The short version
- The Facebook story size is 1080×1920 pixels, a vertical 9:16 frame that fills a phone screen.
- Facebook places the progress bar and account name at the top of a story and the reply field and reactions at the bottom.
- A common working rule, based on Meta's guidance for story ads, is to keep roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels free of text and logos.
- Images in other shapes are scaled to fit the story frame and the leftover space is filled, which looks less deliberate than a full frame design.
- The same 1080×1920 design works for Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp stories, so one well made story can travel across all of them.
On this page
The Facebook story size is 1080×1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical frame that fills the phone screen. Facebook draws its own interface over every story: the progress bar and your Page or profile name across the top, the reply field and reaction buttons across the bottom. Design the background to run edge to edge, but keep words, logos and faces out of roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels, a working rule based on Meta's guidance for story ads.
Facebook story dimensions
Story 1080×1920
1080 × 1920
Safe middle 1080×1420
1080 × 1420
Portrait post 1080×1350
1080 × 1350
That comparison is the most useful thing to remember. Once the interface is accounted for, the space you can safely put words into is barely taller than a 1080×1350 Facebook post. The extra height of a story is for atmosphere: background, photograph, motion. Export still stories as PNG when they are mostly type and colour, and video as MP4 at the same size.
Facebook story safe zones
What covers it
Use it for
What covers it
Use it for
What covers it
Use it for
Words held in the middle band, background running under the interface at both ends.
A countdown frame. The empty lower middle leaves room for a sticker added in the app.
If you add stickers, links or text in the app after uploading, plan an empty area for them in the lower middle of the frame. They need the same safe band as everything else. For a deeper look at how platforms overlap your designs, see social media safe zones.
Photos and video that aren't 9:16
Upload a landscape photo or a square graphic to a story and Facebook scales it to fit the width, then fills the space above and below. It works, but it looks like an afterthought, and the image ends up small in the middle of a large screen. For vertical video, shoot with the phone upright or reframe in the edit, and keep any burnt in captions inside the middle band too.
Avoid
- Feed posts dropped into a story unchanged
- Words in the top or bottom 250 pixels
- Long paragraphs on a single frame
- Horizontal video in a vertical story
Do
- A story made at 1080×1920 from the start
- Words in the middle band only
- One message per frame, then the next frame
- Video shot or edited vertically
To share a feed post as a story properly, lay it out again for the tall frame: same words, same colours, bigger type and more background. Instagram Story size covers the same frame for Instagram, where the rules are nearly identical.
Sharing Instagram stories to Facebook
If your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected in Meta's Accounts Centre, you can share Instagram stories to Facebook automatically or one at a time. Because both use 1080×1920 with similar interfaces, a story designed with the safe band in mind works on both. The differences are small: interactive stickers don't all carry over, so a poll on Instagram may arrive on Facebook as a plain image. Check the Facebook version once before relying on it.
How to design a Facebook story for a Page
- 1
Pick the one thing
A still frame is on screen for a few seconds. Today's special, a date, a new arrival: say one thing per frame.
- 2
Set the headline just below the top band
Around 300 to 500 pixels down is where eyes land first, clear of the name and progress bar.
- 3
Make it big
Story type can be much larger than feed type. A headline of 90 to 120 pixels reads at a glance.
- 4
Let the background be the brand
A story is mostly background. The same colours or material on every frame make your stories recognisable before anyone reads the name.
- 5
Preview with the interface on
Post to a small audience or view it on your own phone first. It is the only reliable test of the safe zones.
Stories suit the small, frequent updates that would clutter a feed: what's fresh today, a reminder the day before an event, a quick thank you after it. Instagram story ideas has plenty that work just as well on Facebook. Gradiently's Designer can write and lay out frames like these from a short description, in your Mark at 1080×1920, with type that stays readable wherever the background is busiest.
Facebook story ideas that suit a Page
- Today's board: the special, the fresh batch, the slot that just opened. One line, posted in the morning.
- Changed hours: a clear frame for bank holidays and closures. Holiday hours posts covers the wording.
- Countdowns: three frames across the week before an event, the same design with a new number. See countdown post design.
- Behind the counter: a short vertical clip of the work itself, with one still title frame first. Behind the scenes content has more.
- Thank you: after an event or a busy weekend, a single warm line on your usual background.
Questions people ask
What size is a Facebook story?
1080×1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical frame.
What is the safe zone for Facebook stories?
Keep text and logos out of roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels, where the progress bar, name, reply field and reactions sit.
Is the Facebook story size the same as Instagram?
Yes. Both use 1080×1920, and the interfaces are similar, so one design with words in the middle band works on both.
Why does my photo look small in a Facebook story?
It is probably landscape or square. Facebook scales it to fit the width and fills the rest; make or crop the image to 1080×1920 instead.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
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