Instagram Image Size & Aspect Ratio Cheat Sheet
Quick answer
Instagram feed posts use three aspect ratios — square 1:1 (1080×1080px), portrait 4:5 (1080×1350px) and landscape 1.91:1 (1080×566px) — while Stories and Reels use full-screen vertical 9:16 (1080×1920px). The profile grid always shows a square center crop no matter which feed ratio you post at. Full specs for every placement are in the table below.
This is a reference page, not a tutorial — every current Instagram image placement, its aspect ratio, and the pixel dimensions worth exporting at, in one table. Instagram re-compresses everything you upload regardless of the original file size, so these are the sizes that get you the platform's actual display resolution without wasted upload weight.
The full spec table
| Placement | Aspect ratio | Recommended size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed — square | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 px | The safest, most compatible feed ratio |
| Feed — portrait | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 px | Tallest ratio Instagram displays without adding bars |
| Feed — landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 px | Best for genuinely wide scenes; rarely optimal otherwise |
| Carousel slide | Matches slide 1 | Same as chosen feed ratio | Every slide is fit to the first slide's ratio |
| Stories | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 px | Full-screen vertical; keep text off the top/bottom UI zones |
| Reels | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 px | Same full-screen frame as Stories |
| Reels cover thumbnail | 9:16 source, tall crop shown | 1080 × 1920 px source | The Reels tab on a profile shows a taller crop than the square grid used for photo posts |
| Profile grid thumbnail | 1:1 (always) | Center crop of the original post | Applies even to 4:5 and 1.91:1 posts |
| Profile picture | 1:1 | 320 × 320 px minimum | Displayed cropped to a circle |
How wide can an Instagram feed post be?
1.91:1 is the widest ratio the feed supports — roughly a photo that's about twice as wide as it is tall. Anything wider than that gets cropped down to fit, which is exactly why a true panorama needs to be split across multiple posts or carousel slides rather than squeezed into one.
How tall can an Instagram feed post be?
4:5 is the tallest ratio the feed displays without adding letterboxing — a photo taller than that (a 4:6 or 9:16 portrait, for instance) gets cropped down to 4:5 on upload. If you want the full frame of a tall photo visible, crop it to 4:5 yourself first so you control what's trimmed, rather than letting Instagram's automatic crop decide.
Why the profile grid crop trips people up
Because the main grid always renders a square, center-cropped thumbnail — regardless of a post's real aspect ratio — a 4:5 portrait post loses its top and bottom strip in grid view even though the full image is intact underneath. This is the exact mechanic that determines which tile shape works for a multi-post grid: square (1:1) tiles reassemble correctly in the scrolling grid view, while 4:5 tiles only reassemble correctly once someone taps into each post individually.
Minimum resolution and file format
Instagram has long recommended a minimum of roughly 320px on the shortest side for any upload — below that, expect visible softness as the platform upscales it. JPEG is the safest upload format; PNG is accepted but is typically re-encoded, so exporting a photograph as JPEG or WebP first, rather than PNG, tends to give you more predictable results and a smaller upload.
Questions
What is the best Instagram post size in pixels?
1080×1080 for a square post, 1080×1350 for portrait (4:5) — currently the tallest ratio Instagram displays in the feed without adding letterboxing — and 1080×566 for landscape (1.91:1). Instagram compresses and resizes whatever you upload to display at 1080px on the long edge, so exporting at that size gives you control over the result instead of leaving it entirely to their compression.
What size should an Instagram Story or Reel be?
1080×1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical ratio. This is the full-screen size for both Stories and Reels. Keep key text and faces away from the very top and bottom of the frame — Instagram's own UI (profile name, captions, interaction buttons) overlaps those areas on both formats.
Why does my portrait post show as a square on my profile?
The main profile grid always displays a square (1:1), center-cropped thumbnail for every post, regardless of whether the original was posted at 1:1, 4:5 or 1.91:1. The full, uncropped image is only visible once someone taps into the post itself. This matters directly for grid posts, since it means only square-tile grids reassemble correctly in the scrolling grid view.
Does uploading a higher resolution photo make it sharper on Instagram?
Not meaningfully. Instagram displays feed photos resized and re-compressed to roughly 1080px on the long edge regardless of how large the original file was. A much larger upload mostly costs upload time rather than buying extra sharpness — export at or near the target display size instead.
Try it
Export at the right size the first time — split a grid at 1080px per tile, normalise a carousel to one consistent ratio, or compress a photo to Instagram's display size without wrecking it.