The single most common expensive mistake in AI video is generating 16:9 and cropping to 9:16 afterwards. It is expensive because it throws away most of the frame you paid for, and it is unnecessary because vertical costs exactly the same as horizontal on every model. Credit price is set by model, duration, resolution and audio. Not by shape.
TL;DR
- Ratio is free. A 9:16 clip is the same credit price as 16:9 everywhere
- Cropping loses about 70 percent of a horizontal frame and moves your composition off centre
- Cheapest vertical: Wan 3.0 at 480p, 24 credits per 5 seconds
- Gemini Omni Flash supports 16:9 and 9:16 per Google's model documentation
- Compose for captions: subject in the upper two thirds, visual quiet in the lower middle
Why cropping is indefensible
You lose most of the image. 16:9 to 9:16 keeps roughly 30 percent of the horizontal frame. Everything you composed at the edges is gone.
The composition moves. A subject on a third in 16:9 lands somewhere arbitrary after a centre crop, and the negative space that made the shot work disappears.
Detail softens. Cropping to a tall slice then scaling back to full vertical resolution is an upscale, and on this canvas there is no video upscaler to do it well.
There is no saving. This is the part that settles it. Generating native vertical costs the same. You are paying identical credits for a worse result.
The costs, identical across ratios
Canon 8frame prices, a credit is $0.01 at pack rate. These are the same in 9:16 as in 16:9:
| Model | Clip | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Wan 3.0 at 480p | 5s | 24 |
| Veo 3.1 Lite, silent | 8s | 33 |
| Wan 3.0 Prime, any resolution | 5s | 34 |
| Runway Gen-4 Turbo | 5s at 8/s | 40 |
| Veo 3.1 Lite, with audio | 8s | 54 |
| Kling v3 Standard, silent | 5s | 57 |
| Kling v3 Standard, with audio | 5s | 86 |
| Gemini Omni Flash, with audio | 8s | 135 |
| Seedance 2.5 at 720p | 5s | 157 |
| Veo 3.1 Standard | 8s with audio | 448 |
Need three ratios for one campaign? Generate three natively. On Veo 3.1 Lite that is 162 credits, about $1.62, and every one is properly composed.
Composing 9:16 properly
Vertical is not horizontal turned sideways. It has its own rules.
Subject in the upper two thirds. The bottom carries captions and platform interface.
Visual quiet in the lower middle third. Prompt for it explicitly: state that the lower part of the frame should be uncluttered. Captions live there because the true bottom is covered by platform UI.
Vertical subjects work, horizontal ones fight the frame. A standing figure, a tall building, a pour, a rising element. A landscape crammed into 9:16 reads as a mistake.
Nothing important at the very top or very bottom. Both are covered by interface on most surfaces.
Foreground and background separation. Vertical framing has less horizontal room to establish depth, so depth has to come from layering.
Prompt for the frame you want
State the aspect ratio and the composition together: "vertical 9:16 composition, subject centred in the upper two thirds, uncluttered lower third, shallow depth of field."
Then draft at 480p for 24 credits and check the framing before committing to a finished take. A cheap draft that reveals the subject is too low in frame saves a 157-credit mistake.
Model notes worth knowing
Gemini Omni Flash: 16:9 default and 9:16, native 360p and 720p with 1080p and 4K upscaled, audio generated by default, up to 40 seconds with extensions. Uploaded video input is capped at 10 seconds, and editing or extending uploaded video is unavailable in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. All from Google's own model documentation.
Everything else on the roster offers ratio selection including vertical. Treat the selector in the app as authoritative, since defaults change between model versions.
FAQ
Does vertical video cost more? No. Ratio is not a price dimension on any model here.
Can I generate 4:5? Model-dependent. Where it is not offered, generate 9:16 and crop to 4:5, which loses far less than cropping from 16:9.
What resolution for vertical social? 720p is enough for most placements. Generate at delivery resolution, since there is no video upscaler.
Three ratios or crop one? Generate three. At Veo 3.1 Lite prices that is $1.62 for all three.
Vertical from the first generation, not from a crop. The 8frame canvas is free and unlimited, and generation is paid from $19/month.