Cross-posting across different platforms is important for any social media strategy to reach as many people as possible. However, each different social media app has multiple different formats and specs required for video ads, and keeping on top of all of them to create content can be hard. This article is a master list of all the different video specs across Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and LinkedIn to make that a little easier!
If you’re trying to up your social media game, check out our article on the top social media apps in 2023 to help decide where to best focus your efforts. We also just launched Inspo.st, a free content idea generator to make posting regularly more accessible.
Facebook Video Specs
Facebook video ads come in various formats, reflecting Facebook’s dedication to ensuring that these ads are accessible across different platforms, including mobile and desktop devices.
However, this can be a headache for marketers as they have to make content that works on all those platforms and suits the Facebook video ad specs. Here’s a breakdown of the different Facebook video dimensions to help make that a little easier:
Facebook Video Specs For Feed
Feed is the constantly updating list of status updates, photos, videos and more in the middle of the Facebook home page. Your Feed includes updates and posts from friends, Pages, groups and advertisers.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1080px or 1080px by 1350px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 1:1 (for desktop or mobile) or 4:5 (for mobile only)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at over 128 kbps
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Minimum width: 120 pixels
Minimum height: 120 pixels
Facebook In-Stream Video
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1920px by 1080px or 1080px by 1080px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 16:9 or 1:1
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but strongly recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration (desktop): 5 seconds to 15 seconds. Video duration limit may vary by objective.
Video duration (mobile): 5 seconds to 10 minutes. Video duration limit may vary by objective.
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Facebook Video Feeds
When people click a video from their Facebook News Feed, it opens in the video feed, which includes additional videos that they can watch. When you use the video feeds placement, you can insert your video ads between organic videos in the video feed.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1350px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 4:5
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Facebook Stories
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1920px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 9:16
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Consider leaving roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and 20% (340 pixels) of the bottom of the video free from text and logos to avoid covering these elements with UI elements such as the call to action.
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 2 minutes (There is a maximum duration of 16 seconds for playable video ads.)
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Minimum width: 500 pixels
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Facebook Search Results
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1080px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 1:1 (Ratios from 16:9 to 9:16 are supported but may be masked to 1:1. Use Ads Manager preview to see how your video will appear.)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Minimum width: 500 pixels
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Facebook Business Explore
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1080px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Ratio: 1:1 (Ratios from 16:9 to 9:16 are supported but may be masked to 1:1. Use Ads Manager preview to see how your video will appear.)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Minimum width: 500 pixels
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Instagram Video Specs
Instagram Profile Feed
Ads in the Instagram profile feed appear within the feed view of public Instagram profiles of people aged 18 and older. When an Instagram user enters and scrolls through a profile feed, they may see ads between pieces of content. Advertisers can use the Instagram profile feed placement to expand their reach easily while using existing feed assets. Here are the different Instagram ad specs for the feed:
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1350px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Recommended ratio: 4:5
All supported ratios: 1.91:1 to 4:5
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 120 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Instagram Feed
Instagram Feed is the constantly updating list of photos and videos that appears when you open the Instagram app. The Instagram Feed displays photos and videos from accounts that people follow and from advertisers.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1350px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Recommended ratio: 4:5
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 60 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories can bring your business to life in an immersive format, with options to add stickers, emojis and other creative elements. These full-screen vertical Instagram video ads appear to viewers between organic Instagram Stories.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1920px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Recommended ratio: 9:16 ( Ratios from 16:9 to 4:5 and 9:16 are supported. Dynamic ads in Stories does not accept the 9:16 ratio and should instead use the 1.91:1 ratio.)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 60 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Instagram Stories will play video ads that are less than 30 seconds for the full duration of the video. Video ads that are 15 seconds or longer may be split into separate Stories cards. Instagram will display either one, two or three cards automatically before giving viewers the option to tap Keep watching to see the remainder of the video. By default, the number of cards automatically displayed before prompting viewers to tap keep watching is tailored to each viewer.
