TikTok Ad Network carousel: 50 images max, pull stills from a video

On TikTok Ad Network (formerly Pangle), a carousel can hold up to 50 images, each .jpg, .jpeg or .png, with a 100 MB limit and sizes of 1200 x 628, 640 x 640 or 720 x 1280 (read 2026-10-03). That is more than the main TikTok placement, so a long product walkthrough can become a slide set. Sume's video frames returns up to 24 stills per call at the source size, which makes two calls enough to fill 48 slides from one clip.

This post explains where the limit applies and how to turn a video into a numbered slide set.

Which ad formats take a carousel

On the TikTok Ad Network page, carousel appears under interstitial and rewarded, along with video and playable. Image ads appear under interstitial, app open, native and banner. The three image sizes are shared, and banner adds three exclusive sizes of 600 x 500, 640 x 200 and 640 x 100 (read 2026-10-03). The page lists the 50-image maximum for the carousel rows, and the 100 MB figure for carousel and image rows.

From a clip to a numbered slide set

Video frames takes at[] timestamps (1 to 24 per call) or an fps, and returns durable image artifacts at the source size. Each at must fall inside the clip, or the job is refused. For 40 slides on a 40-second clip, make two calls with 20 timestamps each, one per second.

The frames come out at the clip's size, not at TikTok's. A 1080 x 1920 clip yields 1080 x 1920 stills, which is not one of the three sizes. Resize or crop them yourself with Pillow to 720 x 1280, 640 x 640 or 1200 x 628, and keep one size for the whole carousel so the slides line up. The script below requests two batches and prints each result so you can read the URLs; check the response shape against the docs before you automate the download.

import os, time, requests
BASE = "https://api.sume.com"
H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}"}

def run(path, body, key):
    r = requests.post(BASE + path, headers={**H, "Idempotency-Key": key}, json=body)
    r.raise_for_status()
    job = r.json()["request_id"]
    while True:
        s = requests.get(f"{BASE}/v1/jobs/{job}/status", headers=H).json()["status"]
        if s in ("completed", "failed", "canceled"):
            break
        time.sleep(3)
    return s, (requests.get(f"{BASE}/v1/jobs/{job}/result", headers=H).json() if s == "completed" else None)

CLIP = "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/walkthrough.mp4"
for part in range(2):
    ts = [part * 20 + i + 0.5 for i in range(20)]
    status, res = run("/v1/video-frames", {"video_url": CLIP, "at": ts}, f"carousel-frames-{part}")
    print(part, status, res)

Keep the slide set consistent

Mixed sizes inside one carousel are a common cause of ugly crops. Pick one of the three sizes before you start: 720 x 1280 for a full-screen vertical set, 640 x 640 for a square set, or 1200 x 628 for a landscape set. If your video is vertical and you choose 1200 x 628, you will lose most of each frame, so match the carousel shape to the clip shape where you can.

Name the files with a zero-padded number, such as slide-01.png, so they sort in the order you want. TikTok's page does not describe how the slides are ordered when you upload, so check the order in the preview after you add them. Because the carousel supports image files only, any text in the frame must be legible as a still, not as a moment in motion.

Finally, keep an eye on the extra audio. A carousel on the TikTok Ad Network can be silent, and the separate carousel-music rules on TikTok's page are covered in a related post, so do not rely on the clip's soundtrack to carry the message.

Choose which frames deserve a slide

A frame every second is a starting point, not a finished carousel. Many will look nearly the same, and 50 slides is a ceiling, not a target. Skim the set and keep the ones that show a new product angle, a feature, a price or a call to action. Fewer, clearer slides read better than a flip-book.

Frames can also be soft where the clip is moving. If a still is blurry, ask for a nearby timestamp. Check the file size of the whole carousel against the 100 MB figure, and keep the original clip so you can pull new frames later without re-rendering anything.