Instagram carousel size: every slide follows slide one
Meta documents this one directly: a carousel holds at most ten items, and every image in it is cropped to the ratio of the first.
GridSlice, already set up for this page
The numbers, and where each one came from
| Spec | Value | Where this comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum items per carousel | 10Images, videos, or a mix of the two — stated directly in Meta's publishing documentation. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| How the ratio is chosen | from the first itemEvery other image is cropped to match it. This is documented behaviour, not a rendering quirk. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| Default when unspecified | 1:1Meta names 1:1 as the default the crop falls back to. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| Recommended authoring size | 1080 × 1350 pxPick the tallest ratio you want anywhere in the set and author every slide at it. | DerivedshotMod |
| Mixed media | images and videos togetherAllowed within the same ten-item limit; the ratio rule applies across both. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
Last verified 2026-09-05 · 5 sources
- Reels publishing — recommended video specification (9 x 16, 1080 × 1920, 3–90 s, 24–60 fps, H.264/H.265, AAC LC 48 kHz) — Meta for Developers
- Instagram Platform content publishing — carousels are limited to 10 items and every slide is cropped to the first slide's ratio — Meta for Developers
- Derived arithmetically from the ratio and width in the cited Meta specification — no independent claim is made — shotMod
- Behaviour of the shipped in-browser export path, measured on the shotMod build dated 2026-09-05 — the tool doing it is the one mounted above — shotMod
- Community consensus, not an Instagram document — Instagram publishes no current page stating this value, and help.instagram.com serves article bodies only to JavaScript, so no Help Center article can honestly be cited for it (checked 2026-09-05) — shotMod
What this actually means
Carousels are the one part of this cluster where you do not have to guess. Meta's content publishing documentation says outright that a carousel is limited to ten images, videos or a mix, and that carousel images are all cropped based on the first image, with 1:1 as the default. Two sentences settle almost every argument people have about carousel dimensions.
Read the second sentence again, because it is the one that surprises people: the first slide is not merely the cover, it is the template. Whatever rectangle you put in position one becomes the rectangle every later slide is forced into. A set that looks perfect while you are picking the individual photos can come apart the moment you decide which one goes first.
What goes wrong
The classic wreck is ordering. You build nine tall shots and one square one, drag the square to the front because it makes the nicest cover, and Instagram then crops the other nine to a square — quietly removing a band from the top and bottom of each. Nothing warns you, and it is not recoverable after posting: the crop is baked in, so the fix is always to re-upload the whole set.
The subtler version is a set that is nearly consistent. Photos exported at 1080 × 1349 and 1080 × 1350 look identical to you and are two different ratios to the cropper, so one slide ends up a pixel-row short and the sequence visibly jitters as you swipe. Running every slide through one export at one target size removes the class of bug entirely, which is what the carousel splitter at the top of this page is for.
How to do it here, in three steps
- The tool above is already in Carousel split, with 4:5 · 1080 × 1350 as the target ratio.
- Drop in the wide image or panorama you want cut into slides — it stays on this device.
- Export the set, then upload them in order, with your intended cover first.
Questions, answered
How many photos can an Instagram carousel have?
Ten. Meta's publishing documentation states that carousels are limited to ten images, videos, or a mix of the two, so a mixed photo-and-video set counts against the same ceiling.
Do all carousel slides need to be the same size?
They do not need to be, but they will be made so. Meta documents that every carousel image is cropped based on the first image, so mismatched slides get trimmed rather than rejected — the choice is only whether you control the crop or Instagram does.
What size should Instagram carousel slides be?
Author every slide at the tallest ratio you want in the set — 1080 × 1350 at 4:5 is the usual safe pick — and put a slide of exactly that ratio first, since Meta's default fallback is 1:1.
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