What size should a Reel or TikTok video be?

1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16, on Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts alike. The resolution is the easy part; the harder constraint is that platform interface elements sit on top of the video. Keep essential content away from roughly the top 250 pixels, the bottom 400 to 500 pixels and the right edge, where the username, caption, audio attribution and action buttons are drawn.

Social media image and video sizes for a Shopify store

Q: What size should an Instagram post be in 2026?

1080 x 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait, is Instagram's recommended feed format and the one that occupies the most screen. Square at 1080 x 1080 and landscape at 1080 x 566 are still accepted. Be aware that the profile grid renders thumbnails at 3:4, so a 4:5 post loses a narrow strip from each side in the grid view even though the full image is shown when opened.

Q: What is the Instagram profile grid aspect ratio?

3:4. Every thumbnail on the profile grid is cropped to 3:4 regardless of what you uploaded, so a 4:5 portrait loses about 6% of its width, a 1:1 square loses about 25%, and a 1.91:1 landscape image loses roughly 60%. The original file is untouched and displays in full when someone taps it — the cropping only affects the grid preview.

Q: Why does text at the bottom of my Reel get covered?

Because that is where Instagram draws the caption, audio attribution and engagement buttons — roughly the bottom 400 to 500 pixels of a 1920-pixel-tall frame. The video is not being cropped; the interface is layered over it. Anything you burn into that band, including a price or a call to action, is hidden behind the UI for every viewer.

Q: How long should a product video be?

Far shorter than the maximum. Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts all permit multi-minute video, but the ceiling is not a target. Short-form product content generally performs best somewhere between roughly 15 and 60 seconds, and consumer research consistently finds a strong preference for video under two minutes with completion rates falling as length grows. Start short and lengthen only when the content genuinely needs it.

Q: Should a Shopify store post square or portrait images?

Portrait, at 4:5. It occupies more of the screen in the feed than a square, and it survives the 3:4 grid crop far better — a square loses about a quarter of its width in the grid, which for a centred product shot means the edges of the product can be cut off in the preview.

Q: Can I use the same file on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook?

The dimensions match — all three use 1080 x 1920 for vertical video — but reusing the identical file has a separate cost. TikTok's For You feed eligibility standards treat content imported from another platform without new creative edits as unoriginal, and anything carrying a visible watermark from another app as ineligible. Match the specs, but export a fresh cut per platform.

The pixel dimensions are the easy half, and every size chart on the internet has them. The half that actually costs stores money is that a single post gets rendered at several different crops, and the app's own interface sits on top of roughly a third of a vertical video — usually right where the price is.

Published 2026-09-06 · 8 min read

The short answer

If you only read one paragraph

Design images at 1080 × 1350 (4:5 portrait) and video at 1080 × 1920 (9:16). Then respect two things the specs don't tell you. First, your profile grid renders every thumbnail at 3:4, so keep the product centred — a square post loses about a quarter of its width in the grid. Second, on any vertical video, keep everything that matters out of the top ~250 px and the bottom ~400–500 px, because that's where the platform draws the username, caption, audio attribution and buttons. Burned-in prices and calls to action go in the middle of the frame, or they aren't seen at all.

Below: the full reference table, then the two mechanisms in detail, then an honest answer on length.

The reference table

Everything a store actually posts. Platforms revise these; the ones below reflect current published guidance as of September 2026.

Upload dimensions by format. Vertical video is identical across all four networks, which is why the file travels — even though it shouldn't, for reasons in the last section.
Format	Upload at	Ratio	Note
Instagram feed — portrait	1080 × 1350	4:5	Recommended. Occupies the most feed space.
Instagram feed — square	1080 × 1080	1:1	Accepted, but loses ~25% of width in the grid
Instagram feed — landscape	1080 × 566	1.91:1	Worst of both: small in feed, heavily cropped in grid
Instagram profile grid	— display only	3:4	Crops every thumbnail. You can't upload to it directly.
Instagram Reels	1080 × 1920	9:16	Grid thumbnail is 3:4; full 9:16 on the Reels tab
Instagram Stories	1080 × 1920	9:16	~250 px clear at top and bottom
TikTok	1080 × 1920	9:16	Heaviest right-side UI rail of the four
Facebook Reels	1080 × 1920	9:16	Same canvas as Instagram Reels

Crop one: the grid isn't the feed

Instagram's profile grid displays every thumbnail at 3:4, whatever you uploaded. That's a different shape from 4:5, from square, and very different from landscape — so the version a visitor sees when they land on your profile is not the version you composed. The original file is untouched and opens in full when tapped; it's the preview that's cut.

For a store this matters more than it does for most accounts, because the profile grid is a shop window. Someone arriving from a Reel scans nine thumbnails before deciding whether to follow or tap through, and those thumbnails are the cropped versions.

Drawn to a single scale, so the widths are comparable. The practical rule falls straight out: shoot and crop so the product sits in the middle three-quarters of the frame, and landscape product shots simply don't belong on an Instagram grid.

Crop two: the interface sits on your video

This one is not cropping at all — the whole 1080 × 1920 frame is shown. The platform simply draws its own controls on top of it. The username, caption, audio attribution, like, comment, share and profile buttons all occupy real estate in your video, and they are opaque.

