LinkedIn video size, length and format: a founder's guide

LinkedIn accepts video from 3 seconds to at least 10 minutes, up to 5 GB, at aspect ratios from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 — tall, square or wide. For a founder talking to camera on a phone, that means you can post the vertical video the phone records, or a 4:5 crop of it, without converting anything. Keep it under two minutes, say one specific thing, and add captions.

LinkedIn video specs, from LinkedIn’s own help pages

Most “LinkedIn video specs” pages copy each other. These come from LinkedIn’s help centre, checked October 2026.

Sources: video specifications for LinkedIn Pages, video sharing troubleshooting, and adding closed captions.

Ads have their own specification on LinkedIn’s marketing pages and are not covered here.

Which shape should a LinkedIn video be?

The range LinkedIn accepts is wide enough that the question is what looks best, not what uploads. Three sensible choices for a talking head:

The trap is converting between the two orientations after the fact. Cropping a vertical phone take to 16:9 keeps about a third of the picture — usually your chin and neck — so decide the shape before you record. If the video is only for LinkedIn and other feeds, shoot upright; if it is going on YouTube too, shoot sideways.

What makes a founder video work on LinkedIn

There is no shortage of advice on LinkedIn video. Most of it is reach folklore that changes every quarter, and we have no data on the feed algorithm to add to it. What does not change is what makes a video worth watching once it is in front of someone:

• One specific point. “What we learned from losing our biggest customer” beats “Some thoughts on resilience”. If the point fits in the first sentence, put it there.
• Native upload. A video file plays in the feed; a YouTube link is a thumbnail that asks people to leave. Use the link when you want the click, the file when you want the view.
• Captions. Plenty of people scroll with the sound off, at their desk or on a train. LinkedIn lets you attach an SRT file from desktop; otherwise, burn captions in with an editing app before uploading.
• Short. Thirty seconds to two minutes covers most of what a founder needs to say. That is 75 to 300 words of English at a conversational pace, and the words-per-minute table covers other lengths.
• Your face in the first frame. The thumbnail is whatever is on screen when the video starts. A title card is a logo nobody stops for.
• A written post above it. Two or three lines saying what the video is about, so someone can decide before they press play.

If the obstacle is not the format but being on camera at all, how to be confident on camera is written for people who do not want to be creators and need to post video anyway.

Three founder video scripts

Each one is written for a teleprompter: short lines, one idea per line, numbers as you would say them. Swap the bracketed parts for yours, then read it aloud once and change anything you would not say to a customer.

1. The lesson (about 60 seconds, ~150 words)

[A specific thing that went wrong, in one sentence, with a number if you have one.]
At the time, we thought the problem was [what you assumed].
It wasn’t.
It was [what it actually was].
We found out because [how you found out, in one sentence].
So we changed one thing: [the change].
[Time] later, [the result].
The lesson I’d pass on to anyone building [kind of company]:
[the lesson, in one sentence you could put on a slide].
It sounds obvious written down.
It wasn’t obvious at the time, and I suspect it isn’t for most teams.
If you’ve hit the same thing, I’d like to hear how you handled it.

2. The product update (about 40 seconds, ~95 words)

We just shipped [feature], and here’s why.
[Customer type] kept telling us [the problem, in their words].
Until now, they had to [the old workaround].
Now [what happens instead, in one sentence].
[One concrete example: a customer, a number, a before-and-after.]
It’s live today for [who gets it].
If you try it, tell me what’s missing — that’s how this one started.

3. The hiring video (about 75 seconds, ~180 words)

We’re hiring a [role], and I want to tell you what the job actually is.
[Company] [does what, for whom, in one sentence].
Right now we’re [team size and stage, honestly].
The person in this role will [the main responsibility] in their first [time].
The hard part is [an honest difficulty].
The good part is [an honest reason to join].
You’ll work with [who], and you’ll be the [first / second] person doing this here.
We’re looking for someone who has [one or two real requirements], and we don’t care about [a requirement you have dropped].
It’s [location or remote], and the salary range is [range, if you can say it].
If that sounds like you, or someone you know, the link is in the post.
I read every application myself.

The hiring script names the hard part on purpose. It is the line that makes the rest believable, and it saves both sides an interview. For the general craft of writing for a prompter, see how to write a teleprompter script.

Recording a LinkedIn video on a phone

A founder video does not need a studio. It needs a phone at eye height on a tripod, about an arm’s length to a metre away, a window in front of you rather than behind, and a quiet room — or a clip-on microphone if the room is not quiet. The longer list is in talking-head video setup with a phone, and the basics of reading from a phone prompter in how to use a teleprompter on your phone.

The thing that most often gives a scripted founder video away is the eyes: when the script fills the screen, you visibly read down it. The fix is geometry rather than talent, and it is laid out in how to read a script while looking at the camera.

Doing it in Orate

1. Paste the script into Orate or import a .txt file. The read time under it tells you whether you are inside the length you were aiming for.
2. Set the text large and the reading window short. The band sits directly under the front camera, so a short band with big text keeps your eyes close to the lens.
3. Hold the phone the way you want the video. Upright for vertical or 4:5, sideways for 16:9 — the band moves with the lens when you rotate.
4. Record. The script starts after the countdown (three seconds by default). Drag the pace slider on the recorder if it is running ahead of you; it changes without losing your place.
5. Trim and crop. Trim the start and end in the preview. For a 4:5 post, crop with the Portrait shape; the Landscape shape is labelled for YouTube, X and LinkedIn, and on a vertical take the app letterboxes rather than silently cropping to your chin.
6. Add captions elsewhere. Orate does not make captions. Attach an SRT on LinkedIn’s desktop site, or use an editor that burns them in.

The export has no watermark on either tier, so the video carries your company’s name and not ours. There is no account and nothing uploads — which matters if the script mentions a launch date, a customer or a hire before you announce it. That trade-off is covered in a teleprompter that works offline, with no account.

A short checklist before you post

• The point is in the first sentence.
• Under two minutes, and well under the ten-minute limit.
• Vertical or 4:5 if it was shot upright; 16:9 only if it was shot sideways.
• Your face is on screen in the first frame.
• Captions attached or burned in.
• Two or three lines of text above the video saying what it is.

Questions people ask

What is the best video size for LinkedIn?

LinkedIn accepts aspect ratios from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 and resolutions from 256x144 to 4096x2304, per its help pages checked October 2026. For a talking head shot on a phone, 1080x1920 vertical or 1080x1350 at 4:5 fills more of a phone screen than 16:9.

How long can a LinkedIn video be?

LinkedIn's help page for Pages lists a 10-minute maximum, and its video troubleshooting page lists 15 minutes. Keep a post under 10 minutes and it fits both; most founder videos work best between 30 and 120 seconds.

What is the maximum file size for LinkedIn video?

5 GB, with a minimum of 75 KB, according to LinkedIn's help pages checked October 2026.

Can I add captions to a LinkedIn video?

Yes. LinkedIn's help documents attaching an SRT caption file when you share a video from the desktop site. Captions are worth adding, because plenty of people scroll the feed with the sound off.

Should founders post video on LinkedIn?

If you have something specific to say, yes: a short talking-head video puts a face and a voice to the company in a way a text post does not. It works best when it says one concrete thing, not when it announces that you are now posting video.

Is it better to upload video natively or share a YouTube link on LinkedIn?

Upload the file natively if you want it to play in the feed. A link shows a thumbnail that sends people elsewhere, which is a different post with a different job.