Up to 10 pictures in one post
Swiped in the Shorts feed
Up to 15 seconds of music
Or posted as a Short
How to make a carousel on YouTube
YouTube has two ways to post a carousel. An image post holds up to 10 pictures that people swipe, and it shows in your Posts tab, on Home and sometimes in the Shorts feed. Or the carousel becomes a Short: a vertical video that moves through your slides by itself. Here is how to do both, the sizes to use, and how to make slides people stop for.
Two ways to post a carousel on YouTube
| Image post | Short | |
|---|---|---|
| What people do | Swipe through the pictures themselves | Watch the slides move on by themselves |
| Slides | Up to 10 pictures | Every slide of your carousel, a couple of seconds each |
| Shape | Square, 1080 × 1080 | Vertical, 1080 × 1920 |
| Where it shows | Posts tab, Home, Subscriptions, and sometimes the Shorts feed | The Shorts feed and your channel’s Shorts tab |
| Music | Up to 15 seconds, added in the YouTube app | A sound added when you upload the Short |
| In aiCarousels | Download PNGs at 1:1 | Download › Video (swipe) at 9:16 |
How to post a carousel on YouTube from the app
- Tap Create, then Post Tap + at the bottom of the screen and choose Post.
- Tap the image icon and pick your slides Choose up to 10 pictures, in the order people should see them, starting with your cover.
- Add your text, and music if you like Write what the post is about in a line or two. Where YouTube has rolled it out, you can also put text on a picture and add up to 15 seconds of music.
- Tap Post Open the post on your channel’s Posts tab and swipe through it to check the order.
How to post a carousel on YouTube from a computer
- Go to youtube.com, signed in to your channel.
- Click Create at the top right, then Create post.
- Click the image icon and choose up to 10 slides from your computer.
- Write your text and click Post. To post it later, click the arrow next to Post and choose Schedule post.
Music and text on the pictures are added in the YouTube app, not on a computer.
How to post a carousel as a YouTube Short
An image post can turn up in the Shorts feed, but YouTube decides when. To be sure your carousel plays there, post it as a Short. In aiCarousels every carousel with more than one slide has Video (swipe) in its Download list: each slide stays on screen for a couple of seconds, then swipes to the next.
- Size the carousel 9:16 In the editor, pick a 9:16 size with the platform chip at the top, for example TikTok, so the slides fill the screen.
- Download it as a video Click Download and choose Video (swipe). You get an MP4.
- Upload it as a Short In the YouTube app, tap +, then Short, and pick the MP4. Add a sound if you like, write a title and upload it.
Rather have your words over a moving clip? That’s a video post: choose YouTube Shorts as where it goes, and the preview shows it as “A Short”, with the first line of your text as its title.
YouTube carousels: the limits
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Pictures in one image post | Up to 10: JPG, PNG, GIF or WEBP |
| File size | Up to 16 MB a picture |
| Shape | Square, which YouTube suggests because that’s how the feed shows images. People can open each picture to see all of it |
| Pixels | 1080 × 1080 for an image post, 1080 × 1920 for a Short |
| Music | Up to 15 seconds on an image post, in the YouTube app, where it has rolled out |
| Short | Vertical, up to 3 minutes. The title shows up to 100 characters |
| Who can post | Not every channel: channels made for kids have no posts, and a channel can only post so many a day |
How to make the slides for a YouTube carousel
aiCarousels writes and designs the slides from one line, with the post text to go with them. There is no YouTube option for carousels, so pick a square size for an image post, or 9:16 for a Short.
- Type your idea and pick the size On Home, write what the carousel is about. For an image post, set where you’ll post it to Instagram at 1:1; for a Short, pick TikTok for 9:16. Pick a writer, or leave it on Auto.
- Check the slides and the text Change any word by clicking it. Switch to Caption for the post text written from your slides.
- Download and post For an image post, click Download PNGs for a picture of every slide, numbered in order. For a Short, choose Video (swipe). Then post it as above.
Already have a video with the lesson in it? Turn the YouTube video into a carousel: paste the link and aiCarousels writes the slides from its captions.
Tips for a YouTube carousel people swipe
- Make the cover readable when it’s small. In the feed the first picture is a small square. Big words, one idea, near the middle.
- One point per picture. Ten pictures is the most, not the goal. Five strong slides beat ten thin ones.
- Look like your channel. Use the colours and fonts of your thumbnails, so people know it’s you before they read. The free YouTube thumbnail maker keeps the thumbnails in the same style.
- Keep words clear of the buttons in a Short. Check the edges with the YouTube Shorts safe zone checker.
- Send people to the video. End with the one video to watch next, and check how your channel looks with the YouTube channel preview.
Frequently asked questions
Can you post a carousel on YouTube?
Yes. An image post holds up to 10 pictures that people swipe, and it shows in your Posts tab, on Home and sometimes in the Shorts feed. You can also post your slides as a Short that swipes through them by itself.
How many pictures can a YouTube post have?
Up to 10, as JPG, PNG, GIF or WEBP, each up to 16 MB.
What size should YouTube carousel slides be?
Square, 1080 × 1080, for an image post: YouTube suggests it because that’s how the feed shows images. For a Short, 9:16 (1080 × 1920).
Do YouTube image posts show in Shorts?
They can: YouTube may show image posts in the Shorts feed too, but not every time. To be sure a carousel plays there, post it as a Short.
Can I add music to a YouTube image post?
Yes, up to 15 seconds, in the YouTube app, where the feature has rolled out. On a computer you can’t add music.
