Audiogram size guide: dimensions for every platform
Updated 17 August 2026
| Platform | Ratio | Pixels | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram feed | 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | ~30s |
| Instagram Reels | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | 15–20s |
| Instagram Stories | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | ~15s |
| TikTok | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | 15–60s |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | under 60s |
| YouTube (standard) | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | any |
| X / Twitter | 16:9 or 1:1 | 1280 x 720 | under 140s |
| 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | 30–90s |
If you only make one size, make it square
A 1:1 audiogram is accepted everywhere and looks deliberate in a feed. It gets pillarboxed on Reels and TikTok, which is a cosmetic loss rather than a broken post. Going the other way is worse: a 16:9 clip in a vertical placement ends up as a small strip in the middle of the screen with most of the frame empty.
Why vertical matters more than it used to
Reels, Shorts and TikTok are full-screen surfaces, and their recommendation systems favour content built for the shape. A pillarboxed square gives away that the clip was made for somewhere else, and it wastes roughly a third of the screen that could be carrying your episode title or a caption.
Resolution is not the hard part
Every platform re-encodes on upload, so exporting a larger master does not survive the trip intact. What matters far more is that the aspect ratio is right and the waveform has enough contrast against the background to stay legible after compression. A 720-pixel short edge at the correct ratio consistently beats a 1080-pixel export at the wrong one.
Make one now
The audiogram maker on this site exports at every ratio in the table above, free and without uploading your audio anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
- What size should an audiogram be?
- It depends where you are posting. Use 1080x1080 (1:1) for Instagram and LinkedIn feeds, and 1080x1920 (9:16) for Reels, Stories, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Square is the safest single choice if you only make one.
- Is square or vertical better for audiograms?
- Square works acceptably almost everywhere and is better for feed posts. Vertical is required for full-screen placements — Reels, Stories, TikTok and Shorts — where a square video gets pillarboxed with empty bars.
- How long should an audiogram be?
- Between 15 and 60 seconds. Shorter performs better: 15 to 20 seconds for Reels and Stories, around 30 seconds for feed posts.
- Do audiograms need captions?
- Yes. Most social video is watched muted, so an audiogram without captions is a moving waveform with no message. Every major platform offers automatic captions at upload.