Vertical streaming from a browser: Reels, Shorts, and TikTok from Web Studio
7cubit Team
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If a 16:9 show is cropped after it leaves the studio, the viewer may get a small picture, a missing guest, or graphics cut off at the edges. For a vertical destination, the better question is not “can the platform crop this?” It is “can I compose the show while looking at the same 9:16 frame the audience will see?”
Web Studio lets you make that choice in the browser before the broadcast starts. No camera rotation or second encoder is required.
Why destination cropping is a weak fallback
A landscape frame has room on the left and right that a 9:16 crop cannot keep. In a side-by-side interview, one guest may be pushed out of view. A lower third or ticker near the edge can disappear. You can still be technically live while producing a composition that does not work on a phone.
Native portrait production gives you a chance to position people and graphics for the tall frame before the audience sees them.
Turn on Portrait in Web Studio
Before you invite a full panel, test the number of faces against the actual scene. A tall frame can keep each participant visible, but it cannot make an unlimited panel readable. Choose the smallest guest group that fits the conversation and use the green room to confirm that each camera works at the intended crop.
Open Scenes → Output and switch the canvas from Landscape to Portrait. The preview changes to a 9:16 frame, and the available layouts arrange themselves for the new space. Make the change before you stage guests, captions, polls, or overlays so you can judge their actual positions.
For a solo host, the camera can fill the tall frame. With guests, the studio stacks feeds vertically rather than relying on a landscape side-by-side composition. Free supports up to 5 guests, while paid plans support up to 10.
Reframe the supporting elements
Portrait layouts have less width, so think about where information belongs. Put important labels and captions where they do not cover faces. Check the ticker against the tall frame. If you use host-mic Live Captions, preview Small, Medium, or Large and make sure the text remains readable without blocking the speaker.
Polls still use chat: viewers type the option number, 1–4. Run a quick test with the actual scene if a poll, product card, or other overlay is part of the show.
Know the plan boundaries
The Web Studio ceiling is worth planning around. Creator's 4K ingest support applies to external encoder workflows; switching the browser canvas to Portrait does not turn Web Studio into a 4K source. For most mobile-first viewing, a carefully framed 1080p portrait program is more useful than a higher-resolution landscape source that will be cropped later.
Web Studio Portrait output is available on Creator and above. The output limits still apply:
- Free: 720p Web Studio output, ApexStream watermark, and 2 destinations.
- Hobby: up to 1080p Web Studio output, no watermark, and 3 destinations.
- Creator and above: external encoders can use 4K ingest with the appropriate protocols, but Web Studio itself remains capped at 1080p.
Cloud recording starts on Hobby. AI Clips starts on Creator, with 3 clips per stream on Creator and unlimited clips on Scale and Enterprise. Those are separate from the ability to compose a vertical Web Studio canvas.
When to use native Portrait
Choose Portrait when mobile viewers are the primary audience or when you know the show will be watched in a 9:16 feed. It is especially useful for a solo host, a stacked guest conversation, a tutorial with large screen elements, or a short live session that will later be clipped for vertical viewing.
If you need a landscape YouTube feed and a vertical TikTok or Instagram feed from one landscape source, that is a different relay problem: live 16:9-to-9:16 destination re-encoding is available on Scale and Enterprise. If the entire show is vertical, composing it in Web Studio avoids asking the relay to invent a second geometry.
Run a short unlisted test when the frame matters. Check the host's eyes, the guest stack, the position of captions, and any lower-third or commerce element. A vertical layout can be technically correct while still placing the useful information below the area a phone viewer notices first.
Choose the frame before you choose the scene. Vertical viewers should see a show designed for the phone, not a landscape show squeezed into it.
Set Scenes → Output → Portrait, check the crop and the overlays, then run the same short test you would run for any live show. The browser can be the production room; the key is looking at the final shape before going live.
Do not confuse these two portrait paths
| Path | Use it when | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Web Studio Portrait | The complete show should be framed vertically in the browser | Creator and above |
| Relay portrait conversion | A landscape source must also feed a vertical destination | Scale and Enterprise |