TikTok photo carousels: size, limits and how to make one

Key takeaways

• A TikTok photo post holds up to 35 images, which advance on their own and can be swiped.
• Design at 1080 × 1920 (9:16). A 4:5 slide from Instagram does not fill the screen.
• The interface sits over the picture: keep words out of the top 150 px, the bottom 484 px and the right-hand 180 px.
• Add a sound when you post, and write a caption that adds to the slides.

What is a TikTok photo carousel?

A post made of still images that a viewer swipes through, set to a sound. TikTok calls it Photo Mode. When it launched the feature, TikTok described it as a way to “share carousel posts of still images that automatically display one after another”, which viewers “can swipe through at their own pace” (TikTok Newsroom, Inspiring creativity with our new editing tools, October 2022).

Those two phrases explain how it differs from a carousel elsewhere. The slides advance on their own, like a slideshow, so a viewer who does nothing still sees them all. And the viewer can also take over and swipe, so nothing is lost if they want to read slowly.

It sits in the same feed as video and looks like one: full screen, upright, with the same buttons down the right-hand side. That shapes everything about how you design for it.

How many photos can you add?

Up to 35. TikTok’s developer documentation describes a photo post as “an array containing up to 35 photo content URLs” (TikTok for Developers, Photo).

You’ll rarely want that many. A photo carousel is read at the pace of a short video, and the same five to eight slides that work on Instagram work here. Use more only when each slide is a single picture with a few words, such as a set of outfits or a list of places.

What size should the slides be?

1080 × 1920 pixels, the upright 9:16 shape of a phone screen. A slide that shape fills the screen exactly, as a video does.

TikTok’s guide for apps that post on a creator’s behalf sets the upper limit at 1080p, accepts JPEG and WebP images, and allows up to 20 MB for each one (TikTok for Developers, Media Transfer Guide). A 1080 × 1920 JPEG sits comfortably inside all three.

What about slides you’ve already made for Instagram? A 4:5 slide isn’t the shape of the screen, so it can’t fill it. It’s shown smaller than it could be, with empty bands above and below, and the buttons still sit over its right-hand edge. A carousel worth posting to TikTok is worth laying out again at 9:16.

Where can the text go?

Inside the safe zone, exactly as on a video. This is the part people coming from Instagram miss. An Instagram carousel has nothing drawn over the picture. A TikTok photo post has the whole interface on top of it: the tabs at the top, your caption and the sound at the bottom, the buttons on the right.

On a 1080 × 1920 slide, that means keeping words out of the top 150 pixels, the bottom 484 and the right-hand 180 beside the buttons. Drop one of your slides into the checker to see:

Top barCaption and soundButtons

Platform

TikTokReelsShortsAll three

Choose a video or image

Or drop a file on the phone. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.

TikTok margins at 1080 × 1920

Edge	Pixels	Share of the frame
Top	150 px	8%
Bottom	484 px	25%
Left	60 px	6%
Right, beside the buttons	180 px	17%
Buttons start, from the top	800 px	42%

Download the overlay as a PNG

The practical effect is that a TikTok slide has less usable room than its size suggests. About two thirds of the height is yours for text. Set the headline in the upper middle, keep body text short, and leave the bottom quarter to the picture. The safe zones guide has the full margins.

Does it need music?

In practice, yes. A photo post plays to a sound, and a slideshow in silence feels unfinished in a feed where everything else has audio. For adverts TikTok makes it a rule: its carousel ad specification says “Music is a must” (TikTok for Business, Specifications for Carousel Ads, updated September 2026).

Choose the sound when you post, from inside TikTok, not before. Pick one that suits the pace of the slides: something calm for a list people will read, something with a beat for a run of pictures.

How do you make one?

Six steps, and the first is the one that matters.

1. Design at 9:16 from the start. 1080 × 1920, not a resized square.
2. Give each slide one idea. A headline and, at most, a line or two. The slides move on their own, so a viewer may get only a few seconds with each.
3. Keep the words in the safe zone. Upper middle for the headline; nothing important in the bottom quarter or under the buttons.
4. Make the first slide a hook. It’s what appears in the feed. It should say what the carousel is and why to stay. The first slide covers how.
5. Export the slides as JPEGs, numbered in order.
6. Post them from TikTok. Select the images in order when you upload, choose the photo option if TikTok offers a choice between photo and video, then add a sound and your caption.

How is it different from an Instagram carousel?

In four ways that change the design.

The last two rows matter most. Because the slides advance by themselves, each one has to be readable quickly. Because the interface sits over the picture, a third of each slide isn’t available for words.

So a carousel moved from Instagram to TikTok needs fewer words per slide, larger type and a different layout. It doesn’t need a new idea. The hook, the points and the close can stay exactly as they were.

RapidCreate’s Post Studio handles the move as an export. A carousel designed at 4:5 can be exported for TikTok photo mode, which lays the same slides out again at 9:16, saves them as numbered JPEGs and writes a caption file to go with them. It stops at 35 slides, TikTok’s own limit.

Which mistakes come up most?

• Posting 4:5 slides unchanged. They don’t fill the screen, and the interface covers their edges.
• Text in the bottom quarter. It ends up under the caption.
• Text hard against the right edge. It ends up under the buttons.
• Too many words. The slide may move on before they’re read.
• No sound. Add one when you post.
• A weak first slide. It’s the only one in the feed.

Sources

• TikTok Newsroom, Inspiring creativity with our new editing tools, 6 October 2022, retrieved 12 October 2026: newsroom.tiktok.com
• TikTok for Developers, Photo (Content Posting API reference), retrieved 12 October 2026: developers.tiktok.com
• TikTok for Developers, Media Transfer Guide, retrieved 12 October 2026: developers.tiktok.com
• TikTok for Business, Specifications for Carousel Ads, updated September 2026, retrieved 12 October 2026: ads.tiktok.com
• The safe zone margins are measured from TikTok’s layout and are the ones RapidCreate lays its own posts out with.

Questions

What is a TikTok photo carousel?

A post of still images, called Photo Mode, that display one after another to a sound. Viewers can also swipe through them at their own pace.

What size is a TikTok photo carousel?

1080 × 1920 pixels, the upright 9:16 shape of a phone screen, so each slide fills the screen as a video does.

How many photos can a TikTok carousel have?

Up to 35, according to TikTok’s developer documentation. Five to eight is enough for most posts.

Can I post my Instagram carousel on TikTok?

You can, but it will not fill the screen and the buttons will sit over its edge. Lay the slides out again at 9:16, with fewer words and the text inside TikTok’s safe zone.