The last thing you want is for TikTok to scale down or cut off your video content.
Follow this cheat sheet of TikTok dimensions and our tips to find the best file size, video length, and file format for your next video.
TikTok Video Specs for High-Quality Videos
Has your video ever looked perfect on your phone, but once you posted it, it looked pixelated, distorted, or cut off? To avoid TikTok converting your video to its specs with potential technical problems, convert your videos to the right size before you upload them.
Don’t worry, optimizing your videos for TikTok is easier than you think. Here are the TikTok best practices for video file size, dimensions, and length.
What size are TikTok videos?
When we say TikTok video size, there are a few things we might mean. One size meaning is video dimensions and resolution. Classic TikTok video dimensions and resolution are 1080 by 1920 pixels, the standard portrait size of most smartphones. Videos filmed within TikTok automatically use this canvas size, but you can use TikTok’s Intelligent Optimization Tool or an online video editor to resize to these dimensions.
Another size meaning is the file size, which is measured in megabytes (MB). Android’s maximum file size for newsfeed videos is capped at 72 MB, while Apple’s is 287.76 MB. TikTok video ads have a larger maximum size at 500 MB.
TikTok Video Dimensions: Portrait or Landscape?
Portrait is the ideal TikTok video format since the platform is designed for viewing on your phone! 😎
While you can post a landscape video, we don’t recommend it. Portrait allows you to maximize every pixel of space on a smartphone screen to engage people’s attention.
How long can videos be on TikTok?
The maximum length for a TikTok video is three minutes.
How long are TikToks ideally? Just because you can post up to 180 seconds of content, though, doesn’t mean you should. The TikTok algorithm penalizes you for posting too many videos with a high drop-off rate.
Make every second count by trimming your video to make sure that your entire video is compelling, or your viewers will keep on scrolling.
What’s the best file format for TikTok?
TikTok supports both .MP4 and .MOV file formats, but .MP4 is the more universal format and the best for TikTok.
While both work well on TikTok and the viewer won’t be able to tell a difference, there are a few reasons why you may want to use .MP4 over .MOV. MOV is the native file format for Apple and tends to have a larger file size. Using .MOV files might mean more work for you resizing the video before uploading or converting it to share it with someone.
TikTok Video Ad Specs
With more than one billion people worldwide on the platform, TikTok is a smart advertising investment for brands and content creators. If you’re going to spend the money for ad placement (they’re not cheap!), make sure that you’ve got the optimal TikTok format to get the best ROI for your ad spend.
One other important thing to note for TikTok ads is that they must have background music or sound enabled. Even with sound, it’s smart to add captions and text to capture the attention of scrollers with their sound off.
Brands and content creators that want to advertise on TikTok have two options for video ad formats: in-feed video ads and newsfeed video ads.
In-Feed TikTok Video Ads
The main way that people see ads is in their feed as they scroll, known as standard ads or in-feed TikTok video ads. TikTok’s algorithm places paid in-feed video ads between content from people you follow.
Because it’s placed in the feed, in-feed TikTok ad specs are similar to an organic newsfeed video. Advertisers are allowed a higher quality of video (up to 500 MB) and can also post .MPEG and .AVI files.
An in-feed video ad includes the video creative, ad display image, brand or app name, and ad description.
While 1:1 and 16:9 aspect ratios are accepted, as a best practice you should film your video in portrait (9:16 or 720 x 1280 pixels) so it fills as much of the screen as possible.
In-feed video ads shouldn’t have a traditional ad feel. Create your ad to feel like an organic piece of content for viewers scrolling through their feeds. People are much more likely to interact when they’re being entertained or informed rather than interrupted.
For best results, in-feed TikTok video ads should be between five and 16 seconds long.
Newsfeed TikTok Video Ads
Newsfeed TikTok video ads are sponsored content that appear in specialized placements. TikTok has created these opportunities for advertising through partnerships with BuzzVideo, TopBuzz, News Republic, and Babe.
These ads are composed of the video creative, brand or app name, and ad description and can appear in several different placements:
- Recommended news feed under the Discover tab in TikTok
- Details page ads that display on a video or article page underneath the content
- Post-video ads that populate after a played video ends
For best results, in-feed TikTok video ads should be between five and 60 seconds long.
Ready to edit and resize your next TikTok video?
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