Instagram caps all uploads at 1080 pixels wide. Whatever size you upload, that's the ceiling it works with. Feed posts, Stories, Reels covers, and profile photos each have their own aspect ratio requirements — here are all of them.
| Format | Recommended size | Aspect ratio | File size limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed — square | 1080 × 1080 px | 1:1 | 8MB (JPEG) |
| Feed — portrait | 1080 × 1350 px | 4:5 | 8MB (JPEG) |
| Feed — landscape | 1080 × 566 px | 1.91:1 | 8MB (JPEG) |
| Stories / Reels | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | 8MB (JPEG) |
| Profile photo | 320 × 320 px | 1:1 | — |
| Carousel post | 1080 × 1080 px per slide | 1:1 (consistent across slides) | 8MB per image |
Portrait crops more feed space than square — and that matters
Instagram photo sizes get discussed as a technical spec question, but there's a performance angle that most spec guides skip: portrait format (4:5, 1080×1350) takes up more vertical screen space in the feed than square or landscape. More screen space means more time in view as someone scrolls, which Instagram's algorithm treats as engagement signal.
Landscape is the opposite. A 1.91:1 image is shorter than a square on screen, so it gets less dwell time per scroll position. There are contexts where landscape is right — a panoramic shot, a wide product display — but if you're optimizing for feed performance and your content can be cropped either way, 4:5 is the stronger choice.
Why uploading larger than 1080px hurts, not helps
A common instinct is to upload the highest-resolution version of an image so Instagram has "more to work with." In practice, this does the opposite.
Instagram downscales anything wider than 1080 pixels using its own resampling algorithm. That algorithm is optimized for speed, not quality. The result frequently has more visible compression artifacts than a file you resized to 1080 pixels yourself before uploading, because your image editor uses a higher-quality downscaling method.
The cleanest result comes from resizing to exactly 1080 pixels wide yourself — our tool handles this — then uploading. Instagram still applies its JPEG recompression, but since there's no downscaling step, it's working with a properly prepared file rather than doing two operations on it.
Stories safe zone: the top and bottom 250 pixels are UI
A 9:16 Stories image is 1080×1920 pixels. But the top ~250 pixels are covered by the profile icon, username, and timestamp bar. The bottom ~250 pixels are covered by the reply bar and any CTA stickers. That leaves a central safe zone of roughly 1080×1420 pixels where your content is guaranteed to be visible.
Text, product shots, or anything important that sits in the top or bottom strip gets partially obscured on most devices. Design Stories with the safe zone in mind — not the full canvas.
Profile photo: the circle crop removes the corners
Instagram displays profile photos as a circle. Whatever square image you upload gets cropped to a circle, which removes the four corners. The corners represent about 21% of the image area.
This means a square logo with important elements in the corners — a wordmark at the bottom edge, a design element at the top — will be cut off in the circle crop. Center the important part of the image with clear space around it. Upload at 320×320 minimum; Instagram displays at about 110 pixels on mobile but stores a larger version for desktop and future use.
Carousel posts: aspect ratio must be consistent
Each slide in a carousel can be square, portrait, or landscape — but all slides in the same carousel must use the same aspect ratio. If you mix a 1:1 slide with a 4:5 slide, Instagram forces all slides to the aspect ratio of the first image, which crops the others. Plan your carousel format before building the slides, not after.
For most carousel posts, square (1080×1080) is the safest choice because it provides a consistent frame regardless of content. If all your slides are portrait-friendly, 4:5 gives more screen space. Keep the file size under 500KB per slide to avoid upload delays on slower connections — Instagram accepts up to 8MB but large carousels take noticeably longer to publish.