Two ad surfaces document almost opposite things
One help page is almost entirely about the file: three shapes with pixel minimums, a 500 MB cap, a bitrate floor and a container list. The other is almost entirely about time: five to six seconds, sixty seconds, thirty before a view is charged. One ad specification covering both has to come from two pages that barely overlap. As of 2026-09-12.
| What the pages state | TikTok | YouTube |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Up to ten minutes | 5 to 6 s, 60 s, or no maximum, by format |
| Aspect ratio | Three, each with a pixel floor | Widescreen, for the Masthead alone |
| File | 500 MB, 516 kbps, five containers | Nothing on the formats page |
Inclusion rule. Statements each platform makes on its own specifications or formats page. Generator output limits are on a separate axis and are not mixed in here. Order. The column both pages address first, then the two where they diverge.
1Each surface guards its own door
A platform documents what it refuses at upload. One refuses files that are too large, too compressed, in the wrong container or below a pixel floor. The other refuses ads that run past a format's ceiling and charges by watch time rather than by file.
So the columns each one fills are the columns it enforces. Neither page is incomplete on its own terms, and a cheat sheet merging them into one list of requirements would misattribute half of them.
2For generated creative the harder surface is the time one
The file rules are cleared easily: a renderer's output at 720p or above sits far above a 516 kbps floor, and the pixel minimums sit under almost every published resolution rung in this register. Nothing has to be bought to satisfy them.
The time rules are not cleared at all on some rows. A sixty second non-skippable is two calls on the widest prompt-driven ceiling here and ten on the narrowest, and every extra call is a seam. Ten minutes on the other surface is reached by nothing.
3What both surfaces leave to the buyer
Neither states a frame rate. Neither says anything about how many attempts a usable take costs. Neither addresses whether a review team will run generated creative, which is a different question from whether the file fits the slot.
These sheets stay inside the fit question for that reason. The two pages between them settle shape, size, container and length, and everything past that belongs to people with access to systems no published page describes.
4The rest of the column behind these two
| Surface | Duration |
|---|---|
| TikTok | Up to 10 minutes on a non-Spark ad |
| YouTube | 5 to 6 s, 60 s, or no maximum, by format |
Inclusion rule. Every surface this register carries, on the one column this pair disagrees about. Rows that state nothing keep their place and are marked hollow. Order. Alphabetical by surface name.
Why these two. Every fit question on this site is a surface requirement set against a generator limit, and the two surfaces do not require the same kinds of thing. Reading them together is the only way to see which columns a buyer will have to fill from somewhere else.
5What a generator hands to TikTok and YouTube
| What the page states | SceneMixer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Finished lengths | Finished ads at 15, 30 or 60 seconds, landscape or portrait, at 480P, 720P or 1080P; length and quality move the price, vibe and format do not | SceneMixer, ad options guide |
| Frame shape | 16:9 by default, with 9:16 available | scenemixer.com |
| Closing frame | The final cut ends on a card carrying brand, product name, tagline and call to action, editable without reshooting the shots | SceneMixer, end card guide |
Inclusion rule. One generator's published output for ads, set beside the two surfaces' published specs. Order. Length first, then shape, then the closing frame.
- Video durationUp to 10 minutesnon-Spark ads
- File size500 MB or less, with a bitrate of 516 kbps or more, as .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp or .avibitrate and formats
- Non-skippable in-stream60 seconds or shortera hard ceiling
- BumperBetween 5 and 6 seconds, non-skippablethe tightest format
6Sources
Read from the TikTok video ad specifications and Google Ads Help on video ad formats, both checked 2026-09-12. The format sheet is at YouTube formats. The column is described on duration, and each entry has its own cell page at TikTok, and the rule that keeps surfaces and generators apart is on method. Nearby pairs: Hedra and Wan 3.0, CogVideoX and HeyGen.