Video dimensions are extremely important for getting your social media videos to display correctly on each platform. Using the correct aspect ratios, dimensions, and technical requirements for your videos ensures the best viewing quality on a specific social media platform.
For marketers and brands, video is increasingly vital for online visibility. Keeping your audience engaged–and engaging new viewers and customers–depends heavily on your content displaying properly, everywhere it’s posted.
So what are the video dimensions you need for every platform? Let’s take a look.
On Facebook, there are multiple video format options. You can use both landscape and vertical videos. Depending on the video’s purpose and where you’re sharing it, the dimensions are different.
Facebook feed video dimensions are as follows:
- Landscape video dimensions are 1280 x 720 with a 16:9 aspect ratio
- Vertical video dimensions are 720 x 1280 with a 9:16 aspect ratio
- For each video format, the minimum is 600 pixels wide
- Both kinds of video are an aspect ratio of 2:3 on mobile devices
- 4GB is the maximum file size
- Videos can be up to 120 minutes maximum, with 30 frames per second maximum
- Facebook supports .mp4 and .mov videos
Character count limits are as follows:
- 2,200 characters max
- 90 characters are ideal if you include a link
- 25 characters for the headline
- 30 characters for the link descriptor
Facebook & Instagram Stories
Facebook and Instagram Stories have quickly become an important addition to many brands’ content marketing strategy. Both platforms’ Stories feature short, engaging, and interactive vertical videos that disappear after 24 hours.
You can even create sponsored content using StoriesAds from Shakr and Hubspot, a robust tool that simplifies your ad development process.
Facebook Stories dimensions are as follows:
- 500 x 500 with a 1.91 to 9:16 aspect ratio
- Gradient color appears below and above any video with an aspect ratio smaller than 9:16
- 4GB is the maximum file size
- Text appears beneath videos under a 9:16 aspect ratio
- Video clips may be no longer than 15 seconds
Instagram Stories dimensions are as follows:
- 1080 x 1920 with a 600 x 1067 minimum and a 9:16 aspect ratio
- 4GB is the maximum file size
- Instagram Stories supports .mp4 and .mov videos
- Video clips may be no longer than 15 seconds
Since 2013, Instagram has increasingly featured video as a major part of its platform. What started as an app for sharing aesthetically beautiful photos has since evolved into a platform that is largely driven by video in addition to imagery.
Instagram feed video dimensions are as follows:
- 600 x 315 minimum for video in landscape format with a 16:9 aspect ratio
- 600 x 600 minimum for video in square format with a 1:1 aspect ratio
- 600 x 750 minimum for video in vertical format with a 4:5 aspect ratio
- 4GB is the maximum file size
- Instagram supports .mp4 and .mov videos
- Videos can be up to 60 seconds maximum, with 30 frames per second maximum
Character count limits are as follows:
- 2,200 characters max
- 125 characters max in the caption
IGTV
Instagram TV (IGTV) is a popular feed all its own on the Instagram platform. IGTV’s videos are vertical and full-screen, and allow viewers to watch for longer than the 60 seconds allotted to in-feed videos.
IGTV dimensions are as follows:
- 1080 x 1920 with a resolution minimum of 720 and an aspect ratio of 9:16 or 16:9
- Most videos can be up to 10 minutes maximum, with a minimum length of 60 seconds
- Specific Instagram creators may add videos to IGTV via desktop with a maximum length of 1 hour
- 650MB is the maximum file size for videos under 10 minutes
- 3.6GB is the maximum file size for videos that are 10 to 60 minutes long.
- IGTV requires an .mp4 file format
YouTube
YouTube offers a wide range of compatible video dimensions, depending on the resolution of your video file.
YouTube video dimensions are as follows:
- For 240p resolution, 426 x 240
- For 360p, 640 x 360
- For 480p, 854 x 480
- For 720p, 1280 x 720
- For 1080p, 1920 x 1080
- For 1440p, 2560 x 1440
- For 2160p, 3840 x 2160
- Videos should be no smaller than 426 x 240 and no larger than 3840 x 2160.
- The aspect ratio for a YouTube video is 16:9, but the platform will automatically add pillarboxes around videos with an aspect ratio of 4:3
- YouTube supports .mp4, .mov, .wmv, .mpegps, .mpeg4, .avi, .flv, WebM, and 3GPP video formats.
- Videos can be a maximum of 12 hours long
- 128GB or 12 hours is the maximum file size/length, depending on which is smaller
Twitter allows for native vertical and landscape videos in the feed. While the ability to share organic video on Twitter is great, you need to be aware of changes to the video dimensions on the platform. Dimensions are based on bitrate and are subject to fluctuation.
Twitter feed video dimensions are as follows:
- Landscape video dimensions are 320 x 180, 640 x 360, and 1280 x 720, with a bitrate range between 256K, 768K, and 2048K, respectively.
- Vertical video dimensions are 240 x 240, 480 x 480, and 640 x 640, at a bitrate range between 256K, 768K, and 2048K, respectively.
- Twitter videos may have an aspect ratio between 1:2.39 and 2.39:1.
- Twitter videos may be no larger than 1280 x 1024 and no smaller than 32 x 32.
- 512MB is the maximum file size
- Videos can be up to 140 seconds maximum, with 40 frames per second maximum
- Twitter supports .mov videos for mobile and .mp4 videos for desktop
Character count limits are as follows:
- 280 characters max
- 90 characters are ideal if you include a link
- 25 characters for the headline
- 30 characters for the link descriptor
Pinterest videos are available on pinboards and in the feed, and may be viewed in square or vertical format. They’re a great way to enhance your boards and recommend your favorite products (or the products you sell).
Pinterest video dimensions are as follows:
- 600 x 600 for a square video, with an aspect ratio of 1:1
- 600 x 900 for a vertical video, with an aspect ratio of 9:16
- 240p is the minimum resolution
- 2GB is the maximum file size
- Pinterest supports .mp4 and .mov video formats
- Videos can be up to 30 minutes maximum, with 25 frames per second maximum
Character count limits are as follows:
- 400 characters max
Conclusion
All social media platforms have specific requirements for displaying the best-quality videos possible. Now that you have a guide to video dimensions for all the major platforms, it’s time to start creating.
Need help quickly scaling your videos for each platform?
Shakr offers multiple video templates that you can customize for each size and aspect ratio requirement, so you can significantly speed up this process. Even better, Shakr will make templates specifically for your brand, which saves you valuable time as you share your video content across a wide variety of channels.
You can learn more about how we can help here.
The post Social Media Video Dimensions for Every Platform: What You Need to Know appeared first on Shakr Video Marketing Blog.
* This article was originally published here