Video Specs for Social Media: A Complete Guide

With an estimated 4.2billion users worldwide, social media has become a vital platform for brands to connect with customers, build brand awareness, and improve their marketing strategy.

Video content creates strong communication and captures customers’ interests. Many brands are competing for the attention of social media users, which makes it vital to set your brand apart by using the appropriate video specifications and dimensions.

Social Media Video Specs Across Platforms

Posts on social media have gone beyond just feed posts. There are now several ways users get content, such as live feed, stories and ads. This post is a guide for the proper video specs you need for social media platforms. You can click any of the links below to see video specifications for your desired social media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Snapchat
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

Facebook Video Specs

There are different ways video content can be delivered to users on Facebook, each with varying video specifications. It is crucial to stick to the correct specification based on how the video will be shared.

Facebook Video Specs

There are different ways video content can be delivered to users on Facebook, each with varying video specifications. It is crucial to stick to the correct specification based on how the video will be shared.

Facebook feed video (Landscape & Portrait)

This is the most common type of post used by brands or individuals. There are two options for orientation: Landscape and Portrait. 

Video Specifications

• Recommended video formats: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Landscape aspect ratio is 16:9
• Portrait aspect ratio is 9:16 and 16:9 for videos with links.
• Recommended video dimensions 1080 x 920 (Landscape and Portrait).
• Maximum file size: 4 GB
• Minimum width is 120 pixels.
• Minimum height: 120 pixels.
• Recommended Video formats: .MP4 and .MOV. See other formats supported by Facebook
• Video maximum length directly to Facebook is 240 minutes (Maximum length of 120mins for our scheduled videos)
• Video Frame Rate: 30fps.

360 Video

Facebook’s 360 Video gives users the experience of a complete 360-degree view dragging or controlling with a cursor on the web and with fingers on mobile devices.

Video Specifications

• Video Format: MP4 or MOV
• Resolution; Monoscopic: Up to 4096 x 2048, 3D/Stereoscopic: Up to 2160 x 2160
• Aspect Ratio; Monoscopic: 2:1, Stereoscopic: 1:1
• The recommended max file size is 10GB.
• Video length: 30 minutes max.
• Video Frame Rate: 30fps

Facebook Video Ad Specs

Facebook currently has over 5 million advertisers, making it essential to have the proper specifications for your video ads. There are different ways video ads from mobile news feed to the desktop version of Facebook. The ads can even appear in users’ inboxes.

Feed Video Ads

These ads sponsored in-feed video posts and have the same specifications. 

Video Specifications

Specifications for the Facebook Feed video post

Sound and Captions are recommended

Text Recommendations

• Primary text: 125 characters 
• Headline: 40 characters 
• Description: 30 characters 

Carousel Video Ads

• Number of Slides: 2-10 slides

Video Specifications

• File Format: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Minimum resolution: 1080 x 1080
• Aspect ratio is 1:1
• Maximum video duration: 240mins
• Video Frame Rate: 30fps

Text recommendations

• Primary text: 125 characters 
• Headline: 40 characters 
• Description: 20 characters 
• Landing page URL: Required

Collection Video Ads (Mobile)

The Facebook Collection ads showcase a video above multiple images. This ad has been us retailers and fashion brands.

Video Specifications

• Recommended video resolution 1080×1080.
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 to 4:5
• Max video file size is 4GB
• Recommended video formats: MP4 and MOV
• Video length max is 15 seconds

Text recommendations

• Primary text: 90 characters
• Headline: 25 characters

The primary text show above the cover image or video, and the headline appears between the cover image (or video) and the products.

Instant Experience Video Ads

Facebook Instant Experience ads open up a full-screen experience after the first click, and you can customize it with a variety of interactive features. The ads can include multiple video experiences, including features to auto-play on loop.

Video Specifications

• The maximum length of all videos combined is 2 minutes. Instant Experience supports an unlimited number of videos, but their combined duration can not exceed 2 minutes
• File format: MP4 and MOV
• Minimum resolution: 720p
• Portrait aspect ratio of 9:16 with pillar boxing for all others uploaded.
• Max video file size is 4GB.
• Video max frames 30fps.

Captions are not recommended within Instant Experience videos.

Slideshow Video Ad

Advertisers use Facebook’s Slideshow to reach audiences with slower internet connections. 

Video Specifications

• Recommended resolution: 1280 x 720.
• Aspect ratios: landscape (16:9), vertical (4:5) and square (1:1)
• Recommended video formats are .MP4 and .MOV.
• Slideshow duration max is 15 seconds. You specify how long you’d like to show each image/video in the slideshow.

Facebook Stories (Sponsored & Organic Posts)

Facebook also has the Stories feature, which are disappearing posts that last for 24hrs only. Stories posts can be organic or sponsored.

Video Specifications

• File format: MOV, MP4, GIF
• Apect ratio: 9:16
• Recommended resolution: 1080×1080 (minimun)
• Maximum file size: 4 GB
• Maximum Duration: 2 minutes
• Minimum width: 500 pixels
• Recommended video formats are MP4 and MOV.

Captions are optional but recommended

Text Recommendations

• Primary text: 125 characters
• Headline: 40 characters

Instagram Video Specs

Instagram Video Feed and Ad

Instagram supports three different video displays: landscape, square and vertical.

