Shapes and sizes
| Where | Aspect ratio | Recommended size |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels, Stories | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 |
| TikTok | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 |
| WhatsApp Status | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 or 720 x 1280 |
| Instagram and Facebook feed (portrait) | 4:5 | 1080 x 1350 |
| Square feed post | 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 |
| YouTube, LinkedIn, X (landscape) | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 |
1080 pixels wide is the sweet spot for every short-form app. Uploading 4K vertical video costs more upload time and is scaled down anyway.
Safe zones: where the buttons go
In a 9:16 frame the app draws its own interface on top of your video: the caption and account name at the bottom, the like, comment and share buttons down the right side, and sometimes a header at the top. Anything important under those areas is hidden.
- Keep text and faces out of roughly the bottom fifth of the frame.
- Leave a margin of roughly 120 pixels on the right side, where the action buttons sit.
- Avoid the top 200 to 250 pixels for anything that must be read.
- The middle of the frame is always safe.
The exact areas differ between apps and change with redesigns, so these are rules of thumb rather than exact measurements. When burning in subtitles, a position slightly above the bottom works on every app.
Burn SubtitlesBurn subtitles in with the Middle position for Reels and Shorts, so they stay clear of the caption area.Turning a landscape video into a vertical one
A 16:9 clip does not fill a 9:16 frame. There are three honest ways to handle it, each with a trade-off.
- Crop to fill. Keeps the frame full, but loses the sides of the picture. Best when the subject stays in one place, such as a person talking. Choose which part stays in view: left, centre or right.
- Fit with a blurred fill. Shows the whole picture across the middle, with a blurred, zoomed copy behind it filling the rest. Nothing is cut off, and it looks deliberate.
- Fit with colour bars. The whole picture over a plain background. Leaves room for a title above and subtitles below.
Feed posts and the profile grid
In the main Instagram and Facebook feeds, 4:5 portrait takes up the most screen space without being cropped. Square 1:1 still works everywhere. Instagram's profile grid shows posts as tall rectangle previews, so keep the main subject near the centre of the frame and it will survive any crop the grid applies.
Reels are shown full screen in the Reels tab but may be cropped to a shorter preview in the feed and on your profile. Again, the centre is the safe place for anything that matters.
Do not forget length
Shape is half the story. Stories and Status show up to about 60 seconds per clip, so longer videos are split. Reels and Shorts currently allow up to 3 minutes for uploads. If a clip is longer than the limit, split it into numbered parts rather than letting the app cut it.
Split VideoSplit into 60 second or 30 second clips for Stories and Status.Questions
What size should a Reel be?
1080 x 1920 pixels, which is a 9:16 aspect ratio. The same size works for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Stories and WhatsApp Status.
Will Instagram crop my landscape video?
In Reels, a landscape video is shown with large empty areas or is cropped, depending on the app version. Converting it to 9:16 yourself, with a blurred fill or a crop, gives you control over what is seen.
Is 4:5 or 1:1 better for the feed?
4:5 takes more vertical space on a phone, so it is usually the better choice for feed posts. 1:1 is a safe choice when the same video goes to several platforms.
Does resizing reduce quality?
Scaling and re-encoding always cost a little detail, which is why the default quality for resizing is set high. Starting from the original recording rather than a downloaded copy helps.
Can I keep the whole picture in a vertical frame?
Yes. Use the blurred fill or colour bars option, which fits the whole picture inside the frame instead of cropping it.