The four shapes
| Shape | Size in pixels | Mostly used for |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9, wide | 1920 × 1080 | YouTube, websites, Product Hunt, presentations |
| 9:16, tall | 1080 × 1920 | Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Stories |
| 1:1, square | 1080 × 1080 | LinkedIn and X feeds, some ads |
| 4:5, portrait | 1080 × 1350 | Instagram and Facebook feeds |
If you only make two, make 16:9 and 9:16. They cover your website, YouTube and every short-video app. Add 1:1 or 4:5 when you post in feeds, where a taller-than-wide video takes up more of a phone screen than a wide one.
1080 pixels on the short side is the sensible target for all four. Higher resolutions make larger files without looking better on a phone, and every platform re-encodes your upload anyway.
Platform by platform
| Platform | Best shape | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 16:9 | 1920 × 1080 or larger. Add a custom thumbnail. |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 or 1:1 | Up to three minutes. |
| Instagram Reels | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920. Up to three minutes. |
| Instagram feed | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 shows largest in the feed. |
| 4:5 in the feed, 9:16 for Reels | Square also works well in the feed. | |
| TikTok | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920. A wide video plays with bars above and below. |
| 1:1 or 4:5 in the feed, 16:9 also fine | Accepts anything from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1, from 3 seconds to 15 minutes. | |
| X | 16:9 or 1:1 | Most accounts can post up to 2 minutes 20 seconds. |
| Your website | 16:9, or the shape of your hero | Use a poster image so the player never shows a black box. |
| Product Hunt | 16:9 on YouTube | The gallery takes YouTube links only, and the video must not be private. |
| App Store | Device-sized, e.g. 886 × 1920 on the largest iPhones | 15 to 30 seconds, at most 30 frames per second, up to 500 MB. |
| Google Play | Landscape or portrait, on YouTube | Public or unlisted, ads turned off, not age-restricted, embeddable. |
Platforms change their limits every year or two, so check the help page of the one you are launching on. The shapes themselves have been stable for years.
What the apps draw over a tall video
The part most people miss is that Reels, Shorts and TikTok do not show your 9:16 video on its own. They draw the account name, the caption text and the sound name along the bottom, and a column of buttons (like, comment, share) down the right-hand side. Anything you put there is covered for most viewers.
As a rule of thumb, keep text and the important part of your interface:
- out of the bottom fifth of the frame, where names and captions sit;
- out of the right-hand edge in the lower half, where the buttons are;
- a little below the very top, where some apps show tabs or a search bar.
ShotDemo lays out every 9:16 video with this in mind: on a 1080 × 1920 canvas, screens and cards end above row 1500 and stay clear of the button column, and its Studio draws those zones so you can see them while you edit.
Why cropping the wide video is not enough
The quick way to make a tall video is to take the wide one and cut a narrow slice out of the middle. For a talking head that works. For a product it usually does not: a desktop screenshot is wide, and the slice keeps a third of it, often cutting the very button or number the voice is talking about. The captions get cut too, or end up under the platform's buttons.
A tall version of a product video needs its own layout: the screen placed where it will be seen, the camera following the feature each line mentions, and captions in a row of their own. For web apps that have a mobile layout, the tall video can show the phone version of each page instead of a slice of the desktop one, which reads far better on a phone. ShotDemo does this when it captures a website: it takes each page at desktop width and again at phone width.
Frame rate, file type and sound
- File type: MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio plays everywhere. Keep a high-quality master and let each platform compress its own copy.
- Frame rate: 30 frames per second is plenty for software screens, and the App Store accepts no more than that. Screen recordings with fast scrolling can benefit from 60.
- Loudness: YouTube, Reels and TikTok turn loud videos down to a common level, about -14 LUFS by most measurements. Mastering your soundtrack to that level means your video is not quieter than the one before it.
- Captions: burn captions into the picture for feeds that start muted, and keep a subtitle file for YouTube and LinkedIn. Our captions guide covers both.
Thumbnails and first frames
On YouTube, your website and Product Hunt, the still image before the video plays does much of the selling. Pick a frame that shows the product doing something, with a caption visible, rather than the logo card at the start or the call to action at the end. In feeds that autoplay, the first second plays the same role: open on the product, not on a slow fade from black.
App stores are a special case
Apple's App Store has the strictest rules. Its review guidelines say app previews may only use video screen captures of the app itself; you may add narration and text or video overlays to explain what is on screen. A marketing video with device frames, title cards and camera moves around screenshots is likely to be rejected there. For the App Store, record the app on a device or simulator, trim it to 15 to 30 seconds and export it at the size Apple lists for each device.
Google Play is looser: the preview is a YouTube link, in landscape or portrait, so a regular product video can work, as long as the first thirty seconds make the point on their own.
Use a product video like the one ShotDemo makes for everywhere else: your website, Product Hunt, YouTube, social feeds and ads.
A quick recipe
- Plan the wide 16:9 version first; it is the one you will use most.
- Make the tall 9:16 version with its own layout, keeping the bottom fifth and the right edge clear.
- Add 1:1 or 4:5 if you post in LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook feeds.
- Make a fifteen-second cut of each for ads and quick posts.
- Export MP4 at 1080 on the short side, 30 frames per second, with captions burned in and a subtitle file beside it.
For how long each version should run, see how long a product demo video should be.