Instagram Post Size 2026: Every Dimension You Need for Feed, Stories, and Reels

Getting your Instagram post size wrong is one of those small mistakes that shows up in a big way blurry images, awkward crops, text cut off at the edges.

Instagram supports multiple post formats, and each one has its own recommended dimensions. The standard feed post sits at 1080 x 1080 px for square, but portrait, landscape, Stories, and Reels all follow different rules.

Instagram Post Sizes — Quick Reference Table

Before anything else, here are the numbers. If this is all you needed, you're done.

Post Type	Aspect Ratio	Recommended Size	Min Resolution
Square Feed Post	1:1	1080 × 1080 px	320 × 320 px
Portrait Feed Post	4:5	1080 × 1350 px	—
Landscape Feed Post	1.91:1	1080 × 566 px	—
Instagram Stories	9:16	1080 × 1920 px	—
Instagram Reels	9:16	1080 × 1920 px	—
Reels Cover / Thumbnail	9:16	1080 × 1920 px	—
Carousel (follows first image)	1:1 / 4:5 / 1.91:1	Matches first slide	—
Profile Photo	1:1	320 × 320 px	110 × 110 px

What Aspect Ratio and Pixels Actually Mean

Two terms come up constantly when talking about Instagram dimensions: aspect ratio and pixels. They sound technical but the ideas are straightforward.

Aspect Ratio

An aspect ratio describes the shape of your image specifically the relationship between its width and height, written as width:height.

1:1 — equal width and height, so a perfect square
4:5 — taller than it is wide, a vertical or portrait image
9:16 — much taller than wide, the full-screen vertical format used for Stories and Reels
1.91:1 — wider than tall, a horizontal or landscape image

Pixels

Pixels are the individual dots that make up a digital image. More pixels generally means more detail and a sharper image.

When Instagram compresses an image on upload which it always does to some degree starting at a higher resolution means the compressed version still looks clean.

Supported File Formats

Instagram accepts different file types depending on what you are posting.

Photos: JPG, PNG, BMP, non-animated GIF
Videos: MP4, MOV

Instagram Feed Post Size

Feed posts can be square, portrait, or landscape. Each has a specific recommended size, and the format you pick affects how much screen space your post occupies when someone is scrolling.

Square — 1080 × 1080 px (1:1)

Square is the original Instagram format and still works well for centered compositions, product photos, graphics, and anything where the subject sits naturally in the middle of the frame. Nothing gets cut off, and it previews cleanly on the profile grid.

Portrait — 1080 × 1350 px (4:5)

Portrait posts take up more vertical space in the feed, which means more of someone's screen before they scroll past.

In practice, many creators and brands favor this format for that reason it is harder to miss. It works well for full-length portraits, tall subjects, and styled product shots.

Landscape — 1080 × 566 px (1.91:1)

Landscape is the widest feed format and suits panoramic scenes, wide-angle shots, and architectural photography.

What's worth knowing is that it actually takes up less screen space in the feed than portrait so it can get passed over faster during a scroll.

How Feed Posts Appear on the Profile Grid

Here is something a lot of people miss. When your post sits on your profile grid, Instagram does not display it at its full dimensions.

The grid previews everything at a 3:4 ratio slightly taller than square. As reported by The Verge, Instagram moved to this vertical grid format because the vast majority of uploads are now vertical either 4:3 photos or 9:16 videos making the old square crop increasingly impractical.

Keep key subjects and text centered to stay safe in the new grid layout.

Instagram Carousel Post Size

Carousels let you post a series of images or videos in one swipeable post. The sizing logic here is a bit different from single posts.

How Instagram Determines Carousel Dimensions

Instagram reads the first image in your carousel and uses its dimensions to set the format for everything that follows. If your first image is portrait, the carousel is portrait. If it is square, the carousel is square.

Mixed Dimensions Behavior

If you choose to upload slides with different orientations in the same carousel, Instagram adds spacing above and below landscape and square images to keep things consistent with portrait slides.

The result can look uneven. In practice, most creators avoid mixing orientations in a single carousel for exactly this reason.

What Happens When You Add a Video

Adding a video to a carousel changes things significantly. Instagram switches the entire carousel to portrait orientation, even if your first image was square or landscape.

The auto-crop that happens at this point cannot be adjusted after upload you will not get a second chance to reframe it.

Crop Before You Upload

The safest approach is to crop all carousel images to matching dimensions before uploading.

That way you control exactly what appears in the frame, rather than leaving it to Instagram's automatic crop.

Instagram Stories Size

Stories are built for full-screen vertical viewing. The format is immersive by design, and uploading at the wrong size breaks that experience fast.

Recommended Dimensions — 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)

This is the size that fills the screen completely without borders, black bars, or stretching. Both photos and videos should match these dimensions for the best result.

Safe Zone Guidance

What's often overlooked is that Instagram places your profile name and navigation icons at the top of every story, and action buttons at the bottom. These overlay the image.

Roughly 250 px at the top and 250 px at the bottom of your story get covered by the app's own UI. Place any text, logos, or critical visuals in the middle section to avoid having them hidden.

Using Non-Vertical Images in Stories

If you only have a square or landscape image, you can still post it to a story. Instagram will center it against a blurred or colored background to fill the vertical frame.

