Instagram Reels video size and specs
The shape, size, length and safe zone for a Reel, each quoted from Meta with the day it was read. The button opens your video already reframed to fit.
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The spec, in Meta’s words
| What | Figure | Their words |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | 9:16, vertical | Ratio: 9:16 Meta |
| Picture size | 1440 × 2560, recommended | Resolution: 1440 x 2560 pixels Meta |
| Longest | 15 min | Similar to organic Reels, ads can be up to 15 minutes Meta |
| Largest file | 4 GB | Maximum file size: 4 GB Meta |
| Keep clear | 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom, 6% at each side | Consider leaving at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side of your asset free from text, logos or other important creative elements. Meta |
Meta publishes these figures on its ad specifications page; the help pages for ordinary Instagram posts are drawn by script and state no figures that could be read. The frame and the limits are the ones the app’s own player shows.
Where words and logos are safe
In a 1440 × 2560 frame that is 358 px at the top, 896 px at the bottom and 86 px at each side.
Drawn to scale from the shares above. In Shycut’s editor the same kind of guide appears while you move words on a vertical video.
Making a Reel that fits
A Reel fills the phone screen from top to bottom, so anything filmed wide loses its sides. Shycut cuts the vertical frame out of your video and, once faces are found, keeps the crop on the person, so a landscape clip still works as a Reel.
Meta’s safe zone is the part to watch: the top 14% and the bottom 35% are where the profile icon and the call to action can cover what is there. Keep words and logos inside the dashed frame, and place captions in the editor where they stay readable.
What the button sets up
- A 9:16 frame
- Cut out of your video, following the main face once faces are found, and made full HD. You can drag the crop or change the shape in the editor’s Size tab.
- Its length, checked as you trim
- The Size tab says whether your edit is a length it takes: up to 15 min. The save window says it again before anything is made.
- Kept under 4 GB
- The save window aims the file under that size and steps the picture down only if it has to.
- On your device
- The video opens in this browser tab and is made there. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no size limit on the original.
Where these facts come from
Questions
What size should an Instagram Reel be?
9:16, and Meta recommends 1440 × 2560 pixels. Shycut saves the same shape in full HD, 1080 × 1920, without scaling your video up.
How long can a Reel be?
Meta’s Reels page says ads, like organic Reels, can be up to 15 minutes. If your edit runs longer, the Size tab says by how much, so you can trim before saving.
Is my video uploaded to fit it?
No. The video opens in this browser tab and is reframed and saved on your device; nothing is sent to Shycut or anyone else.
Your video stays with you.
Open Shycut, drop the video in and export. Free, with no account, and your video never leaves your device.
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