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Design Resources · 3 min read · Aug 11, 2026

The Ultimate Guide to Meta Advertising Specs for Static Ads

By Sarmad Mughal, Static Meta Ad Designer

Stop getting your ads cropped by Facebook. Here is the complete, up-to-date guide to Meta advertising specs, dimensions, and safe zones for static image ads.

There is nothing worse than spending hours designing the perfect static ad, only to upload it to Ads Manager and realize Facebook cropped out your main headline.

To prevent this, you need to master Meta advertising specs. Here is your cheat sheet for sizing your static creatives perfectly every time.

1. The Instagram & Facebook Feed (1:1 or 4:5)

For the main news feeds, you have two options.

• Square (1:1 Ratio): 1080 x 1080 pixels. This is the traditional format and works everywhere.
• Vertical (4:5 Ratio): 1080 x 1350 pixels. Highly Recommended. This takes up significantly more vertical screen space on mobile devices, giving you a larger canvas to capture attention.

2. Stories and Reels (9:16)

If you are designing specifically for Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, or Reels placements, you must design vertically.

• Vertical (9:16 Ratio): 1080 x 1920 pixels.

CRITICAL SAFE ZONES: Do not put important text or logos at the very top (where the user's profile handle appears) or the very bottom (where the "Swipe Up" or "Learn More" CTA button sits). Leave roughly 250 pixels of "safe space" at both the top and bottom of your 1080x1920 canvas.

3. Right Column and Search Results (1.91:1)

This is an older format, mostly used for desktop right-column ads or specific search placements.

• Landscape (1.91:1 Ratio): 1200 x 628 pixels.

The 20% Text Rule (Is it still real?)

Historically, Facebook would penalize or reject ads if text covered more than 20% of the image area.

The truth today: Meta officially removed this strict rule. However, their internal documentation still notes that images with less than 20% text tend to perform better in the auction.

As a designer, I recommend using bold, concise text rather than writing paragraphs on your images. Let the visual do the talking, use a punchy hook in the image, and leave the long-form selling for the primary text caption.