The safest Instagram post size is 1080 x 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait frame. Instagram’s app accepts photos from 1.91:1 landscape to 3:4 portrait at up to 1080 pixels wide, so 1080 x 1440 also works when you post from the app. Meta’s publishing API, which scheduling tools use, stops at 4:5. One 1080 x 1350 file fits both routes.
Key Takeaways
- Best all-round size: 1080 x 1350 pixels (4:5). It is the tallest shape that both the Instagram app and Meta’s publishing API accept.
- The new tall size: 1080 x 1440 (3:4) is within the range Instagram’s help center lists for photos, but outside the 4:5 to 1.91:1 range in Meta’s API documentation.
- Width: the app keeps photos up to 1080 pixels wide at their original resolution and sizes wider ones down to 1080. A photo narrower than 320 pixels is enlarged.
- Other shapes: square is 1080 x 1080 (1:1) and landscape is 1080 x 566 (1.91:1). A photo outside the supported range is cropped to fit.
- Grid: Instagram has been moving the profile grid from squares to taller thumbnails, so keep faces and text near the centre of every post.
Instagram post sizes at a glance
The table lists each feed shape at Instagram’s 1080-pixel width, with what Instagram’s help center and Meta’s publishing documentation each say about it. “App” means posting from the Instagram app; “API” means a scheduling tool publishing through Meta’s official API.
| Shape | Ratio | Size in pixels | Instagram app | Publishing API |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tall portrait | 3:4 | 1080 x 1440 | Accepted | Outside the 4:5 limit |
| Portrait | 4:5 | 1080 x 1350 | Accepted | Accepted |
| Square | 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | Accepted | Accepted |
| Landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080 x 566 | Accepted | Accepted |
Portrait 4:5 is the row to remember. It takes the most room in the feed of any shape a scheduler can publish, and Meta’s ads guide recommends the same 4:5 shape for Instagram feed image ads, at 1440 x 1800.
What size is an Instagram post in 2026?
A standard feed photo is 1080 pixels wide, and its height depends on the shape: 1350 for portrait, 1080 for square and 566 for landscape. Instagram’s help center says Instagram keeps a photo at its original resolution when the photo is between 320 and 1080 pixels wide and its ratio sits between 1.91:1 and 3:4, “a width of 1080 pixels with a height between 566 and 1440 pixels”.
Outside those limits, Instagram changes the file. A photo wider than 1080 pixels is sized down to 1080, one narrower than 320 is enlarged to 320, and a photo in an unsupported ratio “will be cropped to fit a supported ratio”. So exporting at 4000 pixels wide buys no extra sharpness on Instagram. It only means Instagram resizes the photo instead of your editor.
Instagram’s help page on photo resolution also suggests using the latest version of the app and a phone with a good camera for the sharpest result. If photos still come out soft, our guide to blurry Instagram stories covers the upload settings that apply to both stories and posts.
Is 3:4 the new Instagram post size?
3:4 is an extra option in the app, and 4:5 remains the safe default. Instagram’s help center now lists 3:4 as the tallest supported ratio, so a 1080 x 1440 photo posted from the app keeps its full height. Meta’s publishing documentation still says images “must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range”, so a 3:4 image cannot go out through the API that scheduling tools use.
That gap explains most of the confusion in guides and forum threads. Advice to “post everything at 1080 x 1440” is right for someone who posts from the app, and wrong for anyone who schedules. If you use both routes, design at 4:5. If you post only from the app and want the extra height, 3:4 is the larger frame.
Which size should you use for each kind of post?
Use 4:5 portrait for almost everything: photos of people, products, quotes and graphics. Use landscape only when the subject is wide, such as a group photo or a panorama, because a 1.91:1 post is less than half the height of a portrait one in the feed. Square still works for content made square, like an old brand template.
| Post type | Recommended size | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photo or graphic | 1080 x 1350 (4:5) | Tallest shape every route accepts |
| Photo posted only from the app | 1080 x 1440 (3:4) | The extra height is accepted in the app |
| Wide scene | 1080 x 566 (1.91:1) | Keeps the width; shortest in the feed |
| Square template | 1080 x 1080 (1:1) | Keeps the original layout |
| Carousel | One ratio for every slide, 4:5 if you schedule | Each slide is an image with the same limits |
A carousel can hold up to 20 images or videos, according to Meta’s publishing documentation, and each image in it follows the same size rules as a single photo. Pick one ratio for the whole set. Our Instagram carousel ideas give slide-by-slide outlines once the size is settled. Reels are a different format with their own 9:16 frame, covered in our guide to Instagram Reel size.
