Your Guide to the Perfect YouTube Shorts Video Size

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If you're in a hurry and just need the numbers, here's the bottom line: the best YouTube Shorts video size is 1080x1920 pixels.

This gives you that perfect 9:16 aspect ratio, which is just a technical way of saying your video will fill a modern smartphone screen from top to bottom. Getting this right is the single most important step for a professional-looking Short.

The YouTube Shorts Video Size Cheat Sheet

Let's get straight to it. When your masterpiece is edited and ready to go, the last thing you want is to get bogged down in a swamp of technical settings. This is your quick-reference guide for the perfect YouTube Shorts video size, built to get your export settings dialed in fast.

Following these specs isn't just a "nice-to-have." It’s how YouTube’s algorithm instantly recognizes your video as a Short and starts pushing it to the Shorts feed.

Get it wrong, and your video might get uploaded with those dreaded black bars on the sides, or worse, it could get completely overlooked by the algorithm. The whole point is to make your content feel like it belongs on the platform, and that starts with using the right canvas.

Core Technical Specifications

To make things even easier, I've broken down every essential spec you need. Bookmark this page, take a screenshot of the table below—whatever you need to do to keep these numbers handy. This way, every single Short you upload is optimized for quality and reach from the second it goes live.

If you want to understand the bigger picture of how these specs compare across platforms, our deep dive on vertical video dimensions is a great place to start.

Here’s a simple table with everything you need in one spot.

YouTube Shorts Quick Specifications Guide

This table is your go-to summary for all the essential requirements. Nail these, and your video will always be perfectly formatted for YouTube's system.

Specification	Recommendation	Why It Matters
Resolution	1080x1920 pixels	This is the Full HD standard for vertical video. It guarantees a sharp, clear picture on the mobile devices where nearly all Shorts are viewed.
Aspect Ratio	9:16	This vertical format is non-negotiable. It fills the entire phone screen, creating an immersive, distraction-free experience that keeps people watching.
File Format	.MP4	MP4 is the most widely supported video format on the planet. It ensures YouTube can process your video smoothly and that it plays back perfectly on any device.
Video Codec	H.264	The H.264 codec is the workhorse of online video. It gives you an amazing balance of high-quality compression and manageable file sizes for faster uploads.
Audio Codec	AAC-LC	This is the standard audio codec for YouTube. It ensures your sound is crystal clear and stays perfectly synced with your video.
Max File Size	256 GB	Even though Shorts are short, this huge limit means you can use high-quality footage without ever worrying about hitting a file size cap.
Max Length	60 seconds	All Shorts must be a minute or less. The algorithm tends to reward shorter, punchier videos that hold a viewer's attention right to the end.

Think of these settings as the foundation. With these technical details handled, you can focus all your energy on what really matters: creating awesome content.

Why Getting Your Dimensions Right Drives More Views

Knowing the exact numbers for your YouTube Shorts video size is a great start, but the real secret sauce is understanding why they matter. It’s not about ticking a technical box; it’s about crafting the perfect viewing experience.

Think of your phone as a pocket-sized theater built for one thing: vertical video. When you upload a Short at the correct 1080x1920 pixels with a 9:16 aspect ratio, you're taking over the entire screen. This creates a completely immersive world for your viewer, pulling them in and shutting out every other distraction.

The Algorithm and The Viewer

YouTube's algorithm is smart. It’s built to find and promote content that looks like it belongs. When your video is perfectly vertical, the algorithm immediately flags it as a Short, giving it a ticket to the main stage.

This is your best shot at getting your content pushed into the endless-scroll Shorts feed—that’s where videos go viral. On the flip side, getting the dimensions wrong sends the algorithm a bad signal right from the start.

If you upload a square (1:1) or a traditional horizontal (16:9) video, YouTube has to add ugly black bars to make it fit. That simple mistake shatters the illusion and screams "this doesn't belong here."

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Using the wrong YouTube Shorts video size isn't just a minor visual flaw; it actively hurts your channel's growth. The consequences are real and can tank your visibility.

Viewers Swipe Away: Those black bars make a video look unprofessional and out of place. In the fast-paced Shorts feed, viewers have no patience and will instantly swipe away from anything that feels off, killing your retention rate.

The Algorithm Ignores You: While YouTube doesn't hand out official "penalties," its algorithm is designed to reward the best user experience. A poorly formatted video is simply less likely to get promoted, which means its reach is dead on arrival.

Blurry or Cropped Content: Trying to jam a horizontal video into a vertical frame is a recipe for disaster. You either have to zoom in so much that the footage becomes a pixelated mess, or you end up cropping out the most important parts of the shot.

This isn't just a technical footnote. It's a fundamental part of making content that looks professional and is built to succeed. For a deeper dive into how these formats work together, check out our guide on the fundamentals of video aspect ratio.

Don't Miss Out on the Shorts Gold Rush

The scale of the opportunity here makes proper formatting absolutely critical. YouTube Shorts isn't just popular; it's a phenomenon. According to Google's Q1 2024 earnings call, Shorts are now pulling in over 70 billion daily views.

