Social Media Video Sizes & Dimensions (2026 Cheat Sheet)

TL;DR: For short-form video in 2026, shoot and export 9:16 vertical at 1080 × 1920 pixels as your safe default. That single format fits Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Stories, Facebook Reels, and Threads with no black bars. Use 1:1 square (1080 × 1080) or 4:5 portrait (1080 × 1350) for feeds, and 16:9 landscape (1920 × 1080) for long-form YouTube. Export MP4, H.264, 30fps.

The fastest way to make your video look amateur is to upload it at the wrong size. Black bars, blurry compression, a caption chopped in half by the platform's own buttons: all of it comes down to dimensions and aspect ratio. The good news is that in 2026 the specs have largely converged, so you don't need to memorize twenty different numbers.

This is a practical cheat sheet of the recommended video dimensions, resolutions, and length limits per platform and format. Platforms tweak these rules constantly, so treat the numbers as strong current guidance and check the current platform docs before a big campaign. Let's start with the one rule that solves most of the problem.

The core idea: shoot 9:16 vertical as your default

Nearly every discovery surface on social media in 2026 is a full-screen vertical feed. Reels, TikTok, Shorts, and Stories all live in the same tall rectangle. That rectangle is 9:16, and the resolution that fills it crisply is 1080 × 1920 pixels.

If you shoot and edit in 9:16 at 1080 × 1920, one master file drops straight into six placements without cropping. You only need to think about other ratios when you're posting to a feed (square or portrait) or to long-form YouTube (landscape). So before you memorize the table below, memorize this: when in doubt, go 1080 × 1920 vertical.

The 2026 social media video dimensions cheat sheet

Here are the recommended dimensions per platform and format. "Max length" is the platform's stated ceiling; the best-performing length is usually far shorter. Where platforms are actively changing rules (Meta especially), we've flagged it — check current platform docs for edge cases.

Platform / format	Aspect ratio	Resolution	Max length
Instagram Reels	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	Up to ~15 min (short is best)
Instagram feed video	4:5 portrait (or 1:1)	1080 × 1350	Up to 60 min
Instagram Stories	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	60 sec per card
TikTok	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	~10 min in-app, longer uploaded
YouTube (long-form)	16:9 landscape	1920 × 1080	Effectively unlimited
YouTube Shorts	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	3 min
Facebook Reels	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	~90 sec (Meta is changing this)
Facebook feed video	4:5, 1:1, or 16:9	1080 × 1350 / 1080 × 1080	Up to 240 min
LinkedIn	1:1, 4:5, 9:16, or 16:9	1080 × 1080 (square common)	Up to 30 min (15–30 sec best)
Pinterest	2:3, 9:16, or 1:1	1080 × 1920 or 1000 × 1500	~2 min 20 sec (15 sec best)
X (Twitter)	16:9, 1:1, or 9:16	1920 × 1080 or 1080 × 1920	140 sec (hours on Premium)
Threads	9:16 vertical	1080 × 1920	~5 min

Recommended export settings across the board: MP4 container, H.264 video, AAC audio, 30fps (use 60fps for high-motion sports or gaming). Keep files under roughly 4 GB and you'll be safe on almost every platform.

Vertical 9:16 (1080 × 1920): the short-form workhorse

This is the format that matters most, because it covers every short-form discovery feed. If you only produce one aspect ratio, make it this one.

Instagram Reels. Export at 1080 × 1920. Instagram overlays your caption, profile, and action buttons on top of the video, so keep essential text and faces out of the top ~220 pixels and bottom ~450 pixels. Reels can technically run to 15 minutes or more now, but clips under about three minutes still reach non-followers most reliably. Plan and preview them with our Instagram scheduler so the safe zones stay consistent.

TikTok. Same 1080 × 1920 canvas. TikTok's interface eats the right edge (the like, comment, and share column) and the bottom, so keep your subject centered and slightly high. In-app recordings cap around 10 minutes and uploaded files can go much longer, but short still wins the algorithm. Batch and queue them with the TikTok scheduler.

YouTube Shorts. 1080 × 1920, three-minute maximum. Anything wider than 9:16 gets letterboxed and may not be promoted on the Shorts shelf, so don't reuse a landscape clip here. If you cut Shorts from long-form videos, reframe them vertically rather than shrinking the whole 16:9 frame. Schedule them alongside your main channel using the YouTube scheduler.

Stories, Facebook Reels, and Threads. All three share the 1080 × 1920 vertical canvas. Facebook Reels currently sit around a 90-second ceiling, though Meta has been merging its video products and loosening length rules through 2025 and 2026, so check the current limit before you plan a longer cut. Threads accepts vertical clips up to about five minutes.

Portrait 4:5 (1080 × 1350): the feed sweet spot

For in-feed posts (as opposed to Reels or Stories), 4:5 portrait at 1080 × 1350 is the highest-performing ratio on Instagram and Facebook. It takes up more vertical screen space than a square without triggering the full-screen Reels player, so it commands attention as someone scrolls.

