Video Formatting for Facebook: All of Your Questions Answered

Since it launched in 2004, Facebook has burgeoned into a social media colossus with approximately 2.27 billion users worldwide. If you’re seeing more video on your Facebook feed, it’s not by chance.

Facebook pivoted towards video back in 2015 as a response to how the medium was already gaining popularity among consumers of all ages and genders.

Ensuring that your videos are high quality and adapted to Facebook’s recommended guidelines makes it more likely that people watch your videos (depending on what time they are published) and, ultimately, turn into consumers. With its fusion of sounds, images and text, Facebook video is a great tool for promoting your brand and its products in a fun and engaging way.

To make sure your videos look their best every time you upload them, you should look for the most efficient ways to prepare and upload them. Start with a Facebook video maker, with ad templates. And keep reading to get all the answers to your Facebook video formatting questions.

What video formats can I upload?

Facebook currently supports 19 different types of video files:

1. Mobile Video (3g2, 3gp, 3gpp)
2. Windows Media Video (asf, wmv)
3. AVI Video (avi)
4. MPEG Video (dat, mpe, mpeg, mpg)
5. Flash Video (f4v, flv)
6. DIVX Video (divx)
7. DV Video (dv)
8. Graphics Interchage Format (gif)
9. M2TS Video (m2ts)
10. MPEG-4 Video (m4v, mp4, mepg4)
11. Matroska Format (mkv)
12. MOD Video (mod)
13. QuickTime Movie (mov, qt)
14. AVCHD Video (mts)
15. Nullsoft Video (nsv)
16. Ogg Media Format (ogm, ogv)
17. TOD Video (tod)
18. MPEG Transport Stream (ts)
19. DVD Video (vob)

What are The Most Common Facebook Video Formats?

As we note below, Facebook does have two video formats – MP4 and MOV – that it specifically endorses for its platform.

In spite of these guidelines, many people still use other popular video formats, such as AVI, WMV and Flash for their Facebook video content.

What is the best overall video format for Facebook?

As Facebook itself recommends, you should be using MOV or MP4 files to get the best quality for your videos.

MOV and MP4 files are typically lightweight and can better retain their HD quality during uploading and compression processes.

What is the best video size for Facebook?

For the best video performance on Facebook, make sure that your videos are 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall.

Landscape videos should have an aspect ratio of 16:9, square videos should have an aspect ratio of 1:1, and vertical should have an aspect ratio of 4:5.

Take into account that most of your viewers are probably watching these videos on a mobile device, and that square and vertical work best for that channel.

What is the best video format for Facebook ads?

The right video formatting for Facebook ads depends on the type of video ad that you’re planning on publishing.

Here are the best practices for formatting some of the most popular Facebook video ad options.

• Facebook Canvas video: Works best with 1200 by 628 pixels for landscape and 600 by 600 pixels for square, with an aspect ratio of 1.9:1 and 1:1 for landscape and square respectively.
• Facebook Carousel video: For carousel, square is the way to go. Use 1080 by 1080 pixels (and an aspect ratio of 1:1) to set your video up for success.
• Facebook In-Stream video: Like regular feed videos, in-stream Facebook video ads should be 1280 by 720 pixels (landscape) or 600 by 600 pixels (square). Aspect ratios for landscape need to be 1.9:1, and 1:1 for square videos.

For the comprehensive list of all the different types of video ads you can run on Facebook, their technical specifications and their length limits, check out Facebook Business’ page on video requirements.

Does Facebook reduce video quality?

Facebook does reduce the quality of your videos to save storage space on their end, but there are steps you can take to keep your videos High Definition (HD):

• Choose to upload in HD: Select the “Upload HD” option, located in the “videos and photos” section of your Facebook Settings tab.
• Compress your videos: To get the most out of your MP4 or MOV video file compression, be sure to choose AAC Audio and at least 128 KBPS to retain high-quality sound. To keep the footage itself HD, choose a compression codec of H.264.

Can I convert video to Facebook format online?

Yes. There are plenty of online tools that enable you to easily convert just about any type of video file to MP4 or MOV. 123apps, Wondershare, HDconvert are just a sample of the many companies that offer free options for quickly converting files to Facebook’s two preferred formats.