TikTok ad specs 2026: video sizes, length, captions and safe zones

In-Feed video ad specs at a glance

TikTok's In-Feed auction spec page (last updated June 2026) is the reference for most advertisers, because auction In-Feed is the format most self-serve campaigns buy. These are its numbers for non-Spark ads, which are ads you upload directly to Ads Manager:

1. 01

   Aspect ratio and minimum resolution: vertical 9:16 at 540x960 or more (TikTok marks vertical as recommended), horizontal 16:9 at 960x540 or more, or square 1:1 at 640x640 or more.

2. 02

   File types: .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp or .avi.

3. 03

   Duration: up to 10 minutes.

4. 04

   File size: 500 MB or less.

5. 05

   Bitrate: at least 516 kbps.

6. 06

   Ad text: rendered in a fixed white font you cannot change, with no clickable links, @ mentions or hashtags.

7. 07

   Profile photo (optional): 98x98 px, 1:1, .jpg, .jpeg or .png, under 50 KB, with the key element inside the central 66x66 px.

8. 08

   Display name: one line of up to 20 characters (10 for Chinese, Japanese or Korean). App names are pulled from the App Store or Google Play.

How long should a TikTok ad be?

The upload limit and the recommended length are different questions, and TikTok's own pages do not agree on the second one. Auction In-Feed allows up to 10 minutes. The Reservation In-Feed page (Reach & Frequency) allows 5–60 seconds and recommends 9–15 seconds, and the TopView page gives the same 5–60 second range with the same 9–15 second recommendation. TikTok's older "7 Top Tips" creative PDF, based on data from 2021, recommends 21–34 seconds in one place and 9–15 seconds in its own checklist. The current creative best-practices page gives no length at all.

The practical reading: length is a creative decision, not a spec. A 15-second cut forces you to state the offer fast, and it is the length TikTok repeats most often. A longer cut can work when the first seconds earn it. What TikTok is consistent about is the opening: its best-practices page says to introduce the content proposition within the first 3 seconds and land the hook within the first 6. If you are writing that opening, start from proven patterns such as the ones in our UGC hooks library, then structure the rest with a UGC script template that fits 15, 30 or 60 seconds.

Reservation and TopView buys also need a higher bitrate (at least 2,500 kbps) and TikTok states that all video creatives on those pages must have sound. Export at 1080x1920 with a normal H.264 encode and you clear every one of these floors at once.

Caption and ad text character limits

TikTok's current auction In-Feed page describes how ad text looks but does not state a hard character limit. Its other spec pages do give numbers. The Reservation In-Feed page says text beyond four lines is hidden behind "See more" and suggests keeping captions within 100 characters (50 for Chinese, Japanese or Korean). The TopView page sets non-Spark captions at up to 100 characters. TikTok counts half-width characters, such as English letters, as 1 and full-width CJK characters as 2; punctuation counts, leading and trailing spaces do not.

Spark Ads pull their caption from the organic post. The Reservation In-Feed page allows up to 150 characters or a blank caption for Spark Pull ads, while the TopView page says 100 characters or blank. If you want one rule that passes everywhere, write ad text of 100 characters or less and treat the first 50 as the part people actually read.

The display name follows the same pattern: 20 characters maximum, with TikTok's TopView page recommending 4–10 characters. A short brand name reads cleanly next to the caption; a long one is cut off.

TikTok safe zones: what the UI covers

TikTok does not publish a single pixel margin for the safe zone. Its spec page says the safe area depends on orientation, caption length and any interactive add-ons, and it provides downloadable safe zone files instead: a standard version, a right-to-left version for Arabic, and anchor versions. Download the file that matches your placement and overlay it in your editor before export.

Third-party guides often quote approximate margins for a 1080x1920 frame of about 240 px at the top, about 660 px at the bottom, about 120 px on each side and a further column of roughly 180 px on the right for the like, comment and share buttons. Those figures are scaled from an older 720x1280 template and are not TikTok's official numbers, so use them as a sketch and check against TikTok's file. The rule they support is simple: keep faces, product labels, prices and on-screen text in the upper-middle of the frame, and keep the bottom third free for the caption, display name and call-to-action button.

This matters most for UGC-style ads, where the product shot and the on-screen hook text carry the message. A product held at chest height in a vertical frame usually sits inside the safe area. A label held low, or a headline placed at the very bottom, often ends up under the caption.

Spark Ads specs and authorization

Spark Ads promote existing organic posts, either from your own account or from a creator who authorizes the post. Views, comments, shares, likes and follows count toward the original post. Because the video is already on TikTok, TikTok's Spark Ads page lists no restrictions on ratio, resolution, file type, bitrate or file size for the organic video, and sparked videos can be up to 10 minutes long. Captions can be blank and may include account tags, emoji and hashtags. The display name and text come from the post and cannot be edited in Ads Manager.

Creators share posts through an authorization code, and the advertiser can choose how long that authorization lasts. An authorized video must be un-authorized before the creator can delete it, and an Ads Manager account can hold up to 10,000 Spark Ads. When you work with paid creators, put the Spark Ads authorization period and the usage rights in writing before the shoot; our UGC brief template has a usage-rights section for exactly this.

Carousel and image ad specs

TikTok's carousel spec page (September 2026) allows 2–35 uploaded images, with 2–20 shown, as JPG, JPEG or PNG. TikTok suggests about 100 KB or less per image and lists three sizes: 1200x628 horizontal, 640x640 square and 720x1280 vertical. Music is required and loops: at least 2 seconds, MP3, up to 10 MB, from the Commercial Music Library or your own upload (Video Shopping Ads carousels take uploads only). Commercial Music Library tracks do not play on TikTok Ad Network placements, so those placements run silent. A carousel shares one caption, one call to action and one URL across all images, except catalog-powered carousels, which can link each image to its own product.

Creative guidance TikTok repeats on every page

Specs only get an ad approved. TikTok's creative best-practices page lists what it recommends for performance: use sound or music, shoot vertical 9:16 at 720p or higher, introduce the proposition in the first 3 seconds and the hook in the first 6, keep content inside the UI safe zone, add captions or text overlays at roughly 5–10 words per second, use transitions, stickers or graphics, and end with a clear call to action.

Those recommendations describe creator-style video almost exactly, which is why UGC is the default ad style on the platform. If you produce ads with AI actors, the same rules apply. FireplaceUGC exports every take as a 9:16 MP4 with sound, and Talking Video and Product in Hand are built around the first-seconds hook. For category-specific angles, see the skincare and mobile apps pages.

Once the ads run, judge the opening with numbers rather than taste. TikTok reports 2-second and 6-second video views; the same logic as Meta's hook rate applies, and our hook rate calculator shows whether a difference between two openings is real or noise.