Short answer: export feed posts and carousels at 1080 × 1350 px (4:5), Stories and Reels at 1080 × 1920 px (9:16), and anything built for the profile grid at 1080 × 1440 px (3:4). Instagram shows images at 1080 px wide, so larger files are just downscaled — and recompressed harder.
The sizes
| Format | Aspect ratio | Size to export | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed post, portrait | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 | The tallest the feed shows — takes the most screen space |
| Feed post, square | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | Loses about a quarter of its width in the profile grid |
| Feed post, landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 | Smallest on screen; avoid unless the shot needs it |
| Carousel slide | Same as slide 1 | 1080 × 1350 recommended | Every slide takes the first slide's shape; 2–20 slides |
| Profile grid thumbnail | 3:4 | Design at 1080 × 1440 | A center crop of each post |
| Story | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | Keep text ~250 px from the top and bottom |
| Reel | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | The grid shows a 3:4 crop of the cover |
What changed in 2025: the 3:4 grid
In early 2025 Instagram switched profile grids from square thumbnails to 3:4 portrait thumbnails. Posts themselves didn't change shape. The grid now shows a different crop of each one:
- A 4:5 post (1080 × 1350) is shown at 3:4 by trimming about 34 px off each side. Usually unnoticeable.
- A 1:1 post (1080 × 1080) is shown at 3:4 by trimming 135 px off each side. That's a quarter of the image, enough to cut text and faces near the edges.
- A landscape post loses most of its sides in the grid.
If you care how your profile looks, keep anything important inside the center 3:4 region of every post. For grid puzzles, where nine posts form one picture, cut the tiles at 3:4 to begin with. Square tiles no longer meet at the edges. The Grid Splitter does this.
Carousels: the rules that trip people up
- Up to 20 slides. The limit went from 10 to 20 in August 2024.
- One shape per carousel. Instagram crops every slide to the shape of the first one. Mixing 4:5 and 1:1 slides means the later ones get cropped without warning.
- The cover is slide 1, and in the grid it gets the same 3:4 crop as any other post.
- Seamless panoramas need slides that are cut from one continuous image, all exactly the same size. This guide has the arithmetic.
Why 1080 px and not bigger?
Instagram displays images at 1080 px wide. Uploading 4000 px images doesn't make them sharper. Instagram resizes them down and compresses the result. Starting at exactly 1080 px wide means one fewer resize, which usually looks slightly cleaner, especially for text and fine lines.
The exception: keep your original at full resolution. Cropping and slicing should start from the biggest version you have, then export at 1080.
File format
- JPG for photos. Instagram converts everything to JPG anyway, and a high-quality JPG (90–95%) gives it the least to throw away.
- PNG for graphics with text or flat colors before posting. It avoids a double JPG generation, though Instagram will still convert it.
- Stay in sRGB. Wide-gamut images (Display P3 or Adobe RGB) can shift color after upload.