Video Specifications

• Recommended file format: MP4
• Maximum file size: 4GB
• Supported aspect ratios: Landscape- 16:9, square aspect- 1:1, and vertical- is 4:5
• Minimum resolution: 1080×1080
• Maximum video length: 120 seconds

Text Recommendations

• Primary text recommendation: 125 characters.
• Maximum number of hashtags: 30

Instagram Stories (Ads & Organic Posts)

Instagram Stories allows users to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Posts shared via Instagram Stories don’t appear in the standard profile content grid or the Instagram feed; they appear in a bar at the top of the feed. Stories can also be sponsored ads.

Video Specifications

• Recommended resolution: 1080×1080
• Aspect ratio is 9:16
• Max size: 4GB.
• Recommended format: MP4
• For single stories slides, the maximum video length is 15 seconds for organic posts. Longer videos will split into multiple stories slides. Sponsored stories can be up to 2 minutes long.

IGTV

Instagram TV (IGTV) videos have a full-screen display like Stories, but they don’t disappear and can support longer videos

Video Specifications

• Recommended file format: MP4
• Video length: At least 1 minute, maximum- 15 minutes when uploading from mobile, 60 minutes when uploading from desktop
• Aspect ratio: 9:16(recommended). 16:9 is also supported. Feed preview shows at 4:5
• Maximum file size for videos under 10 minutes is 650MB. Videos up to 60 minutes can be as large as 3.6GB.

Twitter Video Specs

Twitter videos can either be standard profile posts or sponsored posts. They have the same specifications.

Video Specifications

• File format: MP4 for Web, MOV for Mobile
• Recommended Frame Rates: 30 fps, 60 fps
• Recommended Video Resolution: Landscape- 1280×720, Portrait- 720×1280, Square-720×720
• Recommended Aspect Ratio: landscape or portrait- 16:9 , square- 1:1
• File dimensions: Minimum- 32×32, Maximum- 1280×1024
• Video size: 512mb max
• Video length: 140 seconds max

Snapchat Video Specs

Single video ads

This is the primary way users share and access content on the app. Brands can, however, share videos on their stories to increase brand awareness and share information with customers. 

Single video ads appear in discovery, live stories or after a user’s stories. They can link to; articles, long-form video or even the installation page for an app. 

Video Specifications

• File format: MP4, MOV, H.264 encoded
• Recommended size: 1080 by 1920 pixels
• Aspect Ratio: 9:16
• Max file size: 1GB

Snapchat restricts texts that encourage users to “swipe up”. See other Snapchat requirements and restrictions here.

Long-Form Video Ad

Video Specifications

• Recommended dimension: 1080 x 1920
• Aspect ratio: 9:16 or 16:9
• File size: 1GB max
• Video Length: 15 seconds, no max
• Accept video formats are MP4, MOV, H.264 encoded

Tip: Don’t place texts or logos within 150px of the bottom of the video canvas to avoid any overlap with this call-to-action.

YouTube Video Specs

YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google and is a powerful platform for sharing video content. Brands use YouTube videos to educate, entertain and share information, among many other reasons.

Video Specifications

• Video Length: Default-15 minutes, Verified Accounts can upload videos as long as 12 hours. Verify your account at youtube.com/verify
• Maximum File size: 128GB
• File Format: MPEG-2, MPEG-4(Preferred), Other accepted formats are MOV, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEG-PS, FLV, 3GPP, and WebM
• Frame Rate: Upload your videos in their native frame rates without resampling. Typically, frame rates are set at 24fps, 25fps or 30fps. 
• Resolution: Minimum- 426 by 240 pixels, Maximum- 3840 by 2160 pixels
• Aspect ratios: 16:9 and 4:3

YouTube Video Ads

YouTube has skippable, unskippable, midroll and bumper ads.

Skippable Video Ads; Maximum Length: 12 hours, skippable after 5 seconds

Unskippable Video Ads; Max length of 15 – 20 seconds (depending on region)

Mid-roll Video Ad; They are also skippable ads, only after 30 seconds. They show between videos that are at least 8 minutes long.

Bumper Video Ads; An unskippable video ad, usually optimized for mobile views. Maximum Length: 6 Seconds

LinkedIn Video Specs

Shared Videos Specifications

• Aspect ratio: 1:2.4 – 2.4:1
• File format: MP4 (recommended). Other accepted formats are; ASF, AVI, FLV, MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, MKV and WebM.
•  File size: 5GB max
• Resolution range: 256×144 to 4096×2304
• Frame rates: 10fps – 60 fps
• Video length: 3 seconds minimum, 10 seconds max

Video Ads Specifications

• Required dimensions: 
  • Landscape- 640 x 360 minimum; 1920 x 1080 max
  • Square- 360 x 360 minimum; 1920 x 1920 max
  • Vertical- 360 x 640 minimum; 1080 x 1920 max
• Aspect ratios:
  • Landscape- 16:9
  • Square- 1: 1
  • Vertical- 9:16
• File size: 200 MB max
• File format: MP4
• Frame rate: less than 30fps
• Video length: 30 minutes max

Pinterest Video Specs

Video upload on Pinterest is only for users with a business account. The videos can be organic or sponsored posts.

Video Specifications

• File size: 2GB max
• File formats: MP4 and MOV
• Supported aspect ratios: Between 1:2 and 1.91:1
• Recommended aspect ratios: 1:1 (square), 2:3 or 9:16 (vertical at standard width), 16:9 (maximum width).
• Video length: 15 minutes max (6-15 seconds recommended, optimal time noted by Pinterest)
• Frame rate: 25fps max

Text Specification

• Title: Up to 100 characters.
• Video Description: Up to 500 characters.

Pinterest videos are currently only available for mobile devices.