How ratios decide what survives the crop

The three ratios that matter#

Three ratios cover nearly all Meta delivery: 1:1 square (1080 by 1080) as the universal fallback, 4:5 vertical (1440 by 1800) for maximum Feed screen share, and 9:16 full screen (1080 by 1920) for Reels and Stories. One asset set in all three covers every placement without awkward auto crops. Start at the Meta Ads hub for the family view, and check Meta own image ad specs for the current pixel minimums.

Landscape 1.91:1 still has a role for catalogue style and wide product scenes, but it should never be the only asset in an ad set because it shrinks inside vertical surfaces. Build vertical first, then derive the rest. Video lengths pair with these ratios, and our Reels guide shows full screen behaviour in detail.

Where each ratio wins#

4:5 wins Feed because it occupies more vertical screen than square before the see more cut, which lifts thumb stop rate on phones. 1:1 wins coverage because every placement accepts it acceptably, which makes it the safety asset when time is short. 9:16 wins Reels and Stories because anything smaller reads as a letterboxed afterthought surrounded by native full screen clips.

Match ratio to objective as well as placement: prospecting wants the impact of 4:5 and 9:16, while retargeting can reuse 1:1 catalogue cards where product clarity matters more than screen share. Carousel cards stay square by design, and diversification explains why ratio range counts as creative range.

Safe areas that save campaigns#

Reels and Stories overlay interface on your creative: profile row at top, call to action and caption near the base. Keep key content clear of roughly 14 per cent top, 35 per cent bottom and 6 per cent sides, with disclaimers and small print higher still. Feed crops are kinder but still truncate long headlines, so front load the payoff. Meta own video specs illustrate the zones per surface.

Test safe areas on a real phone, not a desktop preview: export, post to a private test placement, and read the result at arm's length in two seconds. If the headline, logo or offer sits under interface, reframe before spending. Our overlay guide pairs safe areas with the two second legibility test.

Export routine that covers all#

Shoot or design a 9:16 master with centred action, then reframe outward to 4:5 and 1:1 rather than stretching or padding. Export JPG or PNG to 30MB for stills and MP4 or MOV to 4GB for motion, at or above 1080 pixels on the short edge so text edges stay crisp on dense screens. Name files by ratio and concept so midnight edits never ship the wrong crop.

Keep textless masters alongside captioned cuts so future translations and reframes never fight burned in words, and archive project files with results attached. Caption discipline starts in the edit, and fatigue rotation is painless when reframes already exist.

Mistakes that shrink good ideas#

The classic error is one landscape asset for all placements, which surrenders half the phone screen in the surfaces where attention lives. The second is designing to the pixel edge, so headlines and logos slide under Reels interface on launch day. The third is trusting auto crop without checking, which centres on faces while the product leaves frame.

Audit placements quarterly with the method in our A/B guide, and ask our team for a ratio audit when CTR differs wildly by placement. Ratio fixes are cheap, reshoots are not, so check crops before judging concepts.

Frequently asked questions#