TikTok’s official Studio upload help lists 720 × 1280 as the minimum video resolution, checked October 21, 2026 (UTC).
This editor exports 1080 × 1920 as a site choice, not a TikTok recommendation; the official cover instructions do not publish a cover pixel size.
Pick one of four cover layouts, add your own image and title, and download a PNG at that size. Everything runs in your browser; your images are never uploaded.
Your 1080 × 1920 cover
216 px wide preview · 9:16
The design uses 1080 × 1920 pixels. Download reads the encoded file back.
Only when a PNG exceeds this tool’s 2,000,000-byte comparison line does a JPG alternative appear, at quality 0.9 and the same pixels. That line is a ThumbGlance product choice, not a TikTok limit. Each download reports the encoded file’s actual pixels and bytes.
The Studio upload section says uploaded videos must be MP4 or WebM, “720x1280 resolution or higher”, “up to 30 minutes in length” and “less than 10 GB”. The Camera tools page separately says app uploads can be up to 60 minutes. The cover page calls the cover the “thumbnail that previews your video” and gives frame-selection steps, but no cover pixel width or height. The Ads page is kept separate because its 9:16, 540 × 960 minimum, 10-minute maximum and 500 MB maximum are advertising creative rules, not ordinary-post limits.
A first attempt on October 21 at 16:24 UTC ended with ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED. A second signed-out run on October 22, 2026 between 02:05 and 02:10 UTC, in headless Chrome at 1280 × 800 and at 375 × 812 with a phone user agent, reached TikTok’s own public @tiktok profile and three of its public video embeds. In the profile grid, the six newest cover tiles measured 148 × 196.31 CSS px at 1280 wide and 124.33 × 165.45 CSS px at 375 wide, a width-to-height ratio of 0.754 and 0.751, close to 3:4. Each tile image used object-fit: cover with object-position 50% 50%. The three embeds (/embed/v2/ for videos 7698770783367171359, 7694797676306615583 and 7693184538704416031) each drew a 323 × 574.22 CSS px player at both window widths, near 9:16, playing a 576 × 1024 video stream.
Sample date: October 22, 2026 (UTC). Sample: five official pages read October 21; six profile-grid tiles and three embeds from one account, @tiktok, at two window widths; and the four local layout readbacks below. Not covered: logged-in TikTok, the For You feed, other accounts, actual uploads, platform compression, apps, TV, countries and devices. The grid ratio is a CSS display measurement of one account’s grid, not an official crop rule, and the official cover pages give no cover pixels.
Measured on October 22, 2026 (UTC) in Chrome on macOS with the longest admitted text fixtures, the 1080 × 1920 render placed text in these bands: Layout 1: text spans y 518 to 900 and ends at or before x 1002.Layout 2: text spans y 272 to 1516 and ends at or before x 957.Layout 3: text spans y 954 to 1244 and ends at or before x 957.Layout 4: text spans y 323 to 1095 and ends at or before x 996. All four stay inside y 244 to 1676, the part of a 1080 × 1920 cover that the measured 3:4 grid tile shows. Bounds include the outline and depend on installed fonts; shorter text ends earlier. If any line would leave that band or the canvas, export pauses.
How to set a TikTok cover
The cover steps below are from TikTok Support checked October 21, 2026 (UTC):
On the post screen, tap Select cover on the video thumbnail.
Drag and place the frame anywhere on the video.
Tap Save.
For a cover made here, choose a layout, add your image and title, download the PNG, then use that image as the cover in the posting flow available to your account.
Upload specs
Studio format
MP4 or WebM, from the official “Tools for creators” page checked October 21, 2026 at 02:15 UTC.
Studio resolution
720 × 1280 or higher. The page prints the pixel pair; it does not print a separate aspect-ratio label.
Studio duration
Up to 30 minutes in TikTok Studio.
Studio file size
Less than 10 GB. This is the ordinary-upload ceiling published on the official page reviewed here.
App duration
The official Camera tools page says app uploads can be up to 60 minutes; clips recorded in the app can be up to 10 minutes.
The 720 × 1280 pair reduces to 9:16, but that calculation is not presented as an extra official organic-post statement. The file-size number published for ordinary Studio uploads is 10 GB; the Ads page’s 500 MB ceiling is not substituted for it. A separate Ads section appears below so the two evidence scopes stay distinct.
