Vertical video sizes: Reels, Shorts, TikTok
All three use 1080x1920. What differs is where the interface covers the frame, and that decides the composition.
Updated 2026-09-10
Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok all use a 9:16 vertical frame, and all three recommend 1080x1920. On size alone, one export covers all three — cover images, photo slides, and any title card you lay over the video.
The catch is composition, not size. Each platform draws its own buttons and text on top of the video, so the area that actually stays visible is much smaller than 1080x1920. That is why a face that looked fine in the editor ends up behind the like button once posted.
The three specs side by side
| Platform | Recommended | Ratio | What gets covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | Bottom ~20%, right button column, top status area |
| YouTube Shorts | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | Bottom title and channel strip, right button column |
| TikTok | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | Two-line caption at the bottom, the largest button column |
| Instagram Story | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | Top progress area ~14%, bottom reply field ~13% |
What actually gets covered
- Top 10 to 14 percent: status bar and progress indicators. Roughly 190 to 270px of a 1920px frame.
- Bottom 20 percent: account name, description, audio details. About 384px, and a long caption pushes it higher.
- Right 20 percent of the width, from mid-frame down: the vertical column of action buttons. About 216px wide.
Together that is close to a third of the frame. Put a face, a product, or a subtitle there and it looks fine while editing and disappears once posted. The safe zone is slightly above centre vertically and within the left 80 percent horizontally.
Turning a landscape photo vertical
Cropping a 16:9 photo to 9:16 throws away most of the left and right. From a 1920x1080 original, a 9:16 crop keeps a 608px-wide strip — 32 percent of the width. Unless the subject is dead centre, the result is unusable. Filling the top and bottom is the better move.
Placed at 1080 wide, a landscape photo stands 608px tall and leaves about 656px of background above and below. Fill it with a blurred background and it matches what the apps generate on their own; fill it with a flat colour and you have a clean place for captions.
- Choose Fit inside and the whole photo lands in frame with background above and below.
- Set the background to blurred and the bars read as a deliberate treatment.
- For a solid colour, sample the photo's edge with the eyedropper so the seam is less visible.
- If you plan to put text in the margin, use the top one. The caption covers the bottom.
Cover images need their own arithmetic
A Reels or Shorts cover shows as the full 9:16 in playback, but the profile grid and channel list crop it again to a different ratio. Instagram's profile grid uses a tall rectangular tile, so the top and bottom of a 9:16 cover are trimmed. Keep faces and titles near the vertical centre of the cover so they survive both.
TikTok covers are also cropped to a tall tile on the profile page. The rule is the same for all three: plan the safe area for playback, and keep what matters on the cover inside the middle third.
Before you upload
- Check the size is exactly 1080x1920. A 9:16 image that is smaller gets scaled up by the app and turns soft.
- Confirm faces and text stay out of the bottom 20 percent and the right 20 percent.
- For a multi-slide post, make sure every slide is the same size. One odd slide makes the frame jump.
- If you saved a PNG, remember the app re-compresses on upload. Thin type gets thicker, small type gets bigger.