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Meta Carousel Ads: Specs, Card Count and Formats
Carousel ads on Meta: 2 to 10 cards, ratio by placement, video length and text length. Specs checked against Meta's official Ads Guide in October 2026.
Contents
The carousel is the Meta format that shows several visuals in one ad: a product range, the steps of a demo, a before and after. Each card has its own image or video, headline and link, and people swipe through.
This page gathers its specs by placement. The values come from Meta’s Ads Guide, Meta’s Help Center and Meta’s developer documentation, read on October 12, 2026.
What is a carousel ad on Meta?
A carousel ad holds 2 to 10 cards. Each card carries:
- an image or a video;
- a headline and a description;
- a link and a call-to-action button.
The primary text is shared by the whole ad. Images and videos can be mixed in the same carousel.
Meta’s developer documentation recommends at least 3 cards for better performance. App install carousels require 3 at minimum.
What are the carousel specs by placement?
| Placement | Ratio | Minimum resolution | Video per card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook Feed | 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 px | 1 second to 240 minutes |
| Instagram Feed | 4:5 for images only, 1:1 as soon as a video is included | 1080 x 1080 px | 1 second to 2 minutes |
| Instagram Stories | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 px | 1 to 15 seconds |
| Facebook and Instagram Reels | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 px | image cards |
File size limits are the same as for other formats: 30 MB per image (JPG or PNG) and 4 GB per video (MP4, MOV or GIF).
The Instagram Feed rule is the one that surprises people most: one video in the carousel, and the whole carousel turns square.
A carousel meant for the Instagram Feed has to be built in 1:1 as soon as one card contains a video. The taller and more visible 4:5 is only possible for an image-only carousel.
Should every card use the same ratio?
Meta does not make it mandatory, except in the Instagram Feed with video. But the Help Center recommends keeping the same ratio on every card, to avoid automatic adjustments, and advises 1:1 for all videos in a carousel.
In practice, cards with different ratios get cropped to line up, and the crop rarely lands in the right place.
How many characters for the text?
Meta’s pages do not give the same lengths:
| Field | Meta Help Center | Ads Guide, Facebook Feed |
|---|---|---|
| Primary text | 125 characters | 80 characters |
| Card headline | 40 characters | 20 characters |
| Card description | 25 characters | 18 characters |
The headline and description show under each card, in a narrow space. The shorter lengths are the safer ones: 20 characters for a card headline is two or three words.
Do safe zones apply to carousels?
Yes, in Stories and Reels. Meta’s Ads Guide recommends the same margins for vertical carousels as for other creatives: roughly 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side, free from text and logos. The pixel values are in the article on Meta Ads safe zones.
Where do Meta’s own pages contradict each other?
| Topic | One Meta page says | Another Meta page says |
|---|---|---|
| Carousel in Facebook Stories | 3 to 10 image cards (Ads Guide) | up to 3 images (Help Center), not supported (developer documentation) |
| Card count in Instagram Stories | up to 10 (Ads Guide) | 3 (one Help Center page) |
| 4:5 ratio | allowed for an image carousel in Instagram Feed (Ads Guide) | reserved for Advantage+ catalog ads (Help Center) |
The carousel in Facebook Stories is the murkiest case: three official sources, three answers. Do not build a campaign that depends on it without checking the preview in Ads Manager.
When Meta’s pages contradict each other, the Ads Manager preview settles it: it shows what the placement will actually display, card by card.
Carousel or separate ads?
The carousel works when the visuals tell one story: several products from a range, the steps of using something, a before and after.
It works less well when you want to compare creatives against each other. Cards are not seen equally: the first one always is, the next ones only if people swipe. To decide between concepts, separate ads give a cleaner read, which is the idea behind creative testing structures.
Launching those separate ads in volume, with one file per ratio and a proper naming convention, is the subject of the Meta Ads bulk upload guide.
What the carousel does not solve
A carousel does not make an offer clearer. Ten average cards make an average ad, and most people will not get past the first few.
Specs prevent cropping, not bad ordering choices: the strongest card should come first. For the dimensions of other formats, see Meta Ads specs 2026.