Video specs by platform

Export vertical video at 1080×1920 (9:16) as an H.264 MP4: it fills the screen on every short-form app and sits above each platform's minimums. The details differ: YouTube counts square or vertical videos up to 3 minutes as Shorts (see YouTube Shorts size and length), TikTok gives every creator 3 minutes (see TikTok video size and dimensions), and Instagram accepts ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16 (see Instagram Reels dimensions and length). Snapchat has its own rules for Spotlight video size and length. Keep captions clear of the buttons with the YouTube Shorts safe zone, and if an upload looks soft, work through why your Instagram video is blurry.

YouTube accepts 15 minutes by default and up to 12 hours or 256 GB once the account is verified; the YouTube video length limit guide explains the verification step. For quality, follow the best export settings for YouTube: H.264 MP4 at your original frame rate and a bitrate that matches the resolution. The rest of the upload has limits too: YouTube character limits for titles and descriptions, YouTube thumbnail size, how to make a YouTube thumbnail for free, how to download a YouTube thumbnail in HD, adding chapters and timestamps, multi-language audio tracks and how long a YouTube intro should be.

These feeds accept far shorter or smaller files than YouTube, so check the cap before you export. LinkedIn video specs allow 15-minute posts and favour 4:5 or square in the feed. The X (Twitter) video length limit is 140 seconds on a free account and much longer on paid plans. The Threads video length limit is 5 minutes, the Bluesky video length limit is 10 minutes and 300 MB, and Pinterest video size runs from 4 seconds to 15 minutes, with 2:3 matching a standard Pin. For Stories, see Instagram Story video length and size; for hosting, Vimeo upload limits by plan.

Ad placements have their own specs, usually stricter on file size and more specific about shape than organic posts. Facebook video ad specs cover every Meta placement, with 4:5 for Feed and 9:16 for Stories and Reels. TikTok ad specs set a lower file cap than regular posts, and YouTube ad specs list lengths and sizes by ad format. A practical approach is two masters, one vertical and one 4:5 or 16:9, cut to the shortest length you plan to run. For B2B campaigns, LinkedIn video ad specs are the strictest of all: MP4 only, 500 MB and under 30 fps.

Messaging apps and email limit file size, not length, so the fix is to compress or send a link. The WhatsApp video size limit is 2 GB per file, and the Telegram video size limit is 2 GB, or 4 GB with Premium. Discord is much tighter: see how to compress a video for Discord's file size limit. Email is tightest of all, so learn how to compress a video for Gmail and Outlook. For a video on your own site, embedding a video on a website avoids attachments altogether.