Video Ad Specs by Platform: One Master, Every Crop

Most bad video ad specs get spotted after launch. The file uploaded, the ad got approved, and then someone opens Instagram and finds the price claim sitting under the caption bar and the product cut in half.

Spec tables won't save you from that. They list ratios and file limits, then leave you to figure out what to order from your editor or creator. This guide works the other way round. Start from your media plan, decide which shapes you need, and require each one delivered ready for its placement.

The master is the idea, not the file

"Master" gets used loosely. Here it means the locked version of the ad: the message, the timing, the footage, the voiceover and music, and the brand system (fonts, colors, logo, end card). Once the master is approved, nobody should rewrite the script for each platform.

The master is not one upload file you push everywhere and let auto-crop sort out. Crop a 16:9 frame to 9:16 at the same height and you keep only about a third of the width. Whatever was on the edges is gone, and whatever is left in the middle may not be what you wanted to keep.

So the model is one master and several deliverables. Every deliverable keeps the master's message and timing, but each gets its own layout: framing, text placement, caption size, logo position.

The default delivery family: four crops

For most paid social and video plans, four shapes cover everything:

Treat these sizes as a safe baseline, not the ceiling. Some platforms recommend larger files or set stricter rules, covered below. Check the current rules for each placement before launch, and preview every time.

Which crops to order: start from the media plan

Order only the crops your placements will actually use. A crop nobody runs is wasted budget. A placement with no matching crop may be auto-cropped, letterboxed, or handled some other way depending on the platform, and none of those gives you an ad made for that screen.

If you only remember one thing from this article, make it this: Lock the idea once. Rebuild the layout for each shape. Approve every crop in the real ad preview.

What each platform actually asks for

Meta and Instagram video ad specs

Meta recommends 9:16 for Reels ads, and its ads guide currently lists 1440 x 2560 as the recommended size. It accepts MP4, MOV, or GIF up to 4 GB, with H.264, a fixed frame rate, progressive scan, and stereo AAC audio at 128 kbps or more. It also tells advertisers to leave roughly 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom, and 6% on each side free of text, logos, and other essential elements, because the interface can cover them (Meta ads guide). For more on vertical Instagram formats, see our Instagram Reels dimensions guide.

TikTok video ad specs

For auction in-feed ads, TikTok recommends 9:16 and also accepts 16:9 and 1:1. The official minimums are 540 x 960 for vertical, 960 x 540 for horizontal, and 640 x 640 for square. Files can be up to 500 MB and up to 10 minutes long, and the safe zone changes depending on aspect ratio and caption length (TikTok Ads Help). Those are minimums, not targets, so deliver 1080 x 1920. Write the ad caption before you lock text placement, because the caption decides how much of the frame stays clear.

YouTube video ad specs

Google Ads recommends 1920 x 1080 for horizontal, 1080 x 1920 for vertical, and 1080 x 1080 for square. Its preferred ratios are 16:9, 9:16, and 1:1, and 4:5 can be accepted for vertical. Files can be as large as 256 GB, and allowed length depends on the format and campaign type (Google Ads Help). That 256 GB ceiling is unlikely to be the limiting factor for a normal ad export. Length is the more likely problem, so check the format before you cut. Our guide on how long a video ad should be covers that decision.

LinkedIn video ad specs

LinkedIn recommends 4:5 as its vertical ratio, at 720 x 900 and up to 1080 x 1350. It also accepts 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 within set resolution ranges. Files must be MP4 with H.264 or VP8, under 30 FPS, between 75 KB and 500 MB, and between 3 seconds and 30 minutes long. LinkedIn recommends 15 to 30 seconds so the ad can qualify for every feed and Audience Network placement (LinkedIn Help). The frame-rate cap is the one that catches teams out. A 60 fps export needs converting before it goes anywhere near LinkedIn.

Safe zones are a layout decision

You can't fix a safe zone in the export settings. It decides where your captions, logo, price, and disclaimer go, so it has to be agreed before the editor places a single title.

