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A Quick and Handy Guide for Optimizing Social Media Videos

Video is one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. However, with so many different social media platforms to choose from, it can be confusing to know the best video specs for each and how to properly optimize social media videos.  

Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. This article will go over some of the most popular social video platforms and give you a quick and easy place to find the most pertinent information. 

Facebook boasts billions of users, making it a no-brainer for putting up ads and videos to get leads. There are many different areas to upload videos and ads on Facebook, with each one having its own best specs for video.

In-Feed Videos

These are the types of videos you’re likely already familiar with. They pop up in your news feed and are often shared by brands people follow or by friends. It can be difficult for these videos to see huge organic growth. However, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of these videos.

Here are the recommended video specs for shared videos:

  • Dimensions: 1280 x 720 for both portrait and landscape
  • Aspect Ratio: 9:16 for portrait; 16:9 for landscape
  • Max Video Size: 4GB
  • Max Video Length: 240 minutes
  • Max Video FPS: 30
  • Best Video Formats: .MOV and .MP4

The power of these videos can be considerable if they’re well made and widely enjoyed.

In-Feed Facebook Ads 

These ads are sponsored posts that will pop up in people’s news feeds. Here are the recommended video specs for Facebook ads:

  • Dimensions: 1080 x 1080 
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 horizontal; 1:1 square; 2:3 or 4:5 vertical; portrait 9:16
  • Max Video Size: 4GB
  • Max Video Length: 120 minutes
  • Best Video Formats: .MOV and .MP4

In-feed Facebook ads can be a powerful driver for your brand.

Facebook Stories Ads

Facebook stories are video uploads (and can also be pictures) that disappear after 24 hours. The ads pop in between stories users watch from their friends. 

Here are the recommended video specs for Facebook stories:

  • Dimensions: 1080 x 1080
  • Aspect Ratio: Between 1.91 and 9:16
  • Max Video Size: 4GB
  • Video Length: 1 second to 2 minutes
  • Best Video Formats: .MOV and .MP4

These ads are great for time-sensitive announcements or specials.

Powered by Meta (where they make it easy to upload your ads across both social platforms), Instagram is another excellent tool to use for video marketing. However, there are some differences in the platform and what users will expect.

Instagram In-Feed Video and Ads Video Recommendations

Here are the recommended video specs for uploading Instagram ads:

  • Minimum Resolution: 1080 x 1080; horizontal max is 1920
  • Aspect Ratios: vertical 4:5; landscape 16:9; square 1:1
  • Max File Size: 4GB
  • Video Duration: 3 to 60 seconds
  • Recommended Formats: .MOV or .MP4
  • Frame Rates: 23 to 60 fps

Both regular videos and ads share the same specs. 

Instagram Stories

Like Facebook, Instagram also allows ads that pop up when users are watching stories from their friends and followers. 

These are the recommended video specs for Instagram stories:

  • Best Resolution: 1080 x 1080
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Max File Size: 4GB
  • Video Duration: 15 seconds for normal users; ads allow up to 2 minutes.
  • Recommended Formats: .MOV or .MP4

The goal is to make your ads on Instagram stories look natural, so they don’t jump out as obvious ads.

Instagram TV (IGTV)

Like stories, IGTV videos take up the entire phone screen when displayed. However, the key difference is in the length of video you can upload. 

Here are the video spec recommendations for IGTV:

  • Resolution: 1080 x 1920; minimum resolution is 720.
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 or 9:16 (best choice)
  • Max File Size: 650MB for less than 10 mins; 3.6GB for videos up to an hour
  • Video Duration: 1 to 15 minutes from the phone app; 1 hour from desktop
  • Required Format: .MP4

With an hour to use, you can create in-depth, engaging content for your brand.

YouTube Video Specs

As Google’s second-largest search engine, YouTube is a powerful marketing tool that lets you engage and interact with potential customers and other fans of your brand. It also allows you to grow organically as people search for various topics and videos on YouTube. But make sure you’re optimizing your social media videos for YouTube as well.

Regular YouTube Videos

Here are the recommended specs for uploading your YouTube video:

  • Resolutions Available: 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Max File Size: 128GB
  • Video Duration: Up to 12 hours
  • Formats: .MP4, .MOV, .MPEG4, .AVI, .FLV, .WMV, and .3GPP

These stats are for your standard videos uploaded to YouTube. 

YouTube Ads

There are different flavors of ads for YouTube, like mid-rolls or skippable ads. These are the general recommendations for them all:

  • Resolutions Available: 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Max File Size: 128GB
  • Duration for Mid-Roll Ads: 30 seconds
  • Duration for Non-Skippable Ads: 15, 20, or 30 seconds depending on region
  • Duration for Skippable Ads: 6 minutes 
  • Duration for Bumper Ads: 6 seconds
  • Formats: .MP4, .MOV, .MPEG4, .AVI, .FLV, .WMV, and .3GPP

Need help optimizing social media videos or getting your videos uploaded to any of these platforms or those not mentioned here? Then reach out to us. The Corporate Film Guys are more than happy to assist!