Social Video Dimensions

How the Social Video Dimensions works

Every feed has a preferred shape. Post a video in the wrong one and the platform crops it, shrinks it inside black or blurred bars, or both. A 16:9 clip in a TikTok or Reels feed fills barely a third of the screen, while a vertical clip on YouTube sits in a thin column with wide bars either side.

Social video dimensions by placement

Recommended video sizes for every placement

The recommended size is the resolution each platform's own help pages suggest. Uploading larger, such as 4K for a feed post, is allowed but is downscaled on upload, so it only costs upload time. The minimum is the smallest size that still plays without obvious softness.

The crop and fit formula

Two numbers decide what happens when your video's shape differs from the frame.

• Fill and crop: scale = max(frame width ÷ video width, frame height ÷ video height). The video covers the frame and the overflow is cut off.
• Fit with bars: scale = min(frame width ÷ video width, frame height ÷ video height). The whole video shows and the gap is filled with bars.

Worked example, landscape to TikTok: a 1920 × 1080 video in a 1080 × 1920 frame fills at 1920 ÷ 1080 = 1.78×. Only 1080 ÷ 1.78 = 608 of its 1,920 pixels of width survive, so 68% of the picture is cut off. Fitted instead, it shrinks to 1080 × 608 with bars above and below.

Worked example, square to Instagram portrait: a 1080 × 1080 clip in a 1080 × 1350 frame fills at 1.25×, losing 20% from the sides. Fitted, it sits at full width with 135 pixels of bar above and below.

How many versions do you need? Most creators export three: 9:16 for Shorts, Reels, TikTok and Stories, 4:5 for feed posts, and 16:9 for YouTube and the web. Those three cover every row above except the 2:3 Pinterest pin and the 1.91:1 landscape feed post.

Safe areas on vertical video

TikTok, Reels and Shorts lay the caption, username, buttons and progress bar over the picture. Keep text and faces inside the middle of the frame: about 14% clear at the top, 20% at the bottom and 10% on the right. For a 1080 × 1920 frame that leaves a safe box of roughly 972 × 1267 pixels, starting 269 pixels from the top. The result shows this box for every 9:16 placement.

Tips and pitfalls

Shoot wide, crop later. Recording 4K landscape leaves enough pixels to crop a sharp 1080 × 1920 vertical from the middle, provided you keep the subject centred.

Upscaling shows. A scale factor above 1 means the platform enlarges your video and it will look soft. Export at the recommended size or larger.

Feed previews crop again. Instagram's profile grid shows a 3:4 crop of portrait posts, and Facebook may trim tall videos in the feed to 4:5 until tapped. Keep the subject near the centre.

How to read the result

The first lines give the platform's recommended size, ratio and minimum. The last three compare your video: the share of picture lost to a crop, the size it takes up when fitted with bars and the scale factor for each approach.

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