Ad formats and placements
The format is not a cosmetic choice. It decides whether your ad earns attention or gets scrolled past. Meta runs a handful of creative formats (single image, video, carousel, collection, Instant Experience, and Reels-native vertical video) across roughly 19 placements spanning Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, each with its own aspect ratio and rules. Design for the placement, or the placement punishes you.
Core formats
Single image, single video, carousel (2 to 10 cards each with its own image, video, headline, description, and destination URL), collection (catalog-driven mobile storefront), Instant Experience (full-screen mobile landing), and Reels (vertical 9:16 video).
Placements
Facebook: Feed, Stories, Reels, In-Stream Video, Search, Marketplace, Right Column, Video Feeds. Instagram: Feed, Stories, Reels, Explore, Shop. Messenger: Inbox, Stories. Audience Network across third-party apps and sites.
Right Column is desktop-only and primarily serves retargeting at small thumbnail sizes. Audience Network has looser quality controls; many advertisers exclude it for brand safety, but excluding often raises CPA on awareness and traffic campaigns.
Aspect ratios
Feed image and video: 4:5 (1080 × 1350). Stories and Reels: 9:16 (1080 × 1920). Carousel and square fallback: 1:1 (1080 × 1080).
4:5 is the safe choice for Feed because 1:1 crops top and bottom on mobile. 9:16 is the only ratio that fills Stories and Reels.
Reels ads run up to 90 seconds; the sweet spot for performance is 5 to 15 seconds. Stories ads run up to 60 seconds; engagement holds best at around 15 seconds.
Advantage+ Placements
Advantage+ Placements (formerly Automatic Placements) lets Meta serve across all eligible placements and reallocate by performance. Meta strongly recommends this over manual selection.
March 2026 update: Stories and Reels now share a unified safe zone. Keep critical elements out of the top ~14 percent, bottom ~20 to 35 percent, and ~6 percent on each side of the canvas.
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