Change Resolution and Aspect Ratio in DaVinci Resolve

To change the aspect ratio in DaVinci Resolve, change the timeline resolution. Where you change it depends on what you're reshaping:

• The whole project: open File > Project Settings (Shift-9), choose Master Settings and pick a Timeline resolution preset or type a custom size, such as 1080 × 1920 for 9:16, then click Save. Unlike the project frame rate, resolution can still change after you've started editing.
• One timeline, such as a vertical copy of a 16:9 edit: right-click it in the Media Pool, choose Timelines > Timeline Settings, click Use Custom Settings and enter the new resolution. The full steps are below.
• A widescreen look inside a 16:9 file: Timeline > Output Blanking adds the bars and leaves the file's resolution alone.
• A single shot that doesn't fill the new frame: adjust Zoom and Position under Transform in the Inspector.

Three settings get mixed up here. Timeline resolution sets the canvas you edit on, aspect ratio is the shape of that canvas, and output resolution sets the pixel dimensions of the rendered file.

For a vertical or square version, duplicate the timeline, choose Use Custom Settings, enter the target resolution and reframe the clips inside that copy. On the Deliver page, leave Match timeline settings checked unless the delivery brief asks for different output dimensions.

Pixel aspect ratio is yet another setting. Ordinary web and social delivery uses square pixels, so only change pixel aspect when a documented anamorphic or broadcast workflow calls for it. It won't turn a 16:9 edit into 9:16.

Common Aspect Ratios and Timeline Resolutions

These numbers are practical starting points. Platforms revise their specs, so check the destination's current upload specification before you deliver. Keep the project frame rate where it is unless the brief also asks for a frame-rate conversion. Changing shape and cadence in one pass just gives you a second problem to chase.

Timeline Resolution, Output Resolution, and Clip Reframing

I split aspect-ratio work into three layers:

• Timeline resolution defines the canvas you edit and judge.
• Output resolution and scaling can resize the finished canvas for delivery, but they work on the whole frame. If the output shape differs from the timeline, Output Scaling's Mismatched resolution files option adds bars, crops or stretches every shot the same way, so build a separate reframed timeline when the composition itself has to change.
• Clip transforms decide which part of each source shot appears inside the canvas.

For a dedicated vertical version, change the timeline and edit inside the vertical Viewer. If you leave the timeline landscape and let Deliver crop it at the end, the damage stays hidden until it's too late. You want to catch missing faces, clipped titles and empty areas while you can still fix them.

These steps follow the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual and its 21.1 revision. It documents individual timeline settings, Use Custom Settings, Use vertical resolution, the mismatched-resolution rules, Inspector transforms, Smart Reframe and sizing/blanking behavior on delivery. Blackmagic’s official Edit page gives the current overview of editing itself.

Change the Aspect Ratio of One Timeline

1. Duplicate the original timeline. Right-click it in the Media Pool and choose Duplicate Timeline. Name the copy after its destination, such as Cut_Vertical_9x16.
2. Open Timeline Settings. Right-click the duplicated timeline and choose Timelines, then Timeline Settings.
3. Choose custom controls. Select Use Custom Settings so the duplicated timeline gets its own Format, Monitoring, Output and Color settings.
4. Enter the target resolution. Set 1080 × 1920 for a common Full HD 9:16 canvas, 1080 × 1080 for square, or whatever dimensions the delivery brief specifies. If a landscape preset only needs its axes swapped, enable Use vertical resolution.
5. Choose mismatched-resolution handling. Pick Scale full frame with crop when the frame has to be filled, or Scale entire image to fit when keeping every edge matters more than avoiding bars.
6. Save and inspect the Viewer. Make sure the Viewer itself has taken on the new shape before you start reframing clips.

Starting a project that will only ever be vertical? Set the project timeline resolution before you edit a single clip.

If you already have a finished 16:9 cut, always work from a duplicate. The landscape master stays intact, and the vertical version is free to take a different shot, title or cut point wherever it needs one.

