Articles on: 24/7 Live Streaming Basics

How To Preview YouTube's Dual Stream Vertical Crop

Use this when your stream goes to YouTube and you want to see what YouTube's vertical copy will show before you go live.


YouTube Dual stream sends a vertical 9:16 copy of your live stream to viewers in the Shorts feed. By default it is a center crop that keeps only the middle third of a 16:9 picture, so a corner facecam, side guest tiles or an edge logo get cut. Upstream's Preview as shows exactly what stays.


YouTube vertical layout

What phones show

Preview in Upstream

Center crop (default)

The middle third at full height, about 608 × 1080 of a 1920 × 1080 stream

Yes

Fit to phone width

The whole picture, shrunk to about a third of the screen height

Yes

Stacked

Two parts of the picture, one above the other

No


Before you start


  • Your stream goes to YouTube, as the main destination or a multistream destination.
  • Your stream uses a horizontal resolution, like 1080p (Horizontal).
  • Dual stream is on in YouTube Studio. It's on by default for streams you start with a stream key from the Live Control Room. For streams started with Connect with YouTube, it's off unless you switch it on before going live.


Steps


  1. Open your stream and go to Stream designer.
  2. In the right sidebar, click Design. Under Window, open Preview as.
  3. Choose YouTube vertical: center crop. The dimmed sides are cut on phones, and the dashed outline is what stays.
  4. Move anything important, like your facecam, title or logo, inside the outline.
  5. Choose YouTube vertical: fit to phone width to check that your text is still readable at phone size.
  6. In Live Studio, use the Preview as menu at the top right of the canvas to check guest layouts. With three tiles side by side, the center crop keeps only the middle one.
  7. Click Open full preview in the preview banner to see the vertical copy in a phone frame.


Preview as in Stream designer showing YouTube's center crop on a 1920 × 1080 canvas


Preview as menu in Live Studio with the YouTube vertical options


Full preview of YouTube's center crop in a phone frame


When you're done, choose Stream canvas or click Exit preview. The preview never changes your stream. It still goes out at its own resolution, like 1920 × 1080.


Send your own 9:16 stream instead (optional)


YouTube can take a second, vertical stream from Upstream instead of cropping your 16:9 picture.


  1. Click Create stream, choose YouTube, and set Resolution & Orientation to 1080p (Vertical).
  2. In YouTube Studio, open your horizontal stream in the Live Control Room and go to the Stream tab.
  3. On the vertical preview, change Auto to Encoder.
  4. In the Stream key dropdown, pick your vertical Upstream stream if you use Connect with YouTube. With Manual setup, pick a key and paste it into the vertical stream's Stream key field.
  5. Start both streams in Upstream, check both previews in the Live Control Room, then go live.


Creating a vertical YouTube stream in Upstream with 1080p (Vertical) and a stream key


Set this up before you go live, because YouTube can't add the vertical format after a stream starts. Each stream uses one of your stream slots.


If it does not work


  • No Preview as option: your stream doesn't go to YouTube, or it uses a vertical resolution.
  • YouTube crops differently than the preview: the zoom or position was changed in YouTube Studio's Edit layout. Upstream previews YouTube's default framing.
  • You don't want a vertical copy: in the Live Control Room, open Stream > Stream settings and switch off Dual stream before you go live.
  • No links or ads on phones: YouTube doesn't show clickable links or run live ads on the vertical copy.



Updated on: 20/10/2026

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