Ad specs / YouTube
YouTube square video ad size
A YouTube square video ad is 1:1 at 1080 × 1080 pixels recommended and 480 × 480 minimum on Google's video ad specs page, up to 256 GB. Google names no square placement: square video runs in the campaign types its square and vertical video ads page lists. That page shows no cropping of a square video on its initial impression, and says that for both square and vertical video the YouTube app's player can compress to 1:1 and crop the top and bottom when a viewer scrolls. Google's reference overlay for square video keeps 4.4% of the top, 36.1% of the bottom, 4.4% of the left and 9.4% of the right clear, plus a block in the top-right corner.
| Scope | Square video is a ratio Google lists beside 16:9 and 9:16, not a placement of its own; the rows gather what Google's pages say about 1:1. Google's square and vertical video ads page: 'Square videos are still recommended for App, Demand Gen and Performance Max campaigns' |
|---|---|
| Recommended resolution | 1080 × 1080 pixels (1080p), printed as '1080 x 1080px (square)' under 'Recommended pixels (px) for HD' (Google's video ad specs page); Google's Demand Gen video assets and ad format guidelines page gives the same figure for its 1:1 video, 'Recommended pixels for HD: 1080x1080' |
| Minimum resolution | 480 × 480 pixels, which Google's video ad specs page prints under both 'Minimum px' and 'Minimum px for SD', shown here as written; Google adds that it doesn't recommend SD |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1 ('1:1 for square', Google's video ad specs page); 'Square 1:1' is one of the three ratios Google's square and vertical video ads page recommends for Video and App campaigns, which adds that 'On the YouTube app, the video player will automatically adjust to ratios between 16:9 and 9:16' |
| Player | Google's square and vertical video ads page shows 'Cropping behavior (none)' under 'Square video on initial video impression', and says: 'For both square and vertical videos, when the user interacts with the YouTube app, such as by scrolling through related content under the video, the video player can compress up to a 1:1 aspect ratio. This will crop the displayed video at the bottom and top…' |
| Recommended length | 15 seconds for 1:1 at 1080 × 1080 in the table under 'In-video ads on YouTube', the in-feed section of Google's video ads specs and format requirements page |
| Video action campaigns | At least 10 seconds recommended for 1:1 at 1080 × 1080, printed '≥ 10 seconds' (Google's video ads specs and format requirements page) |
| Video reach campaigns | '6-60 seconds' for 1:1 at 1080 × 1080 in the Efficient Reach table of Google's video ads specs and format requirements page (its Target Frequency table lists 16:9 only). The square row names no surface, where the 16:9 row says 'In-stream skippable, in-feed' and the 9:16 row says 'Shorts' |
| Demand Gen campaigns | 1:1 at 1080 × 1080 is one of the four video sizes on Google's Demand Gen video assets and ad format guidelines page, with 16:9, 4:5 and 9:16; Google's Demand Gen asset specs page lists the same 1:1 video |
| File type | .MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) recommended; .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, .FLV, .MPEG-1, .MP4, .MPEGPS, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm and HEVC (H.265) also accepted; audio-only files (MP3, WAV, PCM) can't be used (Google's video ad specs page) |
| Maximum file size | 256 GB (Google's video ad specs page) |
| Safe-zone files | Google's square overlay PNG, linked from its video ad specs page and drawn here, leaves 101 px on the right at 1080 × 1080. Google's older 'Universal Video Ad Safe Zones' working-doc PDF labels the square frame's right margin 192 px, and its own drawing measures about 106. Google's Demand Gen video template draws no zone on its square frame. No Google page says which figure it means |
Download as a template: a transparent PNG or SVG for your editor.
Source: Google Ads Help — Use square and vertical video to engage mobile customers, as of ; the safe zone from Google's square safe-zone overlay (the transparent PNG template on its video ad specs page), as of . Platforms revise specs without notice; check the source before you build a template on it.
Related reading
Check a file against this size in the free ad size checker, and see what YouTube’s buttons and captions cover in the safe zone checker. Terrads composes each placement for its own frame, instead of cropping one master down to it.