Resolve 20.1 and later also puts a Timeline Resolution control in the Cut, Edit and Color viewers. The official Resolve 20.1 guide shows Full HD, Ultra HD, Portrait, Square and Custom Timeline Settings in it. It's a quick way to switch the active timeline, though you still have to review its mismatch rule and the resolution on the queued Deliver job.

Change the Resolution of a Project You've Already Started

You can change it halfway through an edit without breaking the cut. Open File > Project Settings > Master Settings, pick a new Timeline resolution or type a custom size, and click Save. Resolve is resolution independent, and the resolution-independence chapter of the 21.1 manual lists what it rescales to the new size for you: Edit page transforms, Color page Power Windows, Input and Output Sizing, tracking paths, spatial keyframes, resolution-dependent Resolve FX and the output of Fusion clip effects.

A timeline set to Use Custom Settings doesn't follow that change. It keeps its own resolution, which is why a vertical copy stays 1080 × 1920 when you move the project to UHD. To bring one back in line, open its Timeline Settings and click Use Project Settings.

I still settle the final resolution before I build Fusion clips. A Fusion clip made from several timeline clips works at the timeline resolution, and the manual says any sizing after that has no reference back to the source files. After a late change, open each Fusion clip and check its edges and text before you render.

Set a Default Resolution for Every New Project

Resolve loads the Default Preset each time you create a project, so changing that preset is how you change the default resolution. The Project Settings presets section of the manual documents this route:

1. Set the resolution you want. Open Project Settings with Shift-9 or the gear button at the bottom right of the window, then choose a Timeline resolution in Master Settings.
2. Open the option menu. Click the three dots in the upper-right corner of the Project Settings window.
3. Make it the default. Choose Set Current Settings as Default Preset, then click Update.

There's no undo for that update, and it replaces every setting in the Default Preset, not only resolution. Check frame rate and color management before you click. If you move between vertical and landscape jobs, I'd save each setup with Save Current Settings as Preset and pick it in a new project with Load Preset. Our project settings guide covers the other Master Settings worth fixing in that preset.

Keep a Clip's Original Resolution

To give a timeline the exact size of your footage, read the size first and type it in. In the Media Pool's Thumbnail view, open the Clip Info dropdown at the bottom-right corner of the clip's thumbnail. It lists the clip's resolution, frame rate and codec. Enter those dimensions as a custom Timeline resolution in Master Settings or in that timeline's own settings.

With mixed sources, set Mismatched resolution files to Center crop with no resizing. Every clip then sits on the timeline pixel for pixel: smaller shots get borders, larger ones are cropped, and nothing is scaled. The manual recommends it for timelines imported from another editor, because it stops the same image from being scaled twice.

Which Timeline Resolution Should You Use?

Set the timeline to the largest size you'll deliver, and let the Deliver page make the smaller versions. The single-master example in the manual does exactly that: one 4096 × 2160 timeline outputs UHD, HD, center-cut SD and Instagram-sized files by changing Resolution in Render Settings. That's how I'd set up the common cases:

The 2× in the second row follows from the manual: transforms are calculated from the full source resolution and stay sharp until you zoom past a clip's native size. Past native size, the manual allows 10 to 20% more zoom at most before the image visibly softens. For bigger jumps from 1080p or 720p, our Super Scale guide walks through the Studio upscaler and its settings. On Resolve Free, UHD is the ceiling for that master, as the Free vs Studio section below explains.

Don't lower the timeline resolution to cure slow playback. Playback > Timeline Proxy Resolution > Half Resolution or Quarter Resolution cuts the working size for playback only, and windows and sizing still scale to the real timeline resolution. On a UHD timeline, Half works at 1920 × 1080. Our slow playback guide covers when that's enough and when to move to proxy or optimized media.

