AdAce AdsSnapchat creative specs: make vertical video and images that upload cleanly
Snapchat ads fill the whole phone screen, so a file in the wrong shape is either rejected at upload or shown with problems. Most first-week delays come from creative that was made for another platform and only cropped. Use this checklist before you export, not after an upload fails.
The numbers a Snapchat file has to meet
For the standard full-screen ad (the Top Snap), Snapchat documents a vertical frame of 1080 by 1920 pixels, an aspect ratio of 9:16. Video files are MP4 or MOV, with a documented length from 3 seconds up to 30 minutes. A file up to 32 MB can be uploaded in one go; larger files, up to 1 GB, are sent in parts.
Images for the same placement are PNG or JPG at 1080 by 1920 and up to 5 MB. Snapchat turns a still image into a short video of about five seconds, so a still works best as one clear message, not as a poster with small text.
Text limits matter more than designers expect. The headline is limited to 34 characters and the brand name to 32. Those are short enough that a headline written for Google or Facebook will usually need rewriting. Put the main promise in the first seconds of the video and in the on-screen text, not only in the headline.
Design for the phone: keep faces, logos and key words away from the top and bottom edges where Snapchat shows its own interface elements, add captions because many people watch without sound, and cut the first second to show the subject, not a logo animation. Check that the video still reads when it plays on a small screen at arm's length.
What a clean upload gives you
- Files upload on the first try, so launch is not delayed by format fixes.
- Short, readable text works inside the real character limits.
- One vertical master can be reused across several ads in a test.
Prepare a file in five steps
- Export a master at 1080 by 1920, 9:16, as MP4 or MOV for video or PNG/JPG for stills, and check the file size against the limits.
- Write the headline within 34 characters and the brand name within 32; count spaces.
- Add burned-in captions and keep important elements inside a central safe area.
- Watch the file on a real phone with sound off before uploading.
- Upload the media to the ad account and wait until it shows as ready before attaching it to an ad.
Good to know
- Limits are taken from Snap's documentation for the standard full-screen ad; other formats (collections, story ads, lenses) have their own specs, so check the current page for the format you pick.
- AdAce Ads can create a paused Snapchat ad from a public https media link and checks the file before upload (a 9:16 image of at least 1080x1920 or an MP4/MOV video), then waits until the media is ready. This is part of the early-access integration.
Sources and further reading
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