Colurvist › Learn › How to export a video for TikTok, Reels, Shorts and YouTube
How to export a video for TikTok, Reels, Shorts and YouTube
Press Export and pick a platform preset: it sets the frame’s shape, the size, the frame rate and the renderer. Up to 1080p is free. For a vertical cut of a landscape clip, Camera → Reframe follows the action or a person; Publish sends the file to YouTube, TikTok or Instagram.
- Pick the preset. Press Export in the top bar and choose under Where is it going?: TikTok, Reels and Shorts set a 9:16 frame at 1080×1920 and 30 fps; YouTube 1080p and YouTube 4K set 16:9; Square is 1:1. The stage changes shape so you see the frame you are making.
- Reframe a landscape clip. If the footage is 16:9, the vertical frame crops it. Camera → Reframe moves the crop for you — following the action, a person (skin detection) or a point you tracked with Mask & Track — and Position nudges it by hand. Blur fill keeps the full picture softly behind a fitted one instead of bars.
- Check the safe area. Text → Captions → Platform picks TikTok, Reels or Shorts and shows, for a few seconds, the parts of the frame the app covers with its own buttons and bars. Keep titles and captions clear of them; the caption height moves with the preset.
- Choose the quality and the renderer. Quality sets the bitrate (or type a target size in MB). The real-time renderer is quick up to 1080p; the frame-accurate renderer draws every frame and is the path above 1080p — a 1080p source becomes 4K through AI upscaling (160 credits for 4×), and the export at 4K itself is 25.
- Export, or queue several. Press Export video. For several versions, ＋ Add to queue each one (or Queue every platform) and the render queue works through them while you carry on.
- Publish. Export → Publish signs you in to YouTube, TikTok or Instagram and uploads the last export from your browser with a title, description, tags and privacy. (Each platform has to be switched on by the site’s owner; a greyed chip says so.)
What each platform wants
| Platform | Shape | Size | Frame rate | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok · Reels · Shorts | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | 30 (60 for games) | MP4 H.264 |
| YouTube | 16:9 | 1920×1080 or 3840×2160 | the source’s (24, 25, 30, 50, 60) | MP4 H.264 or HEVC |
| Instagram feed | 4:5 or 1:1 | 1080×1350 · 1080×1080 | 30 | MP4 H.264 |
| X | 16:9 or 1:1 | 1280×720 up | 30 | MP4 H.264 |
Frame rates
Keep the source’s rate unless a platform asks otherwise: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50 and 60 are all exact in the export. A phone clip at a variable rate is conformed to a fixed one on import so the sound stays in step.
The watermark
A free account’s export carries a small Colurvist mark; any plan removes it. Everything else about a free export — size up to 1080p, frame rate, format — is the same.
A chapter list for YouTube comes from the markers (Export → Chapters), and a thumbnail from the frame under the playhead at each platform’s size (Other outputs → Thumbnail).
Questions
What size is best for TikTok?
1080×1920 (9:16) at 30 fps as an MP4 — the TikTok preset sets exactly that.
Can I export 4K for free?
Exports up to 1080p are free. A 4K export costs 25 credits, and upscaling a 1080p source to 4K first costs 160 more; a 4K source needs only the export.
Why does my vertical export show black bars?
The frame is 9:16 and the clip is 16:9 in Fit mode. Switch to Fill, use Camera → Reframe to crop with the action, or Blur fill for a soft background instead of bars.
Does publishing upload from my computer?
Yes. The file goes from your browser straight to the platform; the Colurvist server only holds the sign-in keys.
Last reviewed 3 October 2026.