Can a 4:5 video be a YouTube Short? The page says square or vertical
YouTube's Shorts page says square or vertical and up to 3 minutes, and lists no ratio chart. A 4:5 feed render is taller than wide; how to make one on Sume.
What the page says and what it leaves out
YouTube's Shorts help page (read 2026-10-09) says videos up to three minutes with a square or vertical aspect ratio can be Shorts, and that wider formats such as 16:9 stay long-form. It lists no table of ratios. A 4:5 video is 0.8 times as wide as it is tall, so by plain meaning it is vertical. The page does not say 4:5 by name, so treat the plain reading as likely and verify with one upload before relying on it for a campaign.
Why you would ask
Facebook Feed's recommended geometry is 4:5 at 1440x1800 (Meta ad guide, read 2026-10-09), and teams that already render that file want to reuse it. Reusing is cheaper than re-rendering, if the file qualifies.
| Ratio | Width / height | YouTube Shorts page | Meta recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:16 | 0.5625 | Vertical | Instagram Feed and Reels |
| 4:5 | 0.8 | Taller than wide; not named | Facebook Feed 1440x1800 |
| 1:1 | 1.0 | Square, named | Square feed formats |
| 16:9 | 1.778 | Wider, stays long-form | Not a Short |
Rendering the 4:5 file on Sume
Timeline 1.0 takes output: { width: 1440, height: 1800 }, both even integers inside the 256 to 2160 range. A 45-second render is 1 billed minute, $0.10, and a 180-second render is $0.30. Keep the file at or under 180 seconds so the Short length rule is met; a 181-second file is not a Short on the page's wording of up to three minutes.
If you start from a 9:16 clip, fit: cover shows 70.3% of the height; fit: contain keeps everything with bars or a blurred fill.
A verification step
Upload the render as a private or unlisted video and check whether Studio treats it as a Short before you publish the campaign version. That one check settles what the page leaves unstated. If it does not qualify, the 9:16 version is the safe fallback, and you can render both in the same job batch for $0.10 each.
What would change the answer
If YouTube publishes an explicit ratio list, or if your test upload is classified as a regular video, the answer changes and this post should be re-read against the page. The page is the authority; Sume only makes the file. Also remember the other half of the rule: length. A Short over one minute with an active copyright claim of any type is blocked globally and cannot be monetized, so a 3-minute 4:5 file with licensed music carries more risk than a 45-second one.
For a cost view, rendering both versions of a 45-second ad is two Timeline jobs at 1 billed minute each, 2 x $0.10 = $0.20.
Sources
Related posts
More in Use cases
- Caption once after stitching: four 15 s clips cost $0.30, not $0.90
The caption job is $0.20 per accepted job up to 60 s. Stitch four 15 s clips first ($0.10), then caption once ($0.20): $0.30, not $0.90.
- 45 seconds on Wan 3.0: a 30 s and a 15 s job, $11.25 at 1080p
Past the 30-second cap, a 45-second Wan 3.0 video is two jobs: 30 s and 15 s cost $11.25 at 1080p or $5.625 at 720p on Sume. Chain with the last frame.
- Character turnaround sheet on a 4:1 strip, sliced into references
One 4:1 Nano Banana 2.1 image on Sume as a four-view character sheet at $0.15 (2K), sliced into four squares and fed back as input_references. Steps and cost.
- Check a 30-second ad in 15 stills: video inspect fps 0.5 costs nothing
Review a 30-second ad as 15 stills with Sume video inspect fps 0.5. Probe and stills are free; a transcript adds $0.01 per audio minute.
Written by Sume