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TikTok video and photo requirements, and how to stay inside them
Most failed TikTok posts fail for a boring technical reason: a file that is too big, a format the API does not accept, a clip that runs too long. Here is the full list of what TikTok expects, what AutoPost checks before uploading, and how to read the failure reasons when something still slips through.
Contents
1. Video requirements
| Parameter | Accepted | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Container | MP4, MOV, WebM | MP4 |
| Video codec | H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9 | H.264 |
| Frame rate | 23–60 FPS | 30 FPS |
| Resolution | 360 × 360 px to 4096 × 4096 px | 1080 × 1920 px (9:16) |
| Duration | Up to the limit your account allows; AutoPost caps at 10 minutes | 10–30 seconds for product content |
| File size | Up to 4 GB | Under 100 MB — faster uploads, fewer timeouts |
The maximum duration is account-specific: TikTok reports it per creator, and AutoPost reads that value before publishing so it never tries to upload something longer than your account permits.
2. Photo requirements
| Parameter | Accepted | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Format | JPEG, WebP | JPEG |
| Resolution | Up to 1080p | 1080 × 1350 px or 1080 × 1920 px |
| File size | Up to 20 MB per image | Under 3 MB |
| Images per post | 1–35 | 3–8 — enough to tell a story, short enough to finish |
| Cover | First image in the post | Your strongest shot |
PNG is not on the accepted list. If your product images are PNGs, convert them — AutoPost's image processing handles the common cases, but a source file in an accepted format is always safer.
3. Caption limits
- Video and photo captions: up to 2,200 characters. AutoPost validates the rendered caption before queueing, so an over-long template is caught while you are editing it, not at publish time.
- Photo post title: TikTok takes the first 90 characters as the title of a photo post. Put the hook there.
- Hashtags count toward the limit, and so do emoji — some emoji consume more than one character unit.
4. Failure reasons explained
When TikTok rejects a post it returns a reason code. AutoPost stores it against the post and shows it in plain language. The ones you are most likely to meet:
| Reason | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Picture size check failed | An image is over 20 MB, above 1080p, or otherwise outside the limits | Resize or recompress the product image |
| Picture format check failed | The image is not JPEG or WebP | Convert the file, most often from PNG |
| Video size check failed | The video exceeds 4 GB | Export a smaller file; product clips rarely need more than 50 MB |
| Video duration check failed | The clip is longer than your account allows, or too short to process | Trim to 10–60 seconds |
| Video pull failed | TikTok could not fetch the media file | Check that the product media is still available and republish |
| Spam risk: too many posts | Too many posts arrived in a short window | Spread the schedule out; lower the daily cadence |
| Duplicate post | TikTok detected the same content already published | Vary the media or caption; avoid re-posting an identical product post |
| Copyright failed | Content matched a copyright claim, often background music | Use media you hold the rights to, without licensed audio |
5. Preparing media that always passes
- Shoot and export vertically at 1080 × 1920. It fills the screen and needs no cropping.
- Keep clips short. Ten to thirty seconds is the sweet spot for product content and keeps files small.
- Export MP4 / H.264 at 30 FPS. The most widely accepted combination there is.
- Use JPEG for photos, sized around 1080 px on the long edge, compressed to a few megabytes.
- Avoid licensed music in product videos you publish through an API — copyright checks are automatic and unforgiving.
- Order product media deliberately. The first image becomes the carousel cover.
The figures above reflect TikTok's published Content Posting API requirements at the time of writing. TikTok can revise them; the official media transfer guide is always the authoritative source.
Next: Auto-post Shopify products to TikTok · How the TikTok integration works
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