Facebook is a content-centric platform. The main goal of the platform is to show users the most interesting and popular advertisement based on his or her personal preferences.
If your ads attract an audience, they will be seen far more often due to high engagement rate data. But if your ad type doesn’t meet strict platform guidelines, no targeting and budget optimization will fix the situation.
Therefore, here’s the thing: the creation of an advertising image should not turn into a random solution. In fact, there are clear trends in advertising on Facebook, which you can use to create more attractive ads. We have prepared this article to help you understand what advertising size trends are relevant to Facebook in 2022. Read our guide to turn Facebook into the best social media management platform for your business!
Before We Start: Why Is It So Important to Consider Facebook Ad Size?
Working with advertising campaigns on Facebook can be exhausting for many reasons, and one of them is the crazy number of formats, and placement options, each of them requires a certain size and aspect ratio.
Of course, if you’re using a shared photo in which some details are highlighted for the special case, you can just crop the picture for the ad and feel free (although the effectiveness of such advertising can be very questionable).
However, in most cases, the images in your advertisement look a little more complex than, let’s say, just a company logo, title, and a call to action. More often, such advertising images are created by a team of designers. Right before asking the designers to draw your advertising picture, you should decide on the exact size and its placement on the page.
To be more specific, let’s outline why the image size of your Facebook ad matters so much:
- You don’t want your advertisement to appear blurry, stretched, or pixelated.
- There are different requirements for various forms of ads: some of them need to stand out in the feed, others- blend in with every post your audience sees on the app.
- The ad should fit all the platforms, as well as devices that will show it to your audience.
Facebook Image Ad Size & Dimensions
So, Facebook advertising is effective and relevant for many companies. But in order to get the most out of it, you need to choose the right size for your content. This cheat sheet will help you with that.
Feed Image Ads
Each advertiser fights for space in users’ news feeds. To advertise in this format, you can use both images and videos. They will be displayed on both mobile devices and computers.
- The resolution recommended: 1,200 x 628 px
- Width to choose: 476 px
- Height to choose: 249 px
- The best aspect ratio: 16:9 or 9:16
Right Column Image Ads
Photo advertising in the right column can be very effective among the top social media management tools, even though it is only displayed in the PC version. It is this format for advertising that has the highest degree of volition.
- Resolution: 1,200 x 628 px
- Width: 254 px minimum
- Height: 133 px minimum
- Choose aspect ratio: 16:9 or 9:16
Instant Article Image Ads
Want to promote your content on Facebook? Instant Articles allow you to view and interact with your articles directly on the social network. Advertisers can also add images or videos to their content.
- Recommended resolution: 1,200 x 628 px
- Image with link size: 1,200 x 1,200 px
- Width minimum: 254 px
- Height minimum: 133 px
- Choose aspect ratio: 16:9 or 9:16
Marketplace Image Ads
The marketplace is a hub for selling various products within the community. You can also place advertisements in image and video format there. It is a great place to attract interested audiences to the website.
- Resolution recommended: 1,200 x 628 px
- Recommended picture with link size: 1,200 x 1,200 px
- Aspect ratio to choose: 16:9 or 9:16
Stories Ads
Originally, the Stories tool on Facebook was taken from Snapchat. And even though it was just copied and slightly improved, the functionality is still very popular.
So, everything that works well must be monetized (otherwise, why run a business?!). That’s why Facebook made it possible to create ads in the stories feed.
- Resolution: 1,200 x 628 px
- Width Minimum: 500 px
- Aspect ratio: 16:9 or 9:16
- Aspect ratio minimum: 9:16
- Aspect ratio maximum: 1.91:1
Search Results Ads
From the end of 2019, all newly created advertising campaigns using “Automatic Placements” include the format “Search Ads” by default.
Once the campaign is approved, your ads will start to appear in both FB and Marketplace search results. The ads will be displayed based on a set audience targeting, as well as contextually appropriate search queries in English and Spanish.
- Resolution 1,200 x 628 px
- Resolution of image with link: 1080 x 1080 px
- The minimum width recommended: 500 px
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1
- The minimum height recommended: 600 px
Collections Image Ads
When you have a product line and want your goods to be shown without distracting the viewers, use this ad tool. You can use the collection style to create advertising that is more flexible and interactive with a mix of photos and videos. Unlike the other formats, there aren’t any CTA buttons for this type of placement.
- Resolution to choose: 400 x 150 px
Canvas Image Ad
Every day, people invest approximately four hours on their phones searching, calling, signing in to applications, or playing games. Therefore, Facebook simplifies accessibility of the ads to smartphone users. So, the canvas ad feature can be seen by smartphone users only.
- Resolution: 1,200 x 628 px
- The amount of text allowed on image: no more than 20%
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1
Facebook Carousel Ads Sizes and Dimensions
Carousel advertising on Facebook gives you the opportunity to tell about your brand using several images and videos. With this format, it is usually easier to convince users to make a purchase.
Use both photos and videos to upload. You can place such ads in the feed, in the right column, in Marketplace, Instant Articles, Audience Network, and messenger. Let’s look at the common guidelines for carousel images:
- The resolution recommended: 600 px (254 x 133 pixels for the messenger)
- From 2 to 10 cards
- Aspect ratio: 1:1 recommended
- 30 Mb max file size
- JPG or PNG format
- Choose images with < 20% of the displayed text
Facebook Feed Carousels Size
Advertising with the carousel gallery in the feed allows you to show up to 10 images or videos in one ad, each with its own link. On different cards of the gallery, you can show different products, different advantages of one product, service, or advertising campaign, as well as tell the history of the brand.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: from 2 to 10
Right Column Carousels Ads
On different carousel cards in the right column, you can show various products, unique features of one product, service, or promotion, as well as tell the history of the brand.
