How to adapt one campaign to every ad size
Render two master frames instead of one: a tall 9:16 frame for Stories, Reels, TikTok and the 4:5, 3:4, 2:3 and square crops, and a wide 16:9 frame for 1.91:1 images, email heroes and wide banners. In the tall frame, keep the product and words between 22% and 65% of the height and 6% in from each side, so every crop keeps them and Meta’s safe zone stays clear. Then crop instead of re-rendering, so the product stays identical in every size.
Why one square render will not stretch to every size
Ad shapes run from 9:16 for Stories, Reels and TikTok to 1.91:1 for Google’s landscape images, and a 728 x 90 banner is an 8:1 strip. Google’s Nano Banana models make a square unless you ask for another shape or give them an input image, and a square is the worst starting point: a 9:16 crop keeps only 56% of its width, and a 1.91:1 crop keeps only 52% of its height. Whatever sits near the edges of the square is lost in one shape or the other.
The platforms will fill the gaps if you let them. Meta says Ads Manager fills missing shapes with padding, media expansion, cropping and other AI features. TikTok says its Ad Network may fill empty space with a colored background or a blur. Google warns that its automatic image enhancements can crop parts of an image, such as a label you added. For an AI product photo, you want to choose those crops yourself.
Render a tall master and a wide master
| Master | Render at | Sizes it feeds |
|---|---|---|
| Tall, 9:16 | Nano Banana at 2K: 1536 x 2752. GPT Image 2.5: 1152 x 2048 or 1440 x 2560 | Stories and Reels 1440 x 2560, TikTok and YouTube Shorts 1080 x 1920, Instagram post 1080 x 1440, Meta feed 1440 x 1800, Pinterest pin 1000 x 1500, Google portrait 960 x 1200, squares, 300 x 600 banner |
| Wide, 16:9 | Nano Banana at 2K: 2752 x 1536. GPT Image 2.5: 1536 x 864 or 2048 x 1152 | Google landscape 1200 x 628, email hero 1320 x 660, digital billboard 1400 x 400, 970 x 250 banner |
| Extra wide, for print | Nano Banana 2 at 4K, 4:1: 8192 x 2048 | Printed bulletins; see billboard resolution for AI images |
Render both masters from the same prompt and the same reference photos, with the product in the same place relative to the center. They are still two renders, so the product can differ slightly between the tall family and the wide family. Within each family, every size is a crop of one image and matches exactly.
On our agency’s trouser campaign, the backdrop and lighting sentences of the prompt were reused word for word across the set, and only the framing and pose sentences changed from photo to photo. Do the same for the second master: copy the approved prompt and change only the sentence about orientation and framing.
Keep zones: where the product and words go
A keep zone is the part of the master that survives every crop and stays clear of each platform’s overlays. In the tall master, the tightest crop is the square, which keeps the middle of the frame from 22% to 78% of the height. Meta’s Stories and Reels safe zone rules out the top 14% and the bottom 35%. Together they leave a band from 22% to 65% of the height.
| Master | Keep the product, headline and logo | In pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Tall, 9:16 | Between 22% and 65% of the height from the top, and at least 6% in from each side | 1536 x 2752: x 92 to 1444, y 602 to 1789. 1080 x 1920: x 65 to 1015, y 420 to 1248 |
| Wide, 16:9 | Between 27% and 73% of the height, and at least 10% in from each side | 2752 x 1536: x 275 to 2477, y 416 to 1120 |
In the wide master, the tightest common crop is the 970 x 250 banner, which keeps only the middle 46% of the height, and Google’s center 80% rule for landscape images takes 10% off each side. If the product sits outside these zones, you will be extending the canvas or re-rendering later.
The size matrix
| Placement | Shape | Export size | Cut from | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Stories and Reels | 9:16 | 1440 x 2560 | Tall master, whole | Top 14%, bottom 35%, sides 6% |
| TikTok In-Feed | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | Tall master, whole | TikTok’s overlay file; no white background |
| Google Demand Gen vertical, YouTube Shorts | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | Tall master, whole | Google’s 9:16 template |
| Instagram post | 3:4 | 1080 x 1440 | Tall master, crop | Shows whole on the 3:4 profile grid |
| Meta Facebook and Instagram feed | 4:5 | 1440 x 1800 | Tall master, crop | Bottom and side edges on Instagram |
| Pinterest pin | 2:3 | 1000 x 1500 | Tall master, crop | Gray tint over white backgrounds |
| Google Performance Max and Demand Gen portrait | 4:5 | 960 x 1200 | Tall master, crop | Center 80% |
| Squares: Meta carousel and Marketplace, Google | 1:1 | 1080 to 1200 square | Tall master, crop | Center 80% for Google |
| Google landscape | 1.91:1 | 1200 x 628 | Wide master, crop | Center 80% |
| Email hero | 2:1 | 1320 x 660 | Wide master, crop | Words in live text, not in the image |
| Digital billboard | 7:2 | 1400 x 400 | Wide master, crop | One message, readable at a glance |
| Banners 300 x 250 and 300 x 600 | 1.2:1 and 1:2 | Exact size | Tall master, crop | Must fill the frame |
| Banners 728 x 90, 320 x 50 and 970 x 250 | 8.1:1, 6.4:1 and 3.9:1 | Exact size | A layout built from either master | Must fill the frame |
The details behind each row are in Facebook and Instagram ad sizes, Google Ads image sizes and standard banner ad sizes, among the other size guides in this section.
