SocialGov guide: 2025 short-form video
It’s a new year and short-form video continues to dominate on social media. This popular video format is often linked with shorter attention spans, so use these links to jump ahead to recommendations on how to optimize your agency’s videos on the leading short-form video platforms: Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Need help sizing your still images or graphics? We’ve also updated our free image size guide for 2025.
For in-depth and hands-on training on short-form video, register for our 2-hour workshop at the hybrid 2025 Government Social Media Conference! Workshops are open to both in-person and virtual attendees.
Instagram Reels
If you also have an agency Facebook Page, crossposting your Instagram Reels to Facebook could help you get more mileage out of your content! In your settings, you can allow Instagram to automatically share your Reels to Facebook each time you post a new one.
- Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 px
- Aspect ratio: Between 1.91:1 and 9:16
- File formats: MP4, MOV
- Reels length: Up to 3 minutes
- Stories length: Up to 60 seconds (expire after 24 hours, unless added to highlights)
Adding captions to your videos on any platform is an accessibility best practice. Reels gives you the option to add eye-catching captions as a “sticker.”
Take advantage of the app’s built-in guidelines that show you the boundaries for stickers and on-screen text, so you don’t accidentally cover up any important visuals in your video. Always review auto-generated captions for accuracy and adjust if needed!
As mentioned during our December 2024 edition of the SocialGov Roundup webinar for Government Social Media Association (GSMA) members, Instagram now allows you to experiment with trial reels that would be shared with non-followers to help you gauge a potential response from your current followers.
TikTok
As we await the fate of TikTok in the United States, this platform continues to lead short-form video trends and many users look to the app for their news.
- Dimensions:
- Recommended Vertical: 1080 x 1920 px (9:16)
- The app also supports Square (1:1) and Horizontal (16:9) however it will show black bars
- Aspect ratio: 9:16
- File formats: MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, AVI
- Videos recorded in app: Up to 10 minutes
- Videos uploaded to the app: Up to 60 minutes
- Carousel videos: Slidable images from 2 to 25
- Stories length: Up to 15 seconds (disappear after 24 hours)
- LIVE streams: No time limit, but TikTok recommends keeping streams to around 30 minutes
YouTube Shorts
These videos can be either vertical or square.
- Vertical video
- Aspect ratio: 9:16
- Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
- Square video
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Dimensions: 1080 x 1080
- Video length: Up to 60 seconds
YouTube supports a wide range of file formats; however, according to the platform, playback support may no longer be available for resolutions from 4K - 8K.
Already producing long-form videos on YouTube? The platform is currently testing options to help you turn the videos you’re already posting into engaging short-form videos.
Desktop
Also, keep in mind, computer users will view content in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Here’s what YouTube says about addressing the difference To address the 9:16 aspect ratio on vertical video:
“For some video and device aspect ratios like 9:16 vertical videos on computer browsers, YouTube may add more padding for optimal viewing. The padding is white by default, and dark gray when Dark theme is turned on. For best results, avoid adding padding or black bars directly to your video. Padding interferes with YouTube’s ability to change the player dynamically to your video size and the viewer’s device.”
Android & iPhone
According to the platform, the Android mobile app will adapt to the video size automatically (vertical, square or horizontal) by matching “the aspect ratio of the video - getting taller for square and vertical videos, and shorter for widescreen videos.”
Vertical videos will not have black bars on the sides and users can tap theicon to view full screen.
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