TikTok In-Feed Creative Specs: Spark Ads, Non-Spark Ads, and Safe Zones

In-feed Creative Specs for TikTok

TikTok in-feed ads need to be built for the way people actually watch and interact with the app. The technical specs matter, but they are only the starting point. For paid media teams, the bigger job is to make sure the video, captions, product, and call-to-action stay visible after TikTok’s interface elements appear on top of the creative.

Spark Ads Pull

• Ad captions: Extracted directly from the organic video caption. A maximum of 4 lines can be displayed, including emojis.
• Video format: .mp4 or .mov.
• Video duration: No restrictions.

Non-Spark Ads

• Dimensions:
  • Vertical recommended: 9:16, more than or equal to 540 × 960 px.
  • Horizontal: 16:9, more than or equal to 960 × 540 px.
  • Square: 1:1, more than or equal to 640 × 640 px.
• File formats: .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, .avi.
• Video duration: Up to 10 minutes.
• File size: Less than or equal to 500 MB.
• Bitrate: More than or equal to 516 kbps.
• Ad captions: Displayed in white with a uniform font that cannot be customized. Captions do not support clickable links, symbols such as @, or hashtags.

Safe Zone

Meeting TikTok’s technical requirements is not enough. TikTok’s interface gives users several ways to interact with the video, and each of those elements takes up screen space. That is why simply reusing a creative made for Instagram Reels is usually a weak approach.

Keep the product, main subject, and key message inside the safe zone shown in the examples. This helps prevent TikTok’s interface and the clickable ad snippet from covering the most important part of the creative.

Place video subtitles slightly higher than you would for Instagram Reels. Also remember that the safe area changes depending on caption length. The more lines your ad text takes, the smaller the usable safe zone becomes.