Best Export Settings for Instagram Reels and TikTok, Source by Source

Why the official numbers seem to conflict

Meta documents Reels in several places, each written for a different audience. Instagram's creators blog speaks to people exporting from Meta's Edits app. Meta's Help Center page on Reel sizes gives minimums for ordinary uploads. The Instagram Graph API documentation sets hard limits for apps and scheduling tools that publish on your behalf. The Meta Ads Guide covers Reels ads. None of them is wrong; they just answer different questions. Third-party guides often blend them into one list, which is how a 300 MB API limit ends up presented as an app upload rule.

What Instagram's own sources say

Instagram for Creators blog

For the best quality, export at 2K, HDR and 60 fps; Instagram optimises playback for each device and connection and prioritises playback up to those settings. The article is about exporting from Edits, which records and exports at up to 4K and 60 fps

Meta Help Center, Reel sizes

According to that page, Reels can use an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, with a minimum of 30 fps and 720 pixels, and a setting lets you always upload at the highest quality

Instagram Graph API, Reels

MOV or MP4 with no edit lists and the moov atom at the front; HEVC or H.264, progressive, closed GOP, 4:2:0; 23 to 60 fps; at most 1920 horizontal pixels; 9:16 recommended to avoid cropping or blank space; VBR up to 25 Mbps; AAC at up to 48 kHz, mono or stereo, 128 kbps; 3 seconds to 15 minutes; 300 MB maximum

Meta Ads Guide, Reels ads

According to the guide, 9:16 with 1440×2560 recommended, H.264, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC, with a much larger maximum file size than the API allows

Which applies to you depends on how the video gets to Instagram. Uploading in the app follows the Help Center and creators guidance. A scheduling tool that posts through the API is bound by the API limits. A paid placement follows the Ads Guide.

The 2K versus 1080p question

Many third-party guides recommend 1080×1920 in SDR. Instagram's own creators blog recommends 2K, HDR and 60 fps. These aren't incompatible: 1080×1920 is a widely compatible file that every editor and phone handles, while 2K (1440×2560) gives Instagram more detail to work with, and Instagram says it will use it where the device and connection allow. Both fit the API's 1920-column limit, because a vertical 1440×2560 frame is 1440 pixels wide.

HDR is the less portable choice. It only helps if the footage was shot in HDR, and any step in between, such as adding text in a second editor, can convert it to SDR without warning. If you shoot SDR, exporting SDR is the honest choice.

TikTok's documented specs

TikTok's most detailed published numbers are in its Ads Manager help, for ad creatives rather than ordinary posts. They're still a useful floor for any upload:

Auction in-feed, non-Spark

Vertical 9:16 recommended at 540×960 or more, also 16:9 and 1:1; MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP or AVI; up to 10 minutes; up to 500 MB; bitrate of at least 516 kbps

Reservation in-feed

The same shapes and minimum sizes; MP4, MOV, MPEG or 3GP; 5 to 60 seconds, with 9 to 15 recommended; up to 500 MB; bitrate of at least 2,500 kbps

Spark Ads

Reuse an organic post, so the file is whatever you originally posted

540×960 is a minimum, not a target. Most creators export the same 1080×1920 or 1440×2560 file they make for Reels. TikTok covers the bottom and right of the frame with its own interface, so check placement in the TikTok safe zone guide before exporting.

A practical export recipe for both apps

1. Edit on a 9:16 timeline. If the source is landscape or an odd size, fit it to the Reels shape with resize video for Instagram, which offers 1080×1920 for Reels and Stories and runs in the browser without uploading the file.
2. Keep the frame rate you shot, between 30 and 60 fps. If a clip was recorded at 24 or 25 fps and you want to meet the Help Center's 30 fps minimum, the free change video frame rate tool converts it by duplicating frames; it doesn't create new motion.
3. Choose H.264 in an MP4 for the widest compatibility. HEVC is accepted by the Instagram API and gives smaller files, but older editors and players handle it less consistently.
4. Export at 1080×1920, or 1440×2560 if your footage and editor support it.
5. Use a variable bitrate well under the API's 25 Mbps ceiling. For a sense of scale, YouTube recommends 8 Mbps for 1080p at 30 fps and 12 Mbps at 60 fps, as the guide to YouTube export settings explains; rates in that range give a clean source without a huge file.
6. Set audio to AAC, stereo, 48 kHz.
7. Preview the exported file on a phone before posting.

Why your Reel looks worse after upload

Both apps re-encode every video into several versions for different phones and connections. Instagram says plainly that it optimises playback depending on the device and connectivity. Your export settings decide the quality of the source they start from; they don't decide what a viewer on a slow connection sees.

Three habits help the result survive:

• Export once from the original timeline rather than re-exporting an already compressed file.
• Avoid heavy grain, fast pans across fine detail and confetti-style effects where you can; they suffer most at the bitrates apps use for playback.
• Make text bold and large enough to survive compression.

Burned-in subtitles under Instagram and TikTok compression

Subtitles that are part of the picture get compressed with everything else, and thin white letters over a busy background are the first thing to smear. For text that holds up:

• Use a heavier font and a background box or a solid outline rather than a soft shadow.
• Keep lines short, so the text can be large without running into the right-hand buttons.
• Place the lines above the bottom caption area, which both apps cover with the username, description and sound name.

The free subtitle editor renders the subtitles into an MP4 at the clip's own resolution, with a 9:16 safe-area guide to check placement. To get the words from the speech, the AI subtitle generator costs 1 credit (0.1¢) per minute with a 5-credit minimum, so a 90-second Reel costs 5 credits (0.5¢); only the audio track is uploaded for that job. For placement specific to the Reels tab, the feed and the grid, see Instagram Reels subtitles.

What these settings don't guarantee

• Instagram doesn't publish its playback bitrates, and neither app promises that a viewer sees your exported resolution.
• The Help Center, API, Ads Guide and creators blog are updated separately, so a number can change on one page before the others.
• HDR depends on the viewer's phone; a viewer without an HDR screen doesn't see the extra range.
• TikTok's figures above come from its ad specifications. For ordinary posts, test with your own upload rather than assuming the ad limits apply.