Facebook ad image size 2026: aspect ratio by placement

Short answer: for a single-image ad, make two files. A 4:5 image at 1440 x 1800 pixels for Facebook and Instagram feeds, and a 9:16 image at 1440 x 2560 for Stories and Reels. For every other placement, Meta adjusts what you uploaded, and those adjusted versions are what you need to look at before you publish.

I work on Everix, an AI media buyer that watches every ad 24/7 and tells you which creative is tired (7-day free trial). This week someone asked under a YouTube tutorial how to adjust an image's aspect ratio for different placements, and the answer they got was to use the creative tools in Ads Manager. Here are the specifics, taken from Meta's own help pages.

What each placement supports

The table is from Meta's help page on aspect ratios supported by placement, read on October 25, 2026; the Audience Network recommendation is from its best-practices page. One inconsistency: for Instagram Feed images, the table recommends 4:5, while the best-practices page recommends 1:1 for single-image ads in Instagram Feed. Both are supported, and 4:5 is the taller of the two, so it fills more of a phone screen.

What Meta does when you upload one image

Meta says that when you create an ad in Ads Manager, your media is automatically adjusted to fit more placements. If you don't provide all four aspect ratio variations (square, vertical, portrait and horizontal), it fills the gaps with padding, media expansion, cropping and other AI features. A square product photo shown in a 9:16 Story gets padded or expanded; a 9:16 image shown in a feed gets cropped. That is fine until the crop cuts off the product, the price or the offer.

• Open the aspect ratios view when you create or edit the ad. Meta says you can preview each variation there, opt it in or out, and adjust it before publishing.
• If Stories or Reels matter to you, upload a real 9:16 file. That is Meta's own example: if Stories is an important placement, upload a 9:16 asset.
• On a 9:16 version, keep text, logos and the product away from the top, bottom and sides. For Instagram Reels image ads, Meta's ads guide says to leave roughly 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free. With a disclaimer on a Reels ad, keep the bottom 40% clear.
• On 1:1 or 4:5 ads in Instagram Feed, keep the bottom and side edges clear.
• On desktop Facebook Feed, Meta notes that video displays at 1:1, which can add black bars on the sides.

Cropping doesn't decide where the ad runs

Meta's wording: cropping alone won't restrict delivery. If you don't want a version to show in a placement, opt it out in the aspect ratios view; a tight crop still runs there. Turning whole placements off is a different setting, and only a few placements can still be switched off at all, covered in Meta removed placement exclusions. Before you drop a placement because its crop looked bad, check its cost per result in the placement breakdown; an ugly crop that still sells at your target is not a problem to fix first.

The files most stores need

One 4:5 image at 1440 x 1800 for feeds and one 9:16 image at 1440 x 2560 for Stories and Reels, with the product and any price near the middle of the frame. Meta's Facebook Feed spec lists JPG or PNG, up to 30MB, and a minimum of 600 x 750 pixels. Carousels follow their own rule: Meta recommends 1:1 or 4:5 and keeping every card the same ratio, so it doesn't adjust them one by one.

Upload 4:5 for feeds and 9:16 for Stories and Reels, look at every auto-generated version before you publish, and use the opt-out, not the crop, to keep a version out of a placement.

How Everix handles it

Everix doesn't crop or redesign your creative: you upload the image or video, and new lanes run on Advantage+ placements. After launch it splits each lane's spend and results by placement, so a Story that spends without producing anything shows up as its own line. When one platform keeps spending without results, it asks you before excluding it. Beyond that, Everix manages your Meta ads 24/7 and makes a media buyer's calls: which creative is tired, which country or placement burns money, which winner earns more budget.