The Joys of Aspect Ratio & Orientation

Different social media platforms require specific aspect ratios & orientations for posted videos to be displayed correctly – the last thing you want is your carefully crafted editing work to be butchered by arbitrary cropping.

The most common formats are:

1.00 aspect ratio, square orientation: e.g. X, FB, IG main tab 1.78 aspect ratio, landscape orientation (horizontal): e.g. X, FB, YT 1.78 aspect ratio, portrait orientation (upright): e.g. X, FB, IG & YT reels/shorts/stories, TT

X and Facebook are the most accommodating – any of these three can be posted, however, 1.78 aspect ratio, landscape orientation, best matches the sequential text & media presentation style on these platforms.

YouTube insists on 1.78 aspect ratio, landscape orientation.

For Instagram & YouTube reels and all posts on TikTok 1.78 aspect ratio, portrait orientation, is mandatory.

Until recently, all videos posted on Instagram were forced onto on the “Reels” tab, which meant that when a visitor landed on a profile they only saw images and had to move past a click barrier to see videos … unless a video was posted in square orientation (the Instagram orientation for images), then videos would appear alongside square orientation images on the main tab and also on the “Reels” tap, i.e. were immediately shown to profile visitors without requiring extra action - which greatly enhanced views & engagements.

Frequently multiple versions are required and the task of a video editor is to figure out creative positioning of video edit objects - which often have their own fixed aspect ratio & orientation - to maximize use of available space while maintaining core content consistency.

To illustrate, I append a sample collage showing a video edit in all three formats in a single video in Contra’s favorite 1.25 aspect ratio landscape orientation format.

The essential core objects were the Imagen “Best Actress – Drama (Television)” nomination poster and Emily’s iconic “where is Hope” scene she shared with co-star J.R. Bourne (cropped & enhanced to showcase Emily’s dramatic facial expression work in close-up frame) followed by the final season “Mayans MC” trailer, then the printed list of nominees.

Other objects were optional. The square orientation version facilitated inclusion of Emily’s “microwave smashing scene” slowed to match the edit duration.

An important consideration for client and video editor is therefore on which social media platform(s) their video edit shall be posted, so before you start work on an editing task be sure your spec includes aspect ratio & orientation.