Three numbers cover almost every LinkedIn upload:

  • 1920 x 1080, 16:9 - the default for a landscape post, a recorded talk, a demo.
  • 1080 x 1080, 1:1 - square. Takes more vertical space in the feed than 16:9 without breaking the desktop layout.
  • 1080 x 1920, 9:16 - vertical. Correct for phone-first content, and the shape that looks most cramped on the desktop site.

LinkedIn documents which media types and limits it accepts in media file types supported on LinkedIn. Start there rather than from a blog table, because the failure mode is an upload that is rejected outright, not one that looks slightly wrong.

Which shape should you actually pick?

The honest answer depends on where the video is watched, and LinkedIn is the one platform where a meaningful share of viewing still happens on a desktop, in a browser tab, at work.

One recording reframed three ways: vertical, square and widescreen.

That has two consequences:

  1. Vertical wins less here than it does on TikTok. A 9:16 video on a desktop feed is a narrow column with grey on both sides.
  2. Square is the safest compromise. 1:1 takes more feed height than 16:9 on a phone and does not waste the frame on desktop.

If you are only going to export one file for LinkedIn, export square.

What about the first frame?

The thumbnail matters more than the dimensions, because it decides whether the video is played at all. Whatever ratio you pick, make sure the opening frame reads at a glance with the sound off: a face, a caption, or a legible screen. See how to add text and titles to a video for the sizes that stay readable when a feed shrinks them.

Where LinkedIn puts its own furniture

Every platform covers part of your frame with its own interface, and LinkedIn is comparatively polite about it - the video sits in a card rather than behind full-screen controls. Even so, keep anything that must be read away from the very bottom of the frame, where the play bar and the post text sit.

The general rule that survives every platform: put nothing you need read in the outer edges of the frame. More on that in best video size and aspect ratio for every platform.

If your upload fails

LinkedIn keeps a specific page for this, video sharing troubleshooting, which is worth reading before you re-encode anything. In practice most failures are one of three things: a file type LinkedIn does not accept, a file larger than the limit, or a duration outside the allowed range. Re-exporting to a standard MP4 at 1080p resolves most of them.

Exporting the right file the first time

Whatever you record with, the export is where the shape is decided. In Zella you pick the platform preset and the frame is sized for you, so a landscape screen recording can leave as a square or vertical file without re-cropping by hand. For the mechanics, see how to resize a video for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube - the same reframing applies to LinkedIn.

The four mistakes that cost a LinkedIn post

  1. Uploading vertical because it works on TikTok. LinkedIn viewing skews to desktop more than any other feed. A 9:16 video there is a narrow column between two grey bars.
  2. Burying the point past ten seconds. LinkedIn autoplays muted in a feed people are half-reading between meetings. If the first frames do not say what this is, nothing later gets the chance.
  3. No captions. Muted autoplay makes captions the difference between a video and a silent moving thumbnail.
  4. Re-uploading a file downloaded from another platform. It arrives already compressed once, often with a competitor's watermark on it, and both are visible.

Export it once, correctly

  1. Finish the edit at whatever ratio you recorded.
  2. Choose the target: square for the feed, 16:9 for a recorded talk.
  3. Export 1080p, MP4, H.264 - not 4K, which only slows the upload.
  4. Check the first frame with the sound off. If it does not make sense, move the cut.
  5. Upload. If it is rejected, the cause is almost always file type, size or duration - not dimensions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best video size for LinkedIn? 1920 x 1080 at 16:9 for landscape, 1080 x 1080 at 1:1 for the feed, 1080 x 1920 at 9:16 for phone-first content. Square is the best single choice if you only export one file.

Does LinkedIn support vertical video? Yes, and it plays correctly on the phone app. It is simply less flattering on the desktop site, where it renders as a narrow column.

What file format should I upload to LinkedIn? A standard MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the safe default. LinkedIn lists the types it accepts in its own help centre.

Why did my LinkedIn video fail to upload? Usually file type, file size or duration rather than dimensions. LinkedIn's video sharing troubleshooting page covers the specific limits.

Is 4K worth uploading to LinkedIn? Rarely. The feed is not where anyone examines detail, and 1080p uploads faster and plays sooner.