Facebook Video Ad Specs for 2026: Feed, Reels, Stories

Facebook video ad specs depend on the placement. As of October 26, 2026, Meta's Ads Guide recommends a 4:5 video at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook Feed, and a 9:16 vertical video for Facebook Reels, Facebook Stories, Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories and Instagram Feed. Every placement accepts files up to 4GB, and Meta lists captions and sound as optional but recommended. In practice, build at least a 9:16 and a 4:5 version of each ad, and keep text and logos inside the safe zone so the app interface does not cover them.

How we checked. Every spec here comes from Meta's own Ads Guide, Business Help Center and Meta for Business pages, read on October 26, 2026. Meta can change these pages at any time, and they do not always agree with each other, so we flag the differences we found.

What are the Facebook video ad specs for each placement?

Meta publishes video specs one placement at a time in its Ads Guide. The pages we checked are labeled for the Awareness objective, so if you run a different objective, switch the selector on the page and check again.

Each value comes from that placement's Ads Guide page, checked October 26, 2026. The Instagram Feed safe-zone entry comes from Meta's help page on text overlays and safe zones, which says 9:16 video ads in Instagram Feed use the same guidance as Reels and Stories.

Two details in the table are easy to miss. First, Instagram Feed favors vertical video for video ads. Meta's table of aspect ratios supported by placement marks 4:5 as recommended for Instagram Feed images and 9:16 as recommended for Instagram Feed videos (checked October 26, 2026). Second, Facebook Feed recommends 4:5 for both images and video, and the same page notes that on the computer version of Facebook Feed a video is shown at 1:1, which can add black bars on either side.

Which technical settings apply to every placement?

The encoding settings repeat across most of Meta's placement pages (the Instagram Feed page lists only the file container rule). As of October 2026, the Ads Guide recommends:

• H.264 compression, square pixels, a fixed frame rate and progressive scan
• Stereo AAC audio compression at 128kbps or higher
• No edit lists or special boxes in the file container
• A maximum file size of 4GB

The published minimums are low. Facebook Feed lists a minimum of 120 x 120 pixels. Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories list a 250-pixel minimum width, and Instagram Reels asks for 250 pixels for ads under 30 seconds and 500 pixels for ads of 30 seconds or longer. The Stories and Instagram Feed pages also list a 1% aspect ratio tolerance, so export at the exact ratio you intend rather than something close to it.

Meeting the minimum is not the same as looking sharp. Meta's video upload troubleshooting guide says the most common reason videos do not render correctly is size, asks for a minimum width of 600 pixels, and warns that small video files may appear pixelated. The same guide says MP4, MOV and GIF files work best, though most file types are supported. Export at the recommended resolution (1440 x 2560 for vertical, 1440 x 1800 for 4:5) and let Meta scale down, not up.

What are the Instagram video ad specs?

All three main Instagram video placements recommend vertical 9:16 video: Feed at 1080 x 1920 pixels, and Reels and Stories at 1440 x 2560 pixels (Ads Guide, checked October 26, 2026). A few details are specific to Instagram. Instagram Reels accepts only MP4 or MOV, while Facebook Reels also takes GIF, and both Reels pages list sound as "optional, but strongly recommended." Instagram Feed allows up to 30 hashtags.

The Instagram Reels page also lists what a Reels ad should not contain: Reels published before October 15, 2021, licensed music (Meta suggests original audio or royalty-free music from its Sound Collection), media with a face or camera effect, a GIF or product tags, and files with edit lists or special boxes. If you plan to turn an organic Reel with a popular track into an ad, check the audio first.

If you are deciding who should run your Instagram placements, our Instagram ads agency guide covers what to ask about Reels and Stories.

Which aspect ratios should you export?

Export for the placements in your plan, not every ratio by habit. Meta's page on best practices for aspect ratios (checked October 26, 2026) recommends 9:16 for Stories, Status and Reels because most people hold their phones vertically. Combined with the placement table above, that adds up to these masters:

If you skip a version, Ads Manager fills the gap. The same best-practices page says that when you do not provide all four aspect ratio variations, the system uses padding, media expansion, cropping and AI-enabled features, and it advises reviewing auto-generated crops before publishing. It also says cropping alone won't restrict delivery: to keep an asset out of a placement, use placement opt-outs. Meta's About video ads page adds that the same video can serve multiple placements and ratios through asset customization in Ads Manager.

