YouTube Shorts are 1080×1920 pixels — a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio — with a maximum length of 3 minutes. TikTok and Instagram Reels use the same 1080×1920 canvas but different length and file-size caps. Below are full spec tables for all three platforms as of mid-2026, plus the safe-zone pixel margins that keep your text out from under platform UI.
Platforms revise these numbers without ceremony, so every spec here carries its date. The 1080×1920 / 9:16 canvas, at least, has been stable for years — build vertical content on it and you’re right everywhere.
The Master Spec Table
All values as of July 2026:
| Spec | YouTube Shorts | TikTok | Instagram Reels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 1080×1920 | 1080×1920 | 1080×1920 |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 (square 1:1 also qualifies) | 9:16 | 9:16 (cropped ~4:5 in home feed) |
| Max length | 3 min | 10 min in-app; up to 60 min uploads on select accounts | 3 min in-app; longer uploads accepted (up to ~20 min) |
| Max file size | Standard YouTube limits (up to 256 GB) | ~287.6 MB mobile; 4 GB via TikTok Studio (web) | 4 GB |
| Container / codec | MP4, H.264 + AAC | MP4/MOV, H.264 + AAC | MP4/MOV, H.264 + AAC |
| Frame rate | 24–60fps | 30fps (60 for high motion) | 30fps recommended |
YouTube Shorts Dimensions and Length
The Shorts canvas is 1080×1920 at 9:16. Classification is automatic: any upload that is 3 minutes (180 seconds) or shorter with a square or vertical aspect ratio becomes a Short — there’s no separate upload type. The 3-minute ceiling applies to uploads from October 15, 2024 onward, per YouTube’s official documentation; before that the limit was 60 seconds. A 16:9 horizontal video never qualifies, no matter how short.
Two Shorts-specific quirks worth knowing: playback effectively tops out at 1080p, so 4K vertical uploads buy nothing on the Shorts shelf, and there’s no Shorts-specific file-size cap — the standard YouTube limits (256 GB / 12 hours for verified accounts) apply, and are irrelevant at 3 minutes.
TikTok Video Size and Limits
TikTok’s canvas is the same 1080×1920 at 9:16 — the platform that made the format the default. Length depends on how the video arrives, as of mid-2026: recording in-app allows up to 10 minutes, while pre-edited uploads can run up to 60 minutes on select accounts. File-size limits split the same way: roughly 287.6 MB uploading from a phone, but up to 4 GB through TikTok Studio on the web — which is why editors delivering high-bitrate vertical video should hand off via the web uploader, not AirDrop-to-phone.
Recommended delivery is MP4 or MOV, H.264 with AAC audio, 30fps for standard content and 60fps for fast motion.
Instagram Reels Size and Limits
Reels share the 1080×1920 / 9:16 canvas and a 4 GB file cap. Length, as of mid-2026: up to 3 minutes recording in-app, while uploaded videos can run far longer (up to roughly 20 minutes) and still post as Reels. The asterisk matters, though — Instagram deprioritizes Reels longer than 3 minutes in recommendations, so past 180 seconds you’re trading reach for runtime.
One layout quirk is unique to Instagram: the home feed shows Reels cropped to roughly 4:5 (1080×1350), slicing off the top and bottom of the 9:16 frame. Anything essential — faces, titles, product shots — should survive a center 4:5 crop.
Where Are the Safe Zones?
Every platform stacks UI on top of your video: caption and account info in a bottom-left block, engagement buttons in a right-side rail, and system UI up top. Text or logos placed there get covered. Practical margins for a 1080×1920 frame, based on each platform’s creative templates and current app layouts as of mid-2026 — treat them as baselines, not gospel, since UI shifts with app versions:
| Keep clear (1080×1920) | YouTube Shorts | TikTok | Instagram Reels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | ~120 px | ~150 px | ~220 px |
| Bottom | ~320 px | ~480 px | ~420 px |
| Right | ~180 px | ~140 px | ~130 px |
| Left | ~60 px | ~60 px | ~60 px |
TikTok’s bottom margin is the one that surprises people: captions, sound attribution, and the account row stack nearly a quarter of the frame high. If you post the same video to all three platforms, design to the union of the margins — in practice, keep all critical text and graphics inside a centered block of roughly 840×1300 px, which clears every platform’s UI plus Instagram’s 4:5 feed crop. Backgrounds and ambient motion can and should fill the full frame; the safe zone is for content that must be read, not content that must be seen.
How Do You Adapt 16:9 Motion Graphics to 9:16?
A 1920×1080 asset turned sideways doesn’t become 1080×1920 content — but most horizontal motion graphics adapt well with one of four moves:
- Scale and crop. Scale the 16:9 clip up until it fills the vertical frame (about 320%, using roughly a 607px-wide slice of it) and pan to the interesting region. This is where high-resolution sources pay off — a 4K asset survives the crop at full sharpness, the same headroom argument made in 4K vs 1080p for Motion Graphics.
- Fill, don’t fit, with textures. Overlays without a fixed composition — grain, snow, sparkles, glitch — lose nothing to cropping. Scale any overlay to fill 9:16 and it behaves as designed; the mobile-side workflow is in How to Use Video Overlays in CapCut.
- Stack a new composition. Rebuild the layout for vertical: title in the upper safe zone, subject center, looping animated background filling the frame behind both.
- Blur-pad as a last resort. The 16:9 clip centered at full width with a blurred, scaled copy filling above and below. It works, and it also reads instantly as “repurposed horizontal video.”
Whatever the route, render at 1080×1920 and mind the platform file caps — a 4K/60 vertical export can blow past TikTok’s mobile limit on its own, and reducing video file size cleanly beats letting the platform recompress aggressively.
FAQ
What are the dimensions of a YouTube Short?
1080×1920 pixels at a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio. Any video 3 minutes or shorter with a vertical or square aspect ratio is automatically treated as a Short, as of 2026; horizontal 16:9 videos never qualify.
Can a YouTube Short be longer than 3 minutes?
No — 3 minutes (180 seconds) is the hard ceiling for uploads made on or after October 15, 2024. Anything longer posts as a regular video, even if it’s vertical.
Are TikTok and Instagram Reels the same size?
Yes — both use 1080×1920 at 9:16, so one master file serves both. The differences are elsewhere: file-size caps (about 287.6 MB from mobile on TikTok versus 4 GB on Reels), length limits, safe-zone margins, and Instagram’s ~4:5 crop in the home feed.
What happens if I upload a 16:9 video as a Short or Reel?
It won’t qualify as a YouTube Short at all, and on TikTok or Instagram it displays pillarboxed — shrunk between large empty bars — where vertical UI overlays still cover parts of it. Adapt the composition to 9:16 first; scale-and-crop or a vertical re-layout almost always beats posting letterboxed.
What resolution should I render vertical video at?
1080×1920. It’s the native display size on all three platforms as of 2026, and Shorts playback tops out at 1080p regardless. Rendering at 4K vertical (2160×3840) only helps as a working master for future crops and zooms — deliver the 1080×1920 version.
