How to make a Reel on Facebook, on your phone or a computer

How to make a Reel in the Facebook app

The Facebook app on iPhone and Android is the main place to create Reels, and the only one with the full set of editing tools. As of October 2026 the flow is:

1. Open Create. Tap the plus button or the Create area at the top of your feed and choose Reel. You can also start from the Reels tab (which replaced the old Video tab in 2025) by tapping the create or camera icon.
2. Record or choose a video. Hold or tap the record button to film with the Reels camera, in one take or several clips, or pick one or more videos from your gallery. A video already shot vertically is the easiest starting point.
3. Edit it. Trim the clips, add music from Facebook's audio library or keep the original sound, and add text, stickers, effects, a voice-over or automatic captions where your app offers them. Place any text in the centre of the frame (see the safe-zone section below).
4. Tap Next. Write a description: one line that says what the Reel is about, plus a few relevant hashtags if you use them. Tag people or a location if it helps.
5. Choose the audience. Public lets the Reel be recommended to people who do not follow you; Friends keeps it to them. Pages and profiles in professional mode have more options here, including scheduling on some versions.
6. Share. Tap Share now (or Share reel). It appears in your followers' feeds and in the Reels tab.

If you do not see the Reel option, update the app first. Reels tools roll out by region and account type, and the position of the Create menu changes between versions.

How to post a Reel on Facebook from a computer

Facebook on the web has fewer creation tools than the app, so there are two routes depending on what you are posting from.

For a Page: Meta Business Suite

1. Open Meta Business Suite and select the Page.
2. Choose Create reel (from the home screen, or from the Content or Planner section).
3. Upload a vertical video. It is checked for size and length as it uploads.
4. Add a description, a cover if you want one, and any options Business Suite offers for that Page, such as collaborators or a location.
5. Choose Share now or Schedule, pick the date and time, and confirm.

Business Suite is also where a Page's scheduled Reels are listed and can be moved or deleted, which makes it the better route for a team that plans posts a week ahead.

From facebook.com

In June 2025 Meta announced that new videos uploaded to Facebook would be shared as Reels, with the change rolled out gradually to profiles and Pages. In practice that means a vertical video posted from a Page, or from a profile in professional mode, on facebook.com generally becomes a Reel. What you get on the web is the upload, the description and the audience; for music, effects and the Reels camera, use the app.

Facebook Reel specs

Spec	Use this	Notes
Aspect ratio	9:16 vertical	Other shapes are accepted since 2025, but vertical is what fills the Reels feed
Size	1080 x 1920 px	Smaller files look soft after compression
Length	As long as the moment needs	Meta removed the length limit in its June 2025 change; Reels were capped at 90 seconds before
File	MP4, H.264, AAC	MOV from a phone works too
Frame rate	Same as the source	30 fps is typical
Text safe area	Centre of the frame	The bottom strip and right edge are covered by the interface

The Facebook Reels player, like Instagram's, puts your name, the description and the audio line across the bottom and a column of buttons (like, comment, share) down the right edge. Facebook does not publish an official safe zone for organic Reels; as a rule of thumb keep captions above the lowest 15% or so of the frame, clear of the right-hand 10 to 15%, and faces in the centre. Meta's guidance for Reels ads, as widely quoted, is stricter: about 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side kept free of text. The full size guide, written for Instagram but true for Facebook Reels too, is Instagram Reel dimensions.

No length limit does not mean long is better. A Reel is judged in its first second or two, and the Reels feed is still built for short vertical video. A long horizontal episode posted as a Reel competes with clips made for the format.

Cross-posting Reels from Instagram to Facebook

If you already make Reels for Instagram, the cheapest way to have Facebook Reels is to share the same ones. Both accounts need to be in the same Meta Accounts Center.

• One Reel at a time: on Instagram's final share screen, turn on the Facebook option (it may read Share to Facebook or Recommend on Facebook) before you share.
• Every Reel: in Instagram, open Accounts Center, go to Sharing across profiles, choose the Instagram account and the Facebook profile or Page, and turn on automatic sharing for Reels.

