YouTube Video Action Campaign Specs: Sizes, Length and Text

Google Ads Help says Demand Gen is replacing Video Action Campaigns, and that Google is automatically upgrading the final campaigns to Demand Gen by April 2026. Google has removed the option to create new Video Action Campaigns from Google Ads. If you still have one, Google gives you a way to move it: you can use copy and paste to create a copy of your existing Video Action Campaign and paste it as a brand new Demand Gen campaign, carrying over existing settings, or use the migration tool.

In practice, that means the specs on this page describe the files you probably already have. If you are starting fresh, read our Demand Gen ad specs guide too, because Demand Gen also takes image assets in several shapes.

Google lists three shapes for Video action campaigns. Horizontal 16:9 at 1920 x 1080 pixels is the classic wide video. Vertical 9:16 at 1080 x 1920 fills a phone screen held upright. Square 1:1 at 1080 x 1080 sits between the two. The recommended length for all three is 10 seconds or longer.

One point that is easy to miss: Demand Gen, which replaces this campaign type, says videos less than 10 seconds are ineligible to serve on YouTube In-stream. Making every cut at least 10 seconds long keeps your files usable after the upgrade.

Google recommends uploading videos in the .MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) format. It also accepts .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, .FLV, .MPEG-1, .MP4, .MPEGPS, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm and HEVC (h265). Files should be less than 256 GB. Audio-only files such as MP3, WAV or PCM are not accepted, so a voiceover must be mixed into the video before you upload it.

Video action campaigns use four text fields plus a final URL:

• Headline: up to 30 characters. Lead with the offer or the product name.
• Long headline: up to 90 characters. Room for the benefit and a reason to act.
• Description: up to 90 characters. Add proof, a detail or the next step.
• Call to action: up to 10 characters. Short verbs such as Shop now, Book now or Sign up fit.

Write two or three versions of each so you can test them. If you also run in-feed video ads, note that those use different limits: 40 characters per line for headlines and 35 characters per line for descriptions.

Thumbnails and companion banners are the same across Video campaign types. A thumbnail is horizontal 16:9 at 1280 x 720 pixels, at least 1280 x 640, as a JPG, GIF or PNG under 2 MB. A companion banner appears next to your video ad on YouTube and is shown on desktop only. You can upload your own image or let Google Ads make one from your YouTube channel banner.

Infinall AI makes images, motion videos, video (Pro), audio and ad copy from your saved brand. Motion is open on Free and Pro and makes short animated videos you export as an MP4 at no extra cost. Video on Pro runs from 1 to 180 seconds and lets you make several versions at once, which helps when you want one ad in three shapes. Infinall Chat can draft headlines and calls to action, and the free Google Ads Character Counter checks them against the limits.

Infinall AI does not buy media, upload to YouTube for you or build the Google Ads campaign: you do that in Google Ads. A dedicated video editor or agency is the better choice if you need live-action footage shot on location. The Free plan gives 1,000 credits every month with no card. Pro is $10 for the first month, then $30 a month or $299 a year (India: Rs 999 first month, then Rs 2,899 a month or Rs 33,999 a year).