Full Guide to Facebook Ad Specs and Sizes 2019

In one of our latest articles, we told you about the ad objectives that Facebook offers to advertisers. The importance of objective selection is hard to overestimate, but it’s the very first step towards running an effective Facebook advertising campaign. The success of the campaign also depends on targeting settings, budget settings, format, media and placement selection.

Today, we are going to talk about four main Facebook Ad formats and placements, where these formats can be applicable. We will also take a closer look at Facebook Ad specifications which are quite different for each format. Thus, this article will become an ultimate guide for advertisers who want to launch a Facebook Ad campaign and learn about the up-to-date media requirements.

How to use this guide:

1. Find the format you want to use in the menu below

2. Find all the required specs

3. Repeat when using different formats

Single Image Specifications

Single image ads can be labeled as the most popular and universal ad type. It can be used with all ad objectives, except for Video Views, of course ( Video Views are mostly about video views, nothing in common with images). A Single Image ad can be used across almost all placements.

Below we will consider the ad specifications for all possible placements.

Facebook Feed Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 16:9 to 9:16 (1.91:1 to 1:1 for ads with a link)

Resolution: the highest possible resolution will be the best choice (1080x1080 for ads with a link)

Text: 125 characters max. Important: make sure that your image isn’t covered by text for more than 20% – otherwise it won’t perform well.

Facebook Right Column Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 16:9 to 1:1

Resolution: 1200x1200 minimum

Text: 125 characters for text, 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description

Facebook Instant Articles Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 9:16 to 16:9 (1:1 for the ad with a link)

Resolution: the highest possible resolution will be the best choice (1200x1200 for ads with a link)

Text: 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description. Remember the 20% rule we mentioned above.

Facebook Marketplace Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 9:16 to 16:9 (1:1 for the ad with a link)

Resolution: the highest possible resolution will be the best choice (1200x1200 for ads with a link)

Text: 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description. Remember the 20% rule we mentioned above.

Facebook Stories Image Ads Specs

Ratio: 1.91 to 9:16

Pay attention to the layout of the key elements of the future story ad. Leave approximately 14% at the top and bottom of the image without any valuable elements as the text or image will be covered by your profile logo and call-to-action respectively.

Facebook Messenger Image Stories Ads Specs

Ratio: 1.91 to 9:16

Instagram Stories Image Ads Specs

Ratio: 1.91 to 9:16

Instagram Feed Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Resolution: choose an image with the highest resolution

Text: two rolls of text will be displayed, keep them short and simple

Audience Network Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 9:16, full-screen vertical

Resolution: 1200x628 minimum

Text: 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description. Remember the 20% rule we previously talked about.

Messenger Inbox Image Ads Specs

Type of the file: jpg or png

Ratio: 9:16 to 1:1

Resolution: choose an image with the highest resolution

Text: 125 characters

Single Video Specifications

Video is one of the best ways to deliver information. Videos are much easier to consume (compared to text ads). They allow the advertiser to combine the ad with other activities (such as washing dishes, running on a treadmill, etc.) and it gives them the chance to be as specific as possible when creating the video.

The Single Video ad type can also be used with different ad objectives and across different placements. Let’s find out what requirements Facebook has for video ads.

Facebook Feed Video Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16 or 16:9

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/240 minutes

Captions: up to you, but we recommend to include

Sound: up to you, but we recommend to include

Text: 125 characters, 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description.

Facebook Instant Article Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16 or 16:9

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/240 minutes

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you

Text: 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description

Facebook In-Stream Video Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16 (recommended) or 16:9

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 5 second/15 seconds

Captions: up to you

Sound: up to you (better include)

Facebook Marketplace Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16 or 16:9

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/240 minutes

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Text: 25 for the headline, 30 for the link description

Facebook Stories Ads Specs

Ratio: 1.91 to 9:16

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Messenger Stories Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16, 16:9, 4:5

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Facebook Suggested Video Ads Specs

Ratio: 16:9 to 9:16

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/240 minutes

Captions: up to you

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Instagram Stories Ads Specs

Ratio: 1.91 to 9:16

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/60 seconds

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Instagram Feed Ads Specs

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 1 second/120 seconds

Captions: up to you

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Text: two rows of text must be kept short and simple

Audience Network Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16, full-screen vertical

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Audience Network In-Stream Ads Specs

Ratio: 16:9

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 5 second/30 seconds

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: required

Text: two rows of text must be kept short and simple

Audience Network Rewarded Video Ads Specs

Ratio: 9:16, full-screen vertical

Resolution: choose the video with the highest resolution

File size: max 4GB

Min/max length: 15 seconds/30 seconds

Captions: must be a part of the video

Sound: up to you (strongly recommended)

Text: two rows of text must be kept short and simple

Carousel Specifications

Carousel is one of the most interesting Facebook Ads formats. Carousel is based on cards, images or videos which can be scrolled through by the user. This format lets the advertiser reveal all features of the advertised product or service and make the advertising process interactive and exciting.

The carousel can also be used with other ad objectives across most placements, but there’s a bunch of limitations. Let’s take a closer look at this format’s specifications.

Facebook Feed Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 240 min

Image max size: 30 MB

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: 125 characters + headline 40 characters + link description 20 characters

Facebook Right Column Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 240 min

Image max size: 30 MB

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: 125 characters + headline 40 characters + link description 20 characters

Facebook Instant Articles Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 240 min

Image max size: 30 MB

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: 125 characters + headline 40 characters + link description 20 characters

Facebook Marketplace Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 240 min

Image max size: 30 MB

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: 125 characters + headline 40 characters + link description 20 characters

Instagram Stories Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 3

Type of the file: jpg or png

Resolution: 1080x1920

Ratio: 9:16

Instagram Feed Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 60 seconds

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: two rows of text + one row in the headline

Audience Network Carousel Ads

Min number of cars: 2

Max number of cards: 10

Type of the file: jpg or png

Video max size: 4 GB

Video length: not more than 240 min

Image max size: 30 MB

Resolution: min 1080x1080

Ratio: 1:1

Text: 125 characters + headline 40 characters + link description 20 characters

Collection Specifications

Collection is a great solution for advertisers who want to show the actual features and appearance of the product instead of pushing its abstract value.

This ad format allows the user to discover different products in a fast and comfortable way right from the screen of the mobile device. Thus, Collection is an awesome tool for eCommerce and other retailers.

Facebook Feed Collection Ads

Collection consists of 2 parts - cover image/video and a bunch of product images. Facebook doesn’t give any ratio, resolution and the max size of the image. We suggest using an image with the highest resolution you have. Text - 90 characters + 25 characters for the headline.

Instagram Feed Collection Ads

Requirements to Instagram Feed Collection Ads are close to Facebook Feed Collection Ads. What’s different:

Image ratio should be 16:9 to 1:1
A headline isn’t visible, so you have only 90 characters for the main text.

That’s all, folks!

In this article, we have told you about the specifics of each Facebook advertising format. We assume that this article isn’t for one-time reading. You can refer back to it at anytime when trying new interesting ad formats.

Moreover, we developed a special tool called Facebook Advisor. The Advisor can help you create value-generating Facebook ads and prevent you from wasting time and losing money. At the same time, the Advisor can find weak places in your ads and increase the effectiveness of the whole ad campaign. Sign up now and start using our tools for free!