If you need one number: design your vertical video ad at 1080×1920 pixels, a 9:16 aspect ratio, and treat that as the master file you adapt for everything else. That single spec covers TikTok, Instagram Reels and Stories, Facebook Reels and Stories, YouTube Shorts, and most in-feed Meta placements without any stretching or cropping surprises.
Getting vertical video ad dimensions for social media right is less about memorizing numbers and more about understanding why the format works the way it does, where text and logos need to live inside the frame, and when you actually need a different ratio. This guide covers the specs, the platform differences that matter, the mistakes that quietly tank ad performance, and a checklist you can run before every upload.
What vertical video ad dimensions for social media actually mean
Vertical video ad dimensions describe two related things: the aspect ratio (the shape of the frame, written as width:height) and the resolution (the actual pixel count of the file you export). For vertical ads, the standard aspect ratio is 9:16 — taller than it is wide, matching how people naturally hold a phone. The standard resolution that matches that ratio cleanly is 1080×1920 pixels at a frame rate of 30 frames per second, which is high enough for sharp playback on any phone screen without producing an unnecessarily large file.
These two numbers work together. If you only match the aspect ratio but export at a lower resolution, your ad can look soft on newer phones. If you match the resolution but get the ratio wrong, platforms will letterbox or crop your video, often cutting off a logo or a subtitle at exactly the wrong moment.
The core vertical spec to design around
For almost every modern placement — TikTok feed, Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories, Facebook Reels, Facebook Stories, and YouTube Shorts — the dimensions you want as your master export are:
- Aspect ratio: 9:16 (vertical, full screen on a phone)
- Resolution: 1080×1920 pixels
- Frame rate: 30 fps as a reliable starting point
- File format: MP4 with H.264 encoding, which is broadly compatible across ad managers
Build this as your single master file. Every other ratio and crop you need for other placements can be derived from it, which is faster than shooting or designing separately for each platform. If you're producing lots of ads and reusing footage across placements, it's worth reading how to repurpose one video ad for all platforms for a workflow that keeps this manageable.
Platform-by-platform vertical ad dimensions
The underlying 9:16 shape is consistent, but how each platform's player and UI sit on top of your video differs slightly. Use this table as a quick reference, then always double-check the current upload screen for the campaign you're running, since platforms occasionally adjust UI overlays and duration limits.
| Platform | Aspect ratio | Typical resolution | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok (feed ads) | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | Username, caption and action buttons sit along the right edge and bottom; keep key text centered. |
| Instagram Reels | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | Caption and profile info overlay the bottom third of the screen. |
| Instagram / Facebook Stories | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | Top and bottom bands are reserved for reply bar and progress indicators. |
| Facebook Reels / feed | 9:16 for Reels, 4:5 or 1:1 for feed | 1080×1920 (Reels) | Feed placements often perform better with a squarer crop if you're not using Reels specifically. |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | Full-screen player with minimal overlay, but subscribe and like icons sit on the right edge. |
Notice that duration limits aren't in this table on purpose. Minimum and maximum lengths for Stories, Reels and Shorts placements are controlled by each platform and change from time to time, so treat 30 seconds as a solid, flexible starting point to test rather than a fixed rule, and confirm the current limit in the ad manager before you lock a final cut.
Safe zones: where text and logos actually need to live
A correctly sized video can still get its message clipped if you ignore safe zones — the areas of the frame that platform UI elements (captions, profile pictures, like and share buttons, progress bars) tend to sit over. As a working rule:
- Keep your hook text, logo and call-to-action text inside the middle 80% of the frame, both horizontally and vertically.
- Leave the top 10-15% of the frame relatively clear of critical text, since status bars and platform headers sit there.
- Leave the bottom 15-20% of the frame clear of must-read text, since captions, usernames and action buttons usually sit there.
- If you're adding your own burned-in captions, place them slightly above the platform's native caption position so the two don't overlap.
If you're writing the script and on-screen text yourself, building the safe zone into your storyboard from the start saves a re-edit later. A structured approach to scripting — hook, problem, benefit, proof, offer, call to action — also makes it easier to decide which line of text needs the most protected position in the frame; the video ad script template for ecommerce products walks through that structure in more detail.
Other aspect ratios you'll still need
Vertical 9:16 is the default for full-screen mobile placements, but it isn't the only shape you'll use. Three others come up often enough that it's worth exporting them alongside your vertical master:
- 4:5 (roughly 1080×1350): a near-square vertical crop that works well in main feed placements on Instagram and Facebook, where the player doesn't take the full screen height.
