Sharing videos to Facebook is an easy way to grow your social media following or just entertain your family and friends. Facebook prioritizes video in its news feed, and comes loaded with features like tagging, captions, or customizable thumbnails that can help spread your video content far and wide — at least 51% of Facebook users watch in-feed videos, generating about 8 billion daily video views. Whether you’re using a laptop or mobile device to upload videos, the process is pretty similar — but here’s a rundown of everything you need to know.

How to upload a video to Facebook

Facebook and Instagram now fall under Meta, their parent company, so you can either post your videos directly to the Facebook app, or post them on Instagram and select the option to share to Facebook.

How to upload Facebook videos using the mobile app

1. Log in to the Facebook app. Open the Facebook app on your mobile phone, then enter your username and password to sign in. If you don’t have a Facebook account, welcome back from 2005.
2. Upload a reel. Facebook now lets you record and upload 60-second reels to share with your friends, family, and followers. You can choose this option from your home screen after you log in, then give the app access to your camera or photo library to record or upload your content. The preferred specs for a Facebook Reel are a 9:16 (or 4:5) aspect ratio at 1080 x 1920 pixels. Since the specs are the same for Instagram Reels, you can use all of the same features — adding music, remixing other videos with yours, or including captions. Reels will appear both in your followers’ Facebook news feed, as well as across the top.
3. Upload a regular video. If you prefer to upload a regular or horizontal video, go to your profile page and select the gray “Photos” button. Click over to the videos tab and upload a saved video from your camera roll (or record a new one) by clicking the first “+” box. Depending on your settings, you may need to give the app permission to access your media library.
4. Share. Once you’ve selected your video, upload to share with your followers. You can adjust the privacy settings of your content either before or after you post.

How to upload a video to Facebook using a desktop

1. Login to the Facebook app. Open the Facebook website on your desktop browser, then enter your username and password to sign in.
2. Upload a video. On desktop, you’ll only be able to upload a standard video to your page (you can only upload Reels on iPhone and Android). Navigate to your profile page, then click the “Photo/video” button under your status bar. Select the video you want to upload by browsing through your library or dragging and dropping content from your desktop.
3. Edit and share. Once you’ve queued up your video, you can add a location or caption, or adjust the privacy settings. Click post at the bottom when you’re ready.

You can also stream live videos on Facebook mobile by clicking the “Live” button, or to stream live on desktop, visit Facebook’s Live Producer site. For Facebook Watch, only pages with at least 5,000 followers or a verified page with 50,000 or more followers will see their videos appear in the Watch feed.

7 pro tips to know before publishing to Facebook

Before you publish a video post to Facebook, here are some tips for a more seamless uploading experience.

1. Check the format. MP4, MOV, and GIFs are the best video formats for Facebook uploads. For a high-quality Facebook video on the feed, the platform recommends a minimum size of 1280 x 720 pixels to ensure it looks good on screens of all sizes. All Facebook videos (with the exception of Reels) have a maximum file length of 240 minutes and maximum file size of 4GB. Facebook also recommends a fixed frame rate of 30fps. With Descript, you can save and export your video file as an MP4.
2. Check the guidelines. Facebook has a set of guidelines all users must follow when uploading videos. For instance, Facebook does not allow nudity or sexually suggestive content, or videos that contain hate speech, violence, self-harm, or verbal attacks/threats toward other individuals. To avoid having your video reported and removed from the platform, review the community standards.
3. Check your internet connection. Large video uploads work best with a wired connection, but steady Wi-Fi should be enough to get many of your posts loaded onto the site. Check your internet connection before you upload to avoid any interruptions or video failures.
4. Create eye-catching content. When everyone has so much content to browse through, you want to grab the viewer’s attention almost instantly. Whether you’re a marketer or creating content strictly for entertainment, few audiences want to stick around for two minutes to figure out what your video is about. Plus, Facebook’s autoplay feature shows a preview (usually without audio) of the first few seconds of the video, making it more crucial that your content stands out to those scrolling past. You can use a custom thumbnail to help entice viewers to keep watching.
5. Describe your videos. Use the title or caption area to write a compelling line that convinces people to stick around for your video. “Make Garlic Bread With Only 2 Ingredients” or “Find Out How Long You’ll Live With a 5-Minute Quiz!” are examples of titles that might lure people in out of disbelief, intrigue, or at the very least, morbid curiosity.
6. Choose your audience. Knowing your audience is a great way to market your content to those who are most likely to be interested, but there are times you may also want to limit who can see your posts. To change the privacy settings for a post, click the icon next to the date. The “globe” icon means public, and anyone can view your posts — friends or not. The “person” icon means your post is viewable to friends only, while the “lock” icon means your content is only accessible to you.
7. Use tags and locations. Facebook has various features to help boost your videos — try tagging other users or pages, checking in at locations, or using hashtags. The Facebook algorithm controls how posts appear in people’s feeds and in what order, which means you may need to experiment with trending keywords or get crafty with your post timing to gain higher visibility.