What exactly is changing in Performance Max video ads?

Google Ads is adding a generative AI capability that fills in aspect ratios an advertiser didn't originally supply for their video creative, building on Google's existing automatic conversion of horizontal video into vertical and square formats.

How do I opt out of Google's AI video resizing?

You can reach out to your Google Ads account management contact or use the opt-out form Google has provided, and you'll want to do that by September 4th if you want to avoid the default rollout. Video generation settings can also be adjusted later directly within your Google Ads account.

Why should marketers pay attention to this update?

Because it means Google can generate new versions of your video ads without you producing every format yourself, which is a time-saver but also introduces automated changes to your creative that may need review for brand consistency and product accuracy.

Google Will Auto-Resize Your Performance Max Video Ads Using AI (Unless You Opt Out)

Why this matters

If you run Performance Max campaigns and only supplied one video format, Google is about to start filling in the rest for you. That's convenient if you're stretched thin on creative production, but it also means AI-generated variants of your brand's video could start showing up in placements you never explicitly built for. Anyone managing client accounts or protecting brand guidelines should know this is coming and know how to turn it off before the window closes.

What's changing

Google Ads is pushing an update to existing Performance Max video ads that uses generative AI to stretch or reshape footage into aspect ratios the advertiser didn't originally provide. In practice, that means Google can take a video built for one placement and generate versions suited to other inventory, expanding where that creative is eligible to run.

This isn't a brand-new capability so much as an expansion of one. Google already auto-converts horizontal video into vertical and square crops. The new piece adds generative AI to that pipeline so gaps in an advertiser's asset set get filled in automatically rather than left unused. Google frames the intent as getting more reach out of video budgets while keeping the viewing experience solid across formats.

How to opt out

Advertisers who don't want Google touching their video this way have a couple of paths. You can flag it through your account management contact, or use the opt-out form Google has made available, and the deadline to do so is September 4th. Beyond that initial window, video generation preferences remain adjustable directly inside the Google Ads interface going forward, so this isn't strictly a one-time, no-take-backs decision, but the September 4th date is the one to have on your calendar if you want to avoid the default rollout entirely.

The catch

Not every brand wants Google reshaping its footage automatically. Extending or reformatting video with generative AI adds another automated layer sitting between what you shot and what actually runs, and that raises real questions around visual consistency, whether products are represented accurately, and whether the output still matches brand guidelines. Agencies managing multiple client accounts especially will want to review this setting per account rather than assume it's been handled.

The bigger picture

This fits a pattern Google has been building for a while: Performance Max started as automated media buying, and it's steadily grown into automated creative production too. Each update shifts more of the actual asset-building work onto Google's models rather than leaving that job entirely with the advertiser. Filling in missing aspect ratios with AI is a logical next step in that direction, and it likely won't be the last one.

The update was first surfaced publicly by JXT Group's founder, who posted screenshots of the notification Google sent out, as reported by Search Engine Land.