Instagram and social media image sizes

You upload the image you prepared and the platform trims the edges: half the headline goes, the side of the product disappears, the subject's head no longer fits the frame. The cause is not a small or low-quality file. It is the wrong aspect ratio.

This guide does not ask you to memorise a list of pixel figures. Those get revised whenever an app redesigns its interface; the ratios have stayed put for years. Learn three of them and where each belongs, and you will prepare the right frame no matter which app you are uploading to.

The ratio lasts, the pixel figure does not

An aspect ratio is the width of a picture divided by its height, and it is independent of size. A 1:1 image can be 500×500 pixels or 2000×2000; both are square, and a platform drops both into the same frame. The ratio describes the shape, the pixel count describes the resolution.

Platforms build their frames around ratios. If an app calls something a square post, then an image that is not square will be cut to a square — and how many pixels you uploaded does not change that decision. So the useful question while preparing an image is not "how many pixels" but "what shape".

Pixel figures still matter, of course: too small a file looks soft on screen. One rule covers that side — keep the short edge above 1000 pixels. Apps rescale whatever you upload to their own targets, and scaling down from a generous source always looks better than scaling up from a thin one.

Three ratios, three different places

Nearly every frame you meet on social media is one of three ratios, and each comes from a different way of looking at a screen. The square suits a grid of thumbnails laid side by side. The portrait ratios fill the screen of someone holding a phone upright. The landscape ratio comes from the tradition of video watched on a computer or a television.

1:1, the square, is the safest ratio. Product shots, quote graphics, anything that should sit tidily in a profile grid belongs here. A square image passes through almost every platform uncropped, because there is no frame that needs to cut a square down.

4:5, the portrait, takes up more room in a feed. Prepared at 4:5 rather than square, the same picture is noticeably larger on screen, which is why it is chosen for posts that need to be noticed. The limit is right there: anything taller gets cut in the feed.

9:16 is the phone screen's own shape, used for stories and vertical video. The detail that matters in this frame is that the top and bottom edges are not safe: the app puts its own buttons, the account name and the reply box there.

• 1:1 — feed post, product image, profile grid; safe everywhere
• 4:5 — portrait feed post; occupies more of the screen
• 9:16 — stories and vertical video; full-screen frame
• 16:9 — landscape video, website cover image, slides

The pixel figures in common use today

The values below are the pixel figures commonly paired with each ratio. Treat them as a safe starting point rather than a requirement: they get revised as apps rework their interfaces, while the ratios stay where they are.

Every line puts the width at 1080 pixels, a base that has been standard in mobile feeds for a long time. Uploading something larger does no harm, since the app scales it down to its own target. Uploading something smaller produces a soft picture, and there is no way back from that.

The profile picture is a case of its own: you upload a square and it is displayed as a circle. The four corners of that square are therefore guaranteed to be invisible. Fitting a face or a logo tightly into the square gets the edges clipped; leave a comfortable margin around it instead.

• 1:1 square post → 1080×1080 pixels
• 4:5 portrait post → 1080×1350 pixels
• 9:16 story and vertical video → 1080×1920 pixels
• 16:9 landscape → around 1080×608 pixels
• Profile picture → upload a square and keep the corners empty, they fall outside the circle

What happens if the ratio is wrong

The platform does not reject your image; it cuts it to fit its own frame. It also picks the cutting point, usually from the centre. The result is half a headline gone, or a logo missing from the bottom.

There is a second version of the same problem: some apps pad the sides instead of cutting. That is less destructive than a crop, but the image sits small in the feed and the band around it pulls attention away.

The way out of both is the same: crop to the target ratio yourself before uploading. A crop tool with preset ratios takes the frame from the centre, and after cropping it is worth looking at the result to see whether anything important left the frame. When placing text, keep it away from the edges too, because different surfaces trim different amounts.

The right order: crop first, then scale

The two operations look similar but do different things. Cropping throws away the edges of a picture and changes its ratio. Scaling keeps the whole picture and changes only the pixel count; the ratio stays as it was.

The sequence matters. Crop first to set the ratio, then scale to land on the pixel figure. In the other order you would scale a picture to the target and then crop it, leaving a file that is smaller than the target you were aiming for.

Remember too that enlarging a small image adds no detail. Pushing a 600-pixel square up to 1080 does not sharpen it, it softens it. Always start from the largest file you have; the shrunken copy that came back through a chat app is not a suitable source.

• Step 1 — the ratio: crop the image to the target shape
• Step 2 — the pixels: scale the short edge to 1080
• Step 3 — the check: look at whether text and logos sit clear of the edges
• Step 4 — the file: JPG for photographs, PNG for graphics with hard edges

Getting several frames out of one image

Anyone wanting to use the same content in a feed and in a story tries cropping one image to two ratios, and finds the second frame falls apart. The reason is simple: the distance between 1:1 and 9:16 is not a small adjustment, it is a frame rebuilt from scratch.

The fix starts at the preparation stage. When you take the photo or lay out the design, work to the widest frame rather than the narrowest, and gather everything important towards the middle. Leave only expendable space around the edges, and the same source will yield all three ratios.

Leave the text until last as well. Place the words before cropping and you will need a separate layout for every ratio. Cut the frames first and set the type on each of them separately, and no version ends up with a sentence sliced in half.

Frequently asked questions

What size should an Instagram post be?

The common figures are 1080×1080 pixels for a square post and 1080×1350 for a portrait one. What really decides the outcome is the ratio rather than the pixels: square is 1:1, portrait is 4:5. A larger image in those ratios uploads perfectly well, since the app scales it down to its own target.

What is the story size?

Stories and vertical video use a 9:16 ratio — the shape of the phone screen itself. The commonly used pixel figure is 1080×1920. Keep anything important away from the top and bottom of that frame: the app places the account name, the reply box and its own buttons there.

How do I prepare a profile picture?

You prepare a square, but it is displayed as a circle, so the corners will not be seen. Put the face or the logo in the middle with a comfortable margin around it. Cropping the image to a circle in advance is another option, and it means the framing is your decision rather than the app's.

Why was my image cropped when it was published?

Because its ratio did not match the platform's frame. The app does not refuse the file, it cuts it to fit and chooses the cutting point itself. Crop to the target ratio before uploading and you decide what stays and what goes.

Do these pixel figures change?

They can; the recommended values are revised as apps update their interfaces. The part that does not move is the ratios — the square, the 4:5 portrait and the 9:16 full-screen frame have been steady for years. Preparing an image by its ratio outlasts memorising a list of pixel figures.

Last updated: August 27, 2026