Ads video specs, kept separate
TikTok Ads Manager’s “TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads” page, checked October 21, 2026 at 02:12 UTC, lists vertical non-Spark Ads as 9:16 and at least 540 × 960 px, up to 10 minutes, no more than 500 MB and a bitrate of at least 516 kbps. These are ad-creative requirements and are not TikTok’s ordinary post recommendation.
Why a TikTok video looks blurry after upload
The official help reviewed here describes upload gates, not a measured blur diagnosis: use an accepted file, start at or above 720 × 1280, keep Studio videos within 30 minutes and under 10 GB, then choose and save the cover frame. Those settings are supported by the official pages linked above.
The pages reached in this check do not publish a platform compression percentage or an HD-upload switch. Because this session neither logged in nor uploaded a video, it makes no claim about how much TikTok re-encodes a particular file. The honest boundary is the published upload gate plus the file you can inspect before posting.
How much to compress before upload
For TikTok Studio, the only ordinary-upload file ceiling found on the reviewed official pages is “less than 10 GB”; the same page also sets a 720 × 1280 minimum. If a file is larger than the ceiling, transcode it to an accepted MP4 or WebM while keeping the picture at or above 720 × 1280, then check the result yourself before posting.
The official pages reviewed do not give a target bitrate, a percentage reduction or an encoder setting for preventing blur. This page therefore supplies no invented compression ratio and makes no promise that a smaller file will avoid TikTok’s later processing.
TikTok video dimensions and aspect ratio
The current official Studio page gives a vertical minimum of 720 × 1280 pixels. Those tiktok video dimensions mathematically reduce to 9:16. The official Ads page labels 9:16 explicitly, but that is an ads setting; the organic page prints the pixel pair without a separate ratio label. This editor uses a 1080 × 1920 canvas because it is a practical 9:16 working size chosen by ThumbGlance, not because TikTok publishes that number as its cover recommendation.
TikTok thumbnail and cover size
TikTok calls the frame that previews a post its video cover. If you searched for tiktok thumbnail, the official help shows how to select a frame rather than an upload-size card. There is no published tiktok thumbnail size in pixels on the cover page reviewed. The same is true when looking for a tiktok cover size or tiktok thumbnail dimensions: the page names profile and search previews and gives selection steps, while no numeric cover dimensions appear.
For that reason, the 1080 × 1920 download here is a ThumbGlance design choice, not a TikTok recommendation. It is ready for the four vertical layouts and avoids presenting video pixels as cover pixels.
Profile grid crop
No reviewed official page publishes a profile-grid crop ratio. In our October 22 measurement of the @tiktok profile, grid tiles were close to 3:4 and filled with a centered cover crop. Fitting a 1080 × 1920 cover into a 148 × 196.31 tile keeps the full width and about 1,433 of the 1,920 rows, so roughly 244 px is trimmed from the top and the same from the bottom; the 375-wide tile trims about 241 px each. That is why every layout here keeps its text between y 244 and y 1676. Treat it as one dated measurement, not a rule TikTok promises to keep.
How to use
Choose Signal board, Lens card, Split reel or Chapter dial.
Add a background image and, if useful, a focal image. A transparent focal image starts As is; an opaque one starts Rounded.
Edit the title and label, choose a color, font and outline, then check the small preview.
Download the 1080 × 1920 PNG and read back its encoded pixel size and byte count in the status line.
Posting an Instagram Story rather than a TikTok? See Instagram Story size, where the safe-zone advice from different guides disagrees.
Questions
What size is a TikTok video?
The official TikTok Studio upload page checked October 21, 2026 (UTC) says 720 × 1280 or higher. That is a minimum, not a statement that every surface displays 720 × 1280.
What size should a TikTok cover be?
TikTok’s official cover instructions reviewed here do not publish cover pixels. This editor uses 1080 × 1920 as a site choice, not a TikTok recommendation.
Does my image leave my browser?
No. Decoding, drawing and export run locally, without uploading your image.
Is it free?
Yes. No account, payment or usage limit is required.
Can it remove a background?
No. This editor accepts an image you already prepared with transparency and keeps its alpha when you choose As is.
Why is there no exact “compress by this much” number?
The official pages reviewed give an upload file ceiling and resolution minimum, but no bitrate or reduction target. The page keeps that gap visible instead of guessing.
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