Digital media is an ever-evolving space. Technological innovations keep hitting by the day, and algorithms keep changing by night. It becomes especially hard for marketers to remain “well-versed” in the technicalities of a medium for long.
With video being the most popular digital content format, marketers need to stay on top of aspect ratio updates to optimize the user experience.
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘keeping up appearances’!
This blog post is an all-in-one in-depth video aspect ratio guide saving you lots of Googling time.
Understanding aspect ratio
First, let’s see what video aspect ratio means and how it differs from video resolution.
In simple terms, video aspect ratio refers to the relation between the length and width of your video. It defines the orientation i.e. whether the video will appear in the landscape, portrait, or square format.
Common video aspect ratios include 16:9 (landscape), 9:16 (vertical) 4:3 (standard), and 1:1 (square)
Video resolution refers to how many pixels are displayed per frame. The resolution is also depicted in terms of width and height like 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, and 720 x 480.
The product indicates the number of square pixels displayed on the screen. The larger the number, the better picture quality you get.
Best video aspect ratios for social media
Facebook aims to become a video-centric platform by 2021. There are myriad ways how you can use video on the platform, each with its own aspect ratio considerations.
Organic shared video
Organic Facebook videos are supported in landscape and portrait orientation.
Aspect ratio: 16:9 and 9:16
Recommended dimension: 1280 x 720 pixels
Mobile render: 2:3
360° Video
Another, more interactive, form of organic Facebook videos is the 360 video. It allows viewers to scroll up, down, and sideways to get an all-around view of a scene.
Aspect ratio: 2:1
Recommended resolution:
Monoscopic: 5120 x 2560 maximum
Stereoscopic: 5120 x 5120 maximum
Facebook video ads
The regular desktop newsfeed video ads come in:
Aspect ratio: 16:9 and 1:1
Recommended dimension: 1280 x 720 pixels, 1080 x 1080 pixels
Related: Maximizing the Performance of Facebook Video Ads [Insights from Facebook Ads]
Carousel ads
Carousel ads are a marketer’s favorite as they allow more content to be showcased. For instance, different articles from a new shoe range, or jewelry pieces from a collection.
The recommended specs for carousel video ads are:
Aspect ratio: 1:1
Video dimensions: 1080 x 1080 pixels
Minimum dimensions 600 x 315 (1.9:1 landscape) or 600 x 600 (square).
Facebook stories
Stories are a mobile-first format that gives a more immersive experience due to the edge-to-edge display.
60% of marketers prefer Facebook for posting short stories to other platforms.
Specifications are the same for both user-generated organic and sponsored stories.
Aspect ratios: 1.91:1 to 9:16, with colored gradient bars rendered above and below videos under 9:16
Minimum dimensions: 500 x 500 pixels
Slide show ads
Facebook is a global platform, and marketers around the world experience different challenges.
For regions with slow internet speeds or connectivity issues, Facebook rolled out slide show ads that are simply a bunch of images put together with background music.
Images: 3-10
Aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16
Recommended dimension: 1200 x 720 pixels
Related: How to Set up and Optimize Facebook Video Ads
Instagram is a predominantly visual platform. One-minute videos are a popular content format on the medium.
68% of marketers have shared brand videos on Instagram. Out of these, 65% believe it helped the business.
Organic and sponsored videos
Landscape aspect ratio: 16:9.
Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 pixels.
Square aspect ratio: 1:1
Minimum resolution: 600 x 600 pixels
Vertical aspect ratio: 4:5
Minimum resolution: 600 x 750 pixels
Instagram stories
Instagram quickly adopted the stories format after the success of Snapchat stories. Now it’s one of the most used formats used by marketers.
Instagram stories easily integrate into the users’ organic stories. However, the time to grab attention is short as users are in a hurry to swipe forward.
Aspect ratio: 9:16, 16:9
Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Related: 12 Tips to Improve Your Instagram Video Ads
IGTV
Since infeed videos can only be one minute long, Instagram introduced Instagram Television (IGTV) to support long-form content.
View this post on Instagram
Videos on IGTV can be one hour long and even longer for verified accounts.
