Vertical video size for TikTok, Reels and Shorts: one export for all three

Key takeaways

• Export at 1080 × 1920 (9:16), MP4, 30 frames a second: every platform’s minimum is met and one file serves all three.
• YouTube counts a square or vertical video of up to three minutes as a Short; Instagram says Reels over three minutes are not recommended to new audiences.
• A larger file is accepted but rarely looks better on a phone.
• The size is only the canvas: keep words out of the top 290 px and the bottom 672 px, where the interface sits.

What size should a vertical video be?

1080 × 1920 pixels, which is a 9:16 shape, saved as an MP4 at 30 frames a second. That one file is accepted by TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and it’s the size RapidCreate makes its vertical videos at.

If you only wanted the answer, that’s it. The rest of this guide is what each platform says in its own documentation, where the limits are, and the one thing a size alone doesn’t tell you.

What does each platform accept?

All three take 9:16 and MP4. They differ at the edges: how small, how large, how long.

A table like this hides where each figure comes from, and it matters, because the platforms publish their numbers in different places.

TikTok states its sizes in its advertising and developer documentation, not in its help pages for ordinary posts. The ads specification recommends vertical 9:16 at 540 × 960 or larger (TikTok Ads Manager, TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads, updated June 2026). The developer guide for posting accepts MP4, WebM and MOV, between 360 and 4096 px on a side, at 23 to 60 frames a second (TikTok for Developers, Media Transfer Guide).

Instagram says a Reel must have an “aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16”, with a “minimum frame rate of 30 FPS” and a “minimum resolution of 720 pixels” (Instagram Help Center, Reel size and aspect ratios on Instagram).

YouTube defines a Short by its shape and length: a “square or vertical aspect ratio up to three minutes” (YouTube Help, Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts). The pixel sizes come from its ads documentation, which recommends 1080 × 1920 for vertical video and sets 720 × 1280 as the minimum (Google Ads Help, About video ad specs).

Put together, 1080 × 1920 at 30 frames a second clears every minimum, and it is the size YouTube recommends by name.

Does a bigger file look better?

Not in a way most viewers will see. Larger sizes are accepted: Meta’s advertising guide lists 1440 × 2560 for Reels ads (Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels), and TikTok’s developer guide goes up to 4096 px.

But a short video is watched on a phone, held upright, usually for under a minute. A file twice the size takes longer to export and to upload, for a difference that’s hard to find on a screen that small.

Where quality is really won or lost is earlier. Sharp source footage, good light and text large enough to read do more for how a video looks than any export setting.

How long can it be?

Longer than it should be. YouTube counts videos of up to three minutes as Shorts. Instagram lets you record far longer Reels, but says that “Reels over 3 minutes won’t be recommended to new audiences” (Instagram Help Center, Record a reel on Instagram). TikTok’s ads specification allows up to 10 minutes.

So if a video is meant for all three, and meant to reach people who don’t follow you yet, three minutes is the outer limit. Most short videos have no business going near it. Fifteen to sixty seconds covers nearly everything worth saying in one take. How long a video script should be turns those lengths into word counts.

What about square and 4:5?

They’re for the feed, not for the full-screen player. A vertical 9:16 video fills a phone held upright, which is how TikTok, Reels and Shorts are all watched. A square or 4:5 video shows with bars above and below it, or cropped.

Reels will accept anything from 1.91:1 to 9:16, and a Short can be square. Accepting isn’t the same as suiting. If the video is going into the short-video player, make it 9:16.

Turning a wide video into a vertical one is a re-edit, not a resize. The subject has to be reframed shot by shot, and any text has to be laid out again for the taller shape. Stretching or letterboxing a 16:9 video into 9:16 is the quickest way to make it look like it doesn’t belong.

What a size doesn’t tell you

Where you can put things. A 1080 × 1920 frame is the canvas, but the platform draws its own interface over a good part of it: a bar at the top, your caption at the bottom, a column of buttons on the right.

On a video meant for all three platforms, the top 290 px and the bottom 672 px are best kept free of words. That leaves about half the height for anything a viewer has to read. The picture can still run to every edge.

This catches more people than any size setting does. A video exported at exactly the right dimensions, with its captions along the bottom edge, will have them covered the moment it’s posted. The safe zones guide has the margins for each platform, and the safe zone checker will show them over your own video.

The export checklist

Before you upload, check six things:

1. Shape: 9:16, upright.
2. Size: 1080 × 1920.
3. Frame rate: 30 a second, or 60 if you filmed at 60.
4. File: MP4.
5. Length: under three minutes, and ideally well under one.
6. Words: clear of the top 290 px and the bottom 672 px.

Sources

• TikTok Ads Manager help, TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads, updated June 2026, retrieved 12 October 2026: ads.tiktok.com/help/article/tiktok-auction-in-feed-ads
• TikTok for Developers, Media Transfer Guide, retrieved 12 October 2026: developers.tiktok.com
• Instagram Help Center, Reel size and aspect ratios on Instagram, retrieved 12 October 2026: help.instagram.com/1038071743007909
• Instagram Help Center, Record a reel on Instagram, retrieved 12 October 2026: help.instagram.com/2720958398006062
• YouTube Help, Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts, retrieved 12 October 2026: support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877
• Google Ads Help, About video ad specs, retrieved 12 October 2026: support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13547298
• Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels (video ad specs), retrieved 12 October 2026: facebook.com/business/ads-guide

Questions

What size is a TikTok video?

1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 shape, is the standard. TikTok’s ads specification recommends vertical 9:16 at 540 × 960 or larger, and its developer guide accepts between 360 and 4096 px on a side.

What size is an Instagram Reel?

1080 × 1920 pixels at 9:16 fills the screen. Instagram accepts any aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, at 30 frames a second or more and at least 720 pixels.

What size is a YouTube Short?

A Short is a square or vertical video of up to three minutes. For vertical video, Google’s ad specifications recommend 1080 × 1920 and set 720 × 1280 as the minimum.

Can I post the same video to TikTok, Reels and Shorts?

Yes. A 1080 × 1920 MP4 at 30 frames a second, under three minutes long, meets all three platforms’ requirements. Keep the words inside the combined safe zone so none of them covers your text.