Every digital marketer and agency knows the struggle: every year, ad networks change their requirements just enough to throw creative workflows into chaos. In 2025, the complexity is higher than ever, with Google, DV360, Adform, Amazon DSP, TikTok, and Meta all demanding tight adherence to evolving ad sizes, formats, and especially file size limits. If you’ve spent hours fiddling with dimensions or compressing assets just to get a smooth approval, you’re not alone—and we’re here to help you cut through the noise.
Why Display Ad Specs Matter in 2025
Even a single missed detail like an image that’s 5 KB too large or a video that’s in the wrong aspect ratio can stall or disapprove your campaign. This has real-world impact: slower go-to-market, missed spend windows, and wasted design hours. In our work with agencies and brands, we’ve seen that teams who systematize ad specs stay ahead of deadlines and deliver more scalable, consistent work.
Google Display Network (GDN) & DV360: Core Sizes and File Specs
Google’s GDN and DV360 platforms still set the tone for much of the industry. For 2025, the standard image file formats remain JPG, PNG, and GIF. Static ads must stay under 150 KB, while video and high-interactivity units can go to 2 MB, but these are less common for mass-production campaigns.
| Ad Size (px) | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 300 x 250 | Medium Rectangle | Top performer; works on desktop and mobile |
| 336 x 280 | Large Rectangle | Ideal for in-content placements |
| 728 x 90 | Leaderboard | Key for desktop visibility |
| 300 x 600 | Half Page | High engagement thanks to vertical real estate |
| 320 x 100 | Large Mobile Banner | Optimal for mobile rich media |
| 320 x 50 | Mobile Leaderboard | Standard mobile slot |
| 160 x 600 | Wide Skyscraper | Popular sidebar unit |
| 970 x 250 | Billboard | High-impact branding |
| 970 x 90 | Large Leaderboard | Spacious and eye-catching |
| 250 x 250 | Square | Secondary flexible slot |
| 200 x 200 | Small Square | Mainly legacy or filler use |
| 468 x 60 | Banner | Legacy, still seen in some remnant inventory |
| 120 x 600 | Skyscraper | Becoming rare but supported |
Key recommendations for 2025:
- Always design for 150 KB or less (static formats).
- Prepare assets for 1.91:1 (landscape), 1:1 (square), and 4:5 (portrait) aspect ratios if leveraging responsive display ads.
- HTML5 ad uploads require strict compliance—if your agency delivers these, double-check platform rules before launch.
Adform: Versatile Placements, Slightly Larger Limits
Adform offers more flexibility and sometimes higher file size allowances, especially for HTML5 and rich media creatives. The most widely accepted formats are JPG, PNG, GIF (static 200 KB max), and HTML5 (interactive up to 2 MB, but keep backup images to 200 KB or below for rapid approval).
- Key Sizes: 300 x 250, 728 x 90, 160 x 600, 970 x 250, 300 x 600, 320 x 50
- Static formats: keep under 200 KB for all creative, including polite loads
- For interactive banners or custom placements, review Adform’s 2025 guides as specs can change per campaign
Amazon DSP: Growing Reach, Stringent Review
Amazon’s DSP supports JPG, PNG, and GIF (static) at up to 200 KB per asset. For expanding or video units, up to 2.2 MB (and rarely 5 MB) may be accepted, but 200 KB is the practical limit for fast creative review and go-live.
- Main sizes: 300 x 250, 728 x 90, 160 x 600, 970 x 250, 320 x 50 (mobile)
- Always stay at or below 200 KB unless running a custom interactive unit pre-approved by Amazon
- Consistent branding and legibility are critical, as Amazon’s creative review is among the most detail-oriented in the field
TikTok: Video-First, but Don’t Skip Image Placement
While TikTok is famous for its vertical 9:16 videos, static image ads (carousels and feed units) remain part of the arsenal in 2025. Static images can be up to 20 MB, but in reality, most high-performing campaigns stick well below 2 MB for quick load and approval. Videos can be up to 500 MB and up to 180 seconds, though the sweet spot is under 60 seconds.
- Main dimensions: 1080 x 1920 for videos (vertical)
Other options: 720 x 1280 and 640 x 640, especially for certain feed variants - Preferred image aspect ratios: 1:1 (square) and 16:9 (landscape) for special formats
- TikTok’s approval workflow is generally smooth if your assets are under file limits and in the right aspect ratio
Meta (Facebook and Instagram): High Flexibility, Unique Requirements
Meta platforms allow more generous file size maxes, but best practice keeps images under 5 MB (despite the 30 MB hard cap), and video under 4 GB (practically, most videos should be under 30 seconds for CPC/CPM efficiency).
