Video Specs Per Platform: The 2026 Cheat Sheet

You made a great video. Then you tried to post it everywhere and things got weird. It looked perfect on TikTok, got cropped strangely on Facebook, and the caption text disappeared behind buttons on YouTube. Sound familiar?

Every platform has its own idea of what a video should look like. Memorizing all of it is a chore, so I made you a cheat sheet instead. One warning before we start: platforms change their specs all the time. The numbers below are accurate as of 2026 and rounded to be memorable, but always sanity-check inside the app before a big launch.

The one rule that covers 90% of cases

If you remember nothing else, remember this: film vertical, 9:16, and keep the important stuff in the middle of the frame. A 9:16 vertical video is the native shape for TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, Snapchat, and Pinterest video. That is most of the short-video world in one shape.

The middle-of-frame rule exists because every app stacks its own interface on top of your video. Usernames and captions sit at the bottom. Like and share buttons hug the right edge. If your on-screen text lives in those zones, viewers cannot read it.

The cheat sheet

Here is the quick-reference table. Lengths are rough maximums for regular accounts as of 2026, not the sweet spot for performance.

Platform	Best ratio	Rough max length	Notes
TikTok	9:16	~10 min, ~30-60 min for some accounts	Native vertical app. Short and punchy still wins.
Instagram Reels	9:16	~3 min	Cover image matters for your grid.
YouTube Shorts	9:16	~3 min	Title shows in search, so write a real one.
YouTube (regular)	16:9	Hours	Horizontal. Thumbnails matter a lot.
Facebook Reels	9:16	~90 sec	Feed video also accepts 1:1 and 16:9.
X (Twitter)	16:9 or 1:1	~2-3 min for most accounts	Vertical works but crops in feed previews.
LinkedIn	16:9, 1:1, or 9:16	~10-15 min	Square and vertical both play well in feed.
Pinterest	9:16 or 2:3	~5 min	Treat it like a moving Pin with a clear cover.
Threads / Bluesky	flexible	short	Casual clips, no heavy production expected.

Do not treat the max length as a target. On every short-video feed, videos that end before people get bored are the ones that get replayed and shared.

Safe zones, explained like a human

Think of your vertical frame as three horizontal bands.

• Top band (roughly the top 10-15%): platform search bars and status info can cover this. Avoid putting text right at the top edge.
• Middle band: yours. Faces, text, product shots, everything important goes here.
• Bottom band (roughly the bottom 20-25%): captions, usernames, and audio labels live here on almost every app. On-screen text placed here will be covered.

There is also a right-edge column where like, comment, and share buttons stack on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. Keep text away from the right edge.

If you design one video with those margins in mind, it survives on every platform without re-editing. That is the entire trick behind efficient cross-posting, and it pairs nicely with the ideas in repurposing one piece of content across platforms.

What about horizontal video?

Horizontal (16:9) still rules regular YouTube, and it is fine on X and LinkedIn. But pasting a horizontal video into a vertical feed makes it a small strip with big empty bars. If your source footage is horizontal, you have two decent options:

1. Crop to vertical. Works when your subject stays centered. Most editing apps have a one-tap 9:16 crop.
2. Stack it. Put the horizontal clip in the middle of a vertical frame and fill the space above with a big title. Podcast and gaming clips use this constantly, and it works.

Resolution and file basics

You do not need cinema gear. As of 2026, roughly 1080 by 1920 pixels is the standard for vertical video, and every modern phone shoots well above that. A few practical habits:

• Export at high quality from your editor. Platforms compress your video again on upload, so starting with a crisp file matters.
• MP4 is the safe format. Every platform accepts it.
• Check your audio levels. Quiet or clipping audio hurts more than soft visuals.

Posting one video everywhere without the headache

Here is the honest workflow. Film 9:16. Respect the safe zones. Export one clean master file with no watermarks. Then adapt the packaging per platform: the title for YouTube, the caption for Instagram, a plainer sentence for LinkedIn.

The uploading part is where the time goes, and it is the part a tool should do. With Plumefy you upload that one master file, write your captions side by side, and schedule the video to all 11 supported networks in one pass, from TikTok to Pinterest to LinkedIn. If you manage several brands, workspaces keep each client's accounts separate.

FAQ

Do I really need different videos for different platforms?

Usually no. One well-made 9:16 video with safe-zone-friendly text works nearly everywhere. Only regular YouTube and some X or LinkedIn posts call for horizontal.

Why did my video get cropped on one platform?

The platform forced your video into its preferred ratio. This usually happens when you upload a vertical video where the feed preview is square, or a horizontal one to a vertical feed. Check the table above and export the ratio the platform prefers.

Should I trust the exact numbers in this post?

Treat them as ballparks. Platforms adjust limits often, sometimes per account type or region. The ratios and safe zones are stable; exact second counts are not, so verify inside the app when it matters.

Does higher resolution improve reach?

Not directly. Watchability improves reach. A sharp 1080p video that hooks people beats a 4K video that bores them. Spend your effort on the first three seconds, not the pixel count.

Pin this page, film vertical, and keep your text in the middle. Then let a scheduler carry the file the rest of the way. Try Plumefy free and turn one export into eleven posts.