s | 54 |
| Kling v3 Standard, silent | 5s | 57 |
| Gemini Omni Flash, with audio | 8s | 135 |
| Seedance 2.5 at 720p | 5s | 157 |
You are paying identical credits either way. One route gives you a properly composed frame and the other gives you 30 percent of one.
If you have to crop anyway
Sometimes the clip is approved, the deadline is today, or the source is real footage rather than a generation. In that case:
Reframe per shot, not globally. A single centre crop applied to a whole timeline is what produces off-centre subjects. Move the crop window per shot so the subject sits where it should.
Animate the crop if the subject moves. Keyframe the reframe to follow the action. Tedious, and much better than losing the subject.
Crop to 4:5 instead of 9:16 where the platform allows it. You lose far less, and 4:5 performs acceptably on most feeds.
Accept the softness rather than sharpening aggressively. Over-sharpening a rescaled crop produces halos, which read worse than softness.
The right way next time
- Decide the ratio before you generate. The destination determines it: 9:16 for Reels, Shorts, TikTok and Stories; 16:9 for YouTube main feed and landing pages; 4:5 or 1:1 for feed posts; 2:3 for Pinterest stills.
- Prompt the composition for that ratio. For vertical: "vertical 9:16, subject in the upper two thirds, uncluttered lower third." That last part leaves room for captions, which sit in the lower middle third because platform UI covers the true bottom.
- Draft at 480p for 24 credits on Wan 3.0 and check the framing before committing. A cheap draft that shows the subject sitting too low saves a 157-credit mistake.
- Generate at delivery resolution, since there is no repair step.
If you need several ratios
Generate them natively rather than cropping one. On Veo 3.1 Lite, three ratios at 54 credits each is 162 credits, about $1.62, and every one is properly composed.
That is cheaper than most people assume and it is the correct answer whenever a campaign runs across placements.
Model notes
Gemini Omni Flash: 16:9 default and 9:16, per Google's model documentation. Native 360p and 720p, with 1080p and 4K upscaled.
Everything else on the roster offers ratio selection including vertical. Defaults change between model versions, so treat the selector in the app as authoritative rather than any article, including this one.
FAQ
Does vertical video cost more to generate? No. Credit price comes from model, duration, resolution and audio. Not ratio.
Can I upscale after cropping? Not on this canvas. There is no video upscaler, so a cropped clip stays at whatever your editor's rescale produces.
What if I need 4:5? Crop from 9:16 rather than from 16:9. You lose far less.
Is it worth regenerating? Almost always, since it costs the same and gives you the whole frame.
Set the ratio first, draft at 24 credits, then commit. The 8frame canvas is free and unlimited, and generation is paid from $19/month.