Use 4:5 when you want a video to live permanently on your grid or feed rather than in the ephemeral short-form surfaces. Just remember that a 4:5 feed video and a 9:16 Reel are different exports; don't stretch one to fit the other.

Square 1:1 (1080 × 1080): the safe compromise

Square video at 1080 × 1080 is the diplomat of aspect ratios. It looks acceptable almost everywhere and gets cropped almost nowhere, which makes it a reasonable choice for LinkedIn, X, Facebook feed, and cross-posting when you don't have time to make platform-specific cuts.

On LinkedIn especially, square (or 4:5) video performs well because most of the audience is on mobile and square fills more of the feed than landscape. LinkedIn accepts everything from 9:16 to 16:9, but 1:1 is the pragmatic default there. It won't win a full-screen placement the way 9:16 does, so treat square as "good enough everywhere" rather than "best anywhere."

Landscape 16:9 (1920 × 1080): long-form and X

Landscape is now the specialist format. Reserve 1920 × 1080 for:

• YouTube long-form. The home of horizontal video. Upload at 1920 × 1080 (or 4K at 3840 × 2160 if you have it) with 16:9 framing.
• X (Twitter). X handles 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16, but landscape remains common for embedded clips and trailers. Standard accounts are limited to 140 seconds; Premium tiers allow far longer.
• Facebook feed and LinkedIn, when the content is genuinely widescreen (webinars, product demos, interviews).

Outside of these, landscape video underperforms on mobile-first feeds because it occupies so little of the screen. If a clip is destined for Reels or TikTok, don't shoot it 16:9 and hope to crop later; you'll lose resolution and framing.

Pinterest, and why vertical wins twice

Pinterest is a visual search engine, so vertical wins for a second reason beyond screen space: taller pins simply get seen more. Aim for 9:16 (1080 × 1920) or the classic 2:3 pin ratio (1000 × 1500). Keep videos short; Pinterest recommends around 15 seconds even though the ceiling is roughly two minutes and 20 seconds. Pair the right pin size with the right timing using our best time to post tool.

How to get the size right without a video degree

You don't need to eyeball any of this. Two habits keep every upload sharp:

1. Set your project's aspect ratio before you edit, not after. Choose 9:16 (or your target ratio) in your editor's project settings on day one. Reframing at the end is where cropping mistakes and quality loss creep in.
2. Resize covers, thumbnails, and stills to exact pixel dimensions. Your video ratio is only half the job. Reel covers, Shorts thumbnails, and feed stills are images, and getting those to the exact platform size is what stops the blurry-upload problem. Our free image resizer tool crops and exports to every platform's recommended dimensions in a couple of clicks, so your 1080 × 1920 cover matches your 1080 × 1920 video perfectly.

That second step matters more than people expect. A crisp video with a stretched, wrong-size cover still reads as sloppy in the feed. Run every thumbnail and cover through the image resizer and the whole post looks intentional.

Once your files are the right size, the last variable is workflow. Instead of exporting one clip and manually reuploading it to six apps, keep a single 9:16 master and distribute it. PostJay lets you schedule that video to all 13 platforms from one composer, with per-platform previews so you can see exactly how the 9:16 frame sits inside each app's interface before it goes live.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best video size for social media in 2026?

For short-form video, 1080 by 1920 pixels in a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio is the safe default. It fills the screen on Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Stories, and Facebook Reels without black bars. Export as MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio at 30 frames per second for the widest compatibility.

What aspect ratio is best for Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels use a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio at 1080 by 1920 pixels. Keep important text and captions clear of the top roughly 220 pixels and bottom roughly 450 pixels, where Instagram overlays its own interface. Reels can technically run long, but shorter clips under about three minutes tend to reach new viewers best.

What size should a TikTok video be?

A TikTok video should be 1080 by 1920 pixels in a 9:16 vertical ratio, exported as MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. In-app recordings can run up to about 10 minutes, while uploaded files can be much longer, but short, punchy clips still perform best. Always check TikTok's current in-app limits.

What are YouTube Shorts dimensions?

YouTube Shorts use 1080 by 1920 pixels in a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio, with a maximum length of three minutes as of 2026. Square and landscape videos are accepted but show black bars and may not land on the Shorts shelf. Regular long-form YouTube videos use 1920 by 1080 landscape instead.

Can I use the same video on every social media platform?

Often yes. A 9:16 vertical video at 1080 by 1920 pixels works natively on Reels, TikTok, Shorts, Stories, Facebook Reels, and Threads. Feed posts and YouTube long-form prefer other ratios, so you may crop or reframe for those. Keep key content centered so one master file adapts to several placements.

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Nail the dimensions once, then stop doing the busywork. Keep a single 9:16 master, resize your covers with the free image resizer, and schedule to all 13 platforms with PostJay — 7-day free trial ($0 today, cancel anytime), and you can see the plans (from $9/mo) whenever you're ready.