Two things to know. Music licensed for your Reel on Instagram is not always available on Facebook, so a Reel with a popular track can be shared without its sound or not shared at all. And the audiences are different: a description written for Instagram (hashtags, an @ handle) may read oddly on Facebook, so check the first few that go across.

Making Facebook Reels from long videos

Many Pages already have hours of video that never become Reels: Facebook Live replays, webinars, sermons, interviews, podcast recordings. Each one usually holds several moments that would stand on their own. Turning them into Reels by hand means four jobs for every clip:

1. Find the moment. Watch or skim the recording, or search its transcript, and note where a complete idea starts and ends.
2. Cut it. Trim it in an editor, starting a beat before the first word and ending after the last.
3. Make it vertical. Crop the 16:9 frame to 9:16 so the speaker fills the screen, or keep the whole frame over a blurred background.
4. Caption it. Most Reels are watched on mute, so burn subtitles in, clear of the bottom strip.

The steps are simple; the time goes into finding the moments and keeping the speaker in frame when they move. That is the part an AI clipper automates.

Next step: let AI cut the Reels for you

OpenShorts reads the whole recording, picks the passages that make sense on their own and returns each one as a 9:16 Reel with word-level captions, a hook over the opening seconds and a description. You can paste the link of a public Facebook video or Live replay, a YouTube video, or upload the file. It publishes to Instagram as Reels; it does not post to Facebook, so for Facebook Reels you download the MP4 and post it from the Facebook app or Meta Business Suite, as above. More on the AI reel generator page.

OpenShorts Cloud has a free plan: your first video is clipped whole up to 60 minutes, then 20 minutes a month, with a watermark and no credit card. Paid plans start at $12/month with no watermark, and the self-hosted edition is $0 under the MIT licence (all plans).

Common questions

How do I make a Reel on Facebook?

In the Facebook app, tap Create (or the plus button) and choose Reel. Record or pick a video from your gallery, edit it with audio, text and effects, tap Next, write a description, choose the audience and share it. Labels move around between app versions, but the flow is the same.

How do I post a Reel on Facebook from a computer?

For a Page, use Meta Business Suite: choose Create reel, upload a vertical video, add a description and share it now or schedule it. Since 2025 Facebook also treats new video uploads as Reels, so a vertical video posted from a Page on the web generally becomes a Reel as well.

How long can a Facebook Reel be?

In June 2025 Meta announced that all new Facebook videos would be shared as Reels, with no length or format limit, rolled out gradually. Before that, Reels were capped at 90 seconds. The Reels feed is still made for short vertical clips.

What size is a Facebook Reel?

1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16 vertical. Export an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. Keep captions clear of the bottom strip where Facebook shows your name and description, and of the buttons on the right edge.

Can I share my Instagram Reels to Facebook automatically?

Yes, if both accounts are in the same Accounts Center. Turn on the Facebook option on Instagram's share screen for one Reel, or set it to always share in Accounts Center under sharing across profiles. Some music licensed on Instagram may not be available on Facebook.

Can I schedule a Facebook Reel?

For a Page, yes: Meta Business Suite lets you schedule a Reel for a date and time. Scheduling options for personal profiles depend on whether professional mode is on and on the app version.

Why can't I see the Reel option on Facebook?

Update the app first: Reels tools roll out by region and account type, and the Create menu changes between versions. On the web, personal profiles have fewer creation tools than Pages; Meta Business Suite is the reliable desktop route for a Page.

Can I make Facebook Reels from a long video?

Yes. Cut the strongest moments out of the long video, reframe them to 9:16 and caption them, by hand in an editor or with an AI clipper such as OpenShorts, then upload each one as a Reel. OpenShorts makes the files; you post them to Facebook yourself.

Sources

• Facebook treating new videos as Reels with no length or format limits: Meta for Creators, 17 June 2025; TechCrunch, 17 June 2025.
• Facebook app, Meta Business Suite and Accounts Center steps described as of October 2026; Meta tests and renames menus gradually, so labels can differ by account and region.
• Reels ad margins (about 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides) as quoted from Meta's ad guidance by advertising guides; check Meta's current ad specs before relying on them.
• Caption placement (about 15% of the frame height above the bottom edge) is SAFE_MARGIN_V in subtitles.py at github.com/mutonby/openshorts.

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