Google began notifying Performance Max advertisers on 17 August 2026 that it will use generative AI to create missing aspect ratios for video assets already uploaded to their campaigns, producing vertical and square cuts from horizontal originals so that one uploaded video can serve across every Performance Max placement. Advertisers who do not want this have until 4 September 2026 to opt out, either by contacting their Google account team or by submitting Google's opt-out form.
The detail that matters most is the word already. This applies to existing performance max video assets, not only to new uploads, which means creative an advertiser has approved, signed off and shipped will be reframed by a model without going back through anyone for a second look.
What Google told Performance Max advertisers on 17 August 2026
The notice appeared inside Google Ads accounts on 17 August 2026. Google's stated goal is maximising video reach while improving the viewing experience: a Performance Max campaign serves across placements with different shapes, and a horizontal-only video either gets letterboxed, cropped by the system, or does not serve on some of them at all. Generating the missing aspect ratios is Google's answer to that.
The rollout was first surfaced publicly by JXT Group founder Menachem Ani, who posted the in-account notice, and Search Engine Land reported it the same day. Google has not published a dedicated help-centre page or a blog post for the change at the time of reporting, so the in-account notification is the primary artefact. That is unusual for a change that alters creative, and it is part of why the 4 September deadline caught people cold.
The dates, and what happens at each one
Here are the specific dates named in the reporting, and what the source says happens at each. Nothing else has been given a date.
| Date | What the source says happens |
|---|---|
| 17 August 2026 | Notifications begin appearing in Performance Max accounts; Search Engine Land reports it the same day |
| 4 September 2026 | Deadline to opt out, via the Google account team or Google's opt-out form |
| After 4 September 2026 | Video settings can still be changed inside the Google Ads account at any time |
| No date given | No dedicated Google help-centre page or blog post published for the change at time of reporting |
Read the third row carefully, because it softens the deadline without removing it. Missing 4 September is not permanent. Video settings remain adjustable in the account afterwards. What the deadline governs is whether the default is applied to your assets in the first place, and by the time settings are changed the generated cuts may already have run.
Why reframing approved creative is the part to worry about
An automated horizontal-to-vertical crop has to throw away most of the frame. A 16:9 original cut to 9:16 keeps roughly a third of the width, and generative extension fills the rest. Whatever sat near the left or right edge is the first thing at risk.
In practice that tends to be the brand logo, which convention parks in a corner. It is also where product shots sit in a two-thirds composition, where burned-in text overlays are laid out for a wide frame, and where legally required disclaimers are placed precisely because they are supposed to be small and out of the way. For regulated categories, financial services, health, alcohol, automotive claims, a disclaimer that survives legal review in one aspect ratio and gets cropped out in another is a compliance problem, not a design preference.
Generative extension carries its own separate risk. Filling the empty top and bottom of a vertical frame means a model inventing pixels that were never shot. On a plain background that is harmless. On a product close-up, a face, or packaging with regulated label copy, an invented region is creative nobody approved appearing in a paid placement under the brand's name.
None of this means the output will be bad. Google is not shipping this expecting it to fail, and for a lot of straightforward footage an automated reframe will be fine. The point is that the advertiser does not get to see it before it serves, and the default is on.
Opt-out by default is now the standard Google pattern
This follows the same shape Google used for automatically created assets and for the AI Max auto-upgrade dated 1 September. The structure is consistent: the feature is announced, the default is participation, an opt-out exists, and the window to use it is short. Silence counts as consent.
What is different here is the object. Automatically created assets generate new assets alongside what the advertiser uploaded, and the advertiser can see them and remove them. Reframing acts on the advertiser's own approved video. The distinction between adding machine-made creative and modifying human-made creative is the distinction that matters for anyone who signs off on brand assets, and it deserves a different level of attention than the previous rounds got.
What to check in your Google Ads account before 4 September 2026
- Which Performance Max campaigns have video assets attached at all. Campaigns with no uploaded video are not the subject of this change.