Instagram Explore
Instagram Explore is a discovery surface where Instagram sources content from across the platform based on a given person’s interest. It appears on the same page as the search function and shows posts from accounts that the user does not yet follow. Ads in Instagram Explore appear between organic content.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1350px
File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
Recommended ratio: 4:5 ( Ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16 are supported.)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Not an Instagram video requirement, but recommended
Video sound: Not an Instagram video requirement, but recommended
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 1 second to 60 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Instagram Reels
These full-screen vertical video ads are inserted in between organic Reels content. Once a user taps into a reel from Stories, Feed, or Explore, they will be launched into a viewer that exclusively shows reels that scroll vertically.
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1080px by 1920px
File type: MP4, MOV
Recommended ratio: 9:16 (Ratios from 4:5 to 191:100 are also supported)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+|
Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels
Video captions: Optional, but recommended
Video sound: Optional, but recommended
Reels ads should not contain:
- Reels published before 15 October 2021.
- Licensed music. We recommend using original audio or royalty-free music available in the Meta Sound Collection instead.
- Media that has a face or camera effect.
- Media with a GIF.
- Media with product tags.
- Videos that contain edit lists or special boxes in file containers.
- Consider leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side of your asset free from text, logos or other key creative elements to avoid covering them with the profile icon or call to action. To learn more, visit our guidance on text overlays and safe zones.
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 0 seconds to 15 minutes
Maximum file size: 4 GB
Aspect ratio tolerance: 1%
Twitter Video Specs
Twitter Video Dimensions For Feed
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1280×720 (landscape), 720×1280 (portrait), 720×720 (square)
File type: MP4, MOV
Recommended ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square)
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, 30 FPS, 60 FPS, Minimum Video Bitrate 5,000 kbps, and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 0.5 seconds to 140 seconds
Maximum file size: 512 MB
Video Ads
Design Recommendations
File type: MP4, MOV
Branding: Highly recommended throughout; if using a logo, it should be persistent in the upper left-hand corner. Prominent product placement is highly recommended for driving product consideration.
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, 29.97FPS or 30FPS. Higher is acceptable (support up to 60FPS). The minimum Video Bitrate is 5,000 kbps and stereo AAC audio compression at 128 kbps+
Captions: Closed captioning or text overlays are strongly recommended.
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 15 seconds or less is recommended. Up to 2:20 is supported.
Maximum file size: 1 GB max. For optimal performance, we strongly recommend keeping files under 30 MB.
Looping: Videos will loop if the video length is under 60 seconds.
Standalone Video Ads
Recommended size: 1920 x 1080 px (landscape), 1200 by 1200 px (square)
Recommended ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square)
Video Ads With Website Buttons
Recommended size: 800 by 450 px (landscape), 1200 by 1200 px (square)
Recommended ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square)
Website title length: 70 characters. Please note — depending on device and app settings this description may truncate. Up to two lines of text are rendered on the card title; any text beyond that is truncated with an ellipsis. Although not guaranteed, limiting the description to 50 characters should ensure that truncation won’t occur across most devices.
URL: must begin with http:// or https://
Video Ads With App Buttons
Recommended size: 800 by 450 px (landscape), 800 by 800 px (square)
Recommended ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square)
App title: Truncated at 200 characters. Included from the app store; not customizable.
Call to Action: Install, Open, Play, Shop, Book, Connect, and Order
Video Ads With Conversation Buttons
Recommended size: 800 by 450 px
Recommended ratio: 16:9
Conversation Card (original Tweet in timeline)
Tweet copy: 280 characters (same as above)
Hashtag: 21 characters, including the hashtag character
Pre-populated user Tweet (once user clicks on the CTA)
Tweet copy: 256 characters
Headline: 23 characters
Thank You Tweet (after user has posted the Tweet)
Thank you text: 23 characters
Thank you URL (optional): 23 characters
Video Ads With Conversation Buttons
Recommended size: 800 by 450 px
Recommended ratio: 16:9
Conversation Card (original Tweet in timeline)
Tweet copy: 280 characters (same as above)
Hashtag: 21 characters, including the hashtag character
Pre-populated user Tweet (once user clicks on the CTA)
Tweet copy: 256 characters
Headline: 23 characters
Thank You Tweet (after user has Tweeted out the Tweet)
Thank you text: 23 characters
Thank you URL (optional): 23 characters
Video Ads With Polls
Recommended size: 800 by 450 px (landscape), 800 by 800 px (square)
Recommended ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square); However, 1:1 will crop to 16:9 in mobile timeline.
Tweet copy: Polls can include up to 280 characters of Tweet copy that appear above the video.
