Latest Facebook Ad Sizes: Should You Stop Using 1:1?

Facebook ads give your brand the presence it deserves online and can help you boost your sales. Unfortunately, success doesn’t just depend on the number of ads you place out there or their looks. The real difference often comes down to ad sizes and aspect ratios. Should you use 9×16, 1×1, or 4×5?

This is the guide helping you understand what Facebook ad sizes suit your business. The goal is to make you understand the right video and image sizes and the format for each placement and ad type, so your ads can perform better. Stay tuned!

If you’re still running Facebook ads in a 1:1 format, you’re honestly behind. Facebook has recently updated its recommended formats for both images and videos, and the focus is now shifting toward the previously ignored formats.

Of course, Facebook has recommended 4×5 and 9×16 for videos for a while, but the big update is that images now need to be optimized the same way. Feed images can now also use the 4×5 placement, which used to be available mainly for Instagram.

The main benefit of using the correct ad formats is screen real estate. For feed placements, you should be using 4×5, and for story placements, 9×16. The reason you don’t want to use 1:1 anymore is simple. A 4×5 format captures more of the screen and most details in the ads aren’t cut off!

People scroll extremely fast today. If your ad takes up more space in the feed, it naturally stands out more, covers more of the screen, and grabs attention faster. That extra real estate can directly lead to better ad performance.

For feed placements on Facebook (and Instagram if you also run your ads here), the recommended format is 4×5, which is 1080 × 1350. Most advertisers run all feed placements together, so you can safely use 4×5 across feeds.

However, for story placements, the recommended format is 9×16, which is 1080×1920. This is the full vertical layout and is designed to be screen-filling.

The same rules apply to videos:

This ensures you’re covering the right real estate space across all placements.

If you’re mainly creating 9×16 videos and want them to work across all placements, you need to respect the 4×5 safe zone inside the 9×16 frame. This prevents text, faces, or key visuals from being cut off.

You don’t want captions chopped, faces cut in half, or important text hidden. Respecting these safe zones is critical. It can truly make or break your ad.

For Reels and TikTok, you’re running 9×16 only, but the UI is different. You need to be extra careful that text and visuals aren’t covered by on-screen elements in TikTok or Meta Reels. If people can’t read your message, the ad simply won’t work.

If you use other social media platforms for marketing and selling your products but are not sure of the right ad sizes, the ACCIO AI tool for businesses can give you the insights you need. You can also read our other articles, like TikTok Image Sizes Full Guide to Specs and Best Practices, for more insights.

As we mentioned earlier, many brands are moving away from 1×1 ads and toward 9×16 and 4×5 formats. But this doesn’t mean that you should entirely forget about this “conventional” Facebook ad size. The key is to combine these formats— a mixed approach that helps your ads scale effectively on Facebook.

The approach is actually pretty simple. What works best is using a 9:16 creative with a 1×1 safe zone inside it. This means your full asset uses a 9:16 ratio, but all the important stuff—say your contacts and other important info— stays within the central 1:1 safe zone. Headlines, text, faces, and key visuals should all be put in that center area.

Here’s why this works so well.

With this setup, your ad can appear on Reels, Stories, and the News Feed without any weird cropping issues. You don’t have to worry about making separate 1:1 ads and 9:16 ads. Everything is already there, and it works across placements.

The same exact rule applies to video ads. You still use the full 9:16 format and keep all the important elements inside the 1:1 safe zone. When you’re filming, it helps to keep 9:16 in mind, but just remember that the important stuff should stick in the 1:1 safe zone.

Another key factor is placement spend. If you’re working with a brand that has little to no spend on 9:16 placements, you don’t need to stress about it as much. But if a large percentage of your spend goes to Reels and Stories, then you absolutely need to focus on this setup. These are the basics, but they’re the basics that many brands still get wrong. Save this, follow the dimensions, and your ads will be set up to scale.

For 2026, the playing field is leveled for Facebook image and video ads. Use 4:5 for all feed placements and 9:16 for Stories and vertical placements. If you stop using 1:1 Facebook ad sizes, optimize for screen real estate, and follow these dimensions, you’ll see a noticeable bump in performance.

However, if you’re stuck on the 1:1 format, use a full 9:16 video ad or photo ad and place a 1:1 safe zone right in the middle, and keep all the important elements there. This is the perfect Facebook video and image size to use if you want your ads to show up cleanly across all placements without having to upload multiple versions. So, just make sure that you respect safe zones at all times.

And now that you know the perfect Facebook ad sizes for your images and videos, it’s important to know that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to running high-performing Facebook ads. You should also focus on audience targeting, creative strategy, and product research. And this is exactly where Accio.com comes in. This AI tool for B2Bs can give you insights on how to optimize your Facebook product positioning. And that’s not even all, because you can use the platform to get insights on how to evaluate suppliers and source products globally that you want to sell on Facebook. All you need to do is enter your question or upload an image and let Accio give you all the insights you need.