UPDATE: Android is now doing video the same way the iPhone does, so follow the instructions for iPhone in the video regardless of your mobile OS.
Should you be using Portrait or Landscape when you go LIVE from your phone on Facebook? Are your streams coming out sideways? The device you’re using MATTERS, so here’s what you need to know!
STOP going live in portrait mode! Which is this way… long.
That’s what gives you these weird bars on the side. When your viewers click to watch the video, the bars disappear, and the video is super thin.
Instead, turn your phone sideways – in landscape mode – to get a widescreen video. SO much better looking and more professional, isn’t it?
BUT… you MUST turn your phone into landscape mode BEFORE you go live on your iPhone. You can’t start the stream, THEN turn it. It won’t change, and you’ll be sideways to your viewers.
Now, if you want to make your streams more professional, and more effective for building your business, start with our Live Streaming Quiz. It’ll tell you what kind of LIVE streamer you are, and where you should start with live video, based on your goals.
That’s it on the whole portrait vs landscape situation… for now… till things change. Be sure to subscribe to stay up to date on what the latest is on how to live stream successfully!
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31 Comments on "Why your Facebook LIVE videos are sideways"
If an iPhone user is broadcasting live in landscape mode, can an Android user view it in landscape mode, full screen?
No, all Android is boxed only, even in view mode.
Luria I livestream every morning and receive 10 – 15000 views Reach is anywhere from 40000 to 150000 per video need help monetizing we were making good money before live videos came into effect and now people will not leave Facebook to go to our website which was the revenue maker. We need some help thanks Frank granieri
Works great in landscape for my iPhone 7. But, my iPad Pro 9.7 in landscape still has the boxed view. is there a way for the iPad to produce the same view as the iPhone?
iPads unfortunately don’t do landscape. 🙁 Should have put that in there…
I have an iPhone and have been able to use it successfully, thanks to you! My question: Does is matter if the display is set on standard or zoom?
Nope, that has nothing to do with that part of things. That really only affects text and icons on your home screen.
Landscape does work for Android now, as well.
Gosh, what a difficult birth, Zuck.
Hi, take a look at this one, live streaming software –
https://www.cameleon.live/kickstarter
I did and it was really bad and had a ton of issues. I had paid for it too. Requested a refund. It’s just not well developed. Not sure it’ll ever be as good as wirecast or livestream studio. They are both just so easy to use.
Hi Luria, I wish I’d read this before I did an important FB Live stream that appeared sideways! Once this has happened (and appears on our page archivally), do you know of any way to edit the video to appear correctly? So viewers don’t have to flip their heads or monitors around? Ha
Unfortunately what you’d have to do is download the video, edit it and upload the edited version and delete the original. Which means you’d lose all comments etc associated with that post. You can’t replace a video on Facebook. Hope that helps.
Thank you! Very helpful, David. I have successfully saved the video, thanks to your instructions. What software do you recommend for editing? I have a Mac laptop and the basics that come with that, but could investigate something else if you recommend.
If you have a Mac there’s a free software called iMovie that you can use. And no problem. 😬
Remember, this ONLY works on pages, not groups. I also am not sure if it works on profiles either. But if you are trying groups, you will have to do portrait for now. 🙂
It was on a page. And I also tried with Facebook and Page apps. No difference.
You have to be in landscape before you even click the live icon. You’ve tried that? If that doesn’t work then I’m not sure if you’re using an outdated iOS or Facebook app.
I’m always updating everything as soon as it’s available on my iPhone. I tried clicking the way you said. and I tried it from both apps. I’ll figure it out I guess. thx a lot.
Are you in the US?
I had to make sure the autorotate for my phone was on so that it was allowed to rotate. It was locked and wouldn’t let my phone go into landscape mode even when I turned it. Now it works like a charm. Hope that helps.
Thanks indeed Luria! This is exactly what happened with me this morning. Actually I was steaming using my Android device and on landscape mode. The result was sideways 🙂
On OnePlus 3T, the live video in landscape mode still goes in portrait mode. I just screwed up a live video 🙁
Hmm… did it show in landscape when you were shooting??
Hi, I’m on a Samsung Galaxy S7. I checked that I have the latest version of Facebook (I do), and started the Live in landscape orientation but it still came out sideways. Do you know if there are any other settings to check (I see in the comments someone did not have auto-rotate on, that’s not my problem). Such a bummer. I’d rather broadcast from my phone than my Surface but I loathe those side pillars!
They should just disable streaming in portrait mode altogether. Force users to use the proper format for video.
Agreed!
I read several places, including this post, that it was possible to shoot a FB Live video horizontally, so I did one…a very important video for work. It posted sideways. I started with the camera horizontally. What in the world? I really want all my videos to be horizontal, but I can’t risk that foolishness again. Help!
You started with it horizontally – and it was showing to you in landscape? I want to make sure the Rotation Lock on your phone wasn’t active. Android or iPhone?
You can always test first by changing “Public” to “Only Me” on your profile just to make sure. Testing before anything important is always a good thing to do! 🙂
I found a fix to Michel T Dallaire’s issue b/c I was having the same problem. On your Iphone, on the home screen, swipe up from the bottom. There are 5 icons above the brightness bar. The furthest one to the right is the Portrait Orientation Lock. Mine was on. When I switched it to off, the above suggestions worked.