Portrait 9:16: the re-encode path and why it's a Scale feature
7cubit Team
More in Engineering
A 16:9 source cannot become a true 9:16 destination by changing a label. The relay has to decode the program, crop or arrange it into a tall frame, scale it to a portrait size such as 1080×1920, and encode that new video under the destination's limits.
That work uses more compute than copying a compatible stream. ApexStream treats live portrait destination processing as a Scale and Enterprise capability. The gate is about the cost of the live encode path, not about whether a player can display a narrow rectangle.
What the portrait branch does
When a destination asks for 9:16, the media-node grouper can place it in a portrait transcode group instead of the passthrough group. The filter graph crops or stacks the landscape content, scales the result, and encodes the outbound stream. Some layouts can use a stacked treatment with blurred side fill where that product path supports it.
Portrait transcodes consume more resource points than landscape transcodes. The account's live workload includes ingest, copies, landscape encodes, and the higher-cost portrait branch. Scale's budget is provisioned for mixed-orientation fan-out; smaller plans are not silently turned into vertical encode farms.
Web Studio's own Scenes → Output portrait control is related but different. It lets you compose the program vertically in the browser. This article is about converting a landscape contribution into a vertical destination on the relay.
The distinction matters when you plan the show. Native Studio portrait changes the source composition for everyone receiving that program. Relay portrait conversion creates a separate destination branch, so a landscape destination can keep its original shape while a vertical destination receives the transformed copy.
Why a landscape fallback is not good enough
A lower-tier fallback could send a 16:9 feed to TikTok or Instagram and mark the destination connected. The result would often be a small landscape picture inside a vertical feed. A two-person side-by-side scene could crop one person out, and graphics near the edges could disappear.
The stream would technically work while failing the reason you chose a vertical destination. A green connected badge cannot fix a composition that viewers cannot comfortably watch.
The error you should see instead
When vertical destinations are selected but the plan cannot run the portrait path, eligibility can fail with PORTRAIT_NOT_ALLOWED. The useful action is explicit: remove the vertical destinations or choose a plan that includes the required portrait work. Similar validation applies to resolution over the plan maximum and to sessions above the resource-point budget.
A clean error is easier to act on before going live than an accidental 16:9 VOD that you discover after the audience has seen it.
Before selecting the vertical destination, check whether the desired result is a true portrait program or merely a connected destination. If the answer is true portrait, make the plan and resource check part of pre-flight. Waiting for a platform to accept a landscape feed does not prove that the framing is usable.
Scale is solving the mixed-format problem
Scale is $199/month, supports 8 destinations, has a 15 Mbps ingest ceiling, and includes the relay capacity for portrait groups. Enterprise extends destination capacity to 50 under custom commercial terms. Creator adds 4K ingest, SRT/WHIP, and five destinations, but live multi-destination portrait re-encoding is intentionally placed at the higher tier.
If every destination wants vertical, native portrait production in Web Studio or a vertical encoder canvas may be enough. The expensive case is one show that needs a landscape feed for YouTube and a true portrait feed for TikTok or Instagram at the same time.
When to use Studio portrait instead
If you know the whole show is for vertical viewers, choose Scenes → Output → Portrait before you arrange the show. That lets you frame the host, guests, overlays, and captions against the final 9:16 canvas. The relay does not have to invent a second aspect ratio from a landscape source.
If you need both orientations, plan for the Scale or Enterprise portrait path. If you only need a tall program, produce it tall from the beginning.
Portrait is a live video transformation, not a CSS setting. It has a CPU cost, so the plan gate is visible.
The trade is straightforward: choose native portrait for a vertical-only show, or choose the higher relay tier when one source must serve both landscape and portrait destinations.
Choose the portrait path
- Use native Web Studio Portrait when the entire show should be composed for a 9:16 audience; that control is available on Creator and above.
- Use Scale or Enterprise relay conversion when one landscape source must serve both landscape and portrait destinations.
- Run a real test with faces, captions, and edge graphics before trusting a crop.
- Treat portrait eligibility, resolution, bitrate, and destination count as separate pre-flight checks.
Native portrait or relay conversion?
| Path | What changes | When it fits | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Studio Portrait | The browser composes the source as 9:16 | The whole show is designed for vertical viewers | Creator and above |
| Destination crop | The relay creates a separate portrait branch | One source must serve landscape and portrait destinations | Scale and Enterprise |