TikTok video size: dimensions, length and file limits

TikTok's help centre doesn't publish one recommended size for ordinary posts, but its other official pages agree on vertical. Its Creator Academy says you can post vertical video, or horizontal video that viewers watch in Full Screen mode. Its ad specifications recommend 9:16 vertical.

• Horizontal 16:9 video works, but it fills less of the screen unless the viewer switches to Full Screen mode.
• Why 1080 × 1920? It is 9:16 at full HD: well above the 540 × 960 ad minimum and inside the 4,096-pixel maximum, so the same file works for posts and ads.

Sources: TikTok Creator Academy: Elements of a TikTok video, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Business Help Center: In-Feed Ads specifications, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok for Developers: Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 14 October 2026

Two details from TikTok's help centre: if you choose a sound before recording or uploading, the sound's length sets the video's length. And some sounds aren't available for long videos, so a saved sound can disappear from your list when you upload something long.

Longer isn't automatically better. TikTok's help centre suggests trying content longer than one minute, and its Creator Academy says to fit the length to the video: a recipe may need longer, a quick outfit recap less. Whatever the length, hook viewers in the first 5 seconds.

Sources: TikTok Support: Camera tools, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok for Developers: Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Business Help Center: In-Feed Ads specifications, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Support: Sounds, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Support: How to grow your audience, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Creator Academy: Elements of a TikTok video, checked 14 October 2026

TikTok's help centre doesn't list file limits for uploads in the app. Its developer documentation does, for videos sent by apps such as scheduling tools. Whichever route you use, upload the original export rather than a copy that has been through a messaging app, which may have compressed it.

Sources: TikTok for Developers: Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok Business Help Center: In-Feed Ads specifications, checked 14 October 2026

In the middle. TikTok's Creator Academy says to keep the image centred and not covered by any buttons on the screen. TikTok doesn't publish exact pixel margins for organic posts, so keep key text and faces away from the edges and check a test upload on your own phone.

Source: TikTok Creator Academy: Elements of a TikTok video, checked 14 October 2026

Settings that stay inside every TikTok figure above:

1. Set the project to 9:16, for example 1080 × 1920 pixels.
2. Use a frame rate between 23 and 60 fps, such as 30.
3. Export as MP4 with H.264, the format and codec TikTok recommends.
4. Keep the file well under 4 GB; a short video at 1080p is far smaller.
5. Watch the exported file on a phone before posting, checking text near the edges.

• If your editor has a "social" or "vertical" preset, check it against these numbers rather than trusting the name.

Source: TikTok for Developers: Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 14 October 2026

For photo posts, TikTok's developer documentation allows JPEG or WebP images up to 20 MB each, at up to 1080p, with up to 35 photos per post. Keep the photos in one post the same shape where you can. The photo mode guide covers the steps.

Sources: TikTok for Developers: Photo Post API reference, checked 14 October 2026; TikTok for Developers: Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 14 October 2026

If you plan to put money behind a video later, TikTok's In-Feed ad rules are a little different from its posting rules:

• For Spark Ads, TikTok lists .mp4 or .mov files and no duration restriction.

Source: TikTok Business Help Center: In-Feed Ads specifications, checked 14 October 2026

Zolyp, which publishes this guide, is an AI social media manager: it plans, writes, designs and schedules posts for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads, and you approve the week before anything goes out. Zolyp designs TikTok visuals at 1080 × 1920 (9:16) and checks every TikTok video against the same rules as TikTok's API before publishing: