Lyric video sizes and formats

The three common shapes

• 16:9, landscape (1920 × 1080). The standard for YouTube and websites. It fills a TV, a laptop or a phone held sideways.
• 9:16, vertical (1080 × 1920). For Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok. It fills a phone held upright.
• 1:1, square (1080 × 1080). A common choice for feed posts, where it takes more room on a phone than a landscape video.

Which shape for which place

• YouTube: 16:9.
• Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok: 9:16.
• Instagram and Facebook feeds: 1:1 is common; 16:9 also plays, but smaller.
• Spotify Canvas: a short vertical loop of a few seconds that plays behind a track, not a full lyric video. Check Spotify's current guidelines for length and size.

Keep the words away from the edges

Apps place buttons, captions and a progress bar over the picture, mostly near the top and bottom of a vertical video. Keep every line well inside the frame and make the letters large, because most people watch on a phone. Play the file on a phone before you upload it.

What Milamo delivers

Milamo delivers one 16:9 clip in 1080p, as a downloadable file. A vertical 9:16 version is planned as an optional extra and cannot be ordered yet. There is no square version at the moment. See pricing for what is included and how it works.

Questions people ask

What size should a YouTube lyric video be?

16:9 at 1920 by 1080 is the usual choice. YouTube also plays other shapes, but it adds bars around them.

What size is a lyric video for Instagram Reels and TikTok?

9:16, vertical, at 1080 by 1920. Keep the text away from the top and bottom edges, where the apps show buttons and captions.

Can one lyric video work on every platform?

A 16:9 video plays almost everywhere, but in vertical apps it shows as a small strip with bars. To fill the screen, each shape needs its own layout.

Which formats does Milamo deliver?

One 16:9 clip in 1080p, as a downloadable file. A vertical 9:16 version is planned as an optional extra and cannot be ordered yet.