Facebook Ads Specs and Sizes 2022 | The Complete Review

Facebook probably has the most sophisticated advertising system of all social networks. This makes sense. Facebook has by far the most users of any other social platform. In addition, they have spent time, investment and resources to create a powerful yet easy-to-use advertising system for their business customers. But if you are going to advertise on Facebook, you will have more competition than on smaller, more niche social networks. This means that you will need to make your ads stand out from the competition. You must do it properly, designing your ads with the optimal sizes and meeting all Facebook specifications.

Facebook may be losing its glamour, partly due to the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, followed by the live broadcast of the Christchurch Terror Attack. Teens may be leaving it because they perceive it as too official and a place where their parents hang out. However, this does not mean that people are abandoning Facebook en masse. It still has some amazing stats :

• 1.52 billion daily active users
• 2.32 billion monthly active users
• 2.7 billion people who use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger each month (their “family” of services)
• $55 billion of ad revenue at the end of December 31, 2022
• Mobile ad revenue represented approximately 93% of ad revenue during the fourth quarter of 2018

If you choose to advertise on Facebook, you’ll find a surprising number of advertising options. Here we cover most of them.

Specifications and Sizes of Facebook Ads:

Facebook Feed Ad Sizes

Without a doubt the most popular place for advertisements is the user’s feed. And therefore, it is considerably the most disputed. You may find your competitors wanting to occupy precisely the same space. You could think of it as the real estate high street of social media.

You can choose an image ad or a video ad. Facebook has rules regarding the photo/video and text of your ad.

Note that these are ads aligned to the user’s main feed, not the less common right column ads, which are a different type of ad.

Image Ad in Facebook Feed

Even though video is rapidly growing in popularity, most Facebook ads still feature just one photo. This is unlikely to change as it is much easier to use a photograph than to go through the process of creating a video.

Facebook always made a big deal about text in images. If your image contains more than 20% text, you will receive a “reduced delivery” (according to official Facebook Ads specifications ). Keep in mind that Facebook ignores what is written in the body of the text when it makes the 20% calculation. Facebook offers a tool that ensures you don’t have too much text in your image.

Keep in mind that there are some exceptions to the text rule on Facebook:

• Book and album covers
• Product images (showing the full product, without zooming in on the logo or text on the package)
• Games
• event posters

Be careful with the logo text. Any logo that is primarily text is counted as text, regardless of size or alignment. Likewise, watermarks and numbers count as text for the purpose of these calculations.

The formal sizes and specifications for Facebook Feed Image ads are:

• Recommended image size: 1200 x 628 (1080 x 1080 for a 1:1 image). There are no maximum size restrictions.
• Image aspect ratio: 9:16 to 16:9 (no link), 1.9:1 to 1:1 (if link)
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• File type: .jpg or .png (animated GIFs must be uploaded as a video ad)
• Text: 125 characters (no link)
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link Description: 30 characters

Video Ad in Facebook Feed

Videos have grown in popularity in recent years, so it’s no surprise that there’s a huge growth in video ads in the Facebook feed. Note that these are different from InStream Video Ads (which have a 10-second video limit).

Effectively, Video Ads in Facebook Feed are the same as Image Ads, but they use a video instead of a still image.

The formal specifications and sizes for the Facebook Feed Video ad are:

• It is recommended to upload the highest resolution video available without pillarbox or letterbox (no black bars)
• Minimum dimensions 600 x 315 (1.9:1 horizontal) or 600 x 600 (square)
• Recommended video aspect ratio is 9:16 to 16:9 (horizontal: 16:9, square: 1:1, vertical: 4:5 or 2:3, and full vertical: 9:16)
• Multiple video formats are accepted but .MP4 or .MOV is recommended
• Maximum video file size: 4GB
• Maximum video length: 240 minutes
• Sound and video subtitles: optional but recommended
• Thumbnail image of the video with a maximum of 20% text
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 30 characters

Facebook Ads by Sequence

Facebook’s Carousel Ads option allows brands to feature images (or videos) of multiple products in a single ad. Users can swipe through the different cards in the carousel ad to see the different elements offered. Carousel ads can integrate a mix of still images and videos.

Facebook Carousel Ads are quite versatile and can be used by brands in numerous locations:

• Facebook Feed (Image and Video)
• Right Column
• Facebook Instant Articles
• Facebook Marketplace
• Audience Network: Native ads, Interstitial ads and Banner ads

The formal sizes and specifications for Carousel Image ads are:

• Minimum Image Size: 600 x 600
• Recommended image size: at least 1080 x 1080. No maximum size restrictions
• Minimum 2 cards and maximum 10 cards per advertisement per sequence
• Aspect Ratio: 1:1
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• Image file type: .jpg or .png
• Text: 125 characters (if there is no link)
• Title: 40 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 20 characters (optional on Instant Articles)

The formal specifications and sizes for Streaming Video ads are:

• Recommended resolution (streaming video ad): 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Minimum 2 cards and maximum 10 cards per advertisement per sequence
• Aspect Ratio: 1:1
• Video file type: .MP4 or .MOV
• Maximum video file size: 4GB per video
• Maximum video duration: 240 minutes
• Video thumbnail with a maximum of 20% text
• Text: 125 characters (if there is no link)
• Title: 40 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 20 characters (optional on Instant Articles)

Right Column Facebook Ads

Right column ads used to be the standard ads for Facebook. With the increase in mobile phone usage, there is less demand for the right column ads option, which is only compatible with computers. This is notable in the data for the last quarter of 2018 , where the CFC of a right-column ad (about $0.57) is about half that of a News Feed ad.

Right column ads contain similar information to News Feed ads, but they are smaller and limited to a static (horizontal) image.

