I noticed that when I shoot in portrait orientation on iPhone, black bars still appear on the sides when I upload to TikTok. Is there some setting I'm missing? Or does it depend on the video resolution?
The black bars usually show up not because of portrait orientation itself, but because the video's aspect ratio doesn't match what TikTok expects. The platform likes proportions closer to 9:16, and iPhones often shoot in other formats. If you open the camera and just hit record right away - there's a good chance it's set to a wider format!
Check your camera settings for video resolution. You should see options like 1080p or 4K. Full HD (1080×1920) in portrait mode works great for TikTok - it's pretty close to that 9:16 ratio. When you're recording, make sure the frame is filled as much as possible: don't zoom in or back away, fill the shot from edge to edge. Some special effects and filters in the iPhone camera can also crop the video from the sides, so check that nothing extra is turned on.
When you upload to TikTok, you usually get a preview before posting - you can see right there if there will be bars. If they're already showing in the preview, you can fix it there by cropping the video or scaling it. But it's better to get it right from the start!
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