Meta Ad Specs: Every Image and Video Size for Feed, Stories and Reels

Key takeaways

• Feeds take 4:5, Stories and Reels take 9:16. Meta recommends 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook and Instagram Feed and 1440 x 2560 for Stories and Reels. Instagram Feed video is the exception: Meta now recommends 9:16 there too.

• Images are JPG or PNG up to 30MB; video is MP4 or MOV up to 4GB. GIF works in most placements but not in Instagram Reels ads.

• Keep the edges of vertical ads clear. On 9:16, leave about 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and key details. That's roughly 358 pixels, 896 pixels and 86 pixels on a 1440 x 2560 frame.

• Video length depends on the placement. Instagram Reels ads run up to 15 minutes, Instagram Feed and Stories up to 60 minutes, and Facebook Feed up to 241 minutes. Facebook Reels lists no maximum.

• Export four masters: 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 and 1.91:1. If one is missing, Ads Manager fills the gap by padding, cropping or AI expansion.

Meta ad sizes at a glance

Every number below comes from Meta's own Ads Guide and Business Help Center, read in October 2026. The text counts are Meta's recommendations to avoid truncation, not hard limits.

File types and sizes are the same across these placements: JPG or PNG images up to 30MB, and MP4, MOV or GIF video up to 4GB. Instagram Reels ads don't accept GIFs.

Feed ads on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook Feed. Meta recommends 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 for both images and video. It also accepts 1:1, 1.91:1 and 16:9, but not 9:16 or 2:3. The minimum image size is 600 pixels wide, and 750 tall at 4:5. Since March 2026 the Facebook Feed placement also covers the Friends tab. On desktop, Facebook shows feed video at 1:1, so a 4:5 video can pick up black bars on either side there.

Instagram Feed images. Use 4:5 at 1440 x 1800. Instagram accepts anything from 4:5 down to 1.91:1, with a minimum width of 500 pixels. One of Meta's best-practice pages still suggests 1:1 for single-image Instagram ads, and square images run without trouble, but the Ads Guide and Meta's placement table both recommend 4:5.

Instagram Feed video. Meta recommends 9:16 at 1080 x 1920 for video, the same shape as Stories and Reels. Instagram Feed accepts every ratio Meta supports, from 1.91:1 to 9:16. A 9:16 video in Instagram Feed follows the Stories and Reels safe zone. For 1:1 and 4:5 creative, Meta's only guidance is to keep the bottom and side edges free of text and logos.

Meta also sets a recommended minimum of 1080 x 1080 for most placements. Treat 1440 pixels wide as the size to export and 1080 as the floor you shouldn't go under.

Stories ads

Instagram and Facebook Stories share the same frame: 9:16 at 1440 x 2560, with a minimum width of 500 pixels for images and 250 for video. Both placements accept 1.91:1, 16:9, 1:1 and 4:5 as well, but anything other than 9:16 leaves empty space around the ad.

Instagram Stories video can run up to 60 minutes. Facebook Stories is shorter, and Meta's own pages don't agree on how much shorter, so keep Facebook Stories video to 2 minutes or less.

Stories ads carry 125 characters of primary text on both apps. Facebook Stories also shows a 40-character headline.

Reels ads

Reels ads are 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 on both Instagram and Facebook. Meta's reason is simple: most people hold their phones upright, and 9:16 fills the screen.

Instagram Reels. Video runs up to 15 minutes in MP4 or MOV. The minimum width is 250 pixels for ads under 30 seconds and 500 pixels for longer ones. Meta calls sound "optional, but strongly recommended" for Reels, and captions are recommended too. A Reels ad can't use licensed music (Meta points you to original audio or its Sound Collection), face or camera effects, product tags, or a Reel published before October 15, 2021. Primary text is short here: Meta recommends 44 characters.

Facebook Reels. Same 9:16 frame and 1440 x 2560 size, with no maximum video length listed. Meta recommends 40 characters of primary text and a 55-character headline. Facebook doesn't add automatic captions to Reels ads, so burn them in or upload a caption file.

Don't confuse Facebook Reels ads with ads on Facebook Reels. The second is a separate placement: a small overlay or banner that appears inside a creator's reel. It uses 1:1 creative, and video there runs 4 to 15 seconds.

Safe zones for Stories and Reels

Meta's Ads Guide gives the same safe zone for Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels: keep roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text, logos and other key elements.

The pixel figures are our conversion of Meta's percentages, rounded to the nearest pixel. Two more rules from Meta's safe zone guidance:

• If a Reels ad carries a disclaimer, leave the bottom 40% clear instead of 35%.

• On phones with screens taller than 9:16, Meta may zoom the ad to fill the screen, which crops anything outside the safe zone, or show it at 9:16 on a black background.

Ads Manager has a safe zone overlay you can switch on in the preview to check placement before you publish.

Carousel ads

Carousels take 2 to 10 cards, each image up to 30MB and each video up to 4GB, and every carousel needs a landing page URL.

