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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →To stream a portrait video in a landscape YouTube Live frame without distorting it, fit the 9:16 footage inside a 16:9 canvas and decide what should fill the empty sides. FFmpeg can add simple black side bars or combine a blurred, enlarged copy of the video with a sharp centered version. Then encode the result using settings that match YouTube Live’s ingest guidance and your reliable upload capacity.
Choose how the portrait video should fit
A landscape output can contain portrait footage; the input and output do not need to share the same aspect ratio. The layout choice determines whether the full portrait image stays visible and what viewers see around it.
| Layout | What viewers see | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Fit with padding | The complete portrait image, with space on both sides. The space can be black or a designed panel. | Preserves the entire source, but does not fill the landscape frame with the main image. |
| Blurred background | An enlarged, blurred copy fills the 16:9 canvas behind the sharp portrait video. | Fills the side areas without cropping the foreground, but requires a more involved filtergraph. |
| Crop to fill | A cropped portion of the portrait video fills the landscape width. | Removes image content, commonly from the top and bottom. Choose it only if losing those areas is acceptable. |
| Stretch | The portrait image is widened to fill the landscape canvas. | Changes the image’s proportions, making people and objects look unnaturally wide. |
For most portrait recordings, fit or blurred background is the safer starting point because each keeps the foreground’s proportions intact. FFmpeg’s scale and overlay filters provide the building blocks for these compositions.
Make a simple landscape canvas with side bars
For a 1920×1080 output, scale the portrait image down until it fits within the canvas, preserving its aspect ratio, then pad the result to reach 1920×1080. This keeps all of the portrait image visible and leaves unused space at the sides (and potentially above and below, depending on the source dimensions).
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Use this video filter as a starting point:
scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1920:1080:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2,setsar=1Here, force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease fits the image inside the target dimensions rather than stretching it; pad centers it on a 1920×1080 canvas; and setsar=1 sets a square-pixel sample aspect ratio. The default pad color is black. Consult the installed build’s FFmpeg filter documentation if you want to change filter options or pad color.
Fill the sides with a blurred video background
A blurred background uses two versions of the same input: one enlarged and cropped to cover the landscape canvas, and another scaled to fit in the foreground. The following filtergraph illustrates that arrangement at 1920×1080, with a 608-pixel-wide foreground target:
[0:v]split=2[bgsrc][fgsrc];
[bgsrc]scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,crop=1920:1080,boxblur=20:10[bg];
[fgsrc]scale=608:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease[fg];
[bg][fg]overlay=(W-w)/2:(H-h)/2,setsar=1[outv]The background branch scales until it covers the full canvas, crops to 1920×1080, then applies blur. The foreground branch fits the portrait image within its target dimensions. The overlay centers that foreground over the background. Adjust the foreground width to suit your composition and source; 608 pixels is an example, not a required portrait width.
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This is an illustrative filtergraph, not a tested, universal FFmpeg command. Filter availability and accepted options depend on your installed FFmpeg build. When using it with an input file, place it in a -filter_complex argument, map the resulting video label (such as [outv]), and explicitly map audio from the input if it has audio. A simple fit-and-pad filter is easier to troubleshoot if the more elaborate graph fails.
Set the live output for YouTube
YouTube’s current live encoder guidance lists RTMP or RTMPS ingest, H.264, H.265/HEVC and AV1 video, up to 60 fps, CBR, AAC or MP3 audio, and a recommended two-second keyframe interval (do not exceed four seconds). These are platform settings and recommendations; your FFmpeg output and network connection must also be able to sustain the selected combination.
Choose resolution, frame rate and bitrate together
For H.264 at 1080p30, YouTube’s guidance lists a minimum of 5 Mbps and a recommended bitrate of 14 Mbps. That recommendation is not a guarantee that your connection can maintain the stream. Check your available upload capacity and choose settings it can sustain reliably. YouTube’s table varies with resolution and frame rate, so consult the current table for a different output rather than applying the 1080p30 figures to it.
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Use your own stream key securely
Get the stream URL and stream key from YouTube Live Control Room and supply them to your FFmpeg setup. Do not publish or share the key: anyone who has it may be able to send a stream to your channel. Check the current channel settings and ingest options in Live Control Room before broadcasting.
Test before making the stream public
Test with representative movement and audio, then check stream health in Live Control Room. A still image is not enough to reveal motion artifacts, and a silent test will not uncover audio-routing problems. YouTube says it automatically transcodes live streams into multiple output formats for viewers on different devices and networks; your source still needs to reach YouTube reliably.
For YouTube’s broader live setup guidance, including current setup steps, see Get started with live streaming. For upload encoding guidance, see YouTube recommended upload encoding settings.
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One landscape feed is not a separate vertical feed
The FFmpeg layouts above produce one landscape composition. YouTube also documents options for a vertical stream alongside a horizontal one. Its Live Control Room vertical layouts include center crop, fit to phone width, and stacked. For third-party dual streaming, YouTube’s setup directions use RTMP(S) and a separate stream key for the vertical output; the appropriate content format must be sent to each key. Sending one landscape FFmpeg composition does not by itself create that separate vertical feed. See YouTube’s live streaming setup guidance for the current workflow.
Troubleshoot common layout and stream problems
- People or objects look too wide: The source is being stretched. Use aspect-ratio-preserving scaling with padding or a centered overlay instead.
- The full image is visible, but the sides are empty: That is expected with fit-and-pad. Keep the black bars, add designed side panels, or use a blurred background branch.
- Important content disappears: A crop-to-fill layout may be cutting off the source’s top or bottom. Switch to fit, or adjust the composition only if the crop is intentional.
- The foreground is off-center: Check the overlay coordinates. The expression
(W-w)/2:(H-h)/2centers the foreground relative to the background dimensions. - The filtergraph fails to run: Check filter names and options against the documentation for your installed FFmpeg build. Try the simpler scale-and-pad filter to isolate whether the problem is in the background branch or overlay.
- YouTube reports poor stream health or the feed drops: Confirm the ingest URL and stream key, check that the selected output settings are sustainable on your upload connection, and review Live Control Room’s health information. Retest before going public.
- The video works but audio is missing: Ensure the command maps the input audio stream as well as the output video label, and verify audio during a test.
- The vertical and landscape outputs show the wrong format: Confirm that each feed is sent to its corresponding stream key and uses the intended format in YouTube’s dual-stream setup.
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