Instagram Issues

What is The Best Instagram Post Size (Complete Guide)

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Imagine you’ve uploaded a photo on Instagram via desktop that looks perfectly well. But when you see it on your mobile device, not so well!

Perhaps it looks so blurry that you literally had to squint your eyes to see it!

Frustrating, right? 

No one wants to see a blurry post on an aesthetically pleasing platform like Instagram. Your audience probably won’t even spend a few seconds on such posts!

That’s why it’s crucial to know each Instagram post’s right size or resolution before posting it from your desktop or mobile. 

In this guide, we’ve shared everything you need to know about the best Instagram post size and dimension rules. We will recommend you the best resolution and aspect ratios of different Instagram content types without any hassle. 

Why Does Choosing The Right Instagram Post Size Matter?

Instagram is a visual platform. It always focuses on showcasing high-quality images that grab the audience’s attention in a blink of an eye. 

That’s why, when it comes to photo size, Instagram is rigid with its guidelines. 

If you don’t post the right size photo or video, Instagram will either compress or enlarge it to make it appear best on your feed. 

When posting a video or image on Instagram, you must take care of the resolution of that post. 

According to Instagram, images between 320px – 1080px is the right size to post on Instagram. So, if you post a photo with a resolution lower than 320px, Instagram will make it pixelated or crop it out. 

And pixelated or cropped photos on Instagram mean — low-quality content, lower engagement, and lower conversion. In short, size is a big deal for Instagram! 

Posting the right-sized images and videos on Instagram makes it stand out from the rest. 

Being consistent with the resolution and aspect ratio of your posts will make your feed look attractive. 

Moreover, using the right-sized photos in Instagram ads will give you more clicks on your profile and website. 

So, if size matters so much, is there any best image size on Instagram for each type of post? Well, let’s break that down into our next point.

What is The Best Instagram Post Size

Before knowing the best image size for Instagram posts, first, you must learn two things: Aspect Ratio or Dimension and Size or Resolution.  

Aspect Ratio or Dimension

The aspect ratio or dimension means the width of an image related to its height. For instance, if 1:1 or 9:16 is the aspect ratio of a photo, the first digit refers to the width, and the second digit refers to the height of that photo. 

If you don’t post photos with the right aspect ratio or dimension, Instagram will crop them to fit a supported aspect ratio. 

As a result, a certain part of your image may get lost. That’s why along with photo size, you must pay attention to the aspect ratio of your post. 

Size or Resolution 

On the other hand, photo resolution or size is the number of pixels that fills the width and height of your photo and video. 

Similar to the aspect ratio, photo size is explained with two numbers. 

For example, if a photo size is 1080px X 1080px, the first number expresses the photo’s width, and the second represents height. 

As you can see, photo size matters a lot on Instagram. 

And as we’ve mentioned earlier, Instagram always compresses your photos and videos. That’s why it’s better to post a photo with optimal resolution. So, when Instagram compresses your post, it won’t do much harm to the image quality. 

For example, if a photo size is 320px by 320px, it will be a lower quality photo than 1080px by 1080px. 

Best image size for Instagram

When it comes to choosing the right photo size for Instagram, you have to take care of different post types. Based on each type of Instagram post, we’ve recommended all the ideal sizes. So, keep reading. 

Best Image Size For Instagram Profile Picture

You spend hours brainstorming the perfect Instagram post. 

But what about your profile picture? Do you put the same effort into deciding which is the right photo for your profile on Instagram? 

If not, then let us break this to you! Your profile photo is as important as your reels or videos on Instagram. 

A good profile photo separates your account from billions of Instagram users. On the contrary, if you have a blurry profile photo, people will scroll past your account in no time. 

However, understanding the best image size for your profile requires effort. 

On Instagram, your profile picture is presented as a circle. But when you upload a picture, it has to be square. The ideal aspect ratio of your profile picture is 1:1. 

Instagram stores photo files at 320px X 320px. But when you view it on a mobile app, it will be showcased at 110px X110px. And when you view Instagram’s profile picture on the desktop, it will be displayed at 180px X 180px. 

So, when updating the profile picture, make sure the photo size is at least 320 X 320 pixels. As Instagram compresses photos, any image lower than 320 X 320 pixels will make your profile picture appear blurry. 

Best Image Size For Instagram Feed Posts

Years ago (back in 2012), Instagram users could only post square photos (1:1 aspect ratio) on their Instagram feed. 

That was a terrible feature for users who wanted to post their portraits or landscape photo. They were left with no choice but to crop their pictures in a 1:1 ratio. 

Hopefully, Instagram changed this feature and introduced two more photo sizes — portrait and landscape. 

