Instagram Story size: 1080 × 1920 px and its safe area
The canvas is the same 9:16 frame a Reel uses. What makes a Story different is everything the app draws on top of it.
GridSlice, already set up for this page
The numbers, and where each one came from
| Spec | Value | Where this comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas ratio | 9:16The same full-screen vertical frame Meta specifies for Reels. | OfficialMeta for Developers |
| Canvas pixels | 1080 × 1920 px9:16 at the 1080-pixel authoring width. | DerivedshotMod |
| Top interface band | roughly 250 pxInstagram publishes no number for this. It is measured off a screenshot and varies with the device notch — treat it as a margin, not a constant. | UnverifiedshotMod |
| Bottom interface band | roughly 250 pxAlso unpublished, and it grows when a reply box, a link sticker or a caption is present. | UnverifiedshotMod |
| Comfortable text band | the middle ~1420 px1920 minus both unpublished bands. It is a working rule of thumb, not a specification. | DerivedshotMod |
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
The Story canvas is easy: it is the same 9:16, 1080 × 1920 frame Meta documents for Reels, and getting it right is a matter of exporting the correct rectangle. What is not easy — and what nobody publishes — is how much of that rectangle you actually get to use, because Instagram draws its own interface on top of your image rather than beside it.
So a Story has two sizes worth knowing. The canvas size decides whether your image fills the screen or gets pillarboxed. The safe area decides whether the sentence you put at the bottom is legible or is sitting underneath a reply field. The first is documented and settled; the second is guesswork that every designer does by eye, and this page is upfront about which of the two you are reading.
What goes wrong
The failure mode is not cropping — it is occlusion. Your username, the close-friends badge and the progress bars live over the top of the frame; the reply field, the share row and any link sticker live over the bottom. A caption you placed twelve pixels from the bottom edge in a design tool is not cropped away, it is simply covered, and it looks fine in every preview that is not the Instagram app itself.
How much gets covered is not a constant, either. A device with a taller notch eats more at the top. Adding a link sticker, a poll or a question box pushes the interactive furniture further up the frame. That is precisely why this page marks the two band figures unverified rather than printing them as though Instagram had published them: they are a working margin measured off screenshots, and your phone may not agree.
How to do it here, in three steps
- The cropper above is already on 9:16 · 1080 × 1920, the full Story canvas.
- Add your image, then judge it against the middle of the frame rather than against its edges.
- Export, then place your headline in the middle of the frame rather than near either edge.
Questions, answered
What size should an Instagram Story be?
1080 × 1920 pixels at 9:16 — the same full-screen vertical frame Meta specifies for Reels. Export the whole canvas, then keep anything you need people to read away from the top and bottom edges.
What is the safe zone for an Instagram Story?
Roughly the middle of the frame, leaving about 250 pixels clear at the top and the bottom. Instagram publishes no official number for this, so treat it as a measured margin rather than a specification — and add more room if you use a link sticker.
Why is my Story text hidden behind the reply box?
Because the interface is drawn over your image, not next to it. Text near the bottom edge is not cropped away, it is covered by the reply field and share row, which is why it looks correct in every preview except the app itself.
Everything on this page runs on your own device. Nothing you add is uploaded, and there is no account to create.