Instagram Post Sizes & Aspect Ratios
What size to make your photos and videos, and why the same post can look different in the feed, on your profile and in the Reels tab.
By SAMEER ZANJE · Published October 19, 2026 · Numbers last checked October 19, 2026
Almost every creator has uploaded something that looked perfect on their phone and then appeared cropped, stretched or padded with black bars once it went live. The cause is nearly always aspect ratio. Instagram shows the same piece of content in several places, and each place frames it differently. This guide explains the shapes that work, where each one is used, and how to design so nothing important gets cut off.
Resolution vs. Aspect Ratio
These two ideas get mixed up constantly. Aspect ratio is the shape of the frame: how wide it is compared with how tall. A 4:5 image is four units wide for every five units tall. Resolution is how many pixels fill that frame. You can have a 4:5 image at low resolution (blurry) or high resolution (sharp). Instagram cares about both, but the ratio decides what gets cropped, while the resolution decides how sharp the result looks. A common working width is 1080 pixels, which is why most of the numbers below start with 1080.
Quick Reference
These are the commonly recommended sizes. Instagram does not always publish one official chart, and the figures below reflect widely used guidance that several sources agree on.
| Format | Aspect ratio | Recommended size |
|---|---|---|
| Feed, portrait | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 px |
| Feed, tall portrait | 3:4 | 1080 × 1440 px |
| Feed, square | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 px |
| Feed, landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 px |
| Reels | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 px |
| Stories | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 px |
Feed Posts: Why 4:5 Is the Safe Default
Instagram's feed accepts a range of shapes, from tall portrait through square to wide landscape. A portrait 4:5 image takes up more of the screen than a square or a landscape photo, so it holds attention longer as people scroll. That is why it is the usual recommendation. Landscape images work, but they leave a thin strip of the screen, so subtle detail in them is easy to miss on a phone.
The 3:4 Profile Grid
Instagram's profile grid now displays thumbnails in a taller 3:4 shape rather than the old square. Content that doesn't match that shape is center-cropped in the grid preview, even though the full image still appears when someone opens the post. In practice, that has one clear consequence for how you design: put faces, logos and text near the center of the frame so they survive the grid crop. A 4:5 post loses a little off the sides in the grid, while a square post loses a little off the top and bottom.
Carousels
In a carousel, the first slide generally sets the frame for the whole post, so choose one aspect ratio and apply it to every slide. If you mix shapes, some slides will be cropped or padded to fit the first. For a consistent look, plan the full set at 4:5 before you start designing individual slides.
Reels and Stories: Think Vertical
Reels and Stories are designed for full-screen vertical viewing, which means 9:16 at 1080 × 1920 pixels. Anything shot horizontally will appear with blank space above and below, or be cropped if you fill the frame. A few practical points creators often miss:
- The same Reel appears in different shapes. In the Reels tab it is shown full-screen at 9:16. In the main feed it can appear cropped to a shorter portrait shape, and in your profile grid it appears as the 3:4 thumbnail described above.
- Your cover image is cropped for the grid. A cover designed at the full 9:16 height will have its top and bottom trimmed in the grid, so keep titles and faces in the middle.
- Interface elements cover the edges. Captions, buttons and the profile name overlay the bottom and sides of a Reel or Story. Keep text away from the very top and especially the bottom of the frame.
- Length limits change. Instagram has raised the maximum Reel length more than once, and sources disagree on the current figure. Check the length shown in the Instagram app when you upload instead of relying on a number from an article, including this one.
A Simple Design Habit: The Center Safe Zone
Because the same content is cropped in several places, the most reliable method is to design for the area that survives every crop. Before you export, imagine a taller rectangle sitting in the middle of your frame and ask whether the important parts still fit inside it. If your face, product or headline lives in that central area, it will look right in the feed, the grid and the Reels tab.
Common Mistakes
- Uploading landscape video as a Reel. It ends up small with blank bars. Re-shoot or re-frame it vertically.
- Putting text at the bottom edge. It gets covered by the caption and buttons.
- Mixing aspect ratios in a carousel. Later slides get cropped to match the first.
- Designing only for the post view. Check how the thumbnail looks in the profile grid too.
- Exporting at a tiny size. Very small files look soft once Instagram scales them up.
Checking Before You Post
Instagram lets you preview how a post will look before it goes live, including a grid preview in recent versions of the app. Use it. A thirty-second check saves you from posting, noticing the crop, and deleting and re-uploading.
Related Reading
If you work with Reels, our explainer on how Reels are structured covers how they differ from other video formats, and our guide to downloading your own Instagram data shows how to back up everything you've posted.
Instagram updates its formats regularly, so treat these numbers as a starting point. They were last checked on October 19, 2026. For official guidance, see Instagram's Help Center and Meta's creator documentation.