Snapchat ad specs: 9:16 video at 720×1280, 3 to 180 seconds

Snapchat's ad specs for video are 9:16 at 720×1280 pixels, as .mp4 or .mov, 3 to 180 seconds long, for Single Image or Video ads, Story Ads, and Collection Ads. Commercials are non-skippable for their first 6 seconds and must be H.264-encoded; Standard Commercials run 3 to 6 seconds in total. With Sume, render exactly 720×1280 on Timeline 1.0, whose encode today is H.264 in an MP4.

Snapchat's rules are quoted from its Snapchat Ad Formats & Specs page, read on 2026-09-27; Snap can change them. That page gives the basics and points to Snap's Business Help Center for in-depth specs, which this post doesn't quote. Sume facts come from Timeline 1.0, Video generation, and Generate avatar video.

What are Snapchat's ad specs by format?

All five video ad formats on the page use 9:16 at 720×1280. Every format except Commercials lists copy limits: a brand name of up to 25 characters and a headline of up to 34.

How long can a Snapchat video ad be?

• Single Image or Video, Story, and Collection ads: 3 to 180 seconds. Single ads can show in the Stories and Spotlight placements; Story Ads let viewers tap through a series of images or videos.
• Commercials: Standard Commercials are non-skippable 3 to 6 second ads. Extended Play Commercials run 7 to 180 seconds, and only their first 6 seconds are non-skippable. They show within Snap's curated content.
• Sponsored Snaps: sent to the Chat tab, up to 180 seconds, and Snap recommends keeping them under 10 seconds.

How do I make a 720×1280 Snapchat ad with Sume?

• Generate 9:16 clips: aspect_ratio: "9:16" on POST /v1/videos. sume/auto makes 3–10 second clips at 16:9 or 9:16, which covers a 6-second Standard Commercial or a Sponsored Snap under 10 seconds (9:16 by model).
• Or use a talking avatar: POST /v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video defaults to 9:16, 720p is the documented resolution, and scripts must come to 4–60 seconds by Sume's estimate. The avatar speaks English only in current code.
• Conform on Timeline 1.0: model outputs don't publish pixel sizes (supported_sizes is null), so set output to 720×1280, inside Timeline's even 256–2160 range. audio.duration_seconds (1–1800) sets the length, so keep it between 3 and 180. Today the sound comes from the audio spine, not the clips, so to keep an avatar's speech, detach it first with POST /v1/audio-detach, whose default wav is what audio.url wants.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/timeline-1.0/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: snap-ad-001" \
  -d '{
    "audio": {
      "url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/voice.wav",
      "duration_seconds": 10
    },
    "video": [
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/hook.mp4", "start": 0, "duration": 4 },
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/offer.mp4", "start": 4, "duration": 6 }
    ],
    "output": { "width": 720, "height": 1280 }
  }'

Does a Sume render meet the Commercials' H.264 rule?

Its encode matches that line. Today a Timeline render encodes video with libx264, which FFmpeg's docs describe as an H.264 encoder, and MP4 is its only output container. So a 720×1280 render of 3 to 180 seconds matches every number the ad formats page gives for Commercials; the in-depth specs in Snap's Business Help Center aren't covered here. Timeline reads only your workspace's media.sume.com files, such as earlier Sume outputs, and needs an Idempotency-Key.

Check each file before you upload it: POST /v1/video-inspect with frames: false is an unbilled probe that reports video_codec, width, height, and duration_seconds.