YouTube shorts size
1080 × 1920px
Aspect ratio
9:16
YouTube Shorts are 1080 × 1920 px (9:16) vertical video, up to 3 minutes long — with the Shorts UI overlaying the bottom and right.
Last verified June 2026
Shorts run on the universal vertical canvas: 1080 × 1920 px at 9:16, and since YouTube extended the limit in late 2024, up to 3 minutes long. Anything 9:16 (or close) and inside the length cap is treated as a Short and routed into the Shorts feed rather than the regular player. The same master file you export for TikTok and Reels works here — the differences are the overlay (title, channel, subscribe button, and audio row along the bottom; action rail on the right) and the absence of a normal custom-thumbnail flow.
| Variant | Dimensions | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Short (recommended) | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 |
| Square fallback | 1080 × 1080 pxAccepted as a Short, displayed with fill above and below. | 1:1 |
| Length | up to 3 minutesExtended from 60 seconds in late 2024. | — |
The Shorts player stacks more chrome at the bottom than Reels or TikTok: title, channel handle, subscribe button, and the audio attribution row, with the like/dislike/comment/share rail down the right edge. Keep captions and key action above roughly the bottom 480 px and clear of the right 140 px. The top is comparatively safe apart from system status areas — but if you reuse the file on TikTok, respect TikTok’s ~130 px top margin too and one export serves every platform.
Because Shorts offer frame selection rather than a real thumbnail upload, plan one deliberately composed frame into the edit — a clean shot with readable framing, ideally near the start. When publishing from the mobile app, select that frame; it represents the Short on your channel page and in search. Editing first, frame-hunting later is backwards.
The file format transfers perfectly; the watermark does not. YouTube’s guidelines and recommendation behavior both penalize visibly recycled, watermarked content. Export a clean master from your editor and publish it natively to each platform — one 9:16 file, no platform logos baked in. SocialKit schedules the same vertical video to Shorts, TikTok, and Reels in one pass, which removes the temptation to re-download.
Shorts are scored heavily on watch percentage, and loops inflate it: a final beat that flows seamlessly back into the opening frame earns repeated views before the swipe. Structure the script so the last line sets up the first, keep cuts fast, and front-load the premise in the first two seconds — viewers decide before your intro finishes.
1080 × 1920 px at 9:16 — the standard full-screen vertical canvas shared with TikTok and Reels. Vertical or square videos up to 3 minutes are classified as Shorts.
Up to 3 minutes, after YouTube extended the cap from 60 seconds in late 2024. Retention still rules the feed, so shorter, loop-friendly edits often outperform the full allowance.
Not the way regular videos allow — there is no standard desktop thumbnail upload. You can choose a frame from the video in the mobile app, so plan a clean, composed frame into the edit and select it at publish time.
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