- Feed/Carousel: 1080 x 1080 px (1:1 aspect ratio) is preferred
- Story/Reels: 1080 x 1920 px (9:16 vertical) is ideal
- Landscape feed ads: 1200 x 628 px (classic Facebook, sometimes less effective for IG)
- Carousel cards: Each 1080 x 1080 px, min 2 up to 10 cards
- For lightning-fast approval and smooth serving, revisit compression strategies for high-res imagery
Summary Table: 2025 Display Ad Sizes & File Limits
| Platform | Main Sizes (px) | Formats | Max File Size | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google GDN/DV360 | 300×250, 336×280, 728×90, 300×600, 320×100, 320×50, 160×600, 970×250, 970×90 | JPG, PNG, GIF | 150 KB (static) | Prepare all; responsive assets for landscape, square, portrait |
| Adform | 300×250, 728×90, 160×600, 300×600, 320×50, 970×250 | JPG, PNG, GIF, HTML5 | 200 KB (static), 2 MB (video/interactive) | Backup image for HTML5 under 200 KB |
| Amazon DSP | 300×250, 160×600, 728×90, 970×250, 320×50 | JPG, PNG, GIF | 200 KB (static) | Stick to 200 KB limit for speed |
| TikTok | 1080×1920, 720×1280, 640×640 | MP4, MOV, GIF (image) | 20 MB (image), 500 MB (video) | 9:16 vertical preferred, keep sizes below the max |
| Meta (Facebook/IG) | 1080×1080, 1080×1350, 1200×628, 1080×1920 | JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV | 30 MB (image), 4 GB (video) | Square feed best, stories/reels vertical 9:16 |
Best Practices: What We’ve Learned Working With Display Ads at Scale
- Cover all major sizes per campaign. Too many agencies skip less common placements or rely on auto-scaling—which results in ugly, off-brand cropping. Don’t just cover the top three sizes if your goal is reach across Google, Amazon, Adform, TikTok, and Meta.
- Keep actual file sizes well below the max. Even though networks publish high cap numbers (especially for video), real-world approval and serving speed is better with smaller files. For example: Stay under 150 KB for Google images, 5 MB for Meta images, and 2 MB for TikTok image ads.
- Centralize your brand kit. Having all fonts, logos, colors, and locked elements up-to-date within your toolkit helps preserve consistency no matter how many formats you output.
- Leverage automation to avoid tedious manual resizing. When design teams do this by hand, it increases production time and the risk of errors, as shown in our own research on AI-driven resizing vs. manual templates.
- Review policies before every launch. Networks can and do change requirements, especially around holiday-driven policies. Save the official specs per network in a shared doc, or use a system that’s updated constantly to match the latest creative standards.
How Agencies and Designers Win With a Systematic Approach
The most effective digital agencies aren’t just fast—they’re meticulous when it comes to display ad specs. By creating an organized workflow for file prep, QA, and versioning across networks, teams avoid the last-minute panic of rejections and late-night file tweaks.
Internal best practices that make a difference include:
- Building reusable, on-brand templates
- Having detailed checklists or RACI matrices for creative approval, as explored in our guide on creative approval workflow templates
- Regularly reviewing ad performance and trouble tickets to spot trends in disapprovals or low conversion due to creative size/load issues
Mastering Multi-Size Ad Production Without the Overhead
In the end, the goal is to maximize your campaign reach on every network by always launching on spec, on time, and on brand. But who wants to spend half their day exporting, resizing, and compressing dozens of images per network? Our own experience—and the feedback from agencies that use our platform—shows that automating these repeatable tasks is a true game changer for designers and marketers.
If you’re interested in a deeper dive into how automation fits into today’s workflow, take a look at our breakdown of turning GenAI images into multi-size, on-brand display ads and our side-by-side comparison of AI-driven ad resizing vs. manual templates.
Conclusion: Don’t Let Specs Slow You Down
Navigating the patchwork of 2025 ad sizes and limits doesn’t have to eat up your creative resources. Agencies and designers who invest in the right systems—whether it’s an up-to-date spec doc, an automated design platform, or just a more organized creative review process—are the ones who consistently win in digital advertising.
If streamlining this entire process sounds appealing, explore how SizeIM can help you design once and deploy everywhere, keeping you compliant and on-brand, without the grunt work.