- 1:1 (1080×1080): a true square, useful for older feed placements and some carousel or collection ad formats.
- 16:9 (1920×1080): standard horizontal video, still relevant for YouTube in-stream ads, connected TV, and any placement viewed on a landscape screen.
Rather than treating these as four separate production jobs, design the 9:16 version first with enough padding around your key visual elements that a center crop to 4:5 or 1:1 doesn't cut anything important. For 16:9, you'll usually need to actually re-frame rather than crop, since the aspect ratio is flipped — plan for that if horizontal placements matter to your media mix.
Common mistakes with vertical video ad dimensions
Most spec-related problems in vertical ads come from a handful of repeat mistakes:
- Uploading a 16:9 video and letting the platform auto-crop it to vertical, which often cuts off product shots or faces that were framed for a wide screen.
- Centering text for a 16:9 canvas and exporting it in 9:16 without rechecking placement, so it ends up too close to the top or bottom edge.
- Using a resolution below 1080×1920 and seeing it look blurry on newer, higher-resolution phone screens.
- Designing only for sound-on viewing, then losing the message when autoplay starts muted — captions and visual hooks need to carry the opening seconds on their own.
- Treating platform duration limits as fixed instead of checking them before a launch, since they can change the way your hook needs to be timed.
A quick export checklist
Before you upload a vertical ad to any platform, run through this list:
- Confirm the aspect ratio is 9:16 and resolution is 1080×1920 (or the platform's current equivalent).
- Check that your logo, headline and call-to-action text all sit inside the middle safe zone.
- Watch the first three seconds with sound off — does the hook still land without audio?
- Export secondary ratios (4:5, 1:1, and 16:9 if needed) from the same master rather than reshooting.
- Re-check the platform's current duration limit and caption position before final upload, since these can shift.
How FrameNotion handles vertical ad specs for you
If managing all of this manually for every product or client feels like more production overhead than you want, that's the gap FrameNotion is built to close. You paste a product or website link, FrameNotion AI reads the page and writes a custom 30-second video ad from scratch — hook, problem, benefit, proof, offer, call to action — with no templates involved. It renders as a 9:16, 1080×1920, 30 fps MP4 out of the box, built to work on TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels and Meta ads, and it checks its own rendered frames before handing you the file.
Every ad also comes as 4:5, 1:1 and 16:9 automatically, so you're not re-exporting or re-cropping to cover feed placements and horizontal formats separately. Ads include a word-by-word caption track, an AI voiceover in any of 18 languages, and a beat-synced music track (or music only, or silent, depending on what you choose), which covers both the safe-zone and sound-off considerations described above without extra editing. A finished ad typically takes about 10 to 20 minutes, and if you need to adjust text or colors afterward, you can request changes without starting the ad over. You can see finished examples on the examples page, check how the process works on how it works, or compare plans on pricing.
FrameNotion does not publish ads directly to ad platforms or report on ad performance — you still upload the finished file yourself and track results in your ad manager. What it removes is the manual work of getting dimensions, safe zones and multiple aspect ratios right for every single product ad you produce.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a different video for every social platform, or can one file work everywhere?+
One 9:16, 1080×1920 master file will play correctly on nearly every vertical placement across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Shorts. You may still want 4:5 and 1:1 versions for feed placements that aren't full-screen, but you don't need to reshoot — just re-export from the same master with safe zones already built in.
What happens if I upload a horizontal video to a vertical placement?+
Most platforms will either letterbox it with blank bars on the sides or auto-crop it to fill the vertical frame. Auto-cropping often cuts off parts of the shot that weren't framed for a narrow vertical canvas, so it's better to re-frame the video deliberately rather than rely on automatic cropping.
Is 1080×1920 the only acceptable resolution for vertical ads?+
It's the standard starting point because it balances sharp playback with reasonable file size. Higher resolutions exist and are sometimes accepted, but 1080×1920 is broadly compatible across ad managers and is a safe default unless a specific placement asks for something different.
How long should a vertical video ad be?+
Platforms set minimum and maximum lengths that can change over time, so treat this as something to confirm at upload rather than assume. A 30-second length is a reasonable starting point to test for most feed and Reels-style placements, since it's long enough to include a hook, a benefit and a call to action without losing attention.
Should I design captions myself or rely on the platform's auto-captions?+
Designing your own captions gives you control over timing, wording and placement relative to the platform's UI, which matters since native caption bars and burned-in captions can otherwise overlap. If you add your own, position them slightly higher in the frame than where the platform typically places its own captions.