Every Instagram image size: feed, Stories, Reels, profile
There are only five sizes that matter. Which one to use for each placement, and what the profile grid trims off afterwards.
Updated 2026-09-10
Instagram accepts a different ratio for each placement, and the same photo is cropped differently in the feed and in the profile grid. The specs boil down to five sizes, but which one to use depends on where the photo will be seen.
| Placement | Recommended | Ratio | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed, square | 1080 x 1080 | 1:1 | Looks the same everywhere. Products, announcements |
| Feed, portrait | 1080 x 1350 | 4:5 | Largest area in the feed. People, landscapes |
| Feed, landscape | 1080 x 566 | 1.91:1 | Shown smallest. Only when it has to be |
| Story and Reels | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | Mind the interface at top and bottom |
| Profile picture | 640 x 640 or more | 1:1 | Displayed as a circle |
Feed: why 4:5 should be your default
The feed has a fixed width, so the taller the photo, the more screen it takes. 4:5 is the tallest ratio Instagram allows in the feed, 25 percent taller than a square. The same photo at 4:5 occupies a quarter more screen than at 1:1 and stays in view that much longer as someone scrolls.
Use square for images that must look identical everywhere, like product shots. Landscape 1.91:1 is shown smallest, so save it for photos that are meaningless unless wide, like panoramas. A phone's default 3:4 photo is close to 4:5 and needs only a small trim top and bottom. 3:4 is now accepted as is, but 4:5 is the safer choice once the grid is considered.
The profile grid crops once more
A photo that showed whole in the feed is cropped again to a tall rectangular tile in the profile grid. A 4:5 photo fits almost exactly; a square loses its sides or gains margins; a 9:16 Reels cover loses a lot of its top and bottom. Faces and text that must survive the grid belong near the vertical centre.
Stories and Reels
Both are 1080x1920. What differs is the interface. Stories cover the top ~14 percent (progress bar and account name) and the bottom ~13 percent (reply field); Reels cover the bottom ~20 percent (caption and audio) and the right ~20 percent of the width (button column). If one image is going to both, plan the margins for Reels and it survives Stories too.
Upload a landscape photo to a Story and the app fills above and below with a blurred backdrop. To see the result first, or to put text in that margin, build it at 1080x1920 before uploading. A 16:9 photo at 1080 wide stands 608px tall with about 656px of margin at each end.
In a carousel, the first slide sets the rule
Post several photos at once and the first one's ratio applies to all of them. If the first is 4:5, the square photo behind it gets cropped to 4:5 too. Match every slide to one ratio before uploading and nothing is cropped unexpectedly. Match the size as well and the frame does not jump as people swipe.
There is no reason to go above 1080
Instagram scales every upload to 1080 pixels wide and then compresses it. Upload at 4000 and the result is still 1080, with one more resize on the way. Deliver exactly 1080 wide and the app has no resizing to do, only the compression. Below 320, it scales up and the photo turns soft.
- Save images with text as PNG. The app compresses again, but a clean starting point gives a better result.
- Thin lines and small type are the first casualties of compression. Make type bold and large.
- For photos, JPG at 90 percent or higher is enough. The app compresses harder than that anyway, so more buys nothing.