For educators, small businesses, and faceless channels, this is a massive gateway to a new audience. More than 52 million channels have jumped on the Shorts bandwagon, and the number of creators is growing by 50% year-over-year.

Your video is fighting for attention in a sea of content. By simply making sure your YouTube Shorts video size is perfect, you give yourself a huge leg up. You're making your content more attractive to both the people watching and the algorithm that decides who gets to see it. It's the first, and most important, step.

Perfecting Your Video Export Settings

Alright, let's move from theory to practice and dive into your video editor's export settings. This is the final, crucial step where you lock in the technical details of your YouTube Shorts video size and make sure the file you upload is as polished as possible. Don't let the technical terms intimidate you; we'll break it down.

Think of these settings as the final quality check before your video goes live. Giving YouTube a high-quality source file is the absolute best way to ensure your content looks crisp and professional after their servers compress it.

Decoding the Most Important Settings

When you hit that "Export" button, you’ll be faced with a panel of options. For our purposes, three of them are absolutely critical for getting your Short just right: the codec, the bitrate, and the frame rate.

Let's unpack what each one actually does.

Codec (H.264): A codec is essentially the language used to package and compress your video. H.264 is the undisputed king of online video because it hits that perfect balance between high quality and small file size. It's universally accepted and exactly what YouTube recommends.

Bitrate (8-15 Mbps): Think of bitrate as the amount of visual detail packed into every second of your video. A higher bitrate means more data, which translates to a sharper, cleaner image. For a 1080p Short, a bitrate between 8 and 15 Mbps (megabits per second) is the sweet spot. It delivers fantastic quality without creating a monstrously large file.

Frame Rate (Match Source): This one’s simple. Frame rate is the number of individual images (frames) displayed per second. The best practice here is to match your export frame rate to your original footage. If you filmed at 30 FPS (frames per second), export at 30 FPS. This is key to preventing stuttering and keeping motion silky smooth.

Recommended Export Settings for YouTube Shorts

Choosing your export settings is always a bit of a balancing act between visual fidelity and file size. A higher bitrate looks phenomenal but means longer upload times. To help you nail it every time, here’s a quick-reference table for the best YouTube Shorts video size and quality.

Setting	Recommended Value	Impact on Quality & File Size
Video Codec	H.264	This is the industry standard for a reason. It gives you great compression, keeping file sizes down while holding onto high visual quality.
Resolution	1080x1920	This delivers a crisp, Full HD image that looks fantastic on mobile phones, which is where nearly all Shorts are viewed.
Bitrate (1080p)	8-15 Mbps	An 8 Mbps bitrate is a solid choice for good quality and fast uploads. Pushing it to 15 Mbps will give you pristine visuals, but the file will be larger.
Frame Rate	Match Source (30/60 FPS)	Matching your source footage is non-negotiable for fluid, natural-looking motion. Don't change this unless you have a specific creative reason.
Audio Codec	AAC-LC	This is the standard audio codec that plays nicely with YouTube, delivering clear, high-quality sound that syncs perfectly.

Getting these settings dialed in is a game-changer. For a complete look at the entire process, from editing to publishing, check out our guide on how to post a Short on YouTube.

And while we're focused on YouTube, remember that these vertical video skills are transferable. If you're running campaigns elsewhere, it's helpful to see how specs compare—this Facebook's video size guide for ads is a great example.

The best part? You can save these settings as a custom preset in your editing software. That way, you can export a perfectly optimized Short with just one click, every single time.

Common Sizing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Getting your YouTube Shorts dimensions right is more than just plugging in numbers. It's about sidestepping the common traps that can sink your video before it even has a chance to go viral. A simple formatting mistake can make your content look amateurish, and that’s a surefire way to get a viewer to swipe away.

Let's walk through the mistakes I see creators make all the time. Learning these lessons now will save you a ton of frustration from re-uploads and confusing quality drops down the road. This is your shortcut to making sure every video looks sharp from the very first frame.

Mistake 1: Uploading Square or Horizontal Videos

This is probably the most common blunder. Creators often try to repurpose a video from another platform or use standard widescreen footage, and the result just doesn't work for the Shorts feed.

What Happens: When you upload a square (1:1) or horizontal (16:9) video, YouTube forces it into the vertical player by adding chunky black bars. This completely kills the immersive, full-screen experience that makes Shorts so addictive and immediately shrinks your content.

How to Fix It: Don't even think about it. Start every Shorts project in your video editor with a 1080x1920 (9:16) canvas. If you absolutely have to use horizontal footage, get creative! You can stack clips vertically, add text in the space above or below, or crop in to reframe the action. Just don't drop a horizontal clip into a vertical timeline and call it a day.

This little map shows how all your export settings—codec, bitrate, and frame rate—work together to determine the final quality of your video.

Get these right, and you give YouTube a high-quality file to work with, which means a better-looking Short for your audience.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the UI Safe Zones

Another classic mistake is putting text, logos, or crucial action right where YouTube's interface is going to cover it up. The Shorts player has a permanent overlay, and if you don't account for it, your message will get lost.

Here’s a breakdown of the no-go zones:

The Bottom: This is where your channel name, caption, and all the engagement icons (like, comment, share) live. Any text you put here is going to be unreadable.