How does the profile grid crop your posts?
A grid thumbnail in a different shape from your post trims its edges. Instagram has been moving the grid from squares to taller thumbnails: Engadget reported on 17 August 2024 that Instagram was testing taller, rectangular tiles, after Adam Mosseri called square crops of vertical photos “pretty brutal”. Reports since disagree on the exact shape, and Instagram’s help pages we read give no grid ratio.
Two practical rules follow. Keep the subject and any text in the middle of the frame, away from the top and bottom edges, because a 4:5 post shown in a taller or squarer tile loses some of its edges. And check the grid after the first few posts in a new template. The free PostNext Instagram feed planner lets you drop in images and preview a three-column grid with tall or square tiles before anything is posted.
What file settings does Instagram accept?
Through Meta’s publishing API, an image must be a JPEG of 8 MB or less inside the 4:5 to 1.91:1 range; one narrower than 320 pixels is scaled up and one wider than 1440 is scaled down. For posts from the app, Instagram’s help page lists no file types or size cap, only width and ratio.
So if you schedule, export a JPEG at 1080 x 1350, keep it under 8 MB (a photo that size is usually far smaller) and use sRGB, the default in most editors. Meta’s documentation says images in other colour spaces are converted to sRGB, so exporting in sRGB keeps that step in your hands. A PNG or HEIC file is better converted to JPEG before it goes into a scheduler.
How does PostNext check Instagram image sizes?
PostNext publishes feed posts through Meta’s official API, so it applies the API’s rule before a post is scheduled. When you add an image outside 4:5 to 1.91:1, such as a 3:4 photo, the composer refuses it with a message to crop it first. You find out while writing the post, not when it fails to publish at 9 a.m. on a Monday.
The PostNext Instagram scheduler publishes single images, carousels of 2 to 10 images or videos, Reels and image Stories, and previews each post on mobile, tablet and desktop so you can check the crop. A preview of how upcoming posts will sit on your grid is not available in the app yet, which is what the free feed planner is for. Collab invitations, product tags and location tags are added in the Instagram app. Captions follow Instagram’s rules too, including the five-hashtag cap explained in our guide to how many hashtags Instagram allows and the 2,200-character limit in our guide to Instagram caption length.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best size for an Instagram post?
1080 x 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait. It is the tallest shape that both the Instagram app and Meta’s publishing API accept, so it works whether you post from your phone or schedule. Square (1080 x 1080) and landscape (1080 x 566) also work but take less room in the feed.
Can I post 1080 x 1440 on Instagram?
Yes, from the Instagram app. Instagram’s help center lists 3:4, which is 1080 x 1440, as the tallest supported photo ratio. Scheduling tools cannot publish it, because Meta’s API documentation limits images to the 4:5 to 1.91:1 range, so crop to 1080 x 1350 if you schedule.
Does Instagram crop 4:5 posts on the grid?
It can. Instagram has been moving the grid from squares to taller thumbnails, and reports disagree on the exact shape. A thumbnail that is not 4:5 trims the edges of a 4:5 post, so keep faces and text near the centre.
What happens if my photo is wider than 1080 pixels?
Instagram’s app sizes it down to 1080 pixels wide. A photo narrower than 320 pixels is enlarged to 320, and one in an unsupported ratio is cropped to fit. Through the publishing API, images up to 1440 pixels wide are accepted and wider ones are scaled down to 1440.
What size should an Instagram carousel be?
Each slide follows the single-photo rules, so 1080 x 1350 (4:5) is the safe choice, with every slide in the same ratio. Meta’s publishing documentation allows up to 20 images or videos in one carousel; PostNext schedules carousels of 2 to 10.
Related reading
- Instagram Reel Size: Dimensions and Safe Zones
- 25 Instagram Carousel Ideas With Slide-by-Slide Outlines
- Why Is My Instagram Story Blurry? 4 Causes and Fixes
- Can I Post on Instagram From My Computer?
Sources
- Instagram Help Center, Image resolution of photos you share on Instagram (October 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Instagram API: IG User Media reference, image specifications and carousel limits (October 2026)
- Meta, Ads Guide: Instagram Feed image ads, ratio and resolution (October 2026)
- Engadget, Instagram’s experimental profile grid has rectangular images instead of squares, Mariella Moon, 17 August 2024 (read October 2026)
- PostNext, postnext.io/instagram-scheduler and postnext.io/tools/instagram-feed-planner (October 2026)
