Mobile game ad sizes for 2026: recompose, don't crop
The sizes Meta, TikTok, Google App campaigns, AppLovin, Unity, Mintegral and both stores ask for in 2026, the safe zones that decide the layout, and why a cropped master breaks.
The short answer: a mobile game video ad needs 4 canvases, 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 and 16:9. On top of that, each network asks for its own static and end-card sizes. By our count from the spec pages cited below, that adds 15 or more. The sizes are the easy part. The work is keeping the logo, headline and button clear of each network's interface, and laying the ad out again for each canvas instead of cropping one master. This guide lists the specs for Meta, TikTok, Google App campaigns, AppLovin, Unity, Mintegral and both stores, then covers safe zones and a production checklist. Spec pages change without notice, so check the network's own page before a launch.
The 4 video canvases the networks use#
Video comes down to 4 aspect ratios across the 6 ad networks we checked. The stores add their own sizes, covered below. 9:16 serves Reels, Stories, TikTok, Shorts and the in-app networks. 4:5 is Meta's feed size. 1:1 still has a slot on TikTok and in Google App campaigns. 16:9 covers Unity, Mintegral, TikTok and Google App campaigns.
Statics are where the list grows. Google takes 3 image sizes, AppLovin a banner, an MREC and an end card, Unity 3 end cards, and Mintegral an icon, a main image, a splash and 5 optional sizes. Here is what each network recommends or lists, from its own spec page:
| 9:16 video | 4:5 or 1:1 video | 16:9 video | Statics and end cards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | 1440×2560 (Reels, Stories) | 4:5, 1440×1800 (Feed) | Not listed in the pages we cite | 4:5 image, 1440×1800; Instagram Feed accepts 4:5 to 1.91:1 |
| TikTok | 540×960 or larger; 720p+ advised | 1:1, 640×640 or larger | 960×540 or larger | Not listed |
| Google App campaigns | Yes, hosted on YouTube | 1:1 | Yes | 1200×628, 1200×1500, 1200×1200; HTML5 ZIP up to 5 MB |
| AppLovin | Yes, up to 60 s | Not listed | Not listed | 320×50, 300×250; 9:16 end card from 270×480; playable up to 5 MB |
| Unity (Vector) | Yes, up to 60 s | Not listed | Yes, up to 60 s | End card required: 800×800, 800×600, 600×800 |
| Mintegral | 1080×1920 | Not listed | 1920×1080 | 512×512 icon; 1200×627 or 1200×628; 720×1280 splash; 5 optional sizes |
Read the table by column. 9:16 is the only canvas every network takes, so it's the one to design first. 4:5 is mostly a Meta size, though Google also takes a 4:5 image at 1200×1500. 16:9 matters most on the in-app networks, where Unity asks for both orientations and Mintegral says one vertical and one horizontal video covers every placement.
Mobile game ad sizes, network by network#
Meta#
Meta's Ads Guide recommends 1440×2560 for Reels and Stories, and 4:5 at 1440×1800 for Facebook Feed video and Feed images. Instagram Feed accepts images from 4:5 to 1.91:1, and 4:5 is the tallest of those. Stories videos of 16 seconds or longer may be split across cards, so the hook belongs in the first card. The guide now gives Reels and Stories the same safe zone, which we cover below.
TikTok#
TikTok's In-Feed spec, updated June 2026, recommends 9:16 at 540×960 or larger. It still accepts 16:9 from 960×540 and 1:1 from 640×640. Its best practices ask for 9:16 at 720p or better, sound on, and 3–5 creatives per ad group across 3–5 ad groups. That's up to 25 creatives in one campaign before you count sizes (our arithmetic).
TikTok publishes no single pixel safe zone. The spec says it is "determined by the dimension (vertical, horizontal, or square), ad caption length, and any additional formats used", and it provides template files. The pixel margins that circulate online are third-party measurements. Use TikTok's templates.
Google App campaigns and YouTube Shorts#
App campaigns assemble ads from the assets you give them. Google's spec takes images at 1.91:1 (1200×628), 4:5 (1200×1500) and 1:1 (1200×1200), up to 5 MB each. Video runs in 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1, hosted on YouTube, and Google recommends at least one per ratio. An ad group holds up to 20 image, 20 video and 20 HTML5 assets, and Google tells you to use all the slots. Playables go in as an HTML5 ZIP of up to 5 MB and 512 files.
On Shorts, 9:16 is recommended, and horizontal assets serve "with blurred top and bottoms". If you also run Demand Gen, don't go vertical-only: Google notes that vertical-only Demand Gen campaigns won't serve in YouTube in-feed placements.
