Being able to produce creative videos is an essential skill for any modern business. With the popularity of social media, businesses are now able to reach a wider audience than ever before by uploading videos on Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and more. But it can be overwhelming to know which video format each site prefers, what size they prefer it to be, whether or not you should include sound, and how long the video should be. There are so many questions! This ultimate guide to social media video specifications will answer them all.
When it comes to Facebook, the most important thing to remember is that videos must be less than 2 minutes long. That’s right, no long-form videos! Facebook also prefers square videos with a minimum width and height of 600 x 600 pixels and a minimum height of 600 pixels. Videos should be uploaded in MP4 format and their frame rates should be between 24 and 30 frames per second.
SNAPCHAT
Snapchat is a little more lenient than Facebook when it comes to video specs. The minimum width is 320 pixels, but the length of the videos can be as long as the user desires- even up to 60 seconds! Snapchat also prefers square videos, with a maximum height of 600 pixels and no limit on how wide it can be. Videos should ideally have a 16:09 aspect ratio (width/height) if they are landscape or portrait-oriented. If vertical orientation is used, then dimensions should be 1080 x 1920 for optimal playback quality.
Instagram has some very strict rules when it comes to uploading videos onto its platform. Not only must all Instagram content be uploaded in JPG or PNG format, but videos must not be more than 60 seconds long. Videos can have a minimum width of 600 pixels and a maximum height of 1080 pixels but the video will be letterboxed to fit within Instagram’s aspect ratio (which is 16:09 for landscape orientation or square for portrait).
Twitter videos also have limitations in terms of their lengths. They cannot exceed 140 seconds. The same rules apply with regard to uploading JPG or PNG files onto Twitter which means that all content should ideally have an image resolution between 500 x 750px – 1500 x 2500px at 72dpi. When it comes to sizing your video correctly on Twitter, it’s best to upload it in 640 x 420 pixels. Check out this article to learn how to compress a video without losing the quality.
YOUTUBE
YouTube is arguably one of the most lenient platforms when it comes to uploading your content. They don’t have any rules about file type or aspect ratio. Videos should be between 20 seconds and 12 minutes long (there isn’t a maximum) but be aware that YouTube will automatically start playing previews at 15-second intervals regardless of how long the actual video is. The only thing to keep in mind about this platform is its preference towards 16:09 ratios for landscape orientation videos. This means videos in a vertical format work better than horizontal ones if you’re uploading a portrait video.
VINE
Like YouTube and Instagram, Vine doesn’t have any rules about file type or aspect ratio but videos should only be between six and ten seconds long. However, this is where things can become confusing If your final product is over six seconds but less than 11, then there isn’t actually an error in uploading it to their platform They just won’t recommend promoting such videos as featured content on their website (this means more visibility for shorter Vines). As far as sizing goes with Vine videos, anything wider than 420 pixels will result in cropping of the original image so it’s best to stick with a 640 x 640-pixel size.
Converting your videos into the right format is essential if you want to share them on social media. If you have an FLV video file but wish to convert it to MP4 as it is the most popular format among other video file types, use this FLV converter. This can be done with a number of online tools or programs most of which are free.
Conclusion
Now that you know the basics, it’s important to take note of the mentioned video specs for each social media platform so you can create a video that will be seen by your audience. This will help retain the quality of your content as well as keep your audience entertained without experiencing any unwanted issues while watching.
