Occasionally, while editing videos, we might need to resize it and change the screen resolution. It could be because the video screen size is too big to be uploaded to YouTube, or you need to enlarge a small video to fill up your large monitor.
Previously, we have mentioned several software for video editing, compression and even conversion. One thing that we didn’t touch on was video resizing. While there are plenty of video editing software out there (both free and commercial), not all of them support video resizing. Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker is one of those without the video resizing feature. In addition, for those video editors that come with video resizing feature, it is always embedded deep in the settings and is not available in the frontend.
In this tutorial, let’s see how you can resize your video in various OS.
Note: The meaning of “resize” in this article is referring to the display size of the video, not the file size.
Linux (illustrated with Ubuntu)
Avidemux, Openshot, Kdenlive are some of the video editors in Linux, but the one that we are going to use is PiTiVi. The reason is because this is the default video editor in Ubuntu Lucid (and above). Sorry to non-Ubuntu users.
In PiTiVi, first import in your clip.
Next, go to Project -> Project Settings. Under the Video Output section, select “Custom” from the dropdown field.
You should be able to set the video’s width, height and frame rate.
Next, proceed on to edit your video. Once you are done, click the “Render Project” button to save your video.
Windows
In Windows, other than the Windows Movie Maker, the next popular free video editor is Virtualdub. Unlike WMM, it supports video resizing and doesn’t require installation.
Download VirtualDub. Extract the zip file and run the VirtualDub application.
Go to “Video -> Filter“.
Click “Add”. Scroll down the list until you find the entry “Resize”. Select it and click OK to add it.
In the next window, you will be able to change the size of the video. You can use either absolute sizing or relative sizing. I would recommend using “relative (%)” as it will retain the aspect ratio of the video.
Once you are done editing your video, go to “File -> Save As AVI” to export your video.
Mac
iMovie is a great software for video editing, and the best of all, it is pre-installed in Mac.
Open your iMovie. Import your media clips and do your editing. After you are done editing the video, go to “Share -> Export to QuickTime“.
Click on the Options button.
Under the Video section, click on the Size button
In the Dimensions dropdown field, select Custom. You should be able to set your video size now.
That’s it.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave your comments below.
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
