Aspect ratio of a Video in iMovie
There actually IS a way to import a video clip which has a vertical (portrait) aspect ratio, then export a movie clip out of iMovie that also has a portrait aspect ratio. It’s a bit of a PITA but here is how to do it:
- create a Movie project in iMovie. You will be forced to create a 16:9 landscape (ie horizontal) aspect ratio. This can’t be changed inside iMovie
- import your ‘portrait aspect ratio’ video
- edit the imported video clip, using the iMovie Crop tool to resize the video so the entire clip is visible in the black boundaries of the iMovie project. You will now have a small portrait aspect video, contained in a black landscape aspect 16:9 box.
- save the iMovie project then export it as a Video to your iPhone’s Camera Roll
- go to Camera Roll and open the exported video. Edit this video - use the Crop tool to rotate it 90 degrees (and crop off the black edges that iMovie created).
You should now have a portrait aspect video, possibly with a bit of detail loss because of you’ve basically reduced then re-stretched the original video clip, and (of course) you had no control over the file format or resolution when you exported out of iMovie.