• Facebook Feed: 1:1 cards at 1080 x 1080 or larger. Video cards can run up to 240 minutes. Meta recommends 80 characters of primary text, a 20-character headline and an 18-character description.

• Instagram Feed: 1080 x 1080 or larger, with video cards up to 2 minutes and 125 characters of primary text. Use 1:1 cards. The Ads Guide allows 4:5 for carousels with no video, but another Meta page limits 4:5 carousels to Advantage+ catalog ads, so square is the ratio that works everywhere.

• Instagram Stories: 9:16 cards at 1080 x 1920 or larger, video cards up to 15 seconds, and the same 14%, 35% and 6% safe zone as other Stories ads.

Keep every card in a carousel at the same ratio. Mixed ratios get adjusted automatically, and the adjustment is rarely the crop you'd have chosen.

Smaller placements

Most budgets land in Feed, Stories and Reels, but Advantage+ placements will also serve your ads in these spots unless you exclude them.

Threads crops anything taller than 4:5 down to 4:5, centered, so a 9:16 asset loses its top and bottom there. Threads doesn't support video captions either. Messenger Stories is gone: Meta removed the placement from the Marketing API for all versions in late August 2026, though its spec page is still up.

What Meta does with sizes you don't supply

Ads Manager lets you upload up to 10 images or videos for one ad and arranges them by aspect ratio: square, vertical, portrait and horizontal. If you don't supply all four, Meta fills the gaps with padding, cropping, media expansion and other AI tools. Flexible media goes further and can serve one asset in placements it wasn't made for, such as a 9:16 image in a feed.

Meta says it checks whether a crop cuts important parts of an image, and won't deliver those versions. It also says it can't yet detect whether objects or text have been cropped out of a video. That's the strongest argument for exporting every ratio yourself, especially for video with on-screen text.

You can review the automatic padding, cropping and expansion in Ads Manager and turn off any you don't want. Our Advantage+ explainer covers the creative features that make these changes and where to switch them off.

Text on the image and in the ad

The old rule that limited text to 20% of an ad image ended in September 2020, and no current Meta page gives a percentage. Meta's guidance now is about legibility: a clean font, large enough to read on a phone, in a color that contrasts with the background, kept inside the safe zone. On small placements such as the right column and in-stream images, Meta recommends no text on the image at all.

For the copy fields, Meta's text guidance gives 125 characters of primary text, 40 for the headline and 25 for the description as the default for most placements, with primary text kept to one to three lines. The placement pages differ, as the tables above show: 44 characters on Instagram Reels, 50 to 150 on Facebook Feed. Text past the limit can be truncated, so put the hook and the offer in the first line.

The files to export for every Meta campaign

For a campaign that runs across Advantage+ placements, this set covers every major placement without leaving Meta to crop:

1. 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 for Stories, Reels and Instagram Feed video, with text and logos inside the safe zone.

2. 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 for Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed images and Explore.

3. 1:1 at 1440 x 1440 for carousels, Marketplace, the right column and in-stream.

4. 1.91:1 at 1440 x 754 for search results and the remaining horizontal slots.

Export images as JPG or PNG under 30MB. Export video as MP4 with H.264 and AAC stereo audio at 128 kbps or more, which is what Meta's video pages specify, and add captions to anything with speech.

Frequently asked questions

What size is a Facebook ad?

A Facebook Feed ad is 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 pixels, for both images and video. Facebook Feed also accepts 1:1 and 1.91:1, and Facebook Stories and Reels ads use 9:16 at 1440 x 2560. Images can be up to 30MB and video up to 4GB.

What is the best size for Instagram Reels ads?

Use 9:16 at 1440 x 2560 pixels, as an MP4 or MOV file up to 4GB. Reels ads can run up to 15 minutes, and Meta recommends keeping primary text to about 44 characters.

What is the safe zone for Instagram Reels and Stories ads?

Keep about 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text and logos. On a 1440 x 2560 frame that's 358 pixels at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 on each side. Reels ads with a disclaimer should leave the bottom 40% clear.

Can you run 9:16 ads in the Instagram and Facebook feeds?

On Instagram Feed, yes: 9:16 is Meta's recommended ratio for video there. Facebook Feed doesn't list 9:16 as a supported ratio, though flexible media can place a 9:16 asset in feeds when Meta expects it to perform. Threads accepts 9:16 but crops it to 4:5.

What is the maximum video length for Meta ads?

It depends on the placement. Facebook Feed and Marketplace allow up to 241 minutes, Instagram Feed and Stories 60 minutes, and Instagram Reels 15 minutes, while Facebook Reels lists no maximum. Keep Facebook Stories video to 2 minutes or less.

Does Meta still have the 20% text rule?

No. Meta dropped the 20% text limit for ad images in September 2020 and no longer penalizes image text in delivery. It still recommends short, legible text kept inside the safe zone.