Social Video Specs: Every Size and Safe Zone

About the Social Video Specs Checker

Exact video dimensions, lengths, file sizes and safe zones for Instagram Reels and Stories, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Meta feed. Pick a placement, get the specs.

Every calculation and generation runs entirely in your browser - free, instant, nothing uploaded. Right size, wrong creative still loses. Creetr generates ready-to-post 9:16 UGC ads from a product link, already inside the safe zone. Start with Creetr - no camera, no creator fees.

Pick a platform and placement above for the exact ad specs. Below: the organic posting sizes for every short-form surface, what each platform does when you get it wrong, and the one master format that crops cleanly to all of them.

Every Size, One Table

1080 × 1920 covers TikTok, Reels, Shorts, Stories and Facebook Reels. That is one export for five surfaces, and it is why 9:16 is the format to shoot and master in.

Instagram Story Dimensions

1080 × 1920, 9:16, up to 60 seconds per card. Longer video is split into multiple cards automatically.

The number that actually matters is the safe zone. Instagram overlays your profile row at the top and the reply bar at the bottom:

• Keep text and faces out of the top ~250px and the bottom ~250px
• That leaves roughly 1080 × 1420 of reliably visible space
• Interactive stickers — polls, questions, links — also land in the lower third, so leave that clear if you plan to use them

Instagram Reels Dimensions

1080 × 1920, 9:16. Reels has a more aggressive UI than Stories: the caption, audio attribution and the right-hand action rail all sit over your video.

• Keep essential content out of the top ~220px and the bottom ~420px
• The right ~10% is the action rail — nothing important on that edge
• The grid crops Reels to 1:1 for your profile thumbnail, so the centre square has to stand alone

TikTok Video Size

1080 × 1920, 9:16, up to 10 minutes, 500 MB per upload from mobile.

• Keep text out of the top ~130px and the bottom ~480px — TikTok's caption block and CTA sit lower than Instagram's
• The right rail holds the profile, like, comment and share icons
• Ads convert best at 21–34 seconds; organic runs shorter

YouTube Shorts Size

1080 × 1920, 9:16, up to 3 minutes. Anything 16:9 and under 3 minutes may still be classified as a Short, but it will be letterboxed in the Shorts player and look repurposed.

• The bottom ~25% holds the title, channel name and action buttons
• Shorts are also served on TV, where a vertical video sits in the middle of a horizontal screen — avoid edge-critical detail

YouTube Video Size

1920 × 1080, 16:9 for standard uploads. 4K is 3840 × 2160, same ratio. YouTube accepts other ratios and pillarboxes them, so 16:9 is effectively mandatory for anything not intended as a Short.

What Happens When the Ratio Is Wrong

Three outcomes, none good:

Letterboxing. Black bars fill the gap. A 16:9 video in a 9:16 slot becomes a strip in the middle of a black screen — the clearest possible signal that the creative was repurposed, and it reliably underperforms.

Auto-cropping. The platform crops to fit and chooses the crop itself. Edge text, faces near the border and product labels get cut.

Rejection. Some ad placements refuse out-of-spec assets rather than adapting them.

Shoot Once, Publish Everywhere

1. Shoot and master 9:16 at 1080 × 1920 — the tallest common format.
2. Keep the subject, all text and the product inside the centre 4:5 region. That area survives every crop down to 1:1.
3. Keep the top and bottom 15% clear of anything essential — that is where platform UI lives on every surface.
4. Export the 9:16 master, then crop to 4:5 for Meta feed and 1:1 for the Instagram grid. No reshoot.

You cannot crop upward. Shooting 16:9 and hoping to make Reels from it is the mistake that forces a second shoot.

The 4:5 Rule for Meta Feed

The most commonly wasted reach in paid social: 4:5 at 1080 × 1350 occupies about 25% more vertical screen than a 1:1 square in the same feed placement, and Meta permits it. Squares are a legacy default from when Instagram was square-only. If your feed creative is 1:1, switching to 4:5 is free reach for the cost of a re-crop.

Work the exact numbers with the aspect ratio calculator.

Captions Are Not Optional

Most short-form is watched muted. Burned-in captions are the default for TikTok and Reels; Meta accepts SRT upload on feed placements. Either way the words need to be inside the safe zone — captions rendered at the very bottom of a 9:16 frame land under the platform's own UI and are simply invisible.

Frequently asked questions

What size is an Instagram Story?+

1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16, up to 60 seconds per card — longer video is split into multiple cards automatically. The number that matters more is the safe zone: keep text and faces out of the top ~250px and bottom ~250px, leaving roughly 1080 × 1420 reliably visible. Interactive stickers also land in the lower third.

What are Instagram Reels dimensions?+

1080 × 1920, 9:16. Reels has a more aggressive interface than Stories: keep essential content out of the top ~220px and the bottom ~420px, and off the right ~10% where the action rail sits. Your profile grid crops Reels to 1:1 for the thumbnail, so the centre square has to work on its own.

What resolution should a TikTok video be?+

1080 × 1920, 9:16, up to 10 minutes and 500 MB from mobile. TikTok's caption block and CTA sit lower than Instagram's, so keep text out of the top ~130px and the bottom ~480px. Ads convert best around 21–34 seconds; organic tends to run shorter.

What size is a YouTube Short?+

1080 × 1920, 9:16, up to 3 minutes. A 16:9 video under 3 minutes may still be classified as a Short but gets letterboxed in the Shorts player and reads as repurposed. The bottom ~25% holds the title, channel name and action buttons, and Shorts also play on TV where a vertical video sits inside a horizontal screen.

Can one video work on TikTok, Reels and Shorts?+

Yes — 1080 × 1920 at 9:16 covers TikTok, Instagram Reels and Stories, YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels. That is one export for five surfaces. Keep the subject, text and product inside the centre 4:5 region and the top and bottom 15% clear, and the same master also crops to Meta feed and the Instagram grid.

Is 4:5 or 1:1 better for Facebook and Instagram feed?+

4:5, and it is the most commonly wasted reach in paid social. At 1080 × 1350 a 4:5 asset occupies about 25% more vertical phone screen than a 1080 × 1080 square in the same placement, and Meta permits it. Squares are a legacy default from when Instagram was square-only.

What happens if my video is the wrong size?+

One of three things. The platform letterboxes it, leaving black bars that mark the creative as repurposed and reliably underperform. Or it auto-crops and picks the crop itself, cutting edge text, faces near the border and product labels. Or the ad placement rejects the asset outright rather than adapting it.

Where should captions go in a vertical video?+

Inside the safe zone, never at the very bottom of the frame. Most short-form is watched muted so captions are effectively mandatory, but text rendered at the bottom of a 9:16 frame lands under the platform's own UI and is simply invisible. Burned-in captions are the default for TikTok and Reels; Meta accepts SRT upload on feed placements.