Glossary
What is 1080p?
By the KeyMo team · Updated
1080p is a video resolution of 1,080 rows of pixels, drawn progressively, and in a normal landscape frame that is 1920x1080 pixels. Turn the frame upright, as vertical video does, and the same detail is 1080x1920. The "p" stands for progressive scan: each frame is drawn whole, not in alternating lines.
What the two numbers in 1080p mean
The 1080 is the number of pixel rows from top to bottom. In a landscape 16:9 frame there are 1,920 pixels across each row, so the full size is 1920x1080. Multiply the two and you get 2,073,600 pixels, a little over 2 megapixels per frame. The "p" says every frame is drawn in full. The opposite is interlaced video, written "i", where each frame is split into alternating lines. YouTube's upload guidance asks for progressive video and says interlaced footage should be deinterlaced first, converting 1080i60 to 1080p30.
| Name | Pixels (16:9) | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| 720p | 1280x720 | A common lower tier; Instagram sets 720 pixels as the minimum for Reels |
| 1080p | 1920x1080 | YouTube lists it as HD; Shorts are capped here |
| 1440p | 2560x1440 | Between HD and 4K on YouTube's list |
| 2160p (4K) | 3840x2160 | Four times the pixels of 1080p |
1080p versus 1080x1920
The name comes from the landscape frame, where 1080 is the height. A vertical clip swaps the sides: 1080 pixels wide and 1920 tall. People still call it 1080p, and the pixel count is identical, so it carries the same amount of detail. One catch from the source: YouTube's resolution page lists pixel sizes for 16:9 only and gives no figure for vertical video, so 1080x1920 is the sensible rotation of the 16:9 figure, not a number YouTube prints.
This is the size KeyMo exports: vertical 9:16 clips at 1080x1920 and 30 fps. Pasting a YouTube link only fetches the source up to 1080p, so a 4K master on YouTube arrives as 1080p. See aspect ratio for why the shape changes as well as the size.
What it means when you cut a vertical clip from a 1080p episode
A podcast filmed at 1920x1080 is 1080 pixels tall. A 9:16 crop that keeps the full height is only about 608 pixels wide (1080 x 9 / 16 = 607.5). To fill a 1080x1920 frame, that strip has to be scaled up by roughly 1.78 times in both directions. The source is not wasted, but it is stretched, which is why a soft, low-light or compressed 1080p source looks worse as a vertical clip than it did as a wide one.
- If your source is 4K, upload the file itself rather than a YouTube link, since link import stops at 1080p and a 1080p copy has fewer pixels to crop from.
- If the source is 720p, exporting at 1080 adds file size, not detail.
- Judge the clip on a phone at arm's length, since that is how it is watched.
Common mistakes
- Calling a file 1080p because the container says so. Check the actual pixel size.
- Assuming 1080p alone sets quality. Bitrate matters as much; see bitrate.
- Adding black bars to a wide video to make it look vertical. YouTube advises against baking bars into the video; crop instead (see auto reframe).
Sources: YouTube Help: Video resolution & aspect ratios (checked 11 October 2026); YouTube Help: Recommended upload encoding settings (checked 11 October 2026); YouTube Help: Get started creating YouTube Shorts (checked 11 October 2026); Instagram Help: Reel size & aspect ratios on Instagram (checked 11 October 2026).