Instagram Ad Formats & Specs: Complete Guide

This page covers every current Instagram ad format with the exact specs you need when briefing creative or setting up campaigns in Meta Ads Manager. Updated for 2025.

Instagram Ad Formats: Quick-Reference Specs

Instagram Ad Video Length: How Long Should Instagram Ads Be?

The right length depends on the format and objective:

Shorter is almost always better for paid placements. Instagram Stories ads that run longer than 15 seconds are split into multiple cards automatically, and viewer drop-off increases significantly after the first card. For Reels, 15–30 seconds mirrors the length of organic Reels that perform well, which helps ads blend into the feed more naturally.

How Long Can Instagram Story Ads Be?

Instagram Story ads can be up to 60 seconds long. Stories longer than 15 seconds are automatically divided into sequential 15-second segments, each shown as a separate card. Users can tap through or swipe away at each break. In practice, most Story ads perform best at 15 seconds or under because the break point gives viewers a natural exit.

Instagram Video Ad Specs: Full Technical Details

Feed Video

• Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1350 px (4:5)
• Minimum resolution: 600 x 315 px
• Aspect ratios: 9:16 to 16:9
• Recommended format: MP4 or MOV
• Max file size: 4 GB
• Duration: 1 second to 60 minutes (15–30 seconds recommended)
• Captions: Available and strongly recommended

Reels Ads

• Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1920 px (9:16)
• Aspect ratio: 9:16 (vertical full-screen only)
• Recommended format: MP4 or MOV
• Max file size: 4 GB
• Duration: up to 90 seconds (15–30 seconds recommended)
• Audio: Strongly recommended (Reels is a sound-on environment)

Stories Video

• Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1920 px (9:16)
• Aspect ratio: 9:16
• Recommended format: MP4 or MOV
• Max file size: 4 GB
• Duration: up to 60 seconds; auto-splits into 15-second segments

Safe Zones for Instagram Ads

Every full-screen Instagram placement (Stories, Reels) has a safe zone — the area of the frame where text, logos, and key visuals must sit to avoid being obscured by Instagram's UI (profile name, CTA button, caption area). Creative that violates safe zones looks broken on real devices even if it looks fine in design tools.

Working rules for Stories and Reels:

• Leave 14% (~250 px) at the top clear of critical elements
• Leave 20% (~340 px) at the bottom clear of critical elements
• The safe zone for key content is the center 66% of the vertical frame

For feed placements at 4:5, there are no UI overlay safe zone concerns, but keep important elements 50–100 px from any edge as a general rule.

Instagram Ad Image Specs

Feed Image

• Recommended size: 1080 x 1350 px (4:5 portrait)
• Minimum size: 500 x 500 px
• Aspect ratios: 4:5 to 1.91:1
• File format: JPG or PNG
• Max file size: 30 MB

Stories Image

• Recommended size: 1080 x 1920 px (9:16)
• File format: JPG or PNG
• Max file size: 30 MB
• Duration displayed: 5 seconds

Instagram Carousel Ad Specs

• Number of cards: 2–10
• Image size: 1080 x 1080 px (1:1) per card
• Video per card: Up to 2 minutes, 4 GB max
• Each card can have its own headline and destination URL
• Aspect ratio: 1:1 recommended; all cards must use the same ratio

Instagram Ad Text Limits

Text beyond these limits is truncated behind a "More" link in most placements. Write the most important information in the first 125 characters of primary text.

Instagram Ad Formats by Campaign Objective

Awareness campaigns: Reels and Stories are the highest-reach formats. Full-screen placements with sound work well for brand storytelling.

Traffic and conversion campaigns: Feed images and videos with strong CTAs perform reliably. Carousel ads are effective for product catalog browsing.

Catalog and shopping campaigns: Collection and Shopping formats pull directly from your product catalog and are designed specifically for ecommerce.

Retargeting: Any format works. Stories retargeting tends to have strong CTR because the full-screen format is hard to ignore.