Are your followers complaining about the quality of the content you publish on Instagram? The likely culprit is that you’re publishing content in the wrong dimensions.
Instagram has specific dimensions for each type of content you can post on the social media app.
Many people find this out the wrong way. So you’re not alone.
Thankfully, Instagram dimensions are easy to follow to create perfect, clear, and crisp posts.
In this article, we talk about the recommended dimensions for all types of Instagram posts.
Different types of Instagram posts
On Instagram, there are different types of posts. These include:
- Regular posts: These are posts that your followers see on their regular Instagram feed. You can publish both videos and photos for this type of post. Under regular posts, there are different kinds of posts too, including carousel, square, portrait, and landscape.
- Instagram Reel: Reels are tik-tokish in nature. Instagram designed reels to help users expose their content to new audiences beyond their followers. Reels must be videos.
- Instagram Stories: Stories are content created for an alternative timeline. They allow users to post content different from what they’ll typically post on their regular timelines.
- Instagram TV (IGTV): You may have heard about or come across it during your research. Note that Instagram scrapped IGTV in 2021 as a standalone feature. So, it’s not something you should bother with anymore.
- Instagram live video: Since these are live videos, you don’t have any influence on the size they are displayed.
- Instagram ads: The dimensions for every Instagram ad depends on the type of content you’re promoting. If you’re promoting an IG story, use the recommended size for regular IG stories.
Why it’s Important to Use the Right Instagram Dimensions
When you publish a post with the wrong Instagram dimensions, IG will work to either stretch or compress the content. IG does so to fit your content into the recommended dimensions.
Your images or videos end up looking fuzzy or blurry. Blurry photos on your timeline are bad for your brand. They also don’t get any attention from users.
Posting quality and clean pictures is a non-negotiable for growing your Instagram account.
The Correct Instagram Dimensions For all Kinds of Posts
It’s a well-known secret that posts that meet the ideal resolutions are preferred by the Instagram algorithm.
In the sections below, we’ll provide the right Instagram post size for all types of content.
Regular Posts
Regular posts can either be square, portrait, or landscape.
Square Posts Dimension
A Square image automatically defaults to an aspect ratio of 1:1. This aspect ratio means that the vertical and horizontal dimensions must be equal. The best resolution for square posts is 1080px by 1080px.
You can directly post an iPhone image captured in “Square” mode on Instagram. Otherwise, you must crop the image using an editing app like Canva.
What is Instagram Portrait Size?
Portrait posts are the most popular type of regular posts. The primary reason is that the post fills up most users’ screens. Thus unable to miss it.
The recommended aspect ratio for portrait posts is 4:5, and the ideal resolution is 1080px by 1350px. That is, the vertical side is longer than the horizontal side.
The pictures taken with most smartphones are mostly in portrait format.
What is Instagram Landscape Dimension?
In landscape posts, the horizontal side is longer than the vertical side. They have an ideal aspect ratio and resolution of 1.91:1 and 1080px X 566px, respectively.
How to Create Landscape and Portrait Posts on Instagram
Converting an image to portrait or landscape format on Instagram is straightforward. While creating a new post, tap the “pinch” icon on your screen, as shown below.
The post is currently in portrait mode. In landscape mode, the “pinch” icon is inside the image, as shown below.
What Size Should Instagram Reels be?
The recommended resolution for IG reels is 1080 by 1920 pixels. That is an aspect ratio of 9:16.
Instagram reels take up the whole screen and require the perfect resolutions.
Otherwise, the Instagram video will be blurry, and Instagram users will quickly skip to the next video or exit the app.
When you record reels on the IG app, the ideal resolution is set by default. However, if you’re uploading the video, you must be wary of the video’s resolution.
Instagram Story Dimensions
The Instagram dimension for stories is 1080px by 1920px and has an aspect ratio of 9:16. Instagram stories have the same dimensions and aspect ratio as Instagram reels.
Other recommendations you must know about Instagram stories include:
- Instagram video size cannot exceed 4GB, and an Instagram photo cannot exceed 30MB.
- Videos cannot exceed 15 seconds.
- Images can only be in PNG or JPEG formats.
- The acceptable video formats are MP4, MOV, or GIF formats.
Instagram Dimensions for Carousels
Carousels are regular posts. They can have portrait, square, or landscape dimensions.
When you create and share an Instagram carousel, the dimension of the first image or video determines the dimension of other slides.
So, if the first content is in landscape format, Instagram will crop other images or videos to landscape format.
What is a 4:5 Instagram Aspect Ratio?
Instagram portraits have an aspect ratio of 4:5, and the recommended photo size is 1080px by 1350px.
When Instagram recommends an aspect ratio of 4:5, it means that for every 40px in the horizontal direction, there must be 50px in the vertical direction.
What is the Maximum Instagram Image Size?
On Instagram, image width and height cannot surpass 1080 and 1350 pixels, respectively. Instagram will automatically crop images that exceed these specifications.
This automatic cropping can cut off important information from the image. So if you want to share aesthetic posts on Instagram, ensure you upload photos in the ideal resolution and aspect ratio.
Instagram further explains that as long as the width is between 320 and 1080 pixels, the Instagram app will leave the image in its default resolution.
This is, provided that the image has an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 4:5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, we answer some additional questions about Instagram dimensions.
How can you resize images to fit Instagram dimensions?
You can use free Instagram templates on apps like Canva to create images that meet Instagram dimensions.
In tools like Adobe, you only need to specify the type of Instagram post, and the app will automatically resize the image to Instagram’s recommended dimension.
Does Instagram lower or reduce image quality?
Pictures with the correct Instagram dimensions will appear clean, clear, and crisp. Images that do not meet the recommended dimensions and aspect ratio appear fuzzy, blurry, and low quality.
Canva has awesome Instagram templates you can use to create high-quality posts.
Wrapping Up
Every type of post on Instagram has the ideal resolution and aspect ratio. You must stick with these Instagram dimensions to publish quality and clear content for your audience to engage with.
The image width can be between 320 and 1080 pixels, and the height can be between 566 and 1350 pixels. The only requirement is for the weight and height to have the correct aspect ratio, and you’re good to go.
Do you have any questions regarding Instagram dimensions and sizes? Shoot them at us in the comments section.