The reason it catches stores specifically: the instinct with a product video is to burn the price, the discount or "link in bio" along the bottom, exactly as you would in a print ad. On a Reel or a TikTok, that band is behind the caption and the button column.

Bands vary a little by platform and by whether the post is an ad — sponsored formats add a button that eats further into the bottom — so the numbers above are the conservative overlap. Design inside the blue area and you are safe everywhere.

A quick way to check your own: post the video to a private or close-friends story, screenshot it on your phone, and look at what the interface is covering. Thirty seconds, and it beats any template.

Length: the ceiling isn't the target

Every platform has raised its maximum, and the raised maximum has almost nothing to do with what you should make. Reels, TikTok and Shorts all permit multi-minute video now; a store's product content very rarely benefits from it.

The consistent finding across consumer research is a strong preference for short — video under two minutes is preferred by a large majority, and completion rates fall as duration climbs. In practice most well-performing short-form product content lands somewhere between roughly 15 and 60 seconds, with the shorter end suiting a single hook or product reveal and the longer end suiting a demonstration or a how-to.

The useful reframing: length isn't a setting you optimise, it's a consequence of having exactly one thing to say. If a video runs long, it's usually because it contains two ideas, not because 45 seconds was the wrong number.

Matching specs isn't the same as reusing files

Vertical video is 1080 × 1920 on all four networks, which makes one export look like an obvious efficiency. It isn't, and the reason has nothing to do with dimensions.

TikTok's published For You feed standards treat content imported from another platform without new creative edits as unoriginal, and anything carrying a visible watermark as ineligible for recommendation — which is what happens if you download your own Reel and re-upload it. Same pixels, ineligible post. That mechanism, and how to check whether you've tripped it, is covered in is your store shadowbanned.

Compose for the centre

Product centred, nothing critical in the outer edges. It survives the 3:4 grid crop and the video UI at the same time.

Never burn in the bottom band

Price, discount and "link in bio" go mid-frame. The bottom is the platform's, not yours.

Export per platform

Same specs, different file. A distinct opening and its own caption is what "new creative edits" asks for.

Check on a real phone

Screenshot your own post as a viewer sees it. Every safe-zone template is an approximation; your screenshot isn't.

If posts are generated for you rather than exported by hand, this is worth confirming rather than assuming: a tool should be producing a correctly framed file per network, not pushing one asset everywhere. That's how Magik works, and it's a fair question to ask of any of the alternatives too — the specs above are the thing to check the output against.

Frequently asked

What size should an Instagram post be in 2026?

1080 × 1350 (4:5 portrait) is Instagram's recommended feed size and takes the most screen space. Square (1080 × 1080) and landscape (1080 × 566) still work. Remember the profile grid renders at 3:4, so a 4:5 post loses a narrow strip per side in the grid preview — the full image still opens intact.

What is the Instagram profile grid aspect ratio?

3:4. Every thumbnail is cropped to it regardless of upload: a 4:5 portrait loses roughly 6% of its width, a square about 25%, and a 1.91:1 landscape roughly 60%. Only the grid preview is affected, not the file.

What size should a Reel or TikTok be?

1080 × 1920 (9:16) across Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts. The real constraint is the interface drawn on top: keep essential content out of roughly the top 250 px, the bottom 400–500 px, and the right edge.

Why does text at the bottom of my Reel get covered?

That band holds the caption, audio attribution and engagement buttons — roughly the bottom 400–500 px of a 1920 px frame. Nothing is being cropped; the UI is layered over your video. A price burned in down there is invisible to everyone.

How long should a product video be?

Much shorter than the limit. All three short-form platforms now allow multi-minute video, but consumer research consistently shows a strong preference for under two minutes with completion falling as length rises. Most product content works between roughly 15 and 60 seconds.

Square or portrait for product photos?

Portrait, 4:5. It fills more of the feed and survives the 3:4 grid crop far better — a square loses about a quarter of its width in the grid, which can clip the edges of a centred product.

Can I use one file across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook?

The dimensions match, but reusing the identical file carries a separate penalty: TikTok treats content imported from elsewhere without new creative edits as unoriginal, and watermarked content as ineligible for the For You feed. Match the specs, export separately.

Sources

Dimensions and interface layouts change without notice, and safe-zone figures are measured approximations rather than published constants — treat them as conservative guidance and verify against your own screen.

Buffer — Instagram post size guide. Source of the feed dimensions (1080 × 1350, 1080 × 1080, 1080 × 566), the 3:4 profile grid crop, and the Reels and Stories canvas plus safe-zone guidance.
Grid-loss percentages are calculated from those ratios: fitting a 4:5, 1:1 or 1.91:1 image into a 3:4 frame at full height removes approximately 6%, 25% and 61% of the width respectively.
Vertical-video safe-zone bands (top ~250 px, bottom ~400–500 px, right rail ~180 px on a 1080 × 1920 frame) are the conservative overlap of widely published measurements across Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Sponsored formats add a further button band at the bottom.
TikTok — For You feed Eligibility Standards, for the unoriginal-content and watermark rules that make reusing one export costly.