AppLovin, Unity and Mintegral#
The in-app networks list fewer canvases and shorter videos. AppLovin lists 9:16 portrait video only, up to 60 seconds and 1 GB. Playables are a single HTML file of up to 5 MB on MRAID 2.0, in portrait and landscape. Statics are the 320×50 banner, the 300×250 MREC and a 9:16 end card of at least 270×480.
Unity's Vector takes 16:9 or 9:16 up to 60 seconds and asks you to upload both orientations. Every video needs an end card: 800×800 by default, plus 800×600 and 600×800.
Mintegral recommends 1080×1920 and 1920×1080. Its image list is the longest here: a 512×512 icon, a 1200×627 or 1200×628 main image and end card, a 720×1280 splash, and 5 optional sizes down to a 320×50 banner.
If ironSource Ads is still on your size sheet, retire it. Direct demand was sunset on 30 April 2026, and Unity points advertisers to Vector.
The App Store and Google Play#
Store assets aren't ads, but they come from the same art, and almost every install click lands on them. App Store Connect takes 1–10 iPhone screenshots at 6.9-inch sizes: 1320×2868, 1290×2796 or 1260×2736, portrait. App previews run 15–30 seconds, up to 3, at 886×1920 on iPhone.
Apple raised the limit on custom product pages to 70 in October 2025, up from 35, and each page can serve as an ad variation in Apple Ads. Each page carries its own screenshots, so a concept that wins as an ad can have a store page that matches it.
Google Play needs a 1024×500 feature graphic and a 512×512 icon. Games also need at least 3 screenshots, at 16:9 from 1920×1080 or 9:16 from 1080×1920. The listing works the other way too, as a source of ad art: Vidscape builds a campaign from an App Store or Google Play link.
Safe zones decide the layout#
A size tells you the canvas. The safe zone tells you where the ad can actually live. Meta's Ads Guide asks you to keep about 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and key elements. The same numbers apply to Stories. At 1080×1920 that's about 269 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom and 65 px on each side.
| Zone | Share | 1080×1920 | 1440×2560 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 14% | ~269 px | ~358 px |
| Bottom | 35% | ~672 px | ~896 px |
| Each side | 6% | ~65 px | ~86 px |
| Safe area | ~45% | ~950 × 979 | ~1267 × 1306 |
Do the subtraction and the usable area of a 1080×1920 Reel is about 950×979 px. That's close to a square, and about 45% of the frame (our arithmetic). In practice, a 9:16 ad is a square layout with a tall background behind it. The background and the edges of the character can run into the bands. The logo, the headline and the button can't.
The other networks draw the line differently:
- TikTok moves the zone with the canvas, the caption length and any extra formats, so a longer caption changes it. Check each cut against TikTok's own templates.
- YouTube Shorts shows a horizontal asset between blurred bars. Nothing gets covered, but the ad fills only a band of the screen.
- Unity crops end cards dynamically and asks for a 100 px buffer. Keep the logo and the button at least that far from the edges.
Why a cropped master breaks#
The quickest way to fill every canvas is to design one master and crop it. It fails in predictable places. Cut a 9:16 from a 1:1 master and you keep a narrow column: a logo in the corner or a button at the side is gone. Cut a 16:9 from a 9:16 master and you keep a strip across the middle: the headline at the top and the button at the bottom are gone. Letterbox instead and you ship black bars, or blurred ones on Shorts.
Recomposing means each canvas gets its own layout from the same pieces:
- The character is scaled and moved so it stays the focal point. It stands to one side in 16:9 and in the middle band in 9:16.
- The logo sits inside the safe zone, at a size that reads on a phone.
- The headline is broken again for the width. Two lines in 9:16 may be one line in 16:9.
- The button sits above Meta's bottom 35%, not in it.
- The background is extended or swapped. It's the one piece allowed to fill the bands.
When we built resizing into our own compositor, one rule did more work than any other: on a canvas less than a third as tall as it is wide, the character group moves beside the logo; on anything taller, the logo stacks below the character. A wide banner and a square need different arrangements, not the same one scaled.
The networks each have a number for what vertical video is worth. Those numbers are vendor claims, measured on different baselines, and none of them is about games alone.
| TikTok (2021): conversion lift, 9:16 vs black bars | 91% |
|---|---|
| Google (undated): higher conversion rate, portrait vs landscape | 60% |
| Meta (undated, non-gaming tests): lower cost per result, 9:16 video vs image ads | 34.5% |
TikTok's 91% lift compares 9:16 video with video framed by black bars, and dates from December 2021. Google says portrait videos have a 60% higher conversion rate than landscape on an undated help page. It also reports more than 35% more conversions on Shorts when advertisers add vertical video to Demand Gen, from internal 2024 data. Meta's 34.5% lower cost per result, with 2x higher delivery to Reels, comes from a meta-analysis of 15 split tests in ecommerce, retail and CPG. It compares 9:16 video with audio and key messages in the safe zone against image ads. We found no study that tests a cropped ad against a recomposed one directly. The letterbox comparisons are the closest.