Choose Fit, Crop, or Manual Reframe

For wide footage on a vertical timeline, I usually start with full-frame crop and then reframe every shot that holds a face, a product, text or meaningful action. Don't stretch a normal shot to fill the frame. It distorts people's proportions and makes graphics look wrong.

Reframe Each Clip with Zoom and Position

1. Select a clip on the Edit timeline.
2. Open Inspector, then Video, then Transform.
3. Adjust Zoom until the image fills the new canvas without unwanted bars.
4. Use Position X to choose which part of a wide shot remains visible. Use Position Y only when the vertical composition also needs to move.
5. Play the entire clip. Its first frame cannot reveal every framing problem.

When several clips really do share a composition, copy the transform and use Paste Attributes. Don't batch-paste one crop across an interview, a two-shot, a screen recording and a product close-up. If stacked adjustments start to get confusing, the DaVinci Resolve Inspector guide explains the transform controls and their reset buttons.

Follow a Moving Subject with Keyframes

A centered crop only works while the subject stays near the middle of the source. If someone walks across a landscape frame, park the playhead where the reframe should begin and click the keyframe diamond beside Position. Move forward, change Position X to follow the action, and Resolve creates the next keyframe for you.

Use as few keyframes as the shot allows. A constant stream of tiny corrections looks like a nervous camera operator. I'd put keyframes around real changes of direction, watch the move at normal speed and adjust the easing if the crop lurches.

Smart Reframe is Studio-only in Resolve 21. It can give you a useful first pass when you convert 16:9 material to 9:16. You'll still have to review it shot by shot when subjects cross, graphics enter or it locks onto the wrong object.

Cinematic Widescreen: Canvas or Output Blanking?

Want a 2.39:1 letterboxed look inside a standard 16:9 delivery? Use Timeline > Output Blanking. It masks the top and bottom of the image and leaves the timeline and the encoded file resolution as they are.

A 1920 × 1080 timeline rendered at 1920 × 1080 is still a 1920 × 1080 file, with the bars baked into the picture unless sizing and blanking output is disabled.

If the distributor asks for a native wide raster with no encoded bars, set the actual timeline and Deliver dimensions to that spec. Those are two different deliverables, and the brief decides which one you owe.

In Deliver Advanced Settings, leave Disable sizing and blanking output off when the approved sizing and blanking have to be baked into the rendered picture. Switch it on and those operations aren't rendered at all. Check this setting before you queue the final job.

Protect Titles, Captions, and Graphics

A frame can be technically 9:16 and still fail on a phone, because the app's controls cover the lower caption line or a username lands under an overlay. Keep critical text away from the extreme edges, preview the file on the target device and do a private test upload when the platform interface matters.

Check compound clips, Fusion compositions and adjustment clips one at a time. After a canvas change, their transforms can react differently from ordinary source clips. If an adjustment layer carries a global effect, look over its boundaries with the adjustment clips guide before you copy it to the vertical version.

Match the Deliver Page to the New Timeline

Open Deliver and check the queued job as well as the active timeline.

The resolution should match the canvas you meant to build, the right vertical or square timeline should be open, and the frame rate should match the edit unless the brief separately asks for a conversion. Look at Disable sizing and blanking output once more: off bakes the approved sizing and blanking into the file, on leaves them out.

Render a short, representative section first. Check the file's pixel dimensions, watch it outside Resolve and make sure no black bars slipped in through a scaling option you didn't intend. After that, the Resolve export settings guide handles codec and bitrate decisions.

For a complete render walkthrough, the video export guide covers the Render Queue and final file checks.

Resolve Free vs Studio

You don't have to pay for any of this. DaVinci Resolve Free can build custom vertical, square, landscape and widescreen timelines, and it gives you manual Zoom, Position, cropping, keyframes, scaling rules and ordinary exports within the free version's format limits.

Studio isn't required for a 9:16 timeline.

