Instagram Post Size in 2026

The short answer is 1080 x 1350 pixels. The longer answer changed in 2025, when Instagram stopped showing square thumbnails on profiles. Here is every size that matters now, and how to design one image that survives all the crops.

Updated October 2026 · by the Hourden team

Instagram post sizes at a glance

Instagram uploads are capped at 1080 pixels wide, so every recommended size starts at 1080 and only the height changes with the format.

Sizes checked against current 2026 guides (Metricool, InstantDM, Inro) in October 2026. Instagram does not publish a single official size chart, so test one upload on your own account before you build a template.

What changed with the 3:4 profile grid

In 2025 Instagram replaced the square profile grid with taller 3:4 thumbnails (1080 x 1440), so square posts now lose their left and right edges on your profile and 4:5 posts lose a small strip top and bottom.

The feed itself did not change: a 4:5 post still shows in full when someone scrolls. Only the preview on your profile is cropped. If your grid is part of your brand (a row of tiles that line up, text on the cover), design for 3:4 and keep the important part inside the centre.

Already-posted images are not re-uploaded; Instagram simply crops them differently. You can adjust the crop of an individual post's thumbnail from the post's options in the app.

Which feed size should you choose?

Choose 4:5 for almost every feed post, because it takes the most vertical space in the feed and therefore holds attention longer than a square or landscape image.

• 4:5 (1080 x 1350): photos, infographics, carousels, product shots.
• 1:1 (1080 x 1080): only when the image is genuinely square, like an album cover.
• 1.91:1 (1080 x 566): wide screenshots or panoramas you cannot reframe; they look small on phones.

Instagram Story size and safe zones

Instagram Stories are 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16); anything smaller is stretched and anything wider gets bars or a blurred background.

The top of a Story is covered by your profile name and progress bar and the bottom by the reply box and stickers. Keep text, faces and links roughly 250 px clear of the top and 340 px clear of the bottom. For a link sticker, leave space in the middle third where people tap.

Instagram Reels size and the cover image

Reels are 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16) video, and the cover is cropped twice: to 3:4 on your profile grid and to 4:5 when a Reel is shared to the feed.

Put the title of the cover inside the centre 1080 x 1350 area so it survives both crops. Captions burned into the video should sit above the bottom 20% so they do not collide with the caption and audio line.

Carousel posts: one ratio for every slide

A carousel takes the aspect ratio of its first image and crops every other slide to match, so mixing sizes only causes surprise crops.

Export all slides at 1080 x 1350. For panoramic carousels that flow across slides, design one 5400 x 1350 image (five slides) and split it into equal 1080 px columns.

How to keep quality when you upload

Instagram recompresses everything, so upload at exactly the target size, in sRGB, as a high-quality JPG under about 8 MB, and the result stays sharp.

1. Export at 1080 px wide.
   Larger files are downscaled anyway, and Instagram's own resize is softer than yours.
2. Use sRGB.
   Wide-gamut colour profiles shift when Instagram converts them.
3. Turn on high-quality uploads.
   In the app settings, under media quality, allow uploads at the highest quality on Wi-Fi.
4. Check the grid preview.
   Open your profile after posting and adjust the thumbnail crop if the subject was cut.

Sizes help a post look right; reach is a different problem

Correct sizes stop Instagram from cropping or blurring your post, but they do not decide how many people see it; that depends on watch time, saves, shares and how established the account looks.

New accounts often post well-made images that nobody sees. Building an audience is covered in our guide to growing Instagram followers organically; if the empty-looking profile is what holds you back, Instagram followers on Hourden start at $3.75 per 1,000 with only your public @handle. Our free tools include more calculators and generators for creators.

Questions about Instagram post size