What is an aspect ratio?

Most social content uses one of a handful of shapes.

• 1:1 (square): feed posts and carousels on most platforms.
• 4:5 (portrait): takes up more of the screen in a phone feed than a square.
• 1.91:1 (landscape): link previews and wide photos.
• 16:9 (widescreen): YouTube videos, thumbnails and most cameras' landscape video.
• 9:16 (full-screen vertical): Stories, reels, TikTok and Shorts.

These are the ranges the platforms or their publishing documentation give. Within a range, the app may still crop the preview, so keep the main subject near the centre.

• Instagram feed photos: 4:5 to 1.91:1. Photos outside the range are cropped to fit, and you can choose a square, portrait or landscape shape for the whole post.
• Instagram and Facebook Reels: 9:16 vertical is the full-screen shape.
• YouTube: 16:9 for regular videos and their thumbnails. Square or vertical videos up to three minutes are treated as Shorts, with 9:16 thumbnails.
• LinkedIn video: 1:2.4 to 2.4:1.
• X video: 1:3 to 3:1.
• Pinterest video: between 1:2 and 1.91:1 (1:1, 2:3, 4:5 or 9:16 recommended).
• YouTube channel banner: 16:9, at least 2048 x 1152 pixels.

Plan the shape before you shoot, not after. Zolyp fits each post's crop and caption to each platform's aspect and length rules, so one approved post goes out in the right shape everywhere.

1. Film video vertically (9:16) if it's mainly for reels, TikTok or Shorts.
2. Leave space around the subject so you can crop to 4:5, 1:1 or 16:9 later without losing anything important.
3. Keep text and faces inside the safe zone, away from the edges.
4. Export each version separately rather than letting the app crop for you.
5. Preview on a phone before publishing.

In a carousel post, every image normally shares one shape. On Instagram, the orientation you choose applies to all the photos or videos in the post, so crop them all to the same ratio before you start. For Stories, design at 9:16 and keep text away from the top and bottom, where the profile name and reply bar sit. If you only have a landscape photo for a Story, place it on a plain or blurred background rather than stretching it to fill the screen.