YouTube 1080p video size: 1920 by 1080
1920 by 1080 is the full HD frame for a widescreen video upload. It simplifies to 16:9 and comes to 2.07 megapixels.
At a glance
- Dimensions
- 1920 × 1080 pixels
- Simplified aspect ratio
- 16:9
- Decimal ratio
- 1.78:1
- Megapixels
- 2.07 MP (2,073,600 pixels)
- CSS aspect-ratio
- aspect-ratio: 16 / 9;
- Preset category
- Video
- Where it is used
- Full HD video uploads and 16:9 editing timelines
In detail
The player is a 16:9 box, so this frame fills it exactly and nothing is added at the edges. Give it a squarer or wider source and the player pads the difference with black bars, which costs you screen area on every device. The shape matters more than the resolution: a 1280 by 720 upload fills the same box, it just has less detail in it.
Two parts of the frame are not reliably visible. The player draws a control bar across the bottom and a title strip across the top when a viewer hovers or taps, and both sit over your picture. Anything burned into those bands, a lower third or a channel handle, disappears at the moment a viewer reaches for the scrubber.
The thumbnail is a separate upload and it is not a frame of the video. It is conventionally 1280 by 720, the same 16:9 shape at two thirds of the linear resolution, and it is scaled down hard in a feed, so text that reads at full size can be illegible at the size most people first see it.
To produce the frame here, the image resizer has a Full HD 1920 by 1080 preset, and the cropper has a 16:9 ratio for trimming a wider or taller source to shape first. The social post generator composes a YouTube thumbnail at 1280 by 720, which is the matching thumbnail size rather than the video frame.
Examples
.video-frame {
aspect-ratio: 16 / 9;
width: 100%;
}
.video-frame > iframe {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
border: 0;
}The ratio box reserves the space before the player loads, so nothing on the page jumps.
3024 / 1964 = 1.5397 // a laptop screenshot, not 16:9
1920 / 1080 = 1.7778 // the target
// crop to 16:9 first, then resize, or the resize will squash itThings that catch people out
- Exporting at a non 16:9 shape means the player adds bars. Fix the ratio by cropping, not by stretching, or every face in the video gets wider.
- Text placed in the bottom eighth of the frame is covered by the control bar as soon as a viewer touches the player.
- A thumbnail is judged at feed size, not at full size. Check it at about a fifth of its width before you commit to it.
Try it: Aspect Ratio Calculator
Enter a width and a height, or a ratio and one dimension, and it solves the missing one, simplifies the ratio, counts the megapixels and gives you a copyable CSS value.
Aspect Ratio Calculator
LOCAL · Browser-OnlyCalculate and convert aspect ratios for images, videos, and screens
1920 x 1080px · 16:9 · 1.7778:1
Common Aspect Ratios Reference
| Ratio | Decimal | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 1.778 | Widescreen TV, YouTube, monitors |
| 4:3 | 1.333 | Classic TV, iPad, presentations |
| 1:1 | 1.000 | Instagram square, profile pictures |
| 21:9 | 2.333 | Ultrawide monitors, cinema |
| 9:16 | 0.563 | Phone vertical, TikTok, Reels |
| 3:2 | 1.500 | 35mm photography, MacBook |
| 2:3 | 0.667 | Portrait photography, posters |
| 5:4 | 1.250 | Large format photography, older monitors |
| 32:9 | 3.556 | Super ultrawide monitors |
| 2.39:1 | 2.390 | Anamorphic cinema, widescreen films |
Related Image and canvas sizes
All image and canvas sizes →YouTube 4K video size: 3840 by 2160
The 4K UHD frame at 3840 by 2160, why it is exactly four times the pixel count of 1080p, and what uploading above the watched resolution actually buys you.
16:9 aspect ratio
Where the 16:9 ratio came from, the pixel dimensions that hit it exactly, what it suits, and the places where a widescreen frame is the wrong shape.
1080p Full HD screen size: 1920 by 1080
The most common desktop display resolution, where the 1080p name comes from, and why device pixels and CSS pixels stopped being the same number.
YouTube Shorts size: 1080 by 1920
The 9:16 Shorts frame at 1080 by 1920, how it compares to the Stories and TikTok frame it shares pixels with, and where the interface covers your picture.
Instagram post size: 1080 by 1080
The 1:1 square post at 1080 by 1080, why the square survived the move away from it, and how it compares to the taller portrait frame in the feed.
Instagram Story size: 1080 by 1920
The full screen 9:16 Story frame, the interface that sits over its top and bottom edges, and how it differs from the feed formats in the same account.
Tools for this
- Aspect Ratio Calculator Free online aspect ratio calculator - calculate and convert aspect ratios for images, videos, and screens
- Image Resizer Free online image resizer - resize images to exact dimensions, percentage, or common presets
- Image Cropper Free online image cropper - crop images with preset aspect ratios and free-form selection