YouTube Shorts uses a vertical 9:16 frame at 1080x1920 pixels. Upload your image below and crop it to fill the whole screen, so your Short looks native rather than a landscape video padded with black bars.
| Recommended size | 1080 x 1920 pixels |
|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 (vertical) |
| Minimum width | 720 pixels |
| Supported formats | JPG, JPEG, PNG |
| Safe zone | Keep text clear of the bottom 300 px where the title and controls sit |
| Grid thumbnail | Cropped nearer the centre, so keep the subject mid frame |
Shorts is a separate vertical surface from the main YouTube feed. Anything that is not 9:16 is letterboxed, which immediately signals repurposed content and gives you less room for on screen text.
YouTube Shorts use a 9:16 vertical frame, which is 1080 x 1920 pixels at full resolution.
Yes. TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories and YouTube Shorts all use the same 1080 x 1920 vertical canvas, so one image can serve all of them.
Black bars mean the source is not 9:16. Crop the image to 1080 x 1920 pixels to fill the frame.
Shorts pull their thumbnail from a frame of the video, so design the vertical image itself carefully and keep the key subject near the centre.