A vertical version works best when it is recomposed rather than center-cropped from a horizontal shoot. Reframe the presenter and product, enlarge the type, and move captions into the safe zone. A 4:5 feed version often needs a clearer first frame, because it sits among other posts instead of filling the screen.

The case for vertical video with sound comes from Meta itself. Its Reels ads page says Reels default to sound on, and reports 34.5% lower cost per result compared with image ads for campaigns that used 9:16 video ads with audio and key messages in the safe zone, based on a meta-analysis of 15 split tests of Reels-only campaigns (checked October 26, 2026).

How do safe zones work in Reels and Stories ads?

As of October 26, 2026, the Reels and Stories pages in Meta's Ads Guide say to leave roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and other key creative elements. Elements outside that area can be cropped or covered by the profile icon or call-to-action. Meta's help page on text overlays and safe zones adds four details:

• On screens taller than 9:16, Meta may zoom the creative to fill the screen, which can crop areas outside the safe zone, or show it at 9:16 on a black background.
• If a Reels ad includes a disclaimer, leave the bottom 40% free of text, logos and other key elements.
• For Instagram Feed ads in 1:1 or 4:5, keep the bottom and side edges clear.
• Ads Manager has a Safe zone guardrail toggle that shows the safe area inside a yellow overlay on your creative.

Converted to pixels (our arithmetic, rounded), the margins look like this:

• At 1440 x 2560: keep the top 358 pixels, the bottom 896 pixels and 86 pixels on each side clear. With a disclaimer on a Reels ad, the bottom margin grows to 1,024 pixels.
• At 1080 x 1920: keep the top 269 pixels, the bottom 672 pixels and 65 pixels on each side clear.

Place burned-in captions just above the bottom margin and keep logos, prices and product names in the middle band. Check each version in the Ads Manager preview with the guardrail switched on.

How long should a Facebook or Instagram video ad be?

Meta's limits are long; its advice is short. Meta's video length specifications page says shorter videos are usually more engaging on mobile, and lists Facebook in-stream video at 5 seconds to 10 minutes on mobile and 5 to 15 seconds on desktop. For in-stream ads, Meta's video ad format page generally recommends a 15-second maximum (checked October 26, 2026).

Stories change how a long ad plays. Facebook Stories show video ads of 15 seconds or less for their full duration and split longer ones into cards, showing one, two or three before the viewer can tap Play Full. Instagram Stories play videos under 16 seconds in full and may split longer ones into one, two or three cards. A call to action at second 25 may land on a card some viewers never see.

Three working lengths cover most briefs:

• 6 seconds: one outcome, one proof cue, the brand.
• 15 seconds: hook, product, demonstration, call to action.
• 30 seconds: context, promise, proof, objection or offer, call to action.

Do not squeeze a 30-second script into 15 seconds. Rewrite the idea for the shorter length. Our video ad hooks framework covers the opening seconds, which carry the most weight at every length.

What text limits apply to the copy around a video ad?

The copy that runs with the video has its own recommended lengths. These come from the same Ads Guide pages, checked October 26, 2026:

Write the key line to fit the shortest placement you run. Two more notes from Meta's pages affect where the message should live:

• Some goals hide the ad footer. The Facebook Feed page says that with the Awareness objective, or performance goals such as Maximize reach of ads, Maximize 2-second continuous video views, Maximize number of impressions or Maximize engagement with a post, the headline, description and call-to-action button are not displayed on Facebook Feed on mobile. If the offer only lives in the headline, put it in the video too.
• Facebook Reels has no auto captioning. The Facebook Reels page lists "Support for auto captioning: No." If you want captions there, add them in the edit.

Why do Meta's own spec pages disagree?

