Twitter / X Video Size & Dimensions (2026)

Twitter / X is more flexible than other platforms — it accepts a wide range of aspect ratios from 1:2.39 (ultra-wide letterbox) to 2.39:1 (extreme landscape). In practice, the two most useful orientations are 16:9 landscape for screen recordings, product demos, and podcasts, and 9:16 portrait for content repurposed from Reels or Shorts.

The platform preview on desktop shows 16:9 inline in the feed, which looks clean and professional. Portrait videos play full-screen on mobile and preview as a smaller cropped square in the desktop feed — so landscape generally looks more polished in the default desktop-heavy audience of many X accounts.

For screen recordings specifically, 1280 × 720 (720p) is the most common export resolution. X recompresses all uploads, so uploading at 1920 × 1080 (1080p) gives the encoder better source material, resulting in a crisper final video at the same data budget. Export at 1080p when file size is under the 512 MB cap.

Twitter / X accepts MP4 and MOV with H.264 video codec. Maximum file size is 512 MB. The maximum video duration is 2 minutes 20 seconds (140 seconds) for standard accounts. Twitter Blue / X Premium subscribers can upload longer videos — up to 2 hours in some tiers.

Frame rate can be any standard rate from 24 fps to 60 fps. For screen recordings 30 fps is standard. Audio should be AAC stereo at 128 kbps or higher. The platform auto-mutes videos on load, so captions or on-screen text help for the large share of users who do not tap to unmute.

X does not display a separate video thumbnail in the feed on mobile — the first frame of the video serves as the cover image. Make sure the first frame is visually compelling and not a black screen or title card that fades in from nothing.

Limelight for Mac exports screen recordings in both 16:9 (landscape) and 9:16 (vertical) at 1080p — both under the Twitter/X 512 MB file size limit for typical tutorial-length recordings. For a 2-minute demo at 30 fps, the H.264 export is typically 100–200 MB.

If you are posting a software demo or product walkthrough to X, the 16:9 landscape export is usually the right choice — it looks native in the feed on desktop and plays full-width inline without any controls blocking the action.

Limelight shows your keystrokes on screen during recording, which performs well on tech-focused X audiences. The keystroke display is styled to be visible without being distracting, and can be toggled off per recording if you prefer a clean screen.

Add captions or on-screen text. X auto-mutes videos, and many users scroll with sound off. Text overlays or baked-in captions keep the message intact for the majority of viewers.

Keep it under 60 seconds for organic reach. Longer videos are allowed, but shorter clips retain more viewers to completion. Completion rate is one of the signals X uses when deciding whether to show a video to non-followers.

Thread context beats everything. On X, the text of the post (and the conversation in the thread) often matters more than the video itself. Write a compelling first post that explains what viewers will get, then let the video deliver the proof.