To show a portrait video in a standard horizontal YouTube stream without distortion, use a landscape 16:9 scene and fit the portrait footage inside it with its proportions locked. The full image stays visible, with space at the sides for a background or other restrained design. If you want a portrait viewing experience instead, use YouTube’s vertical layout or configure a separate vertical encoder feed.
Choose the right layout for your stream
A portrait source and a landscape canvas have different aspect ratios. Fitting the whole portrait frame into a horizontal scene leaves unused space at the sides; filling the whole canvas instead requires cropping the image. Unequal scaling changes the image’s shape and makes people and objects look distorted. These are different tradeoffs, so decide whether full-frame visibility or a more filled landscape composition matters more.
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| Approach | Best when | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Fit the full portrait frame inside 16:9 | You need all of the original image visible in a horizontal stream. | You need to design the side areas. |
| Crop or zoom the portrait footage | Filling more of the landscape composition matters more than keeping the full frame. | Some source content at the edges or top and bottom may be lost. |
| Use a YouTube vertical layout or separate vertical feed | Viewers should receive portrait-oriented video. | You need to check the vertical layout or configure an additional encoder feed and matching stream key. |
Fit the full portrait video into a horizontal stream
- Build a landscape scene. Use a 16:9 canvas for the standard horizontal stream, then add the portrait video as a source.
- Scale proportionally. Fit the source inside the canvas without changing its width and height independently. Keep the full portrait frame visible; the unused side areas are expected.
- Decide what goes in the side space. You can use a plain color, a still or blurred background, branding, context text, or another visual. Keep it secondary to the portrait footage and make any text readable.
- Preview at the intended output size. Check that faces, subtitles, and important action are inside the frame and not covered by overlays. Test representative movement and audio before the stream starts.
OBS’s aspect-ratio guide describes filling unused canvas space with other content when a source does not match the canvas. A proportional fit retains the source; a crop sacrifices part of it. Avoid forcing the portrait video to fill 16:9 by scaling its width and height differently.
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If the intended experience is portrait-oriented, YouTube’s Live Control Room offers vertical layout choices that include center crop, fit to phone width, and stacked layouts. You can adjust zoom and position, so inspect the vertical preview rather than assuming the horizontal preview shows the same result.
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YouTube also documents dual streaming with a third-party encoder: select Encoder for the vertical preview, use RTMP(S), and send the corresponding content to the matching vertical or horizontal stream key. Check the Live Control Room preview and stream keys before going live. See YouTube’s live-streaming setup guidance for the current interface and instructions.
Check encoder settings and stream health
YouTube recommends testing before a stream with audio and movement similar to what you plan to broadcast, then monitoring stream health and any messages during the event. Its encoder guidance recommends constant bitrate encoding and a two-second keyframe frequency, with a maximum interval of four seconds. It provides codec options and bitrate guidance by resolution and frame rate; consult the current encoder settings, bitrates, and resolutions page and choose settings your encoder and stable upload connection can sustain.
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A suitable portrait layout is not an uptime guarantee. YouTube’s encoder guidance recommends testing and monitoring but does not establish a universal reliability requirement or promise uninterrupted operation for a 24/7 stream. Validate your computer and encoder, or hosted service, under the conditions in which you intend to run continuously.
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