The sizes and formal specifications for the Facebook ads in the right column are:

• Minimum Image Size: 600 x 600
• Recommended image size: 1200 x 628
• Image aspect ratio: 9:16 up to 16:9 (no link), 1.91:1 (if link)
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• Image file type: .jpg or .png
• Text: 125 characters (if there is no link)
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 30 characters

Instream Video Facebook Ads

You may be wondering what the difference is between a Facebook Feed Video Ad and an Instream Video Ad. The fundamental difference is the phrase “instream”.

Video Instream Facebook Ads allow you to deliver non-skippable mid-roll ads, with videos between 5 and 15 seconds, to people who are already watching Facebook videos on a mobile device. These are the types of ads that YouTube has had available for some time.

They have a high success rate because they don’t appear until at least 60 seconds into the main video. By that time, people have made up their minds to watch your video and are unlikely to stop watching simply for advertising. They are indeed short commercial breaks in the main video.

The main difference between Facebook Feed Video Ads and In-Stream Video Ads is that Feed Video Ads are stand-alone ads that appear in a user’s news feed, rather than within another video.

The formal specifications and sizes for Instream Video ads are:

• It is recommended to upload the video with the highest resolution that is available
• The recommended video aspect ratio is 16:9, but it can be between 9:16 and 16:9 (depending on the aspect ratio of the main video)
• Multiple video formats are accepted, but .MP4 or .MOV is recommended
• Maximum video file size: 4GB
• Maximum video length: 5 to 15 seconds
• Sound and subtitles: optional but recommended (it makes sense to match the main video)
• Video thumbnail with a maximum of 20% text

Facebook Ads in Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is the place where people buy and sell things – just like eBay or Craigslist. You have the advantage of having access to the huge user base of Facebook.

Since Facebook Marketplace is all about selling, it’s important to distinguish these ads from items posted on Marketplace. Posting an item for sale on Facebook Marketplace is not considered an advertisement. If you advertise on Marketplace, you’re advertising the same way you do anywhere else on Facebook.

Although an ad on Facebook Marketplace is essentially the same as any other ad on Facebook, there is one important difference for the advertiser. People who go to Facebook Marketplace with the intent to buy are more likely to notice your ad there than probably anywhere else on Facebook.

However, you need to think about the intention. Many people go to Marketplace to buy something locally. While an ad is technically separate from the marketplace (and therefore can be for anything), it’s more likely to be successful if it’s selling a local good or service.

The formal specifications and sizes for Facebook Marketplace Image Ads are:

• Minimum Image Size: 600 x 600
• Recommended image size: 1200 x 628
• Image aspect ratio: 9:16 to 16:9 (no link), 1.91:1 (if link)
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• Image file type: .jpg or .png
• Text: 125 characters (if there is no link)
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description 30 characters

The formal specifications and sizes for Facebook Marketplace video ads are:

• It is recommended to upload the video with the highest possible resolution
• Recommended aspect resolution is between 9:16 and 16:9
• Multiple video formats are accepted, but recommended .MP4 or .MOV
• Maximum video file size: 4GB
• Maximum video duration size: 240 minutes
• Video thumbnail with a maximum of 20% text
• Text: 125 characters (if there is no link)
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 30 characters

Ads in Facebook Instant Articles

A relatively new opportunity on Facebook, now open to all publishers, is creating Instant Articles. Instant Articles is a tool designed for media publishers to distribute quick, interactive articles to their readers, within the Facebook and Messenger mobile app. Instant Articles can load up to ten times faster than standard mobile web articles.

Advertisers on Facebook can choose Instant Articles for new or existing campaigns, or publishers can include their own direct sales campaigns. Ads can consist of static images or videos (which, due to the format, inherently load faster than usual).

The formal sizes and specifications for Facebook Image Instant Article Ads are:

• Minimum Image Size: 600 x 600
• Recommended image size: 1200 x 628
• Image aspect ratio: 9:16 up to 16:9 (no link), 1.91:1 (if link)
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• Image file type: .jpg or .png
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 30 characters

The formal sizes and specifications for Facebook Video Instant Article Ads are:

• It is recommended to upload the video with the highest resolution that is available
• The recommended video aspect ratio is between 9:16 and 16:9
• Multiple video formats are accepted, but .MP4 or .MOV is recommended
• Maximum video file size: 4GB
• Maximum video duration: 240 minutes
• Video thumbnail with a maximum of 20% text
• Title: 25 characters (if it is more it will appear interrupted)
• Link description: 30 characters

Facebook Ads in Stories

Snapchat started the trend of uploading and gradually adding images or videos to a collection that disappears after 24 hours. Instagram has seen notable success with its version – Instagram Stories. Facebook Stories are also now very popular.

You can create full screen vertical ads to appear between Stories. The images of the stories are visible for 5 seconds, unless the user swipes the card, the videos last according to their length (up to 15 seconds).

Facebook Stories can have a mix of static images and short videos, and these ads can do the same thing.

Remember to leave about 250 pixels at the top and bottom of each card, as that’s where your profile picture and call-to-action will go.

The formal sizes and specifications for Facebook Story Image Ads are:

• Recommended image size: 1080 x 1920 (but keep your text within 1080 x 1420)
• Image aspect ratio: 1.91 up to 9:16
• Images with a maximum of 20% text
• Image file type: .jpg or .png

The formal sizes and specifications for Facebook Story Video Ads are:

• It is recommended to upload the video with the highest resolution that is available
• Recommended aspect ratio is between 1.91 and 9:16
• Leave 250 pixels at the top and bottom for text and logos
• Multiple video formats are accepted, but .MP4 or .MOV is recommended
• Maximum video file size: 4GB
• Maximum video length: 15 seconds
• Video thumbnail with a maximum of 20% text