App Store App Preview Video: Size, Length and Specs (2026)

Short answer: an App Store app preview is an optional video of 15 to 30 seconds, shown before your screenshots. Upload up to three per device size and language, as .mov, .m4v or .mp4 (H.264) or .mov (ProRes 422 HQ), up to 500 MB, at most 30 frames per second. The accepted sizes are not your device's resolution: 886 × 1920 px for every modern iPhone, 1200 × 1600 px for iPad, 1920 × 1080 px for Mac and Apple TV, and 3840 × 2160 px for Apple Vision Pro (portrait sizes; swap them for landscape).

Everything below comes from Apple's app preview specifications in App Store Connect Help, read on 22 October 2026. Screenshots have different sizes: see our App Store screenshot sizes guide.

App Store app preview requirements at a glance

App preview video sizes for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Apple separates the device resolution (the screen) from the accepted resolution (what App Store Connect takes). Most previews are screen recordings, so Apple accepts a few standard sizes per slot instead of each device's exact pixels. Prepare the file at the accepted resolution:

So one iPhone preview at 886 × 1920 fits every iPhone slot from 6.1-inch up, and one iPad preview at 1200 × 1600 fits the 13-inch, 11-inch and 10.5-inch iPads. As with screenshots, if your interface is the same across sizes and languages you only need the highest resolution; smaller slots use a scaled copy, and a language without its own preview shows the next best available language.

App preview video specifications: format, bit rate and audio

App preview length, number and order

• 15 to 30 seconds. Shorter or longer files are refused at upload.
• Up to three previews per device size and language; they play before the screenshots.
• Aspect ratio: if a preview's aspect ratio differs from your screenshots, it moves to the "A Closer Look" section of the product page instead of the top.
• Poster frame: the still image shown on the product page and during install; the default is the frame at 5 seconds, and you can pick another.
• iMessage: apps on the App Store for iMessage cannot have app previews.

What App Review allows in an app preview

Guideline 2.3.4 of the App Review Guidelines says previews may only use video screen captures of the app itself. You can add narration and video or text overlays to explain what is not clear from the video alone. Stickers and iMessage extensions may show the experience in the Messages app. In short: no live-action footage of people using a phone, no renders of screens your app does not have.

How to record an app preview

Apple lists what you need: a Mac, a video editor such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro, and the device to record (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Apple Vision Pro). The Simulator works too. Two common ways to capture:

1. From the Simulator: boot the simulator for your largest iPhone and run xcrun simctl io booted recordVideo recording.mov; press Control-C to stop.
2. From a real iPhone or iPad: connect it to the Mac and record its screen with QuickTime Player (File, New Movie Recording, then choose the device as the camera).

Keep the take under 30 seconds after editing, open on the screen that shows your app's main value, and plan the captions for people watching without sound.

How to resize an app preview to 886 × 1920

A recording from a modern iPhone is about 19.5:9 at full resolution, so it must be scaled to the accepted size. With ffmpeg, this command scales an iPhone recording to 886 × 1920, keeps the proportions (padding the few missing pixels), caps it at 30 fps and encodes H.264 High Profile Level 4.0 at about 11 Mbps with 256 kbps stereo AAC:

ffmpeg -i recording.mov -vf "scale=886:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=886:1920:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2,fps=30,format=yuv420p" -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level 4.0 -b:v 11M -maxrate 12M -bufsize 24M -c:a aac -b:a 256k -ar 44100 -ac 2 preview.mp4

For iPad, replace 886:1920 with 1200:1600 (both places); for a landscape iPhone preview use 1920:886. Then check the file length (15 to 30 seconds) and size (under 500 MB) before uploading.

Make an app preview in FrameStudio

FrameStudio, the Mac app for App Store screenshots, also makes preview videos: drop a screen recording into any device mockup, keep your headline and background, and export .mov files at Apple's accepted sizes: 886 × 1920 (iPhone 6.5", 6.7" and 6.9"), 1200 × 1600 (iPad 12.9" and 13") and 1920 × 1080 (Mac). The download is free; exporting needs FrameStudio Premium. The same project exports your screenshots, so the video and the images match. See the App Store screenshot generator guide for the full workflow, or let an AI agent build it with FrameStudio's MCP server.

Sources: Apple, App Store Connect Help: App preview specifications and Screenshot specifications; Apple, App Review Guidelines 2.3.4. Checked on 22 October 2026.