Short-Form Video Specs: TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and LinkedIn
A current export and QA framework for vertical masters, destination variants, ratios, resolution, duration, captions, covers, and safe zones.
Read the guide, then turn it into a concrete plan for your brand.
Short-form video fails technical review in small ways: a hook hidden by controls, captions under the CTA, a face cropped in the feed, or licensed audio that changes eligibility.
A shared vertical master is efficient, but “shared” should not mean “identical upload.” Build one source composition and create destination-specific release candidates.
The short answer
Use a 1080×1920, 9:16 vertical master for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and most full-screen Shorts workflows, while treating each destination as a separate export and preview. YouTube currently classifies square or vertical videos up to three minutes as Shorts; Instagram accepts a wider Reel aspect-ratio range but 9:16 fills the screen; LinkedIn supports several ratios and often benefits from 4:5 or 9:16 depending on placement. Platform UI safe zones and limits change, so verify first-party guidance before launch.
Choose the workflow before the tool
A tool list is useful only after the operating constraint is clear. Decide who owns the brief, what must remain consistent, where approval happens, and which result will be measured. Otherwise a team buys overlapping generators and still moves copy between tabs by hand.
| Option | Best fit | Trade-off to accept |
|---|---|---|
| 9:16 at 1080×1920 | TikTok, Reels, and full-screen vertical Shorts master | UI overlays require generous edge and bottom clearance |
| 4:5 at 1080×1350 | Feed-oriented vertical creative, including many LinkedIn and Instagram contexts | Does not fill a 9:16 player |
| 1:1 at 1080×1080 | Square feeds and adaptable graphic-led content | Uses less vertical screen area |
| 16:9 at 1920×1080 | Landscape video, YouTube long-form, and desktop-first placements | Poor fit for full-screen vertical feeds |
Create a conservative vertical master
Compose at 1080×1920 with the subject and critical text away from edges and the lower control area. Maintain source footage at the highest practical quality and avoid tiny typography.
Keep overlays in editable layers. A platform may crop the grid cover, show a feed preview at another ratio, or place controls differently on device classes.
Export and validate per destination
TikTok favors full-screen vertical behavior; Instagram Reels accepts ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16 and currently specifies at least 720 pixels and 30 FPS; YouTube accepts square or vertical Shorts up to three minutes under current rules.
LinkedIn supports landscape, square, 4:5, and 9:16 in relevant video contexts. Its current ad guidance recommends 4:5 at 720×900 and lists 9:16 up to 1080×1920. Verify whether the item is organic or paid.
Treat audio, captions, and covers as specs
Check loudness, speech intelligibility, music rights, caption accuracy, text contrast, and a deliberate cover frame. Platform-generated captions and thumbnails may need separate review.
Upload privately or to a test destination when possible. Inspect the real device presentation before scheduling the approved version.
A repeatable implementation workflow
Run the first version manually and keep the hand-offs visible. Automation should remove a proven bottleneck, not hide an undefined process. Each step below needs an owner, an input, an output, and a clear reason to stop for human review.
- Edit a high-quality 9:16 master. Use 1080×1920, editable text, rights-cleared audio, and conservative composition.
- Create destination variants. Adjust crop, duration, hook, CTA, captions, cover, and metadata.
- Check the current spec. Use first-party organic or advertising documentation for the exact placement.
- Run a safe-zone overlay. Keep faces, products, claims, captions, and CTA clear of controls and crops.
- Preview on device. Inspect feed, full-screen player, cover or grid, captions, and audio.
- Lock each release file. Store the approved destination master and delivery result separately.
How this fits into Genfeed
Genfeed is designed as a content operating system rather than a single generator. A brand keeps its voice, visual references, prompts, assets, content plans, approvals, and publishing work in one tenant-aware workspace. Teams can choose models per job instead of rebuilding the workflow whenever a model changes.
Start with the Genfeed workspace, then use the documentation for self-hosting, integrations, API, and MCP setup. The practical goal is traceability: a reviewer should be able to see which brief produced an asset, which brand rules applied, what changed during approval, and where the final version was distributed.
What to measure
Measure the workflow as well as the post. Reach without production context cannot tell you whether the system improved. Capture a baseline for one normal week, then compare the same content type and channel after the new process has run for at least two cycles.
- Technical rejection and re-export rate
- Critical text or subject outside destination safe area
- Completion and hold rate by destination crop
- Delivery quality after platform compression
Keep quality and efficiency in the same scorecard. A faster workflow that doubles corrections is not faster; a beautiful asset that misses the campaign deadline is not effective. Record both the audience result and the human effort required to achieve it.
Common mistakes
- Placing subtitles and CTA against the bottom edge
- Assuming organic and paid specifications are identical
- Using a copyrighted track without destination rights
- Rendering once without previewing each platform UI
The pattern behind these failures is premature scale. Teams automate volume before they have a stable brief, approval rule, naming system, or feedback loop. Fix the smallest broken hand-off first, document it, and only then increase the number of channels or variants.
Operator checklist
- The audience, job, channel, and desired action are explicit in the brief.
- Brand voice and visual constraints are attached as references, not remembered from chat.
- Every generated claim, likeness, and licensed asset has a review owner.
- The approval state is visible and the published version is immutable.
- Platform-specific crops, captions, alt text, and safe zones are checked.
- UTM naming and success metrics are defined before distribution.
- The team records what failed so the next brief improves.
Frequently asked questions
Can one exported file be uploaded everywhere?
It may upload, but separate exports let you adjust framing, captions, cover, CTA, compression, and duration for each destination.
How long can a YouTube Short be?
YouTube’s current help documentation says square or vertical uploads up to three minutes can be classified as Shorts, subject to its current rules and rights restrictions.
What is a safe zone?
The region kept clear of platform controls, captions, profile elements, and cropping. Use current platform templates and a device preview because overlays change.
Should captions be burned in?
Use accurate platform captions where available and style on-screen emphasis separately. Keep critical text inside the conservative shared safe area.
Continue building the system
Sources and further reading
Product capabilities and platform rules change. The links below point to first-party documentation or the vendor pages used for this guide; verify the current limits before committing budget or production volume.