Instagram post size: 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1080
A feed photo is either the tall 4:5 rectangle or the square. Which one you pick changes how much vertical screen the post occupies before anyone scrolls.
GridSlice, already set up for this page
The numbers, and where each one came from
| Spec | Value | Where this comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait ratio | 4:5The tallest rectangle the feed renders without cropping it back to something shorter. | UnverifiedshotMod |
| Portrait pixels | 1080 × 1350 px4:5 at a 1080-pixel width. The width is the number everyone agrees on; the ratio is what fixes the height. | DerivedshotMod |
| Square pixels | 1080 × 1080 pxAlso the default a carousel falls back to when its first slide does not say otherwise. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| Accepted upload format | JPEG onlyMeta's publishing API states JPEG is the only image format supported, and that extended forms such as MPO and JPS are not. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| Export from this page | JPEG or PNG, full resolutionEncoded by your browser's own canvas encoder; the pixel data never leaves the tab. | MeasuredshotMod |
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
There is no single Instagram post size, and that is the honest starting point. The feed accepts a family of rectangles, and the only decision that matters to you is how tall you are willing to go. Tall wins more screen: a 4:5 photo occupies noticeably more of a phone display than a square does at the same scroll position, which is the entire reason so many accounts moved off the square years ago and never moved back.
The width, meanwhile, is settled. Every rectangle in the family is authored at 1080 pixels across, and the height is whatever the ratio makes it — 1350 for 4:5, 1080 for the square. Feeding Instagram a wider file does not buy you sharpness; it buys you a resample. Feeding it a narrower one costs you sharpness permanently, because the upscale happens on a server you cannot inspect and cannot redo.
What goes wrong
The trap here is the grid, not the feed. Your profile grid crops every post back to a square thumbnail, so a 4:5 photo composed edge to edge in the feed loses its top and bottom band on your own profile. Faces near the frame edge and text near the bottom are the two things that reliably disappear. Compose for the feed, then look at the centre square and ask whether the post still reads when the outer bands are gone.
Format is the other place a feed post quietly fails. Meta's publishing documentation states plainly that JPEG is the only image format supported and that extended JPEG variants such as MPO and JPS are not — which is why a photo straight out of a phone's dual-camera or 3D mode occasionally fails to attach with no useful error. Exporting a plain baseline JPEG from this page sidesteps the whole class of problem, and costs nothing visible at these sizes.
How to do it here, in three steps
- The resizer opens on 4:5 · 1080 × 1350; tap 1:1 · 1080 × 1080 for the square instead.
- Add your photo; the live preview shows exactly what the 4:5 frame keeps and what it trims.
- Pick Crop for a full-bleed frame or Bars to keep the whole image, then save the JPEG.
Questions, answered
What is the best Instagram post size?
1080 × 1350 pixels at 4:5, if you want the most screen a feed post can occupy. 1080 × 1080 square is the alternative, and it is the safer choice when the same image also has to read well as a grid thumbnail.
Why does my Instagram post look cropped on my profile?
The profile grid renders every post as a square thumbnail regardless of the ratio you uploaded. A 4:5 photo therefore loses a band from the top and the bottom on your own profile while staying intact in the feed.
What image format does Instagram accept?
Meta's content publishing documentation states that JPEG is the only image format supported, and that extended JPEG formats such as MPO and JPS are not. A plain baseline JPEG is the safe export.
Everything on this page runs on your own device. Nothing you add is uploaded, and there is no account to create.