Use 9:16 vertical for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, where most property discovery happens. Use 16:9 horizontal for listing pages, email, and YouTube. Use 1:1 square for feed posts. Export the same project in all three rather than forcing one ratio everywhere.
9:16 vertical, 1080 x 1920
This is the discovery format. Reels, TikTok, and Shorts all display vertically and full screen, and a horizontal video posted there occupies a small band in the middle with wasted space above and below. Keep important content away from the top and bottom of the frame, since platform interface elements overlay those areas.
16:9 horizontal, 1920 x 1080
The format for a listing page embed, an email to a client, a YouTube upload, and any screen-shared review. Viewers here arrived deliberately rather than while scrolling, so this cut can run longer and carry more detail.
1:1 square, 1080 x 1080
A compromise format for the Instagram and Facebook feed. It occupies more vertical screen space than 16:9 without committing to full vertical, which makes it useful when the same asset must work in a feed and in a slightly more formal context.
Composing so one project serves all three
Keep the subject centered and leave margin at the edges of the frame. Photographs composed tightly to the horizontal edges cannot be cropped to vertical without cutting the subject, which is what forces a full re-edit per format.
Last reviewed September 2, 2026