The Story spec
| Instagram Story | |
|---|---|
| Size | 1080 x 1920 px |
| Ratio | 9:16, full screen |
| Where it shows | Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Messenger Stories |
| Safe zone | Keep the top, bottom and side edges free of text and logos. The Safe zone guardrail in Ads Manager shows the exact area. |
| Rule of thumb | About 14% clear at the top and 20% at the bottom: roughly 270 px and 380 px |
Meta also warns that on screens taller than 9:16 it may zoom the ad to fill the screen, which crops whatever sits outside the safe zone. Keep the words that matter well inside it.
What a Story ad needs
- A headline in the upper middle, big enough to read in the second or two before the next tap.
- The product large and central. A product that looked fine in the feed can look small at full screen, so go bigger.
- The price next to the product, not on the bottom edge where the reply bar sits.
- Strong contrast between words and background. Thin, light type on a busy photo disappears.
- One reason to buy per Story. To test three angles, run three Stories.
How our Story version is built
Every StoreToAds ad is designed and checked at 4:5, then placed full width in the middle of the 1080 x 1920 canvas. That leaves a 285 px band above and below, filled with the ad's own background, and those bands land where most of the Story header and reply bar sit. The design itself stays in the visible middle.
Want movement? Any ad can become a 7-second MP4 in 9:16 (and 4:5): the same design, animated in, then holding still. It is a motion ad, not a filmed video, so there is no presenter, voiceover or music.
Send to Meta uploads the 4:5 version as a paused draft. For Stories, download the 9:16 file and add it to the Story placement in Ads Manager, where you can set a different image per placement.
