The Ideal Size of a TikTok Video: Talking Aspect Ratio

Few things are more annoying than finding a video you really want to watch and discovering that it doesn’t look right on your screen.

A video shot “vertically” on a phone (also known as portrait mode) but watched on a laptop, or a “horizontal” one (also known as landscape mode)shot with a camera but watched on a phone, won’t provide a satisfactory viewing experience. And having to rotate your computer display or phone just to watch a video is even more annoying.

For content creators who shoot TikTok videos on their phones, there’s no problem; the content will be in portrait mode so it matches the way most users will be watching. When uploading TikTok content from another source, though, detail matters — particularly for what’s known as the video’s aspect ratio.

Let’s learn more.

What Is Aspect Ratio?

The aspect ratio of a video or photo describes the proportions of the image in terms of its width and height.

For example, a standard TV picture has an aspect ratio of 16:9, meaning there are 16 units of measurement (pixels, millimeters, or inches) in its width for every nine units of height. That’s what makes the shows you watch on TV look “horizontal,” since their width of 16 units is longer than their height of 9 units. (Old-fashioned TVs had aspect ratios of 4:3.)

Displays on smartphones are generally “vertical,” of course, so their height is longer than their width. Common phone aspect ratios are 9:16, 9:18, and 9:19, with 9:16 the traditional choice. Taller screens are becoming more popular and will probably become the standard for portrait aspect ratios in the near future.

What Aspect Ratio Should a TikTok Video Have?

TikTok recommends shooting videos in portrait mode with a 9:16 aspect ratio, so the content will display optimally on the social media platform for most TikTok users. (Advertisers who are using horizontal or square displays are told to use 16:9 or 1:1, respectively.)

Those recording on a traditional phone will produce video in 9:16 aspect mode, so they’re all good. Users using taller phones that shoot in 9:18 or 9:19 aspect mode shouldn’t have to worry; their original content won’t look much different in a TikTok post.

Sticklers for detail (or professional videographers) who are concerned about the small difference in aspect ratios can resize their videos in third-party editing software, as can those who’ve shot their content in landscape mode and want to edit it to be TikTok-friendly.

And for those who are interested, the ideal dimensions for your TikTok photos or videos are 1080 x 1920 pixels. It’s recommended to go no lower than 720 x 1280 pixels if you want your content to be shown in decent quality.

The best advice: shoot and upload from a modern smartphone, and you won’t have to worry about numbers and measurements.