LinkedIn is a popular social media platform used primarily for professional networking and career development. In recent years, LinkedIn has introduced new features like LinkedIn video to make the platform more engaging for users. One question that often comes up is whether LinkedIn videos are vertical or horizontal.
The Short Answer
The short answer is that LinkedIn supports both vertical and horizontal video formats. When uploading a video to LinkedIn, you can choose to upload either a landscape/horizontal video or a portrait/vertical video.
The Long Answer
To understand whether to use vertical or horizontal video on LinkedIn, it helps to look at how video is consumed on the platform and best practices recommended by LinkedIn.
Video Consumption Behavior on LinkedIn
According to LinkedIn, video content is shared 20 times more often than other content on the platform. Video also generates more engagement in the form of likes, comments, and shares compared to other post types.
When it comes to how video is watched on LinkedIn, research by LinkedIn suggests that most people watch videos on their mobile devices rather than desktop. And when watching on mobile, people primarily watch videos in portrait/vertical format.
Some key statistics on LinkedIn video consumption from LinkedIn:
- 57% of video views on LinkedIn happen on mobile
- The majority of views on mobile (over 90%) are in portrait mode
- Vertical video ads see up to 2x higher completion rates compared to landscape video ads
So based on actual user behavior, the preference is for vertical/portrait video on LinkedIn, especially when targeting a mobile audience.
LinkedIn Best Practices for Video
In addition to user video consumption patterns, LinkedIn itself recommends using vertical/portrait video in most cases. Here are some of LinkedIn’s best practices when it comes to video:
- Record videos in portrait/vertical format (9:16 aspect ratio)
- Vertical videos take up more screen real estate in the mobile feed
- Use landscape only if showing something that needs to be viewed horizontally like a computer screen
- Keep videos short, under 3 minutes is optimal
- Videos under 30 seconds have the highest completion rates
LinkedIn also notes that vertical video aligns better with the LinkedIn feed experience which scrolls vertically. Horizontal video ends up very small on screen and is not ideal.
When to Use Horizontal Video
Based on the points above, vertical video is recommended in most cases for LinkedIn. However, there are some specific situations where using a landscape/horizontal video still makes sense:
- You need to show something in widescreen like a presentation, dashboard, or computer screen
- You originally filmed the video in landscape and can’t recrop it
- You want to promote consistent branding by using the same aspect ratio across different platforms
- Your video includes text overlays or graphics optimized for landscape
So horizontal video can still work if it really makes sense for your particular video content. But in general, vertical is the way to go for the LinkedIn feed.
Video Specifications
For the technical specifications, here are LinkedIn’s requirements for both vertical and horizontal video:
Vertical Video Specs
- Aspect ratio: 9:16 (portrait)
- Video resolution: 720px x 1280px minimum
- Frame rate: 29.97 FPS
- File size: Up to 10GB
- File types: .MP4, .MOV
Horizontal Video Specs
- Aspect ratio: 16:9 (landscape)
- Video resolution: 1280px x 720px minimum
- Frame rate: 29.97 FPS
- File size: Up to 10GB
- File types: .MP4, .MOV
So those are the recommended specifications from LinkedIn for getting the best quality and optimization for both vertical and horizontal videos.
Optimizing Video for LinkedIn
To recap, here are some best practices for optimizing video for LinkedIn:
- Film vertically (portrait format) in 9:16 aspect ratio
- Keep videos short, under 2-3 minutes ideal
- Hook viewers in the first 3 seconds
- Use eye-catching custom thumbnails
- Write compelling titles and descriptions for clickability
- Include a strong call-to-action for more engagement
Following these tips will help your video get more views, shares, and engagement on LinkedIn.
Conclusion
So in summary, while LinkedIn supports both vertical and horizontal videos, vertical (portrait) video is recommended in most cases. Vertical video aligns with LinkedIn’s primarily mobile feed and performs better in terms of completion rates and engagement. But horizontal video can still make sense if showing widescreen content or for branding consistency. Optimizing video for LinkedIn means filming vertically, keeping videos short, and crafting compelling titles, thumbnails, and descriptions.