Facebook can optimize the order of cards in the ring gallery: more memorable images or videos will appear earlier. But if you want to tell a full story in the carousels gallery from the beginning to the end, don’t forget to turn off automatic optimization.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: from 2 to 10
Instant Article Carousels Ads
The main advantage of the carousel gallery shown in instant articles is the ability to create multiple images and direct the user to multiple links. This allows you to advertise several products at once or to tell a lot about the advantages of one product.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: from 2 to 10
Marketplace Carousels Ads
The carousel gallery in Facebook marketplace ads allows you to add two or more photos and/or videos, headlines, links, or calls to action to one ad. People can flip through gallery cards by swiping their finger on the screen on mobile phones or tablets, or by clicking on the arrows on the computer screen.
The carousel is suitable for a variety of companies and needs. Advertisers use such advertising to show real estate, services, events, and so on.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: from 2 to 10
Stories Carousels Ads
The popularity of stories ads is growing. 62% of U.S. citizens plan to use stories even more actively than they do now. “Stories” is a special format optimized for smartphones. With people keeping their phones upright 90% of the time, they’re more comfortable viewing photos and videos in a vertical full-screen format.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: 3 recommended
Facebook Search Results Ads
Advertising on Facebook search results is similar to context advertising on search engines. However, it exceeds the latter in some performance parameters.
- Resolution recommended: 1080 x 1080 px
- File size: 30 Mb max
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- Cards: from 2 to 10
Facebook Collections Ad Dimensions
Facebook ads collections form an outstanding way to deliver a highly visual advertising feature in your placement. This ad form will show a cover picture or video (both available in collection ads), though it is only accessible to see in your Facebook Feed. Furthermore, users are sent to the Instant Experience (called Canvas) when they select the full-screen edition. Here, consumers can learn more about a company via a smartphone scrolling interface.
- The best resolution to choose: 600 x 600 px
- Aspect ratio maximum: 1:1
- File size maximum: 30 Mb
- Note the 20% rule!
- JPG or PNG format
Facebook Video Ad Sizes & Dimensions
Video promotions are extremely successful on Facebook, and you can find that more and more companies are starting to use this form for their advertisement management.
Feed Video Ads
Video ads have been incredibly prevalent for the last three years, and unsurprisingly Facebook feed video advertisements have steadily risen also. Note that the video in-stream advertisements that have a time cap of 10 seconds are different from classic Facebook feed video ads.
- Main parameters: 1,280 x 720 px
- Ratio recommended: 16:9 or 9:16
- Maximum size of the file: 4 Gb
- 1-second minimum, 240 min maximum video length
Instant Article Videos
Facebook Instant Articles are intended to address a specific challenge – slowness of site load time for users reading content on their mobile devices. Instant Articles are a poor, stressful experience. In brief, Instant Articles are engaging, immersive stories posted directly on Facebook by different authors, who load flashes quickly without any external contact clicking.
- Size of the video: HD
- Ratio recommended: 16:9 or 9:16
- Maximum size of the file: 4 Gb
- 1-second minimum, 240 min maximum video length
In-Stream Videos
You might think about the difference between a Facebook common feed video ad and an in-stream video ad. Facebook in-stream video advertising allows marketers to offer five to 15 seconds of non-skippable, mid-roll video advertising to respondents who already view videos from Facebook on a mobile device. They are similar kinds of advertisements that YouTube has already been existing for some time.
- Size of the video: HD
- Ratio recommended: 16:9 or 9:16
- Maximum size of the file: 4 Gb
- 1-second minimum, 15-sec maximum video length
Marketplace Video Ads
Video advertising for Facebook Marketplace has a much broader, more focused online audience for all categories of services.
- Size of the video: HD
- Ratio recommended: 16:9 or 9:16
- Maximum size of the file: 4 Gb
- 1-second minimum, 240 min maximum video length
Stories Video Ads
The perfect opportunity for marketers to improve their interaction, create brand recognition, and reinforce relations with their Facebook community is the creation of Facebook Stories Video Ad. Stories are the most widely spread social media management tool, especially for companies that want to target an audience of a younger age (16-32).
- Size of the video: HD
- Video ratio: from 1.91:1 to 9:16
- Video file size: 4 Gb max
- Maximum video length: 2 minutes
Facebook Messenger Ads
According to the latest data, 65% of U.S. consumers favor texting over contacting customer support, and 53% are more willing to shop from companies that sell directly via Facebook messenger. Messenger advertisements are visible as users click via their Facebook Messenger App. This ad type is for image data only and is accessible exclusively on the Facebook Messenger application.
Sponsored Message Ads
There are certain specifications for sponsored message ads as well. Let’s mention the main ones:
- Image to choose: 1,200 x 628 px
- Width - 254 px, Height - 133 px
- Aspect ratio is between 16:9 or 9:16, cropping to 1.91:1 with the link
- Format to choose: JPG and PNG
- Do not choose images with more than 20% text (they can be banned by the system)
- Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Link description: 30 characters
Messenger Ads
If you have decided to incorporate your ads into the Facebook messenger app, consider following the parameters listed below:
- Size to choose:: 1,200 x 628 px
- Width - 254 px, height - 133 px
- Make the aspect ratio between 16:9 or 9:16
- JPG and PNG image formats
- Text: 125 characters
- Headline: 25 characters
- Do not use images with 20% text coverage or more
