In today’s insight, we are bringing you our guide to social media organic video specs. According to research, video content is receiving more engagement across all social media platforms. On Facebook, videos get as much as 135% more organic reach, six times more retweets on Twitter, and 75% of executives say they watch world-related videos each day on LinkedIn.
Staying relevant and capturing your audience’s attention is a constant challenge. And now that brands rely on video content more than ever, it’s critical to use the correct social media video specs and advertising video sizes.
Like many of the moving parts in the world of social media, video specs often change, with the primary changes aimed at building the most engaging user experience. These changes can be challenging to keep up with, which is why we’ve created this list of social media video specs to help you put your best foot forward.
Facebook Video Specs
Facebook videos appear in various formats due to Facebook’s commitment to making video viewable on as many formats as possible (think mobile and desktop devices). Each video format has different dimensions and specs, making it confusing to know whether or not you are uploading the correct format. You need to produce content that is optimized for various platforms. Here’s a breakdown of the different specs for Facebook videos.
Organic Shared Post Video (Landscape & Portrait)
The most common type of video on Facebook is shared posts. These types of videos live in your Facebook feed and can be shared by brands or your friends. You can choose between two video orientations: Landscape and Portrait. Here’s a look at the video specs for both.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1280 by 720 pixels for landscape or portrait
- Minimum Width: 600 pixels (portrait); 1200 pixels (landscape)
- Video Length: 240 mins. maximum
- Frame Rate: 30 fps. maximum
- File Size: 4GB maximum
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 16:9 (horizontal), 9:16 (full portrait), 2:3 (vertical for mobile), 4:5 (vertical), 1:1 (square)
Insider Tip: To get the best quality for your video posts, Facebook recommends uploading videos in .MOV and .MP4 format, however, most video file types are supported.
Facebook Stories
Facebook has also added the Stories feature, disappearing short photo or video updates that are only available for 24 hours.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1080 by 1080 pixels
- Video Length: 1 second to 2 minutes
- Video Format: MP4 and .MOV
- File Size: 4GB maximum
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 9:16
Character Limits
- Primary text: 125 characters
- Headline: 40 characters
For more information on the video specs for Facebook, visit the Facebook Help Center.
Instagram Video Specs
In Feed Video (Landscape, Square & Vertical)
Since 2015, Instagram has crafted its video formats to allow three different styles: landscape, square, and vertical. The predominantly mobile social network is perfect for sharing videos of any size organically to reach your audience.
Video Guidelines
- Square Video: 600 by 600 pixels (1:1 aspect ratio)
- Horizontal Video: 600 by 315 pixels (1.9:1 aspect ratio)
- Vertical Video: 600 by 750 pixels (4:5 aspect ratio)
- Video Length: 60 sec. maximum
- Frame Rate: 30 fps. maximum
- File Size: 4 GB maximum
- File Format: .MP4 or .MOV format. See the complete list of file formats
Instagram Stories
Brands can seamlessly integrate their video content with other Instagram users. Much like Snapchat, it’s wise to make these videos rawer and in the moment to avoid drastically standing out, especially since users can immediately swipe to leave.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1080 by 1080 pixels
- Video Length: 15 sec. maximum (if you upload a longer video on organic, it will be clipped into multiple Stories ‘slides’)
- Frame Rate: 30 fps. maximum
- File Size: 4 GB maximum
- File Format: .MP4 or .MOV format.
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 9:16
Instagram Reels
Introduced in 2020, Instagram Reels are another option for your video strategy on Instagram. These short videos focus on ease of creation, shareability, and discovery, similar to TikTok’s core offerings.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1080 by 1080 pixels (Reels will display in the feed in slightly cropped portrait dimensions of 4:5 or 1080×1350 px)
- Video Length: 15 sec. or 30 sec. long
- Frame Rate: 30 fps. maximum
- File Size: 4 GB maximum
- File Format: .MP4 or .MOV format.
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 9:16
Instagram TV/ IGTV
Instagram TV/ IGTV videos display full-screen like Stories. The difference is that IGTV posts aren’t ephemeral and let you get into long-form content with a 1-hour maximum run time for more extensive on verified accounts. IGTV gives your brand room to create an organic story that delves into detail on your product, service, or campaign.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1080 x 1920 pixels
- Minimum Resolution: 720
- Video Length: 1-minute minimum and 15-minute maximum (if uploaded via mobile); 1-hour maximum (if uploaded via desktop)
- Frame Rate: 30 fps. maximum
- File Size: Maximum file size for videos less than 10 minutes is 650MB; 3.6 GB for 60-minute videos
- File Format: .MP4 or .MOV format.
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 9:16 (recommended); 16:9 also supported. In-feed previews show at 4:5.
For more information on the video specs for Instagram, visit the Facebook Help Center.
Twitter Video Specs
As a mobile-first platform, Twitter video is optimized for mobile device-captured video. However, videos can be uploaded in other ways. For details on how to upload video recorded on other devices, see Twitter’s video specs recommendations and best practices.
Twitter Landscape & Portrait Videos
Twitter provides two formats of in-feed video content to share with your followers: landscape and portrait, making it easier to share organic content. Still, the dimensions change as the video bitrate alters.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1280×720 (landscape), 720×1280 (portrait), 720×720 (square)
- Video Length: 140 seconds maximum
- Frame Rate: 30 or 60 fps.
- File Size: Maximum file size is 512MB
- File Format: .MP4 or .MOV format.
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square); 1:1 is recommended for rendering across devices with the best output
Character Limits
- Maximum count: 280 characters.
For more information on the video specs for Twitter, visit the Twitter Help Center.
LinkedIn Video Specs
While LinkedIn is still in the early stages of video content adoption, nearly 75% of business executives say they watch online videos every week. With that number only likely to grow, it’s safe to say LinkedIn will continue to put video content at its forefront.
LinkedIn Shared Videos
The only video format you can upload is through a shared video.
Video Guidelines
- Recommended Size: 1280×720 (landscape), 720×1280 (portrait), 720×720 (square)
- Video Length: 3 seconds minimum; 10 minutes maximum
- Frame Rate: 60 fps.
- File Size: Maximum file size is 5GB
- File Format: .MP4, .ASF, .AVI, .FLV, .MOV, .MPEG-1, .MPEG-4, .MKV, and .WebM
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 1:2.4 to 2.4:1
For more information on the video specs for LinkedIn, visit the LinkedIn Help Center.
YouTube Video Specs
YouTube Video Player Specs
- Recommended Size: 426 by 240 pixels (240p), 640 by 360 pixels (360p), 854 by 480 pixels (480p), 1280 by 720 pixels (720p), 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), 2560 by 1440 pixels (1440p), 3840 by 2160 pixels (2160p)
- Minimum Size: 426 by 240 pixels
- Maximum Size: 3840 by 2160 pixels
- Video Length:12 hours maximum
- Frame Rate: 60 fps.
- File Size: Maximum file size is 128GB
- File Format: .MOV, .MPEG4, MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEG-PS, .FLV, 3GPP, or WebM
- Supported Aspect Ratios: 16:9 and 4:3
See this complete list of YouTube video encoding settings.
The Takeaway
As video usage continues to increase and brands continue to rely on video content, using the correct social media video specs is critical. Can you benefit from guidance in keeping up with the latest social media trends? Contact us, and we will be more than happy to work with you in developing a digital strategy that’s right for you. For more insight on social media marketing, click here.
Posted In Digital Strategy & Social Media