Short answer: make Instagram feed posts 1080 pixels wide. Use 1080 × 1350 (4:5 portrait) if you want one size that works everywhere, or 1080 × 1440 (3:4) if you post from the app and want the post to fill your profile grid without cropping. Squares are 1080 × 1080, landscape is 1080 × 566 (1.91:1), and Stories and Reels are 1080 × 1920 (9:16).
The rest of this guide covers the 3:4 grid change, carousel rules, Story safe zones, file limits, and how to get every size, or a hundred posts, from one design.
Instagram post sizes at a glance
| Format | Size (px) | Ratio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 | Cropped on the profile grid |
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 | Works in the app, scheduling tools and ads |
| Tall portrait post | 1080 × 1440 | 3:4 | The tallest the app keeps; fills a grid tile |
| Landscape post | 1080 × 566 | 1.91:1 | The widest the app keeps |
| Carousel | Same as the first slide | 1:1, 4:5, 3:4 or 1.91:1 | Up to 20 items in the app, 10 through the API |
| Story | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | Keep text out of the top and bottom bands |
| Reel | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | The Help Center accepts 1.91:1 to 9:16 |
| Profile picture | 320 × 320 or larger | 1:1 | Shown as a circle; Instagram publishes no size |
Sizes follow Instagram's Help Center and Meta's developer and ads documentation as of November 2026. Where they disagree, the sections below say so.
Feed posts: the 1080 px rule
Instagram's Help Center describes feed photos by width: Instagram uploads photos at up to 1080 pixels wide. A photo between 320 and 1080 pixels wide keeps its resolution as long as its aspect ratio sits between 1.91:1 and 3:4, which at 1080 wide means a height between 566 and 1440 pixels. Narrower photos are enlarged to 320 wide, wider ones are scaled down to 1080, and anything outside that ratio range is cropped to fit.
So a 4000 px export gains you nothing in the feed: it is scaled down to 1080 wide anyway. And a 9:16 graphic posted to the feed loses its top and bottom. Design at the ratio you will publish.
4:5 or 3:4? Sources disagree
Most size guides still say 4:5 (1080 × 1350) is the tallest feed post. That was true for years, but Instagram's own Help Center now names 3:4 as the tall end of the range. Meanwhile Meta's publishing API, the one scheduling tools post through, still documents a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range. So a 3:4 post works when you upload it from the phone, but a scheduler may refuse it or crop it to 4:5.
Our recommendation:
- Scheduling, ads, or posting from many tools? Use 1080 × 1350. It passes everywhere.
- Posting by hand and care about your profile grid? Use 1080 × 1440. It shows whole on the grid.
The 3:4 profile grid
Since early 2025 the profile grid shows each post as a 3:4 tile instead of a square. A 3:4 post fits the tile exactly. A 4:5 post loses a thin strip on each side (about 34 px at 1080 × 1350). A square loses about an eighth on each side, and a landscape post shows only its middle.
Whatever ratio you post, keep the headline and subject centered, away from the side edges.
Stories and Reels: 1080 × 1920 with safe zones
Stories and Reels are full-screen vertical: 1080 × 1920 at 9:16. Instagram's Help Center lists a Reels aspect ratio range of 1.91:1 to 9:16, but anything wider fills less of the screen, so design vertical. For Reels covers, the Help Center gives 420 × 654 (about 1:1.55); the grid then shows that cover as a 3:4 tile, so keep the cover's title centered.
The account name, caption and buttons sit on top of the frame. Meta's Ads Guide gives the only official numbers, written for 9:16 ads in Stories and Reels: keep 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text and logos. On a 1080 × 1920 canvas that is:
- top: 269 px
- bottom: 672 px
- each side: 65 px
That leaves a safe box of roughly 950 × 979 px. Meta publishes no figure for organic posts, which have less covering the bottom, so treat these margins as the cautious choice. Older guides quote "250 px at the top and bottom": that was Meta's earlier Stories guidance. For ads, Meta recommends 1440 × 2560; the percentages are the same.
Carousel rules
Carousels are where most cropping surprises come from:
- One shape for the whole post. Every slide is shown at the same aspect ratio, and the first item decides it. If slide one is 4:5 and slide three is square, slide three gets cropped.
- Up to 20 photos or videos from the app (the limit went from 10 to 20 in 2024). Meta's Content Publishing API still caps carousels at 10, so a scheduler may too, and it crops every image to the first one (square by default).