The blank space on either side is not wasted it is actually an opportunity to add text overlays, stickers, hashtags, or interactive elements that make the story more engaging.

Instagram Reels Size

Reels follow the same vertical format as Stories, but they appear in more places across the app which means understanding how they display in each context matters.

Recommended Dimensions — 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)

Vertical format is the standard for Reels. This is the size that plays full screen when someone taps on the video or finds it in the Reels tab. Uploading at a lower resolution or wrong ratio will result in black bars or cropping.

How Reels Appear Across Different Surfaces

This is where Reels gets a little more complicated than other formats.

In the feed: Reels display at a 4:5 aspect ratio while scrolling
On the profile grid (alongside photos): thumbnails are cropped to 3:4
Under the Reels tab on a profile: thumbnails display at the full 9:16

In practice, this means a single Reel gets cropped differently depending on where someone sees it.

Keeping the main subject of your video centered and away from the very top and bottom of the frame helps it look intentional in all three contexts.

Reels Cover Photo and Thumbnail

The cover photo is what appears as a static thumbnail before someone plays the video. It defaults to a frame from the video itself, but you can upload a custom image instead.

Either way, the recommended size is 1080 × 1920 px. The cover can be updated even after the Reel is already published, which is useful if you want to refresh older content without re-uploading.

Instagram Profile Photo Size

Your profile photo shows up across the entire app — on your profile page, in the stories tray, next to feed posts, and in direct messages. Keeping it sharp matters more than most people realize.

Recommended Dimensions — 320 × 320 px (1:1)

Upload a square image at 320 × 320 px. Instagram displays it as a circle everywhere on the app, which means corners get clipped. Keep your subject centered and leave a small margin around the edges. Anything pushed right to the corner will be cut off in the circular crop.

The minimum accepted size is 110 × 110 px, but uploading at that size will look noticeably soft on modern screens. Sticking to 320 × 320 px or higher avoids that.

Instagram Video Specifications by Post Type

Image dimensions get most of the attention, but video has its own set of specs that are worth knowing separately. All three of the most commonly referenced sizing guides skip this detail entirely.

Post Type	Max Length	Max File Size	Recommended Format	Recommended Resolution
Feed Video	60 seconds	4 GB	MP4, MOV	1080 × 1080 / 1080 × 1350 px
Instagram Reels	90 seconds	4 GB	MP4, MOV	1080 × 1920 px
Stories (video)	60 seconds	4 GB	MP4, MOV	1080 × 1920 px
Carousel Video	60 seconds	4 GB	MP4, MOV	Matches carousel format

One thing worth flagging: Stories video plays in 15-second segments. If your clip is longer than 15 seconds, Instagram splits it automatically into multiple story cards up to a total of 60 seconds.

What Happens When You Upload the Wrong Size

Instagram does not reject wrongly sized images outright it just adjusts them. That adjustment is not always clean.

Auto-Crop Behavior

If you upload an image that does not match the expected dimensions, Instagram crops it to fit. The crop happens from the center outward, which means it does not know what part of your image matters.

Carousels are particularly vulnerable to this especially when you mix orientations or add a video, since the auto-crop happens on upload and cannot be undone.

Image Compression and Quality Loss

Instagram compresses every image on upload. This is unavoidable. What you can control is how much visible quality is lost.

Uploading at or above the recommended resolution gives the compression algorithm more to work with, and the result looks sharper than uploading a small image and letting Instagram stretch it.

Interestingly, as reported by TechCrunch, Instagram also applies a sliding scale of video quality based on how much engagement a post receives videos that attract more views are encoded at higher quality, while lower-performing videos are served at reduced quality to conserve resources.

Uploading at the correct resolution and dimensions gives your content the best starting point before that process kicks in.

How to Avoid Sizing Problems

Resize images before uploading, not after. Tools like Canva, Adobe Express, and Snapseed all have Instagram-specific size presets that take the guesswork out of it.

If you are already working from a correctly sized template, compression artifacts and unexpected crops become much less of a problem.

Conclusion

Match your content to the right Instagram post size before uploading square at 1080×1080px, portrait at 1080×1350px, Stories and Reels at 1080×1920px.

Correct dimensions prevent auto-cropping, reduce compression, and keep your visuals looking exactly as intended.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the standard Instagram post size?

The standard square Instagram post size is 1080 × 1080 px. Portrait posts use 1080 × 1350 px and landscape uses 1080 × 566 px. Stories and Reels are both 1080 × 1920 px.

Why does Instagram crop my photos automatically?

Instagram crops images that do not match its supported aspect ratios. It defaults to a center crop, so it does not account for your subject's position. Uploading at the correct dimensions before posting prevents this.

What is the difference between 4:5 and 3:4 on Instagram?

You upload feed posts at 4:5 (1080 × 1350 px). The profile grid then previews all posts including 4:5 ones at 3:4. They are different display contexts, not the same format.

What file formats does Instagram accept?

For photos: JPG, PNG, BMP, and non-animated GIF. For videos: MP4 and MOV. These apply across feed posts, Stories, Reels, and carousels.

Can I upload a landscape video to Instagram Reels?

You can, but it will not fill the screen. Reels are designed for 9:16 vertical video. A landscape video will appear with black bars on the sides or get cropped when viewed in the feed or Reels tab.