Instagram photo sizes
Updated 2026-09-03 · The crop is drawn on a canvas in this tab. No copy of your photo is sent anywhere.
Instagram resizes everything to 1080 pixels wide, so the only decision that matters is the aspect ratio. Get the ratio right before you upload and Instagram will not crop your photo; get it wrong and the app quietly slices off the top, bottom or sides. This page lists every 2026 size, what each one is for, and links a cropper preset for each.
All Instagram image sizes (2026)
| Placement | Ratio | Pixels | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square post | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | The classic. Safe for every placement. |
| Portrait post | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 | Takes the most feed space; matches the 4:5 profile grid. |
| Tall portrait post | 3:4 | 1080 × 1440 | Supported since 2025; shown cropped to 4:5 in the grid. |
| Landscape post | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 | Smallest in the feed; fine for panoramas. |
| Story / Reel | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | Keep the middle; top ~14% and bottom ~20% sit under UI. |
| Reel cover (grid) | 4:5 visible | 1080 × 1920 file | Centre the subject; the grid shows a 4:5 middle crop. |
| Profile picture | 1:1 | 320 × 320 | Displayed as a circle at 110 px. Upload larger; it is downsized. |
| Carousel | first slide | 1080 wide | All slides adopt the first slide's ratio — crop them all the same. |
Which post size should you use?
Portrait 4:5 (1080 × 1350) is the default recommendation for photos in 2026. It fills the most screen in the feed and matches the profile grid, which Instagram switched from squares to 4:5 rectangles in 2025. Square is the safe fallback when a picture has to work everywhere, including older embeds. Landscape 1.91:1 is only worth it for wide scenes; it shows small in the feed. The taller 3:4 ratio is accepted for uploads, but remember the grid preview crops it to 4:5, so keep the subject in the middle.
Stories and Reels: the safe zone
Stories and Reels are 9:16, 1080 × 1920. Instagram overlays your profile name and the progress bar at the top and the reply box, buttons and captions at the bottom. Anything important in roughly the top 250 px and bottom 340 px risks being hidden. The Story / Reel preset shades those bands on the crop box so you can see exactly what is safe while you drag.
Profile picture
Upload a square; Instagram shows it as a circle at 110 × 110 on phones and ~150 × 150 on the web. 320 × 320 is the size Instagram stores, so anything larger is downsized — a 500 × 500 or 800 × 800 crop from the original photo looks best. The profile picture preset overlays the circle so faces are not clipped. See also our circle crop guide.
How to crop a photo for Instagram
- 1Pick the Instagram preset
Open cropphoto.com/?preset=instagram-post and choose Square, Portrait 4:5 or Landscape under Crop for. For Stories and Reels use the Story / Reel chip.
- 2Frame the photo
Drag the locked crop box over the composition. For Stories, keep text and faces out of the shaded top and bottom bands where Instagram draws its interface.
- 3Download at 1080 px
Tap Download. The preset exports the exact pixel size Instagram wants, as a high-quality JPG.
Quality tips
- Export at exactly 1080 px wide. Instagram downsizes anything wider and re-compresses; a clean 1080 JPG at quality 90+ survives best.
- Crop from the original camera file, not a screenshot or a forwarded copy.
- Sharpen nothing, add no filters here — CropPhoto only crops, so what you upload is your original pixels.
- For carousels, crop every slide to the same ratio; Instagram uses the first slide's ratio for all of them.
- If a photo just won't fit 4:5, add a border instead of cutting with Expand canvas.
Cropping for other apps? See the WhatsApp DP size guide, or use the YouTube thumbnail, Facebook cover and Twitter/X header presets.