Video Aspect Ratios Explained: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3 — When to Use Each
Posting a 16:9 video on TikTok wastes 40% of the screen. Posting a 9:16 video on YouTube adds black bars. Choosing the right ratio before you shoot saves you from cropping and compromise.
Every platform has a preferred aspect ratio, and ignoring it means your content is either cropped (losing parts of the frame) or letterboxed (black bars filling the unused space). Neither is ideal. Choosing the right ratio before recording ensures your content fills the screen on its target platform without compromise.
The Big Four
16:9 (landscape): YouTube, TV, Netflix, Vimeo, Twitter video, LinkedIn video. This is the default for horizontal screens and the standard for professional video production. If you are making one version and it needs to work everywhere, 16:9 is the safest choice. Common resolutions: 1920×1080 (Full HD), 3840×2160 (4K).
9:16 (vertical): TikTok, Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat. This is 16:9 rotated — filling the entire phone screen when held vertically. Vertical video gets 40% more engagement than horizontal video on mobile-first platforms because it fills the screen without the user rotating their phone. Common resolution: 1080×1920.
1:1 (square): Instagram feed posts, Facebook feed posts, LinkedIn feed. Square video is a compromise that works acceptably on both mobile and desktop without being optimized for either. It is falling out of favor as Instagram now favors 4:5 (portrait) in feeds. Common resolution: 1080×1080.
4:3 (classic): Presentation slides, older TV content, iPad displays, and FaceTime/video calls. This ratio was the television standard until widescreen (16:9) replaced it in the 2000s. It persists in contexts where the content is more informational than cinematic.
Calculate the exact pixel dimensions for any aspect ratio with our aspect ratio calculator — enter one dimension and the ratio to get the other automatically.