Frequently Asked Questions About Output Quality
In the digital age, video editing platforms like Kapwing have become essential tools for content creators. However, altering a video's aspect ratio can have an impact on its quality, and it's crucial to understand these changes.
When you adjust the aspect ratio in Kapwing, such as from a 16:9 horizontal to a 9:16 vertical, the video is resized or cropped to fit the new dimensions using the Resize or Crop tools. This can lead to some parts of the original frame being cut out to maintain the new shape, potentially affecting the visible content, but not inherently degrading video quality due to compression.
The resolution you choose to export at, such as 720p or 1080p, influences the final quality. Kapwing allows you to choose resolution and compression levels at export, so lower resolutions or higher compression will reduce export quality. However, changing just the aspect ratio itself does not degrade quality unless you also reduce resolution.
The pixel dimensions change according to the aspect ratio, for example, 1080×720 (16:9) vs. 720×1280 (9:16). If the exported pixel count decreases, the perceived quality may drop simply because of fewer pixels.
Kapwing's export formats and options are somewhat limited, including MP4, GIF, PNG, and MP3, and resolutions such as 480p, 720p, and 4K. The export quality also depends on choosing the best format and resolution available.
If you're not on a paid plan, your video will be exported in 720p quality. However, Kapwing offers high-definition exporting for users on the Paid Pro plan (1080p). If you export a 16:9 video as a 1080p 9:16 video, Kapwing has to stretch the dimensions, which can reduce the quality.
It's worth noting that Kapwing converts all videos into MP4 format to keep processing times to a minimum. The "Auto" quality on Kapwing exports videos in their original resolution and size.
While Kapwing does not reduce the quality of your files, it converts and compresses them to maintain a smaller file size. Therefore, it's recommended to film footage in the aspect ratio that you plan to export to avoid any quality loss.
In conclusion, changing the aspect ratio in Kapwing primarily affects framing and resolution dimensions, which can indirectly affect visual quality if pixels are reduced or cropping removes important video content. However, it does not inherently lower video export quality through compression unless settings are adjusted at export.
Technology in data-and-cloud-computing, such as video editing platforms like Kapwing, play a significant role in the digital age for content creators. Regardless of aspect ratio adjustments that may alter video quality by resizing or cropping frames to fit new dimensions, changing the aspect ratio itself does not degrade quality unless resolution is also reduced or the video is exported in a lower resolution.
