From Vertical Video to Foldables, It's Time for Streaming Companies to Rethink Video Adaptation
For years, streaming companies have built their video workflows around a relatively predictable set of screens. Content was produced in widescreen formats, encoded for different resolutions and delivered to televisions, computers and mobile devices. While the devices varied, the basic composition of the video generally stayed the same.
Mobile viewing changed that equation. According to Deloitte's 2025 Digital Media Trends report, 43% of U.S. consumers surveyed most often watch short-form videos on a smartphone or tablet, while 48% use those devices most often for long-form videos. These viewing habits are pushing media and entertainment companies to rethink how they present widescreen footage on smaller screens without losing important visual information. Foldable devices add another challenge. Video originally composed for one screen size now needs to be rearranged to preserve key visual context as the display expands or contracts.
The temptation is to approach each new format as another technical requirement. Add a vertical workflow, introduce a foldable-specific output, and repeat the process when the next display category gains traction.
Vertical video has exposed a problem that foldables are now making harder to ignore. Changing a video's dimensions requires understanding what matters within a scene and ensuring that information survives when the composition changes. Streaming companies need to move beyond adapting video delivery to adapting what the viewer actually sees. Otherwise, every new screen format will require another workaround.
Aspect Ratio Is Becoming a Content Decision
Streaming infrastructure has evolved to accommodate different bandwidth conditions and device capabilities, while adaptive bitrate streaming helps maintain playback quality as network conditions change. But adapting a video's resolution is completely different from adapting its composition.
A 16:9 frame can be scaled down to fit a smaller screen without changing the relationship between the subjects in the shot. Converting that same frame to 9:16 introduces a different problem. There is simply less horizontal space available, and something may need to be removed, repositioned or presented differently.
Consider a live sports broadcast. A wide shot might show the ball, the players moving into position and the surrounding action. A narrow crop could follow the ball while cutting out the player about to receive a pass. While the video has been reformatted, it may no longer tell the same story.
That’s especially true for foldable screens because the viewing area can change as the device opens or closes. Yes, the video can play on the device, but can the viewer still understand what's happening and have the same experience?
For streaming companies exploring next-generation video workflows, it's critical to go beyond compatibility and treat composition as a content requirement.
Why Format-Specific Workflows Don't Scale
When media organizations add a new process for every new format, over time those teams end up managing separate requirements for broadcast, connected TV, mobile, social and more. Some of that is unavoidable, since every platform has its own specs. The problem comes when each output also needs its own approach to deciding what goes in the frame.
Major streaming platforms are already responding to the demand for new viewing formats. In 2026, NBCUniversal introduced AI-enabled vertical video cropping for live NBA broadcasts on Peacock, allowing viewers to watch the main broadcast in a mobile-native 9:16 format.
For organizations with large libraries or high volumes of live and on-demand programming, that gets expensive fast. Re-versioning the same footage adds work, complicates quality control and slows the response when requirements change. In some workflows, adapting an hour of source content can require a comparable amount of hands-on editing. A workflow built for today’s dominant mobile format may not fit tomorrow’s screen, so teams keep adding specialized processes instead of building on a common capability.
A more sustainable approach is to invest in understanding and adapting the underlying video, rather than building a separate solution for every output. Once a system can identify a scene's key elements and decide how to present them, that intelligence can support multiple viewing environments.
Beyond Automated Cropping
AI can make this approach practical, but it's important to distinguish between simple automation and content-aware adaptation.
Content-aware adaptation goes further by understanding how the elements of a scene work together. In a panel discussion, that might mean keeping several speakers visible rather than following whoever is talking. In sports, it could mean preserving the relationship between players, the ball and the surrounding action. The goal is to recompose the scene around what's essential to the viewing experience, rather than simply deciding what to crop out.
Adapting video also means keeping scoreboards, lower thirds and other on-screen information readable. These elements may need to be repositioned or rebuilt for different mobile formats so viewers retain the context of the original content.
Building Adaptation Into the Workflow
Here are four steps to deciding where these capabilities belong within an established video operation.
- Distinguish between encoding and composition. Encoding determines how video is compressed and delivered. Composition determines what the viewer sees. Treating them as separate functions makes it easier to evaluate how a single source can support different viewing environments.
- Assess where adaptation needs to happen. A live event, a near-live highlight and an on-demand program have different timing requirements. A process that works for a VOD library may introduce unacceptable delays for a live feed. Before adopting an automated approach, teams should establish the latency, throughput and quality requirements for each use case
- Integration is equally important. New adaptation capabilities need to fit alongside existing ingest, media asset management, encoding and distribution systems. A tool that produces strong results but requires extensive manual intervention may simply shift the operational bottleneck elsewhere.
- Quality assurance needs to measure the viewing experience. Teams should evaluate whether essential subjects remain visible, whether the action is understandable and whether the composition holds up across different types of programming.
Design for Adaptability, Not the Next Device
It's difficult to predict which emerging display formats will become mainstream or how quickly audience behavior will change. The next major change in viewing habits may come from a device we aren't thinking about today. Streaming companies need an approach that lets them present the same underlying content appropriately as viewing conditions evolve. Flexible video composition workflows that work with existing content and distribution infrastructure let organizations adapt faster.
Intelligent automation allows teams to adapt content across viewing environments at scale, while editors retain control over context, quality and the final output. The companies best positioned to respond will be those that can preserve the integrity of their content across viewing environments without constantly rebuilding their operations. The next screen format shouldn't require the next video workflow.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from Minute-ly.com. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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