• In 9:16, keep essential text in the middle band. Meta's percentages above make a conservative starting guide for vertical layouts, but they don't replace each placement's current safe-zone overlay. Check that overlay every time.
• The bottom of a vertical frame is where people instinctively put subtitles and legal lines. It's also where the caption, username, and call-to-action button sit. Move them up.
• In 4:5 and 1:1 feeds, the interface covers less of the frame, but text still has to be readable on a phone held at arm's length.
• In 16:9 in-stream, preview the placement UI and keep text, logos, and the product away from any controls the player lays over the video.

The Viralix interactive format guide overlays the safe zone for each placement, so you can check a frame before export instead of after launch.

Where single-file delivery goes wrong

These are the failures that show up when one file gets stretched across every placement:

1. Captions or disclaimers hidden behind the UI. The offer terms sit exactly where the caption overlay lands. In regulated categories this is a compliance problem, not a cosmetic one.
2. Product cut off by auto-crop. The platform centers the frame, and the product was on the left third.
3. Wide horizontal shots turned into dead space. A 16:9 video dropped into a vertical placement ends up as a thin strip between two blurred bars, filling a fraction of the screen.
4. Text too small to read. Shrink a 1920-wide frame to fit a 1080-wide screen and every title drops to just over half its size. Lower-thirds that looked fine on a monitor turn into noise.
5. A file that's accepted but still wrong. Passing upload validation only means the platform could read the file. A square video in a full-screen placement or a letterboxed one in a feed will run without errors and still look out of place.

When a crop is not enough

Some shots can't be reframed, whatever you do in the edit:

• Screen recordings. A desktop interface cropped to 9:16 loses most of the screen. Zoom into the part that matters, record again on mobile, or stack the interface above a talking head.
• Fine print. Legal text needs its own layout in each shape, at a readable size, and sometimes more time on screen.
• Product closeups. If the product fills a wide frame, a vertical crop cuts it. You need a new shot. With AI video, generating that shot natively in each ratio is often easier than fighting the crop.
• Split screens and before-and-after. Side-by-side has to become top-and-bottom in vertical, which means rebuilding it.
• Subjects that are far apart. Two people at opposite ends of a wide frame won't both fit in 9:16.

The rule: if reframing loses the subject, the text, or the point of the shot, rebuild it. Flag these shots in the brief so the extra work is priced in from the start.

The technical handoff

MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the practical cross-platform default. Start there, then apply each platform's file-size, frame-rate, and upload rules from the sections above.

Two more handoff habits save a lot of back-and-forth. Export each crop at its native size from the master project, never by resizing another crop. And name files so anyone can tell them apart at a glance, for example brand_concept_9x16_v3.mp4.

Put the crop package in the brief

Define the deliverables before production starts, not after the first cut. A brief line as plain as this works:

Deliverables: 9:16 at 1080 x 1920 and 4:5 at 1080 x 1350. MP4, H.264, AAC. All text inside the placement safe zone. Separate file per crop. Ad preview screenshots for each crop before final approval.

For the rest of the brief, our social media video production playbook covers it. If you'd rather not manage the reframing and exports yourself, Viralix creators can deliver the ad as a platform-native package built to the crops you list.

Pre-delivery checklist

• [ ] Every placement in the media plan has a matching crop
• [ ] Each crop exported at native size from the master project
• [ ] Text, logo, price, and disclaimers inside the safe zone for that placement
• [ ] Captions readable on a phone at arm's length
• [ ] Product and subject fully in frame in every crop
• [ ] No letterboxing or blurred-bar fills unless chosen on purpose
• [ ] MP4, H.264, AAC, with frame rate and file size within each platform's limits
• [ ] Length fits the format and campaign type
• [ ] File names show concept, crop, and version
• [ ] Every crop approved in the real ad preview on a phone

What to do next

Write down every placement in your media plan before you brief anyone. Use the decision table to turn that list into a crop package, and put the package in the brief with sizes and safe-zone rules attached. Then approve nothing until you've seen each crop in the actual ad preview.