The cleanest way to get matching slides is to build the carousel as one multi-page design, with every page at the same canvas size. Browse carousel templates for layouts that already work that way.
Profile picture
Instagram's Help Center publishes no profile picture size. It is shown as a circle, so the corners of your square never show. Upload a square of at least 320 × 320 (1080 × 1080 is fine too). Use a single mark or a face on a plain background: the same circle appears, much smaller, next to every comment.
File types and limits
- Posting from the app: Instagram's photo help page lists no file-size limit or file types. JPEG and PNG are the safe choices.
- Posting through the API (most schedulers): Meta's reference says JPEG only, up to 8 MB, aspect ratio 4:5 to 1.91:1.
- Feed image ads: Meta's Ads Guide accepts JPG or PNG up to 30 MB and recommends 1440 × 1800 at 4:5.
Use PNG for flat graphics with text and JPEG for photos. If you schedule posts, export JPEG.
Designing one Instagram post for every size
A campaign rarely needs one size. It needs a 4:5 feed post, a 9:16 Story and maybe a 1200 × 630 link preview (see the OG image size guide). Stretching the square post into a Story by hand is how text ends up under the reply bar.
In bannx you design once and render any size from the same template. The size picker has Instagram post (1080 × 1080), Instagram portrait (1080 × 1350) and Story / Reel (1080 × 1920) presets, and a render can ask for another size without changing the template, including a custom 1080x1440. How the design adapts depends on how it was built:
- Reflow (the default) lets layers pinned with constraints keep their margins to the new edges and lets auto-layout frames rewrap, so a headline stays in the safe area on the Story.
- Scale shrinks the whole design to fit, letterboxed on the background, for designs built at fixed pixel positions.
For a different look rather than a different size, such as a dark version or a holiday colorway, save it as a variation of the same template instead of a copy, so edits to the base design flow into every look.
Some starting points, all free to open:
- Just listed property post: a 4:5 portrait post
- Typographic quote square: a square quote card
- Job opening, bold square: a hiring post
- Black Friday product drop: a sale post
- Customer quote testimonial: social proof
More in social media templates.
Making Instagram posts in bulk from a spreadsheet
When the content changes but the design doesn't (every property, product or job opening), it should be a spreadsheet, not a hundred design files. Give the template named slots and make the sheet's header row use the same names. Each row becomes one post:
address,price,photo,_size
12 Elm Street,$450000,https://example.com/img/elm.jpg,instagram-portrait
8 Bay Road,$615000,https://example.com/img/bay.jpg,story
The optional _size column renders that row at another preset from the same template, so one run can produce a feed post for one row and a Story for the next. Upload the CSV in the template's Bulk tab and you get back a ZIP with one file per row. The same rows can go to the bulk REST API instead, up to 500 per request.
The spreadsheet guide walks through the column rules and the API call, and bulk ads shows the same idea across ad sizes and languages. An image costs 1 credit, and every account gets 25 free renders a month. Bulk runs (the Bulk tab and the bulk API) are on paid plans.
Start from a template
Templates are free to open and edit, with no account and no watermark, and download as PNG or PDF. Pick one from the social media templates, set the size you need from the table above, and change the text.
FAQ
What is the best Instagram post size in 2026? 1080 × 1350 (4:5) is the safest choice: it shows large in the feed and is accepted by the app, scheduling tools and ads. If you post from the app and want posts to show whole on your profile grid, use 1080 × 1440 (3:4).
Is 1080 × 1080 still a good Instagram post size? Yes, squares are fully supported and show without cropping in the feed. They take less screen height than portrait posts, and the 3:4 profile grid trims about an eighth from each side.
Do all slides in an Instagram carousel need to be the same size? They don't have to be, but they will be shown at the same aspect ratio, set by the first slide. Anything that doesn't match gets cropped, so design every slide at the same size.
What size are Instagram Stories? 1080 × 1920 pixels at 9:16. Keep text and logos out of roughly the top 14% and bottom 35%, and 6% in from each side, so the account name, caption and buttons don't cover them.
Why does Instagram make my photo blurry? Usually the upload was narrower than 1080 pixels and got enlarged, or much larger and got scaled and recompressed. Export at exactly 1080 wide, between 1.91:1 and 3:4, and the app has nothing to resize.