The Definitive Guide to Choosing the Best Aspect Ratio for Your Videos

Thanks to recent technological advances, creators and consumers enjoy various video aspect ratios such as 16:9, 4:3, and 1:1. However, in a world full of influencers and content creators, viewers watch from all sorts of devices – smartphones, laptops, tablets, and computers. As a result, social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok video size ratios are entirely different. 

That’s why it’s crucial to make informed decisions about your video’s aspect ratio because it can thoroughly improve the style of your story.

If you’re struggling with choosing the best video aspect ratio, you’re in for a treat. This blog will discuss everything you need to know about aspect ratios, including what they are, how they impact the viewing experience, and the best tool for editing videos.

What Is Video Aspect Ratio?

In a nutshell, video aspect ratio refers to the relationship between your content’s width and height on a screen. It ultimately determines the necessary proportions to ensure optimal visual rendering for a specific social platform or device.

So if a video aspect ratio is 16:9, 16 refers to the width, while 9 refers to the height. And vice versa, if the video uses a vertical format, the aspect ratio would become 9:16, with 9 being the width and 16 being the height.

How Does Video Aspect Ratio Impact Viewing Experience?

As a rule of thumb, the video’s aspect ratio conditions how it will appear on a device or platform. As a result, it affects the overall video quality and viewing experience.

Without using the correct aspect ratio, the video may appear distorted or display awkward black bars, damaging the viewing experience. Moreover, aspect ratio also impacts a video’s overall mood and composition. For example, wide aspect ratios like 21:9 and 16:9 add depth and scale to landscape videos. On the other hand, narrower video aspect ratios like 1:1 and 4:3 add a vintage feel.

So if you want to publish video content on multiple platforms, resizing their aspect ratios is essential. For example, your YouTube content should differ from your TikTok video size ratio – one follows a horizontal view, and the other pursues a vertical perspective.

Bonus: How To Use The Golden Ratio in Graphic Design

What Is The Best Video Aspect For Social Media?

Regarding social media, there is no single video aspect ratio you can use for all platforms. Each platform processes and renders videos differently, catering to specific user devices. With this in mind, it’s essential to understand that all video aspect ratios are significant.

To help you out, here are the recommended aspect ratios for famous social media platforms.

YouTube

YouTube has always been the go-to platform for watching videos of all types, such as DIYs, makeup, at-home workouts, and academics. And because these videos thrive on smartphones, they typically follow the 16:9 ratio.

Instagram

With Instagram video size ratio, you generally have more wiggle room.

The popular choice is 1:1 because it will beautifully show the entirety of your content without clicking on the fullscreen option.

On the other hand, you may also opt for a vertical ratio like 4:5 if you want to give viewers a more expansive view of your content. However, note that for this option, your viewers must click the fullscreen button to enjoy the video.

Bonus: Understanding Instagram Post Dimensions: Types & Usage

LinkedIn

Besides being a platform for professionals seeking job opportunities, LinkedIn has become an effective marketing tool for creators. If you’re planning to expand your audience by jumping into the LinkedIn train, resize your videos in a 1:2.4 or 2.4:1 aspect ratio for maximum efficiency.

TikTok

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok skyrocketed and became one of the Internet’s most used social media platforms. Ideally, you can upload videos in portrait and landscape formats on the app. However, because it is a mobile platform, the recommended aspect ratio is 9:16 to maximize the entire screen.

Pinterest

Utilizing Pinterest’s story pin feature is an excellent marketing strategy. And because it uses the full-mobile screen aspect ratio of 9:16, it would be best to stick with this ratio.

Facebook

Facebook videos are relatively flexible because you can use a square, horizontal, or vertical aspect ratio. But one thing to consider is what device users usually use to scroll on Facebook. For a streamlined viewing experience, make sure to use the 9:16 aspect ratio because most viewers watch on their smartphones.

Bonus: The Ultimate Guide To Facebook Video Ad Specs

Twitter

Similar to Facebook, Twitter is also forgiving in terms of which video aspect ratio to use. However, Twitter recommends the 16:9 and 1:1 ratio for maximum viewing experience.

The Best Way To Streamline Your Video Editing Process

Let’s face it – video editing is a tedious task that takes up plenty of time. To help you with your aspect ratio clippings and other video editing needs, try out Simplified – an all-in-one design tool that will streamline your editing process. 

Simplified AI is a free video maker app that will simplify your video-making experience. This one-stop-shop video editing tool has predetermined sizes for your Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram video size ratios.

Moreover, it contains a library filled with hundreds of customizable video templates. You may also choose from hundreds of free photos, stickers, and GIFs for your videos!

For your convenience, this tool removes all technicalities of your typical video-making website, making it an excellent option for both beginners and veterans.

And don’t worry because the beauty of Simplified is that the basic plan is free – forever! And if you want to upgrade to the premium version for better editing options, the plan starts from $10 per month.

Get your hands on this free video-editing tool and enjoy its unique features without paying a dime.