The Top: The "Shorts" logo and search bar can often pop up here, especially when someone first lands on your video.

The Right Side: This edge is home to the like, dislike, comment, and share buttons, as well as the audio icon.

The solution is easy: keep all your key visuals within the middle 80% of the frame.

Mistake 3: Using Low-Resolution Footage

Uploading a blurry, pixelated video is a guaranteed way to lose a viewer's interest. This usually happens when the original clips are poor quality or when creators export with super low settings to try and speed things up.

What Happens: YouTube compresses every single video uploaded to its platform. If you feed its compression algorithm a low-quality file, it's just going to look even worse on the other side. The result is a muddy, unprofessional video that looks terrible on a modern smartphone screen.

How to Fix It: Simple. Always start with the best-quality footage you have and always export at 1080p (1080x1920). Give your video a healthy bitrate—at least 8 Mbps is a good starting point—to make sure the details are preserved. When you give YouTube a great file, you get a great-looking Short.

Optimizing Beyond Dimensions for Better Performance

Getting the technical specs right for your YouTube Shorts video size is just step one. It's the foundation. But to really grow your channel, you need to think about how people actually watch Shorts. Once you've got your 1080x1920 canvas ready, the real work begins—fine-tuning your content to keep eyes glued to the screen.

Think of it like this: the right dimensions get your movie on the screen, but it's the story, pacing, and visuals that stop people from walking out. It’s time to look past the pixels and focus on what makes a Short genuinely addictive.

Finding the Sweet Spot for Video Length

Sure, YouTube lets you make Shorts up to 60 seconds long. But that doesn't mean you always should. The best-performing content often lands in a very specific time window. This isn't about just being short; it's about being concise and satisfying.

Dig into the data, and you'll find that Shorts between 50 and 60 seconds frequently pull in the highest average views. Why? It's just enough time to tell a mini-story, deliver a great punchline, or share a complete thought. This keeps people watching longer, which can boost your retention and even your revenue (RPM).

In fact, the average viewer retention for Shorts is a massive 73%—way higher than what you see on most long-form videos. That's because the format demands you get to the point, fast. Every single second counts. Nailing your video length can make a huge difference in views and subscribers.

Your First Frame Is Your Thumbnail

Here’s a curveball with Shorts: you can't upload a custom thumbnail. This is a game-changer, and it means your video's first few frames are everything. They aren't just the beginning of your video; they're the advertisement for it. They are, for all intents and purposes, your thumbnail.

Here are a few ways to nail that crucial first impression:

Try a Title Card: A big, bold title in the first second or two can immediately signal what your Short is about.

Open with Action: Don't waste time with a slow build-up. Start with the most visually interesting or surprising moment to hook them instantly.

Keep It Clean and Clear: Make sure your opening shot is well-lit and in focus. If a viewer can't tell what’s happening, they'll just swipe away.

The Power of Burned-In Captions

A huge chunk of your audience is watching Shorts with the sound off. They might be on a bus, in a waiting room, or just scrolling in a quiet house. If your video relies on audio, you're losing a massive part of your potential audience.

This is where burned-in captions come in. These are subtitles that are literally part of the video file, so they show up no matter what. They make your content accessible to everyone, regardless of their sound settings. Adding clear, easy-to-read captions is one of the simplest ways to boost your watch time.

For more ways to make your videos stand out beyond the basics, checking out some advanced YouTube video editing tips can give you that extra creative edge.

Your Questions on Shorts Formatting Answered

Let's wrap up by tackling some of the most common questions that pop up when creators are dialing in their YouTube Shorts video size. Getting these details right is the difference between a Short that looks crisp and professional and one that just feels… off. This quick FAQ should clear up any final confusion.

What Happens If I Upload a Square Video as a Short?

Technically, you can. YouTube will accept a square (1:1) video and tag it as a Short. But you really shouldn't.

The platform will automatically add black bars to the top and bottom of your video to force it into the vertical player. This instantly shrinks your content and shatters the immersive, full-screen experience viewers are there for. That awkward framing is often enough to make someone swipe away, hurting your video's performance. The best practice is always to create your content in a native 9:16 aspect ratio (1080x1920 pixels) from the start.

Can I Upload YouTube Shorts in 4K Resolution?

You can upload a 4K vertical video (2160x3840 pixels), but it’s usually overkill and not worth the hassle for Shorts. The file sizes are massive, which means longer upload times and a bigger headache managing your files.

Why Does My Short Look Blurry After Uploading?

This is a classic problem, and it almost always comes down to YouTube's compression. When you upload a video, YouTube re-encodes it to save space, and if your original file isn't high enough quality, the final result looks blurry or pixelated.

The trick is to give YouTube a great source file to work with. Here's how:

Export at 1080p: Always make sure your project is exported at 1080x1920 resolution.

Use a Healthy Bitrate: Aim for a bitrate between 8-15 Mbps. This gives the video enough data to look sharp.

Choose the H.264 Codec: This is the gold standard for online video and delivers excellent quality.

When YouTube's algorithm compresses a strong, high-quality file, the version that viewers see will look much cleaner and sharper.

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