Auto reframe: the crop that follows the subject
Auto reframe moves the crop through a video as it plays, so the person or object that matters stays inside a new, usually taller, frame. As of 2026-09-25.
CapCut describes smart cropping that turns a 16:9 source into a 9:16 clip while tracking the subject. Kapwing calls its version Speaker Focus. Choppity's automated framing follows the speaker into vertical, and PowerDirector names AI Auto Reframe for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
The word matters because it separates two jobs that menus often put side by side. A resize changes the canvas; a reframe decides, frame by frame, which part of the old picture survives.
Tracking is the hard part. A single speaker facing the camera is easy to follow; two people talking across a table, or someone walking through the frame, is where a crop can lag or jump.
Most apps let the crop be nudged by hand after the automatic pass, and the pages that show the feature in screenshots usually show a handle for doing so.
Reframing works best on footage shot with some room around the subject. A tight landscape close-up has little left to crop into once it is cut down to a tall shape.
Clip makers pair reframing with clipping because the input is the same: a long landscape recording, podcasts and interviews above all.
The pages read do not say how each tracker performs, only that it exists; a short test on the actual footage answers that.
| App | Feature | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| CapCut | Reframe | Smart cropping turns a 16:9 source into a 9:16 clip, tracking the subject |
| Kapwing | Reframe | Speaker Focus resizes a video to keep the speakers in frame |
| Choppity | Reframe | Automated framing reframes video to vertical and follows the speaker |
| PowerDirector | Reframe | AI Auto Reframe for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram |
Inclusion rule. Readings from the register used on this page. Order. The order the text takes them in.
1From the apps' pages
Smart cropping and size adaptation can convert a 16:9 source into a 9:16 clip.
CapCut, long video to shorts page
Auto-resize videos to focus on the speakers
Kapwing pricing page
AI reframes video to vertical formats
Choppity pricing page
AI Auto Reframe
CyberLink, PowerDirector overview page
- FAQSmart cropping turns a 16:9 source into a 9:16 clip, tracking the subject
- ToolsSpeaker Focus resizes a video to keep the speakers in frame
- FeaturesAutomated framing reframes video to vertical and follows the speaker
- AI editingAI Auto Reframe for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram
Apps on this page: CapCut · Kapwing · Choppity · PowerDirector
2Where the footage comes from
Upstream of an app feature like “Auto reframe”, SceneMixer describes its own generation steps:
16:9 landscape (SceneMixer's default) and 9:16 vertical (the usual short-drama frame), chosen per project.
SceneMixer, Seedance 2.0 in a Real Short-Drama Pipeline — “Which aspect ratios does the pipeline generate?” (read 2026-10-13)
Paste a scene or a short script and SceneMixer gives you a storyboard — numbered shots with framing and seconds — and then a moving version of each segment, which you can join into a rough cut of the scene.
SceneMixer, Using SceneMixer for Previs and Animatics Before a Live-Action Shoot (read 2026-10-13)