- For each uploaded video, what aspect ratios already exist. Assets that were delivered in horizontal, vertical and square from the outset have no missing aspect ratios to generate, and are the least exposed.
- Where the logo, the legal line and any burned-in text sit in the horizontal master. Anything within the outer third on either side is what a vertical crop would remove.
- Whether any of the affected campaigns run in a regulated category where the disclaimer is a legal requirement rather than a house rule.
- Whether the account received the notification. Reporting describes an in-account notice, so the absence of one is worth confirming rather than assuming.
The result of that audit points at one of three responses. Do nothing, if the footage is simple and the placements are worth more than the framing control. Supply the missing aspect ratios yourself before 4 September, which removes the reason for Google to generate them. Or opt out through the account team or the form, and accept narrower placement coverage on video.
The middle option is the one that gets skipped, and it is usually the best trade. Producing a vertical and a square cut from an existing master is an edit, not a shoot. It keeps placement coverage, keeps the logo where it belongs, and takes the deadline off the table entirely. Where that work sits inside a broader Google Ads programme, it is the kind of thing that belongs in the same pass as a routine asset refresh, and the same masters usually feed YouTube advertising anyway.
What the source did not say
Several things are unaddressed and should not be filled in with assumption. Google has not published a help-centre page or blog post, so there is no official documentation of scope. The reporting does not say whether generated cuts are labelled or reviewable in the interface before they serve. It does not say whether the opt-out is account-wide or campaign-level. It does not say what happens to an advertiser who submits the form after 4 September, beyond the general statement that video settings can be changed in the account at any time. It does not give a country list, so there is no basis for saying which markets are covered first. And it gives no figure for how many advertisers or assets are affected.
Where Google has not documented something, the in-account notice and the account team are the only places to get an answer. That is a thin evidence base for a change that touches approved creative, and it is fair to say so.
What this means for Thai marketers
Thai video creative leans heavily on burned-in Thai text overlays and Thai-language supers, and those are the first casualty of an automated horizontal-to-vertical crop. A Thai super laid across the lower third of a 16:9 frame is designed for that width. Cut to 9:16 and the sentence loses its ends, which in Thai can leave a fragment that is still readable as words and no longer says what it said.
That is worse than a logo getting clipped, because a clipped logo reads as a mistake while a truncated Thai sentence can read as a statement. Price claims, promotional terms and conditions, and product descriptors written as supers are all exposed to it.
Nothing in Google's notice addressed Thailand or Thai-language creative. This is a consequence of how video is commonly produced for this market rather than anything country-specific in the change. The practical response is to audit Performance Max video assets before 4 September 2026 and check where the Thai text actually sits in the frame, then either reposition it into the centre-safe area, supply the vertical and square cuts, or opt out.
FAQ on the Performance Max video resizing change
What is the deadline to opt out?
4 September 2026. Opting out is done by contacting the Google account team or submitting Google's opt-out form, and video settings can still be changed inside the Google Ads account after that date.
Does this affect videos I uploaded months ago?
Yes. The change applies to video assets already uploaded to Performance Max campaigns, not only to new uploads, which is why previously approved creative is in scope.
Do I have to do anything?
Only if you want to keep control of how the video is framed. The default is on, so taking no action means Google will generate the missing aspect ratios for your existing video assets.
Can I see the generated versions before they run?
The source did not say. Nothing in the reporting describes a review or approval step for the generated cuts, and Google has not published a help-centre page that would document one.
Is this live in Thailand?
The source did not say. No country list was given, and Google has published no documentation of scope, so the only reliable check is whether the notification appeared in your own account.
Source
Search Engine Land reported the change on 17 August 2026, after JXT Group founder Menachem Ani posted the in-account notice. Read the full report at Search Engine Land.
If Performance Max is carrying video in your account, the audit is short and the window closes on 4 September 2026. Relevant Audience works on Performance Max structure and creative for advertisers in Thailand, and can go through the asset list with you before the deadline rather than after it.
