Facebook 360
With Facebook 360, publishers can showcase their most compelling stories in a new and immersive way, bringing the viewer inside a different world through 360 photos and videos.
360 Video
To create 360 videos, a special set of cameras is used to record all 360 degrees of a scene simultaneously. This means that when the video is playing on Facebook, viewers can choose what angle they want to see it from. On the web, this is done by dragging around the video with your cursor. On mobile devices, viewers can drag with their finger — or even just turn their device.
360 video is currently viewable on the web and on Android and iOS devices.
Creating for 360 Video
Optimize for the viewer's comfort
Avoid rotational and translational movement within your video. Instead, fade in and out of camera positions.
Consider the audio experience
We've recently introduced spatial audio to 360 videos on News Feed, read more below to learn how to add spatial audio to your production flow.
Use our 360 Publisher Tools and Insights to better inform your video production
As 360 video continues to grow and engage millions of people on Facebook, we're continually working to improve how 360 video is discovered in News Feed, the experience for users once they've engaged with a video, and finally the insights that video publishers receive, enabling them to keep experimenting with, and improving their 360 video content.
Learn more about our tools and insights here.
Recommended Video Upload Specs
Keep in mind these recommended upload specs:
- We support file sizes up to 1.75GB. Videos must be less than 30 minutes.
- File type: MP4 Container
- Video Codec: H.264 Video
- Resolution: Max 4K input (4096x2048)
- Dimensions: 2:1 Display Aspect Ratio
- Frame Rate: Up to 60 FPS
- Pixel Format: yuv420p
- Depth: Monoscopic
- Projection Format: Equirectangular
- Audio: MP3 or AAC audio, at 128 kbps for optimal results
- Spatial Audio: Check out our recommendations below for getting started with spatial audio on Facebook
Please note, make sure that your video and audio tracks are the same duration in order to avoid encoding errors caused by mismatched timecode.
360 Audio
Think of spatial audio, also known as 3D audio, as an immersive sphere of audio surrounding the user. Spatial audio replicates the physics of how humans hear sound in real life, but is delivered over a normal pair of headphones. As audiences look around in a 360 video, the sound updates itself automatically and in real-time, helping to place them in the context of the scene, increasing the level of immersion and creating presence.
We're excited to offer the Spatial Workstation tools to enable you to add spatial audio to your 360 production efforts.
The Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation comes with an Encoder, that is used to package a .h264 encoded mp4 video with spatial audio output from the tools. It accepts the following audio formats as input
- 8-channel audio output from the spatial workstation plugin
- B-Format FuMA or ambiX (4 channels/1st order)
- Optional head-locked stereo audio
This will add all the relevant metadata that will create the final file ready for upload directly to Facebook.
More details on using the Encoder, and other helpful articles can be found here
Additionally, files with YouTube's Spherical Video and Spatial Audio Metadata are supported and can be directly uploaded to Facebook.
Visit our website at facebook360.fb.com/spatial-workstation to download the tools and find great examples of 360 videos with spatial audio, alongside tutorials to help you get started with 360 Audio!
360 Photos
360 Photos allow you to share a more immersive experience with your followers by taking them behind the scenes and putting them at the center of the action.There are a few ways to create a 360 photo:
- Take a panorama with an iOS device or Samsung Galaxy phone
- Capture a 360-degree photo on your phone using an app like Street View or Google Camera
- Take a 360-degree photo with a 360 camera, such as the Samsung Gear 360, RICOH THETA S, 360Fly, Giroptic 360 Cam or ALLie Camera
Rethinking 360 Photos for Publishers
- Place your followers in the center of the action, ensuring there's something to see and experience at every angle
- Create a story with your photo that encourages your followers to explore the full 360-degree view
- Give your followers behind-the-scenes access; imagine sitting in the Supreme Court or being surrounded by penguins in Antarctica
Learn more and check out FAQs at facebook360.fb.com/360-photos
Facebook Surround 360
A durable and high quality 3D-360 camera system now available on GitHub.
We have created a durable 3D-360 camera system that produces 3D, truly spherical footage and includes stitching technology that seamlessly marries the video from 17 cameras, vastly reducing post-production effort and time.
Connecting through VR is an amazing, immersive experience, and we want to do our part to make sure more people have a chance to experience it in the future. With this in mind, we're open-sourcing the Facebook Surround 360 camera system to accelerate the growth of the 3D-360 ecosystem by enabling developers to leverage the designs and code, and content creators to build and tailor the camera for their own production needs. Both the camera design blueprint and stitching code are now available on GitHub for anyone to contribute to, build on top of, improve or distribute.
Visit surround360.fb.com for more details on Facebook Surround 360.
Facebook 360 Resources
Join our Facebook 360 Community Group to be a part of the daily 360 and VR conversation, or check out our Facebook 360 site for more great resources.
Find 360 Production Resources
Discover and connect with production facilities specializing in Facebook 360 Video here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I upload a 360 video on my Page or Profile?
If your video was recorded with a 360 camera system that adds 360 metadata to the video file, then you'll upload your 360 video the same way you would upload a video that has a standard viewing field.
If the 360 video was recorded with a 360 camera system that doesn't add the 360 metadata, please visit our Help Center for more detailed information.
Are 360 videos embeddable on third-party sites?
How do I upload a 360 photos on my Page or Profile?
If you are sharing a panorama from an iOS device or Samsung Galaxy simply upload a photo as usual to your page or profile and we'll convert it to a 360 photo.
How do I add metadata to my 360 photo?
If you have taken a photo with a camera app or 360 camera and the metadata isn't recognized, please check out this guide to adding metadata to your 360 photo here.