--- title: "Add Background to Video – Colour, Blur, Image | border.video" description: "Put a colour, gradient, picture or blurred copy behind your video, sized for Reels, Shorts or a square post. Free, in your browser, no upload, no watermark." url: https://border.video/add-background-to-video --- Free · runs in your browser # Add a background behind your video Shrink the clip into a new shape and fill the space behind it with a colour, a gradient, your own picture or a soft blur of the footage. To add a background to a video, choose the shape you want above the drop zone and add your clip. It sits in the middle of the new frame over a **Gradient** background to start. To use a photo or graphic instead, open **More options**, set **Background** to **Image** and choose a picture; it covers the space behind the clip. Press **Export video** when it looks right. This is a background behind a smaller video, not a replacement for the scenery behind a person. The clip stays exactly as filmed; what changes is the canvas around it. That is the look you see on vertical posts made from landscape footage, podcast clips on a branded backdrop, and square posts with a coloured surround. ## How to add a background to a video 1. ### Pick the frame’s shape Choose 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9 above the drop zone. The background fills whatever space the clip doesn’t use. 2. ### Add the video Drop the clip on the tool or press Select video. It opens centred on a gradient background. 3. ### Choose the background Under More options, set Background to Solid, Gradient, Blur or Image. With Image, press Choose picture and pick a photo or graphic from your device; Darken picture tones it down. 4. ### Size the clip and export Drag Border width to give the clip more or less room, round its corners if you like, then press Export video. ## Colour, gradient, picture or blur * **Solid**: one colour, typed as a hex value or picked from the swatches. In Chrome and Edge on a computer, the eyedropper picks a colour straight from your clip. * **Gradient**: two colours in a line, a radial glow or a four-colour mesh. **Match video colours** builds one from your footage. * **Image**: your own photo, texture or brand graphic, scaled to cover the frame and centred. It is read on your device and never uploaded. * **Blur**: a soft, moving copy of the clip, or a two-colour **Duotone** version of it. Over 400 designs add patterns, paper textures and frames on top of these fills. Press **Browse all looks** to try them on a still of your clip. ## Make a vertical video from a horizontal one The most common reason to add a background is a landscape clip going to a vertical app. Pick **9:16**, and the clip spans the screen’s width with background above and below. That space is a natural place for a title: use **Caption** under **More options** to write one in the top or bottom band. The [vertical conversion guide](https://border.video/fit-video-to-9-16) covers the safe areas TikTok and Reels leave clear. ## Background, border or frame? They overlap, but people mean slightly different things. A **background** fills the space around a smaller video, usually in a new shape. A **border** is an even edge round the video in its own shape, like the [white border look](https://border.video/add-white-border-to-video). A **frame** is a drawn object, such as a Polaroid, film strip or gilt picture frame. All three are made here with the same controls, and you can combine them: a white card with a shadow, on a gradient, in a 9:16 frame. ## What this tool doesn’t do It doesn’t cut a person out of their surroundings or replace a green screen. That needs a video editor with chroma key or AI background removal, and it changes the footage itself. Here the footage is untouched; only the canvas around it is new. If your aim is simply to fill black bars with something better, the blurred fill on the [blurred background page](https://border.video/blur-background-video) is the quickest route. ## Video background questions ### How do I add a background to a video? Pick a shape, add the video, then under More options set Background to a colour, gradient, blur or Image. The clip sits on top, and Export video saves the result as an MP4. ### Can I use my own picture as a video background? Yes. Set Background to Image and press Choose picture. The picture covers the frame behind the clip, centred, and Darken picture tones it down. It never leaves your device. ### Can I replace the background behind a person in my video? Not here. This tool adds a background around the whole clip; removing the scenery behind someone needs a green screen or AI cut-out in a video editor. ### What size is the video with a background? The shorter side matches your clip’s shorter side, so a 1080p clip in 9:16 becomes 1080×1920\. You can cap it at 720p under Export settings. ### Can the background move? With Blur or Duotone, yes: it is made from the clip, so it moves with it. Colours, gradients and pictures stay still. ### Is there a watermark? No. Nothing is added except the background you choose. ## More border and frame guides * [ Add a border to a video online Over 400 looks, eight shapes and full control, previewed live on your own clip. ](https://border.video/) * [ Add a blurred background to a video Fill black bars with a soft blur of the clip, in a 16:9 frame or any shape. ](https://border.video/blur-background-video) * [ Convert a video to any aspect ratio Seven ratios from 9:16 to 21:9, padded with blur or colour, previewed live. ](https://border.video/video-aspect-ratio-converter) * [ Resize a video for Instagram Reels, Stories, feed and grid sizes, filled with blur or colour instead of cropped. ](https://border.video/resize-video-for-instagram) * [ Add a Polaroid or film-strip frame to a video Instant-photo, film-strip and card frames, with an optional caption. ](https://border.video/add-frame-to-video)