Crop, extend or re-render
| Method | What happens to the product | Cost | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crop from a master | Stays pixel-identical | Nothing extra | Only works when the master has room around the product |
| Extend the canvas with a generative tool | Original pixels kept; new edges made up | One generation per size | Extra products, words or hands in the new area; Adobe attaches C2PA metadata, which Meta reads to label ads |
| Re-render at the new shape | Redrawn from scratch | A full round of tries per size | Label, color and shape drift; check every render again |
| Let the platform adapt it | Cropped, padded or expanded by the platform | Nothing extra | Preview every placement; Meta tells you to review its automatic crops before publishing |
Re-rendering is the expensive route. Across four of our agency’s campaigns, it took about 8 renders to get one usable photo, so rendering five sizes separately can mean about 40 renders for one image instead of 8. See how many AI renders it takes to get one you can use.
To extend in Photoshop, drag the Crop tool past the edge of the image and choose Generative Expand; Adobe’s help page says leaving the prompt blank lets it continue the scene. Adobe also says its qualifying generative tools attach C2PA metadata automatically, so plan the label question for any size you extend. See do you need to label AI images in ads.
Keeping the product identical across sizes
- Approve the product in each master at 100% before you cut any size.
- Cut every size from the master file, not from another crop, so the product is resized once.
- Keep the product at the same scale across a family, so a carousel or a set of placements does not jump.
- Check the label, color, cap and count in every exported size. The AI image QA checklist has the full list.
- Inspect any area made by generative expand for new products, words or hands.
- Export every size in sRGB with the same sharpening, so the color does not shift between placements.
- Name files by placement and size, such as meta-feed-1440x1800.jpg, so nothing gets swapped at upload.
- Note which sizes used AI expansion, for your labeling decisions.
Questions people also ask
- Should I let Meta or Google resize my ads automatically?
- For quick tests it saves time. Meta fills missing shapes with padding, media expansion and cropping, and Google’s image enhancements can crop assets. For AI product photos, supply each shape yourself, preview every placement, and turn off enhancements that cut the product or your label.
- How big should the master renders be?
- 2K or larger. Nano Banana’s 2K 9:16 render, 1536 x 2752, covers Meta’s 1440 x 2560 after scaling, and its 2K 16:9 render, 2752 x 1536, covers Google’s 1200 x 628 and a 1320 x 660 email hero. Printed billboards need a 4K render or an upscale.
- Can one 4:5 image run everywhere?
- Not well. Meta accepts 4:5 in Stories and Reels but recommends 9:16 there, and Google requires landscape and square images, with 4:5 optional. Cropping a 4:5 image to 1.91:1 also throws away 58% of its height.
Where Overs fits
In Overs you say what a set is for (store page, feed ads, editorial, hero, banner, billboard) before anything renders, and the shot plan covers each deliverable. You can remake one photo with a note, up to four versions at once, instead of redoing the set, and every attempt is kept.
Free for 40 photos a month. The AI that makes the photos is billed separately, on your own key, with no markup from Overs.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center: Best practices for aspect ratios (automatic adjustments)
- Meta Business Help Center: About text overlays and the safe zone for ads on Facebook and Instagram
- Meta Business Help Center: Aspect ratios supported by placements in Meta Ads Manager
- Google Ads Help: About image assets for Performance Max campaigns (center 80%)
- Google Ads Help: Use AI content label settings and disclosures (image enhancements)
- TikTok Ads Manager help: Available ad formats for TikTok Ad Network
- TikTok Ads Manager help: TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads (safe zone files)
- Pinterest help: Review Pin specs (safe zones)
- Instagram Help Center: Image resolution of photos you share on Instagram
- Adobe Photoshop help: Explore beyond the canvas with Generative Expand
- Adobe Help: Generative AI content labeling FAQ
- Google AI for Developers: Nano Banana image generation (default shape and sizes)
- OpenAI: Image generation guide (size options)