Recommended aspect ratio: 9:16
Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Preview video aspect ratio: 4:5
Twitter is a hotspot for user-generated content. Even big brands and influencers rely on their audience to share UGC under their hashtags to build hype. Videos are naturally a popular content form on the platform.
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Recommended aspect ratio: 1:1, 2:1 is also compatible
Recommended dimension: 1200 x 1200 pixels
The same specs work for Twitter videos as well.
Marketers have been leveraging videos on LinkedIn as of late. 54% of marketers have shared brand videos on LinkedIn. Out of these, 78% believe it helped the business.
Given the growing popularity of video on the predominantly B2B platform, LinkedIn launched the stories feature as well.
Organically shared videos
Aspect ratio: 1:2.4 to 2.4:1.
Dimension: 256 x 144 pixels (minimum), 4096 x 2304 pixels (maximum)
Promoted videos
LinkedIn supports video ads in landscape, portrait, and square format.
Landscape aspect ratio: 16:9
Dimensions: 640 x 360 pixels (minimum), 1920 x 1080 pixels (maximum)
Square aspect ratio: 1:1
Dimensions: 360 x 360 pixels (minimum), 1920 x 1920 pixels (maximum)
Vertical aspect ratio: 9:16
Dimensions: 360 x 640 pixels (minimum), 1080 x 1920 pixels (maximum)
LinkedIn stories
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Snapchat
Snapchat lets users share micro-content like pictures and short videos in the form of stories. In fact, it pioneered the stories format before it was adopted by other social platforms.
Marketers can make use of 2 video ad formats on Snapchat.
Micro story ads
Length: 10 seconds
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Recommended dimension: 1080x 1920 pixels
Related: LinkedIn Video: Your Ultimate Guide
Long-form ads
Length: 3 to 180 seconds
Aspect ratio: 9:16, 16:9
Recommended dimension: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Pinterest is ideas galore. The platform offers inspiration for DIYs, how-tos, and much more. At first, it only featured linked images, but now it has also introduced videos.
Organically shared videos
Square aspect ratio: 1:1
Recommended dimensions: 600 x 600 pixels
Vertical aspect ratio: 9:16
Recommended dimensions: 600 x 900 pixels
Promoted video pins run on the same specifications.
Aspect ratio guide for video hosting platforms
YouTube
When you think of video, you undoubtedly think of YouTube. The world’s second-largest search engine and biggest video platform is a marketer and consumer staple.
From big celebrities and business tycoons to influencers creating DIY and review videos from home, YouTube offers a voice to everyone.
Over 65% of people prefer watching video content on YouTube as compared to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
Such a large user base begs compatibility with different kinds of devices.
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9
Aspect ratio: 4:3 (black bars automatically appear to fit the video to the screen)
Recommended dimensions: 426 x 240, 640 x 360, 854 x 480, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, and 3840 x 2160 pixels.
YouTube ad specifications
Due to its immense proliferation, YouTube has become one of the top marketing platforms. It allows marketers to post video ads in a variety of ways.
However, the aspect ratios for these are the same as organic videos. The only difference lies in their time duration.
YouTube video ads come in skippable, non-skippable, mid-roll, and bumper formats.
Related: How to Create Animated Videos for YouTube – a Guide
Vimeo
Vimeo allows a wide range of video aspect ratios. Starting from standard video formats to more high-definition and cinematic video formats, users have several options at their hands catering to their needs.
Standard Definition (SD)
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Resolution: 640 x 480 pixels
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels
High definition
720p
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels
1080p
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
2K
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 2560 x 1440 pixels
Ultra-high definition
4K
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 pixels
DCI 4K
Aspect ratio:17:9
Resolution: 4096 x 2160 pixels
4K Monoscopic 360
Aspect ratio: 2:1
Resolution: 4096 x 2048 pixels
4K Stereoscopic 360
Aspect ratio: 2:1
Resolution: 4096 x 2048 pixels
8K
Aspect ratio: 17:9
Resolution: 8192 x 4320 pixels
For more details on Vimeo’s video specs click here.
Related: Vimeo Vs Wistia for Professionals
And there you go! Now you’re fully equipped to choose the video aspect ratio most suitable to your content format.
Need some help creating your next video? At MotionCue, we specialize in producing videos for all social media and video hosting platforms. Get in touch.