The one gray area is resolution. Blackmagic's current Free specification promises resolutions as high as Ultra HD 3840 × 2160 at up to 60 fps, but it doesn't spell out a guarantee for 2160 × 3840 vertical.

Test that exact workflow before you commit to it, and use Studio when UHD vertical delivery is a hard requirement.

Fix Aspect-Ratio Problems

Black bars appear after changing resolution

Your current mismatch rule is keeping the complete source frame. Switch to Scale full frame with crop, or zoom and reposition that clip by hand if the frame has to be filled.

The subject is cut off in vertical video

Select the clip and change Position X in the Inspector. Add position keyframes if the subject moves, because an automatic center crop can't keep off-center action in frame.

The export is still landscape

Check that the right timeline is active and that the queued render job shows vertical dimensions. An older job made from the landscape timeline can still be sitting in the queue.

The image looks soft

Look at the source resolution and at how far you zoomed in. Don't scale the same image at the clip, timeline and output layers without a reason, and judge sharpness in the rendered file at its actual display size.

The timeline settings are locked

Choose Use Custom Settings in the individual Timeline Settings window. If the resolution controls still won't respond, check that you opened the duplicated timeline’s own settings. The project-wide Master Settings live in a separate window.

Captions are covered on the phone

Move them into a conservative safe area and check them in the platform's real upload interface. Resolve’s clean Viewer can't predict every overlay an app puts on top.

My Final Reframe Check

Watch the vertical or square timeline full screen with the Inspector closed. On every cut, look at faces, hands, products, subtitles, lower thirds and any motion coming in from the cropped edges. Then compare the rendered pixel dimensions with what the destination requires and watch the file on a phone.

A vertical version is a new edit in its own right. A duplicated timeline with shot-level framing takes longer than a blind center crop, and that extra time is what turns a recycled landscape video into a version that actually belongs on a vertical screen.

If the destination is YouTube, finish with the current YouTube export settings.

For the broader sequence from timeline setup through delivery, follow the task-first DaVinci Resolve tutorial roadmap.

DaVinci Resolve Aspect Ratio FAQ

How do I change the aspect ratio in DaVinci Resolve?

For the whole project, set Timeline resolution in File > Project Settings > Master Settings, for example 1080 × 1920 for 9:16. For one timeline, right-click it in the Media Pool, choose Timelines > Timeline Settings, click Use Custom Settings and enter the new resolution. Then reframe each clip with Zoom and Position in the Inspector.

What resolution should I use for 9:16 video?

1080 × 1920 is a common Full HD 9:16 canvas. Blackmagic publishes Resolve Free for resolutions as high as Ultra HD 3840 × 2160 at up to 60 fps, but doesn't explicitly guarantee 2160 × 3840 vertical.

Verify that exact workflow before committing to it, and use Studio when UHD vertical delivery is a hard requirement.

How do I make a square video in Resolve?

Duplicate the timeline, open Timeline Settings, choose Use Custom Settings and set 1080 × 1080. Then pick fit, crop or manual reframe for the clips, and match the Deliver resolution.

Why do I get black bars after changing aspect ratio?

Scale entire image to fit keeps the whole source and adds unused space when the shapes differ. Switch to full-frame crop, or make a manual Zoom and Position adjustment to fill the canvas.

Can I keep vertical and landscape versions in one project?

Yes. Give each version its own timeline with custom timeline settings. The original composition stays protected, and each version keeps its own edits and exports.

Does changing aspect ratio reduce quality?

A new shape doesn't reduce quality by itself. Heavy zooming, too little source resolution, stacked scaling and the platform's own re-encode can all make the final image softer.

Do I need Resolve Studio for vertical video?

No. Custom vertical timelines and manual reframing work in Resolve Free. Smart Reframe requires Studio, and whether other AI tools are available depends on the feature and platform.

Jason Miller I run DaVinci Resolve Club, an independent publication. My guides explain editing, color, Fairlight, Fusion and delivery, with clear Free vs Studio limits.