Social video specs 2026
YouTube Shorts size, length and specs 2026
A YouTube Short can be up to 3 minutes long, in a square or vertical frame; 1080×1920 (9:16) is the usual size. A video wider than square is not treated as a Short. Uploads from the mobile app top out at 1080p.
- 1080×1920 (9:16) or squaresize
- 3 minlength
- 8 of 10specs from an official help page
What aspect ratio is a YouTube Short?
Square or vertical. 9:16 fills the screen. Anything wider than square (such as 16:9) is not a Short.
Official: YouTube Help: Shorts up to 3 minutes.
What resolution should a YouTube Short be?
1080×1920 is common practice. No minimum is published. Mobile-app uploads go up to 1080p.
Official: YouTube Help: create Shorts.
How long can a YouTube Short be?
Up to 3 minutes, recorded or uploaded. No minimum.
Shorts longer than 1 minute with an active Content ID claim are blocked worldwide.
Official: YouTube Help: Shorts up to 3 minutes.
What is the file size limit for a YouTube Short?
256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less (the YouTube-wide limit).
Official: YouTube Help: upload limits.
What frame rate should a YouTube Short use?
Upload at the frame rate you recorded. Common: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60.
Official: YouTube Help: recommended encoding.
Which file types and codecs does YouTube accept?
MP4 with H.264 video and AAC-LC or Opus audio recommended. MOV, MPEG-4, AVI, WMV, FLV and others are accepted.
Official: YouTube Help: recommended encoding.
How long can the caption be on YouTube?
Title 100 characters. Description 5,000 characters. More than 60 hashtags and YouTube ignores all of them.
Official: YouTube Help: titles and descriptions.
What size is the YouTube Shorts cover or thumbnail?
Custom Shorts thumbnail: 2160×3840 (9:16), at least 640 px high, JPG or PNG, up to 50 MB. Only in YouTube Studio on a computer, on a verified account.
Official: YouTube Help: custom thumbnails.
What is the safe zone for a YouTube Short?
On a 1080×1920 frame, keep text and faces inside a 670×1333 px box: 230 px from the top, 357 px from the bottom, 135 px from the left and 275 px from the right.
The margins include the 9% each side that a tall phone screen crops off a 9:16 video. See "How we measured the safe zones".
What YouTube publishes: Ads only: on 1080×1920, keep 288 px clear at the top, 672 px at the bottom, 48 px on the left and 192 px on the right.
Read from the diagram labels. Google publishes no safe zone for organic Shorts.
Official (ads spec): Google: YouTube universal ad safe zones (PDF).
Questions
How long can a YouTube Short be, and what size?
A YouTube Short can be up to 3 minutes long, in a square or vertical frame; 1080×1920 (9:16) is the usual size. A video wider than square is not treated as a Short. Uploads from the mobile app top out at 1080p.
How long can a YouTube Short be?
Up to 3 minutes, recorded or uploaded. No minimum.
What aspect ratio is a YouTube Short?
Square or vertical. 9:16 fills the screen. Anything wider than square (such as 16:9) is not a Short.
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Where do these numbers come from?
YouTube's own help, developer and ads pages, each opened on 2 October 2026. Every value says which kind of page it came from. The safe zone is measured by Slice.
n = 10 specs, 9 with an official source link. Last updated 2 October 2026.
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Other platforms
- TikTok video size and specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Instagram Reels size and specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Instagram Story size and specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Instagram feed video size and specs 1080×1920 (9:16); 4:5 and 1:1 accepted
- YouTube video size and specs 1920×1080 or 3840×2160 (16:9)
- Facebook Reels and video specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- LinkedIn video size and specs 1:2.4 to 2.4:1, up to 4096×2304
- X (Twitter) video size and specs 1280×720 or 720×1280
- Snapchat Spotlight video specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Pinterest video Pin size and specs 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Threads video size and specs 9:16, up to 1920 px wide