This is the part of the work we built Vidscape to take over. It builds each image and motion-graphic mobile game ad as layers (character, background, headline, button), so a new size is recomposed from the same layers rather than cropped, and every element stays editable afterwards.
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Clash of ClansStrategy · Free- Build & defend
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A production checklist for one concept#
AppsFlyer counts 2,400–2,600 creative variations a quarter for the top gaming advertisers, up 25–30% in a year. Much of that volume is the same concept in more sizes, and by hand each one is a rebuild. Whatever your volume, here is how we'd set up one concept for every network above:
- Build the concept as layers, not a flat file. Character, background, logo, headline and button each stay separate from the first draft.
- Master each canvas at its recommended size. Use 1440×2560 for 9:16 and 1440×1800 for 4:5 (Meta's recommendations), 1200×1200 for 1:1 (Google's image size) and 1920×1080 for 16:9 (Mintegral's). Export down for networks with smaller minimums.
- Lay out 9:16 first, inside Meta's safe area. It's the canvas every network takes and the most constrained one, so the other layouts inherit its decisions.
- Recompose the other canvases. Move and rescale the character, re-break the headline and re-place the button for each shape.
- Check each canvas against its network's overlay: Meta's percentages, TikTok's templates, Unity's 100 px end-card buffer.
- Make end cards and statics from the same layers: Unity's 3 end cards, AppLovin's 9:16 end card, the 320×50 banner, the 300×250 MREC and Mintegral's 1200×628.
- Upload what each network asks for: both orientations on Unity, and at least one video per ratio in Google App campaigns.
- Keep the store in step. Match screenshots and custom product pages to the concepts that win as ads.
- Recheck the specs before launch. TikTok updated its In-Feed page in June 2026, and Mintegral revised its asset specs in September.
If you're the artist doing these resizes today, see how the work changes for marketing artists.
Frequently asked questions#
What size should a mobile game video ad be?
Make 9:16 first, at 1440×2560 or 1080×1920, because every major network takes it. Then add 4:5 (1440×1800) for Meta feeds, 1:1 for TikTok and Google App campaigns, and 16:9 (1920×1080) for Unity, Mintegral, TikTok and Google.
What is the Instagram Reels safe zone in pixels?
Meta gives percentages: keep about 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side clear. At 1080×1920 that works out to roughly 269 px, 672 px and 65 px, which leaves a safe area of about 950×979 px (our arithmetic). Stories use the same zone.
Does TikTok publish a safe zone in pixels?
No. TikTok says the safe zone depends on the canvas, the caption length and any additional formats, and it provides template files instead. Pixel margins found online are third-party measurements.
Can I still buy ironSource Ads directly?
No. Unity sunset direct demand on ironSource Ads on 30 April 2026 and points advertisers to Unity Vector, which takes 16:9 or 9:16 video up to 60 seconds with a required end card.
- Instagram Reels video ads specs — Meta Ads Guide
- Instagram Stories video ads specs — Meta Ads Guide
- Facebook Feed video ads specs — Meta Ads Guide
- Facebook Feed image ads specs — Meta Ads Guide
- Instagram Feed image ads specs — Meta Ads Guide
- Reels ads: delivery and cost-per-result claim (15 split tests) — Meta for Business
- Auction In-Feed ads specs — TikTok Ads Help · Jun 2026
- Creative best practices — TikTok Ads Help · Jun 2025
- Creative that drives conversions (9:16 vs black bars) — TikTok for Business · Dec 2021
- App campaign image and video specs — Google Ads Help
- App campaign image specs — Google Ads Help
- App campaign asset limits per ad group — Google Ads Help
- HTML5 asset requirements for App campaigns — Google Ads Help
- Portrait vs landscape video conversion claim — Google Ads Help
- Vertical video in Demand Gen (internal data, 2024) — Google Ads Help
- YouTube Shorts ad specs — Google Ads Help
- Google Play preview assets (feature graphic, icon, screenshots) — Play Console Help
- Creative specs and guidelines — AppLovin
- Creative specifications — Unity Vector
- ironSource Ads direct demand sunset — Unity
- Asset specs — Mintegral Help Center · Sep 2026
- Screenshot specifications — Apple App Store Connect
- App preview specifications — Apple App Store Connect
- Custom product pages: limit raised to 70 — Apple Developer News · Oct 2025
- Custom product pages in Apple Ads — Apple Developer
- State of Gaming App Marketing 2026 — AppsFlyer · Jan 2026
