Feeding five placements from one shoot
Updated 2026-08-15 · Risk-term list version 2026-08-15c
Shoot 9:16, keep key elements inside the middle 50% of the height, and export a 1:1 as well — that covers TikTok, Meta, Shorts and Temu.
Amazon needs its own cut. The Sponsored Brands video spec page says "16:9 (square pixel) only" with no vertical option, and the same page requires you to avoid black, colour or blurred bars — so you cannot pad a vertical cut into it.
The rule is one shoot and two aspect ratios, not one cut everywhere. Below: the spec comparison with per-field provenance, the export list, and the caption and AI-disclosure traps.
1. Five placements side by side
The last column says whether the row was verified against an official page. Nobody publishes that, and it is what decides whether you should spend money on the table. Per-field sources are at the bottom of each platform page.
| Placement | Aspect | Length | Safe area / framing | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok / TikTok Shop | 9:16 (≥540×960) | Up to 10 minutes; Spark Ads unrestricted | Official page gives no framing safe area — marked 🟡 on our page | Technical specs verified |
| Meta (Reels / Feed) | 9:16 (1440×2560) | Page states "No maximum limit." | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% each side — the tightest in the table, and officially stated | Fully verified |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 fits best | Up to 3 minutes, but the feed plays the first 60 seconds | Bottom ~15% is experience-based | Aspect and length verified |
| Temu | 1:1 and 3:4 (experience-based) | ~30 seconds (experience-based) | ~8% margins (experience-based) | 🟡 No public official page found |
| Amazon (Sponsored Brands video) | 16:9 only — no vertical option | 6–45 seconds, ≤20 strongly recommended | Keep text out of the lower right; no black, colour or blurred bars | Fully verified |
2. Why composing to the tightest safe area beats re-cutting
Among the vertical four, Meta is tightest: roughly 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% each side kept clear of text and key elements. Use that as the framing baseline and the other three are satisfied automatically.
It feels wasteful — 35% of the bottom is a lot of frame. But price the alternative: composing to the tightest safe area costs you edge; re-cutting per platform costs you an editing round, repeated every time the price or the copy changes. For a seller with many SKUs and weekly creative refresh, the second is far more expensive.
In practice the constraint improves the asset: key information gets pushed to the middle, where it reads on any platform and any phone size — and captions stacked at the bottom were going to be covered by platform UI anyway.
3. The Amazon cut: why you cannot pad it
The lazy route looks like dropping the 9:16 asset onto a 16:9 canvas with bars either side. Amazon’s spec page explicitly says to avoid horizontal or vertical black, colour or blurred bars, so that route is closed.
The right move is to leave horizontal headroom at the shoot: step the camera back, do not fill the frame with the subject, keep key props away from the left and right edges. The same footage then crops to 9:16 and to 16:9 without losing the point.
Two more Amazon specifics: keep text and key information out of the lower right corner (UI elements sit there), and 6–45 seconds with ≤20 strongly recommended — shorter than all four vertical placements, so the Amazon version usually needs a re-timed edit, not just a re-crop.
4. The export list
The last row is the one people skip: ask the creator for the raw files. Put it in the brief (section 9 of our template) — asking afterwards usually fails.
| Export | Spec | For | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:16 master | Key elements in the middle 50% of the height | TikTok / Meta / Shorts | One cut serves three |
| 1:1 alternate | Same footage, different crop | Meta Feed / Temu | Insurance against automatic cropping |
| 16:9 | True 16:9, no bars; ≤20s; lower right clear | Amazon | Officially the only option; bars are prohibited |
| Sound-off legible version | Key information carried by captions or visuals | All | A large share of views are muted |
| Raw footage | Ungraded, uncut | You | Re-price, re-copy or re-platform without reshooting |
5. Three caption traps
- A burned-in price cannot be changed. Keep price tags and promo details on a separate layer or add them in post. Otherwise every price change means a re-export, which bites hardest during a sale.
- The platform’s own captions cover the bottom. TikTok ad captions are white, in a font you cannot change, capped at four displayed lines, and support no clickable links or hashtags. Your own burned-in captions will fight with them if you stack them low.
- Amazon’s lower right is off limits. Vertical assets habitually put the CTA bottom-right, which lands exactly where the spec tells you to keep clear once you crop to 16:9.
6. Disclosing AI-generated content
On TikTok: ads containing AI-generated content must be disclosed — tick "This ad contains AI-generated content" when building the ad, or add a clear disclaimer, caption, watermark or sticker yourself. Undisclosed AI content that is detected gets rejected or restricted. Minor tweaks like brightness or colour do not count.
Other platforms: go by their current rules. We verified TikTok line by line in this pass and will not write about the others without checking.
Worth repeating: we do not make videos. This section is for when you use someone else’s generator (comparison: the tool pages).
Related
FAQ
Really no per-platform re-cut?
Not for the vertical four. Amazon must be cut separately — different aspect and different length. The copy changes everywhere: the same SKU talks wearing experience on TikTok, fabric and sizing on Amazon, and only needs a product-video script on Temu. That is why one plan ships several delivery specs.
Why is the Temu page all experience-based?
We found no publicly available official video-spec page for third-party Temu sellers in this pass. We do not invent citations; we mark the row so you know it carries less weight. Semi-managed sellers do not buy ads anyway — scanning the listing copy matters more for them.
Do I shoot 9:16 and 1:1 separately?
No — one shoot, two exports. Keeping key elements centred satisfies both crops. The one that genuinely needs separate handling is Amazon’s 16:9, because you cannot derive it by cropping a vertical (you would lose the top and bottom); you get it by leaving horizontal headroom at the shoot.
Which length do I go by?
The shortest: Amazon recommends ≤20 seconds. The vertical four are far looser (TikTok allows 10 minutes), but shapewear works best around 28 seconds anyway — viewers decide whether to watch in the first three seconds and whether to buy by fifteen. The rest is spend.
When do these numbers go stale?
The platforms’ pages change. Each of ours stamps our verification date (2026-08-15) and the "last updated" the page itself states. Go by the platform’s current rules before you spend, especially safe areas, which move with UI redesigns.
Sources
- TikTok 竞价 In-Feed 广告规格（页面自标 Last Updated: June 2026） （checked 2026-08-15）
- Meta 广告指南 · Facebook Reels 视频广告规格 （checked 2026-08-15）
- Google Ads 帮助 · YouTube Shorts 广告素材规格 （checked 2026-08-15）
- Amazon Ads · Sponsored Brands video 广告规格（官方规格页） （checked 2026-08-15）
- TikTok Ads Manager · AI 生成内容免责说明 （checked 2026-08-15）