Choosing a cover and per-platform media checks

Choosing a cover

Once your video has uploaded, click Choose cover next to your video in the composer (or the thumbnail itself); the Cover panel opens on the right, full screen on a phone. Drag the scrubber through the video (or step per second with the arrow keys) until you see the frame you want as cover, and click Use this frame. The thumbnail shows that frame. This also works when you open a draft or scheduled post later: the chosen cover stays visible and you can pick another frame until fifteen minutes before the scheduled time. YouTube, Instagram and Facebook use it as cover; TikTok and Threads pick their own. If you pick nothing, Uploadlane takes a frame from the middle of the video. During the upload the button is disabled.

Per-platform media checks

Under the media block you see a short check of your file for each selected platform:

• Duration: too long or too short for a platform, with the limit. TikTok has a maximum per account; for YouTube you also see whether the video still counts as a Short.
• File size: too large for a platform? You see it here, not at publish time.
• Aspect ratio: a video that is not vertical (9:16) gets a hint that the platform crops or pads it; a photo outside 4:5 to 1.91:1 is padded with black bars.

Aspect ratio hints do not block you. At a hard limit (too long or too large for the platform) the composer asks you to fix the notes under your media first.

Uploads can be up to 1 GB on the free plan; Pro and Team go up to 10 GB. Formats: MP4, MOV and WebM for video, JPG, PNG and WebP for photos.