Video Format Planner

What Video Format Should You Use for Each Platform?

Pick a platform and placement to get the right orientation, length, and file specs, including what you need for ads.

Platform Instagram Facebook TikTok YouTube LinkedIn Placement Show My Specs

Shoot Once, Use Everywhere

Most businesses can't produce a separate shoot for every placement, and they don't need to. Here's how to get the most out of one session:

Shoot horizontal (16:9) first, with room to crop. Frame your shot a little wider than you need, since it's easy to crop a horizontal frame down to vertical or square, but you can't expand a narrow frame back out. One well-framed horizontal shoot can cover standard YouTube video and LinkedIn while leaving room to crop.

Crop down for vertical and square placements. That same footage, cropped to 9:16, covers Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories, Facebook Reels, Facebook Stories, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Cropped to 1:1 or 4:5, it covers Facebook/Instagram feed ads and most LinkedIn placements.

Keep key subjects and text centered. Since the same footage may get cropped several different ways, avoid placing important elements near the edges of the frame — that gives you the most flexibility to reuse one shoot across every placement.

Safe Zones at a Glance

General guidance — exact safe zones vary slightly by platform and placement (see your results above).

A Few Things Worth Knowing

Platforms allow longer than what's recommended here. Instagram Reels can technically run up to 20 minutes and TikTok up to 60 minutes on upload, but content well past these ranges tends to get shown to fewer new viewers. These numbers reflect what performs best, not just what's technically allowed.

Vertical (9:16) is the safest default for organic, short-form content. Most platforms now prioritize vertical video in their algorithms, even on placements that historically favored horizontal.

Ads and organic content don't always follow the same rules. Paid placements often reward shorter, punchier cuts that get to the point fast and stay well within file size limits, while organic content has more room to run longer if it holds attention.

Captions should be uploaded as a separate file when possible. Most platforms accept SRT or VTT caption files alongside your video, which tends to look cleaner and is more accessible than captions burned directly into the footage. Burned-in captions are a fine backup if a separate file isn't an option.