Poll options: 2-4 custom poll options
Once you’ve written your copy and added your video, you can add two to four custom poll responses to create your poll.
Poll copy: 25 characters each
Each poll option can include up to a maximum of 25 characters of text (which do not count against the 280 you can include in Tweet copy).
Poll duration
Select a time between a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of 7 days.
Youtube Video Specs
Design Recommendations
Resolution: 1080p (Full HD)
Recommended pixels (px) for HD:
1920 x 1080px (horizontal)
1080 x 1920px (vertical)
1080 x 1080px (square)
File type: MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) (Can also accept: .WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .FLV .MPEG-1, .MP4, .MPEGPS, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm and HEVC (h265))
Aspect ratio: 16:9 for horizontal, 9:16 for vertical. 1:1 for square
Can Also Accept: 720p (Standard HD)
Minimum px:
280 x 720px (horizontal)
720 x 1280px (vertical)
480 x 480px (square)
Minimum px for SD:
640 x 480px (horizontal)
480 x 640px (vertical)
480px x 480px (square)
Technical Requirements
Video duration: Varies by format and campaign type. See the types of formats below.
Maximum file size: ≤256 GB
Types of YouTube Ads
Skippable Video Ads
Skippable video ads allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds. They can be shown on computers, mobile devices, TV, and game consoles.
Non-Skippable Video Ads
Non-skippable video ads must be watched before a video can be viewed. They can be shown on computers, mobile devices, TVs, and game consoles. They can be 15 or 20 seconds in length, depending on regional standards. On TVs, however, they can be up to 30 seconds long.
Bumper Ads
Short, non-skippable video ads of up to 6 seconds that must be watched before a video can be viewed. Bumper ads are turned on when skippable or non-skippable ads are turned on. They can be shown on computers, mobile devices, TV, and game consoles. They play in the video player for up to 6 seconds long.
Source: Youtube Advertising
Specs For YouTube Thumbnails And Companion Banners
Thumbnails
Resolution: 1280 x 720px (1280 x 640px (minimum) acceptable resolution)
File type: .JPG, .GIF or .PNG
Aspect ratio: 16:9
File Size: <2MB for videos; <10MB for podcasts
Companion Banners (For Desktop Only)
Dimensions: 300 x 60px
File type: .JPG, .GIF or .PNG
File Size: 150 KB (maximum)
Universal Safe Zones For Video Ads On YouTube
Overlays, call-to-actions and buttons may appear in different places depending on the format, campaign type and screen.
Use these images as a reference to ensure that important elements like your logo, product, supers and others are within the red safe area to avoid the risk of elements being covered within certain inventory.
Linkedin Video Specs
Linkedin Video Ads
Design Recommendations
File type: MP4
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, 30FPS, and stereo AAC audio
Captions: Optional
Recommended Dimensions:
Vertical (4:5):
Min 360 x 450 pixels
Max 1536 x 1920 pixels
Vertical (9:16):
Min 360 x 640 pixels
Max 1080 x 1920 pixels
Landscape (16:9):
Min 640 x 360 pixels
Max 1920 x 1080 pixels
Square (1:1):
Min 360 x 360 pixels
Max 1920 x 1920 pixels
Aspect ratio tolerance: 5%
Video Thumbnail File Format: JPG or PNG
Video Thumbnail Max File Size: 2 MB Video
Thumbnail Aspect Ratio & Resolution: Match video
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 3 seconds – 30 minutes
Maximum video sizes: 75 KB (min) – 200 MB (max)
URL Requirements
Landing page URL: Required
URL prefix: http:// or https://
URL characters: 2000 characters for destination field URL
Linkedin Shared Video
Design Recommendations
Recommended size: 1920px by 1080px
File type: .MP4, .MP3, .AAC, ASF, FLV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, MKV, WebM, H264/AVC, Vorbis, VP8, VP9, WMV2, WMV3, (no longer support AVI, QuickTime, or MOV files.)
Ratio: 1:2.4 – 2.4:1
Resolution: 256 x 144px – 4096 x 2304px
Video settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, 10 FPS – 60 FPS, and stereo AAC audio
Technical Requirements
Video duration: 3 seconds – 10 minutes maximum file size: 75 KB (min) – 5 GB
