Seedance 2.0 Resolution, Aspect Ratio, and Export Settings (2026)

Seedance 2.0's output quality depends less on the prompt than most beginners think, and more on a small cluster of export settings almost nobody explains properly — resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate, duration, and the interaction between them. Get these right at the start of a project and your clips will look sharper, waste fewer credits, and match the platform you are posting to. Get them wrong and even a great prompt ships a blurry, oddly-cropped video.

This is the reference I wish I had when I started making Seedance clips for clients. Bookmark it — you will come back every time you start a new project.

Quick answer

Pick aspect ratio before anything else — it is the one setting you cannot fix after generation without losing quality. For YouTube and desktop web, use 16:9. For Shorts, Reels, and TikTok, use 9:16. For Instagram feed, 1:1. Use 720p while drafting to save credits, then regenerate the final take at 1080p. Leave duration at 5 seconds and stitch multiple clips together for anything longer than 10 seconds.

• You are about to start a project and need to set things up correctly the first time.
• Your last clip came out looking blurry or awkwardly cropped and you do not know why.
• You want a lookup table for every social platform's ideal export settings.

Resolution — what the options actually mean

Seedance 2.0 exposes multiple resolution options depending on your plan. The core choices are 720p, 1080p, and higher quality modes that approach 4K on premium plans. Here is what each one is actually for.

The biggest mistake I see is generating final takes at 720p to save credits, then noticing the clip looks soft on a laptop screen. For anything you will publish, step up to 1080p on the final take. The credit difference is small compared to the quality jump. For drafts, stay at 720p — it is where you should be doing 80% of your iteration.

Aspect ratio — pick this first, always

Aspect ratio is the most important setting, because it is the one you cannot fix cleanly after generation. If you generate at 16:9 and try to repost to TikTok, you either add ugly letterbox bars or crop the subject in half. Always pick the aspect ratio before you write the prompt.

When a client asks for both a horizontal and a vertical version of the same clip, do not crop one from the other. Regenerate in both aspect ratios — you will get a better-framed subject each time because Seedance plans composition around the canvas you give it. If you want to see this principle applied to short-form content, read the Seedance YouTube Shorts guide.

Duration — why 5 seconds is the right default

Seedance 2.0 supports 5-second and 10-second clips on most plans. 5 seconds is the right default for almost every project because it produces the most stable output — the longer the clip, the more chances Seedance has to drift from the subject, introduce flicker, or let motion go wrong.

When to pick 10 seconds: when you have a single action that genuinely needs the extra time (a slow crane, a character completing a full gesture) and you have already nailed the shorter version. When to stay at 5 seconds: almost every other case. For longer finished videos, generate multiple 5-second clips and stitch them in a video editor. It is cheaper, more stable, and gives you cuts you can use for pacing.

Frame rate — why 24fps is almost always right

Seedance 2.0 commonly outputs at 24fps — the cinematic standard. This is the right frame rate for 95% of content you will make. It looks filmic, it plays back smoothly on every platform, and it is what viewers subconsciously associate with "professional video".

When other frame rates matter: fast-action sports content that benefits from 60fps, screen recordings, or specific platform requirements. For cinematic b-roll, storytelling clips, product shots, and the vast majority of social content, stay at 24fps.

Platform lookup table

Here is the exact export combination I use for each major platform. Bookmark this — it will save you the "what settings again?" problem every new project.

The draft-then-finalise pattern

Here is the workflow that saves more credits than any other single habit: draft at low settings, finalise at high settings. It sounds obvious, and almost nobody does it.

1. Draft at 720p, 5s, standard motion, the correct aspect ratio. Iterate on the prompt until the clip does what you want.
2. Note the seed if the platform exposes one — it lets you reproduce the same output at higher quality.
3. Finalise at 1080p or higher, same prompt, same seed if possible. You get the drafted result at production quality without re-burning credits on re-prompting.

The aspect ratio is the important constant through this loop. Never draft at 16:9 and finalise at 9:16 — the composition will be different and the "draft" is no longer valid. Pick the ratio at the start and hold it. For credit budgeting details, see Seedance pricing and credits.

Composition tips per aspect ratio

Seedance does not automatically reframe for you — you have to give it prompt cues that suit the canvas. Here is how I adjust prompts for each ratio.

• 16:9: room for wide camera movement, landscape framing, and environmental detail. Describe the whole scene, not just the subject.
• 9:16: put the subject in the centre of the frame, keep background simple, and avoid complex horizontal camera moves that lose subject quickly.
• 1:1: balanced composition, medium shots work best, avoid extreme wide or extreme close-up.

If you are making marketing or product content, the aspect-ratio-aware prompt patterns in Seedance marketing videos and Seedance product ad videos are worth reading alongside this.

Common export-setting mistakes

Worked example: exporting the same idea for three platforms

Say you have a great idea — a slow push-in on a coffee cup with steam — and you want to post it to YouTube horizontal, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram feed. Do not generate once and crop three times. Generate three times, once per aspect ratio.

1. 16:9 version. Prompt adds "wide framing, wooden table extending into the background, soft blurred cafe interior on the right". 1080p, 5s, 24fps. Use this on YouTube and LinkedIn.
2. 9:16 version. Prompt changes to "tight centred framing, vertical composition, cup fills the middle of the frame, minimal background". 1080p, 5s, 24fps. Use this for Shorts and Reels.
3. 1:1 version. Prompt becomes "balanced square framing, cup centred with even space on all sides". 1080p, 5s, 24fps. Use this for Instagram feed.

Three generations instead of one, yes — but three clips that each look correct on their target platform, instead of one clip that looks wrong on two. The credit cost is worth it for anything you actually care about.

When export settings will not save you

Export settings are a quality multiplier on top of the content. If the underlying clip has artifacts, warping, or a boring prompt, no amount of resolution tuning will fix it. If a clip looks wrong, the fix order is: prompt first, motion intensity second, reference image third, resolution fourth. The fix bad motion guide covers the first three in detail — come back to this post once those are dialled in.

Related guides on this site

Export settings are only one layer of quality. Pair with these to get the full picture.

• Seedance 2.0 Tutorial: The Complete Beginner's Guide
• Seedance 2.0 Motion Intensity Settings Explained
• How to Make YouTube Shorts with Seedance