PostEaseStandard (long-form) video
The safest target for a regular upload:
- 16:9 landscape, 1920×1080 (1080p) or 3840×2160 (4K) resolution
- MP4 container with an H.264 video codec and AAC audio is the most broadly recommended format; MOV, AVI, WMV, and FLV are also accepted
- A verified channel can upload up to 12 hours or 256GB, whichever comes first. Neither limit is realistic to hit for almost any creator, so it functions like no limit even though it is a documented cap
Shorts
Shorts are vertical, 9:16, at 1080×1920 (a 1:1 square upload at 1080×1080 is also accepted and still counts as a Short). Length can run up to several minutes, but the strongest completion rates come from videos in the 15-to-30-second range, not the maximum allowed length. Completion rate is the signal that most directly affects distribution.
Thumbnails
A custom thumbnail should be 1280×720 (16:9), under 2MB, in JPG, GIF, or PNG format. Text on a thumbnail should stay legible at a small size, since most viewers see it shrunk down in a feed of recommendations, not full-screen.