We found three differences between Meta's pages on October 26, 2026:

• Facebook Stories length. The Ads Guide lists 1 second to 3 minutes. The Help Center's video length page lists 1 to 120 seconds.
• Maximum duration. The Ads Guide and video length page list 241 minutes for Facebook Feed. The troubleshooting guide says the maximum varies across placements "from 15 seconds to 240 minutes."
• Minimum width. The placement pages list 120 or 250 pixels. The troubleshooting guide asks for 600 pixels for a video to render correctly.

None of these matters for a normal 15 to 60 second ad exported at the recommended resolution. They matter when a team works from a spec sheet copied from a single page. Use the Ads Guide page for your exact placement and objective, then confirm the result in the Ads Manager preview.

What should you check before uploading?

Run the same short list on every file before it goes to the media buyer:

• Ads Guide specs for each placement checked and dated in the brief
• 9:16 and 4:5 versions recomposed, not only cropped
• Text, logos and captions inside the safe zone in the Ads Manager preview
• Audio cleared for ads, with original or royalty-free audio (no licensed music) in Reels ads
• Offer, claims and any disclaimer correct, with the bottom 40% clear on Reels ads that carry a disclaimer
• A landing page that matches the promise in the ad

Our video ad approval workflow shows how to give each check a named owner, and our video ad campaign brief template puts the placements in the brief before production starts.

How Knowlify can help

Knowlify (YC S25) is a done-for-you AI ads agency for Facebook and Instagram. Our team makes AI UGC, 3D character animation and AI commercial video ads, about 25 finished ads a week (about 100 a month) in weekly batches. We write the scripts, and a person checks every ad before delivery. Our UGC-style ads use AI presenters, not real human creators.

You can choose end-to-end Meta ads, with creative plus campaign management in your own Meta ad account, or creative-only support if you already have a media buyer. Either way, you keep the ads. Our video ad production page explains the service. Pricing is a custom quote on a 30-minute call, the first batch arrives five days after kickoff, and there is a 90-day guarantee (terms on knowlify.com). For finished examples, including ads for Parva and Casco, see our Facebook and Instagram video ad examples.

Knowlify is not the right fit if your ad needs a real customer or creator on camera, because our presenters are AI.

Key takeaways

• As of October 2026, Meta recommends 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook Feed and 9:16 for Reels, Stories and Instagram Feed video.
• Every placement accepts files up to 4GB. Export at the recommended resolution, not the published minimum.
• Keep text and logos out of the top 14%, bottom 35% and side 6% of vertical video, and the bottom 40% on Reels ads with a disclaimer.
• Build a recomposed 9:16 and 4:5 version of each ad instead of letting Ads Manager crop one file.
• Meta's own pages disagree on some limits, so check the Ads Guide page for your placement and objective on the day you export.

FAQ

What is the best size for a Facebook video ad?

As of October 26, 2026, Meta's Ads Guide recommends 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook Feed, and 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 pixels for Facebook Reels and Stories.

What is the maximum file size for Facebook and Instagram video ads?

4GB, for every Facebook and Instagram video placement we checked in Meta's Ads Guide on October 26, 2026.

Can I use one video for every placement?

You can, and Ads Manager will pad, expand or crop it. Meta recommends uploading a specific ratio for placements that matter, such as 9:16 for Stories, and reviewing automatic crops. A 9:16 and a 4:5 version cover most campaigns.

Do Facebook video ads need captions?

Meta lists captions as optional but recommended, and its Facebook Reels page says auto captioning is not supported there. Add captions in the edit.

How long can an Instagram Reels ad be?

Meta's Ads Guide lists 0 seconds to 15 minutes (checked October 26, 2026), but Meta also says shorter videos are usually more engaging on mobile.

References

1. Facebook Feed
2. Facebook Reels
3. Facebook Stories
4. Instagram Feed
5. Instagram Reels
6. Instagram Stories
7. text overlays and safe zones
8. aspect ratios supported by placement
9. video upload troubleshooting guide
10. Instagram ads agency guide
11. best practices for aspect ratios
12. About video ads
13. Reels ads page
14. video length specifications
15. video ad format page
16. video ad hooks framework
17. video ad approval workflow
18. video ad campaign brief
19. video ad production
20. 30-minute call
21. Facebook and Instagram video ad examples