Let’s learn about the best photo size or resolution for each of these Instagram feed posts: 

Best Size for Instagram Square Post 

The aspect ratio of square-sized photos or videos on Instagram is 1:1. It’s super easy to edit any photo to a 1:1 ratio because Instagram and most photo editing apps can automatically crop it out. You can even click square-sized photos on any Android or iOS device. 

And to post the best square-sized photos or videos on your Instagram feed, we recommend you to go with the size 1080px by 1080px. 

Always avoid uploading a square post with a lower resolution than 320px by 320px. So, even when Instagram compresses the image, it will remain high quality. 

Best Size for Instagram Portrait Post

The vertical/portrait videos and photos have an aspect ratio of 4:5. Any picture longer than this ratio will get cropped out from your feed post.

So, if the dimension of your post is bigger than 4:5, it’s best to crop it with an editing tool. 

Also, vertical photos or portraits take up more space on a device than a square-sized photos. That’s why, before cropping, ensure that the image will look good on the cropped square of your Instagram profile grid. 

The best size for portraits or vertical photos or videos (4:5) is 1080px x 1350px. 

Anything less than that won’t look good on your feed. After all, Instagram will compress the 1080 X1350 pixels sized photo and display approx 480 X 600 pixels. 

Best Size for Instagram Landscape Photo

According to Instagram, the ideal landscape or horizontal photo dimension is 1.91:1. 

However, you can also post landscape pictures in a 16:9 ratio. The only difference between both is that 1.91:1 will post your photo without any border. 

On the other hand, a 16:9 ratio will automatically put a border around your photo. 

To post the best quality landscape post on Instagram, make sure the photo or video is at least 1080 X 566 pixels in size. 

Uploading a photo in 1080px resolution will ensure it doesn’t get pixelated in mobile apps or desktops. 

Best Size For Instagram Carousel

You can upload Instagram carousel posts in any format — square, landscape, or portrait. 

So, no matter what you post, videos or photos, you’ll have a lot of size options to choose from, for example: 

  • Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels
  • Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels
  • Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels

Here’s a reminder, once you’ve decided on the aspect ratio of the photo or video, Instagram will automatically crop out the rest of the pictures and videos in the same aspect ratio. 

Ideal Image Size For Instagram Story

You can share any video or photo on Instagram Story with a minimum aspect ratio of 1.91:1 and a maximum aspect ratio of 9:16. 

However, Instagram stories look attractive if it’s in portrait mode or takes up your entire mobile screen without any borders. Most users don’t prefer seeing landscape photos on Stories. 

That’s why we recommend you upload a photo with a dimension of 9:16 and a size of 1080px by 1920px. 

Perfect Size For Instagram Videos

Recently, Instagram combined IGTV and feed Videos into a single format called Instagram video. 

Along with several new features like trimming and the ability to upload video captions, they introduced 60-second feed previews. These feed previews have a dimension ratio from 4:5 to 16:9. 

The perfect-sized Instagram video must have a maximum file size of 4GB and 30 frames per second frame rate. 

Best Size For Instagram Reels

Just like Instagram Stories, reels are supposed to be watched in full-screen and in vertical mode. That means the perfect dimension for reels should be 9:16, and the resolution should be 1080px by 1920px.

Keeping the dimension and resolution in mind, shoot the reels directly on your mobile app and edit it later to fit the optimal reel size. 

Instagram Ads Image Size

Crafting attention-grabbing, actionable Instagram ads is not a walk in the park.

What’s more daunting is keeping track of the right sizes for each type of ad post. 

That’s why we’ve made a quick list of all the ideal Instagram ads image sizes for your future reference: 

Instagram Image and Video Ads

In image and video ads, you can upload photos or videos of various aspect ratios (square, landscape, portrait). 

The maximum resolution of the image or video has to be around 1080px and a minimum of 320px. 

Instagram Stories Ads

All the videos and image ads on Instagram stories must have a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels. And the perfect aspect ratio of these ads is 9:16. 

Wrapping Up

Whew! That’s a lot of sizes to keep in mind! 

But, if you don’t follow the recommended size guidelines to upload photos and videos on Instagram, get ready to post some really blurry, pixelated, and unattractive images! 

Instagram is all about visuals and aesthetics. So, a low-quality, blurry image means no engagement and no followers! 

Hopefully, we’ve got your back. 

Here we’ve compiled a list of all the best Instagram post size

Now it’s your turn to use this post as a guide and use all your creativity to post the perfect photos. 

Author

  • Celeste Gutierrez

    Guest blog writer for Famoid.com, Celeste specializes in social media insights and trends. When not writing, she's exploring urban secrets.

    View all posts

2 Comments

  1. Avatar of Priya Sharma

    Hi there! I am going to try my hands on Instagram marketing and this article is really very helpful for me. thanks for sharing such an enlightening article with us.

  2. Avatar of Navdeep

    Thank you for sharing this amazing post. I prefer using images of size 500px.

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